City Food – Netra-Geeta’s Stuffed Paratha, Sadar Bazar, Gurgaon Food by The Delhi Walla - October 12, 20190 A couple's offering. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The temptation is irresistible. This entire lane in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar in the Greater Delhi Region is infused with the scent of steaming parathas. And not just any paratha, but aloo paratha—the delicious aroma of boiled potatoes on slow roast is immediately discernible even though the street itself is a miasma of various pleasant and unpleasant smells. There’s also that familiar hissing sound of cooking oil crackling around the paratha-in-progress. Netra Bahadur’s aloo paratha stall is very new. “We opened two months ago.” The 31-year-old gentleman explains that he co-manages the stall with his wife, Geeta. The young lady is sitting in an adjacent rickshaw, grating potatoes. Migrants from a mountain village in Nepal, the
Mission Delhi – Mohammed Jamal, New Seemapuri Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 12, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His smile is so radiant that it almost seems tangible. As though you could hold that smile in your hands like a flower. Upon hearing such an assessment, auto rickshaw driver Mohammed Jamal smiles again. “Yes, people always tell me how beautiful my smile is.” And he invariably responds by suggesting that “all credit goes to the blessing of the God.” There’s another reason for the unique smile, he says. It has to do with his teeth, according to him. “Some of my teeth are very long. And that makes the smile more noticeable.” Mr Jamal, who has been an auto driver for 40 years, does clarify that his life