Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Siddharth Sijoria, Ghaziabad General by The Delhi Walla - May 25, 20190 Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This budding Delhi poet is moving to Mumbai for good, and with at least one high hope. Maybe he’ll finally meet some real poets in flesh and blood. At the moment, Siddharth Sijoria is in the family apartment in Ghaziabad where he’s leaving almost everything behind except for some poetry and legal works. The 26-year-old lawyer, who’s been working at the Supreme Court, is launching his professional life anew at Bombay High Court. As an amateur poet, he’s found Delhi disappointing: “I’ve never run into a real poet here.” He’s more optimistic about some kind of encounter in the posh south Mumbai neighbourhood which will be soon his new home. The only poet he’s
City Landmark – Hafizji’s Old Clock Shop, Old Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - May 22, 20190 Lost time regained. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is truly an inner sanctum for all those who pine for old time. Dozens of old clocks bearing unfamiliar names line the walls of this watch repair establishment in Old Delhi. That East End clock looks like something from a Jane Austen TV series. While the brand name Smiths sports an elegant wooden case. The probable instinct is to buy one of them. Alas, they’re not for sale. “They belong to my customers and are here to be repaired,” explains shopkeeper Muhammad Gayaz, who himself is wearing two wristwatches. A set of miniature auzaar (tools) for watch repairing hang on the wall beside him. These blackened instruments look like some magical weapons in
City Walk – Skywalk Passageways, Pragati Maidan Walks by The Delhi Walla - May 21, 20190 New kind of stroll. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s as if an artistic child had scribbled lines across a blank page. Or this is at least how the Pragati Maidan footbridges, or the skywalk if you will, look like from the ground. Most people use these picturesque entanglements of pathways for the purpose they were inaugurated last year—to walk to their respective destinations without having to cross the traffic-clogged roads. These passages, however, can also be enjoyed for purposeless strolls. Maybe it happened by chance, but this is one of the few airy public places of our walker-unfriendly city, apart from parks, where you can walk for long without any danger of being hit by a car. Such opportunity makes space
City Season – Amaltas Poems, by Delhiwallas Nature by The Delhi Walla - May 20, 20191 Golden heat. [Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] We are sailing through midsummer. Amaltas trees, aka Indian Laburnum, are blooming across Delhi. The most beautiful places to view the fragrant golden-yellow flowers are: Amrita Shergil Marg, BK Dutt Colony Park, Hailey Road, Bungalow Road, Buddha Garden, and many other places. Whichever spot you head to, enjoy the sighting of these glorious trees, and don’t forget to carry this flap with you. It has poems on Amaltas composed by Delhiwales in love with the tree’s summertime bloom--except for one of the poets who wishes to remain anonymous. Some of these verse-writers live in Delhi, while others have moved out of the city, but they all confirm that the memories of Delhi’s Amaltas are still
Mission Delhi – Vasundhara Raj Baigra , Vasant Vihar Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 17, 2019May 17, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] As a marketing director with a publishing company she always needs to be at her polite best when dealing with writers and book critics. Vasundhara Raj Baigra must remain calm and friendly, no matter how demanding they sometimes may be. So… how does she deal with her own frustrations and inner tension? “Boxing!” declares Ms Baigra. While insisting that her clients are always pleasant to deal with, you’ll find her every evening at a Vasant Vihar training studio busy in her boxing sessions. “It helps me push any negative feelings aside.” She’s now been at it for nine months, with boxing becoming important in her life. “I feel empowered
City Landmark – Button Shop, Near Chitli Qabar Chowk Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - May 16, 2019May 16, 20190 Ali Baba's treasure. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s just a hole-in-the wall shop, and pretty easy to button down. Because, it’s all about buttons. Only buttons, a warehouse of thousands, many trimmed with laces and countless other decorations. Who could have imagined the super-humble buttons to enjoy such an immodest diversity? This cute little shop in Old Delhi doesn’t have a name and doesn’t need it. When you gaze at the button shelves in their entirety, it’s like facing a friendly mob of many coloured eyes. “Each button costs about 3 or 4 rupees,” says the friendly Guddu Bhai who along, with his equally friendly brother Faisal Bhai, manages the place; dealing with throngs of customers throughout their long working days with
Mission Delhi – Urmila, Civil Lines, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 15, 2019May 15, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Urmila is 20 and had never imagined while growing up in a small West Bengal village that one day she shall be living in the great metropolitan area of the Delhi region. “I had never heard of Gurgaon,” she says shyly, holding her year-old son in her arms. The young woman found herself in the so-called Millennium City following her marriage a couple of years ago with Birango, a church gardener in Gurgaon's Civil Lines in the National Capital Region. The couple’s home is in the church compound. This sweltering afternoon Birango, 27, is watering the parched flowers, while Urmila, just finished with household chores, is strolling around the
City Faith – Rickshaw Puller’s Ram Temple, East Delhi Faith by The Delhi Walla - May 14, 20190 His private shrine. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Rickshaw puller Sooraj lives alone in this city of millions but doesn’t feel lonely. Not at all. “I have Ramji with me,” he says haltingly this late evening in east Delhi. Waiting for customers on a busy roadside, the gentleman is standing beside his rickshaw. “It’s my home, I sleep in it.” It’s also his mandir, he adds. Indeed, young Sooraj’s rickshaw has the traits of a temple. The front handle bars are decked with plastic flowers under which is fixed a large frame of Lord Ram with his consort, Sita, his brother Lakshman, and his devotee Hanuman. “My family lives far away in Jharkhand,” says the puller, “it is not possible to talk them
City Food – Fresh fruit Roller Ice-Cream, Mathura Road Food by The Delhi Walla - May 13, 2019May 13, 20191 Fresher than the fresh. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It isn’t every day one stumbles across fresh fruit ice cream that is really fresh. But that’s exactly what you get from the brothers Arif and Amjad who make what they call “roller ice cream”, produced on a unique roller machine It works like this: The long cylindrical roller is packed with crushed ice, with the outer surface smeared with rose syrup flavoured milk. When Arif gets the roller moving, the milk freezes on the surface; while his brother holds chopped fruits on a large leaf right under the roller. The fruit sticks to the now-frozen milk. When a customer turns up, the resultant ice cream is simply scraped from the roller and served
Mission Delhi – Unnamed Mule, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 12, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Things are easier for humans. When a mosquito lands on our shoulder or wherever else on our body, we simply slap down our hand on the affected spot to get rid of the nuisance. That’s not possible for this unnamed mule. A couple of common flies are perched on his back and the helpless animal is frustratingly turning his head to one side and then to another. The blistering hot sun isn’t helping matters. The mule is owned by a Gurgaon construction material trader in the National Capital Region. All day long he is obliged to haul the cart-load of cement sacks or piles of bricks from the