Mission Delhi – Dawood, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 17, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Passed over by a woman he loved, Dawood now immerses himself in work “so that I forget everything else.” Every day he collects large quantities of discarded glass bottles which he then sells to the next link in Delhi’s complex chain of recycling. Pausing for a few moments, he settles down along a central Delhi roadside to pour out his heart. Last year Dawood met a young woman, “a part-time gardener’s daughter and very friendly.” He fell for her almost immediately, but “she started loving me only after many days of me trying to break ice with her.” The girl’s father was opposed to the relationship. One reason was that Dawood
City Faith – Hazrat Naseeruddin Chirag Dehlavi’s Sufi Shrine, South Delhi Faith by The Delhi Walla - November 16, 2019November 16, 20190 Finding tranquility in a secluded dargah. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What a marvellous place in the winters to while away a sunny afternoon (go away smog!). Here you can sleepily follow the progress of the friendly sun as it ambles along the sprawl of a serene courtyard littered with scores of unknown graves. This isn’t a graveyard but the secluded shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Naseeruddin Chirag Dehlavi. The dargah’s haunting spaciousness comes as a surprise, for it is snuggled deep in the heart of a crowded south Delhi village to which it gives its name. The place, in fact, feels completely disconnected from the frenzied pace of the city. Dense foliage of a grand khirni tree leans over the saint’s
City Library – Information Center Library, Connaught Place Library by The Delhi Walla - November 15, 20190 A city secret. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Many of the shelves are simply empty, but occasional visitors do turn up anyway at the Information Center Library tucked away in the city’s busy Outer Circle in the colonial-era Connaught Place. This state-owned library—and so beautiful---opened in 1955 with high expectations. Until a few years ago the facility was filled with visitors and journalists discussing politics or poring over the many newspapers and magazines. Nowadays quite a few of those publications no longer arrive, but old newspapers are thoughtfully preserved in handbound volumes. Aficionados of print editions would appreciate this. Magazines and journals collected over the years are also crammed in similar bound volumes. A half-hidden chamber actually has metal closets with hand-operated lockers that
City Landmark – Ahuja Tailor, Sadar Bazar, Gurgaon Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 14, 20190 A timeworn establishment. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s like the miniature museum of a dressmaker’s working life. Ahuja Tailors at the Sant Lal market corridor in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar in the Greater Delhi Region is sparsely populated with aged objects that continue to resonate with beauty as well as utility. The wooden closet with the wide glass window instantly transports the visitor to a time when pieces of furniture tended to be handcrafted by carpenters one personally knew. The long wood-panelled mirror fixed slantingly on the wall has its looking glass grown hazy making it evocative of some bygone age. (Indeed, it wouldn’t look out of place in a movie depicting the decline of decadent nobility.) Other noteworthy curiosities include rusty
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Waqas Ahmed, Lahore Farewell Notice by The Delhi Walla - November 14, 2019November 14, 20190 The 246th death. [Text and photos sent by Waqas Ahmed] A misunderstood artist, Waqas Ahmed, 37, was found dead at his home in Lahore. According to the forensic report, he died of drowning in the depths between his throat and chest. His departure took place right before the sun pierced through the velvety fabric of night and washed the sky in reds and pinks. Mr Ahmed was a collector of spots of brightness. His great art of making sweet honey from bitter fruits would always be remembered. The last page of his personal diary reads as following: "Circle dear, it's a circle. No beginning, no ending, just a constant dance. A slow crawl to the top and a fast descend as you swing to
Exclusive – The Delhi Walla Interviews the Great Emily Dickinson Scholar Professor Cristanne Miller! General by The Delhi Walla - November 12, 2019November 12, 20190 On life with Emily Dickinson. [Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi, except for Cristanne Miller's portrait] It’s so-so. The new Apple TV series on poet Emily Dickinson is trying too hard to make her look like a millennial woke modernist. But Dickinson is already too cool for such a makeover. Watch the series if you like. Watch the recent films, too, on her, though similarly duh. But also read my exclusive interview with this super-cool Emily Dickinson scholar. Cristanne Miller is a professor of English in the University of Buffalo. The US-based academic has authored several books on the great American poet. Her newest—it won a prestigious award—presented the 19th century poet’s work in such a new way that the book is believed
City Moment – Radio Star, Central Delhi Moments by The Delhi Walla - November 12, 20190 Pre-TV days. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He was glued to the radio, his eyes focused towards the instrument as if it were a mobile phone screen. One Sunday morning, rickshaw puller Manta Ram Sisodia was lounging in a central Delhi bazaar lane. Plopped up on the passenger’s seat of his vehicle, the elderly man was lightly holding onto the old-fashioned grey radio that seemed to have weathered many seasons. With the antenna drawn out to its full length, the rickshaw puller’s channel of choice was loudly playing an audio drama. The walls on both sides of the empty street were resounding with the play’s overtly dramatic dialogue deliveries. Mr Sisodia was so involved in the unfolding plot that he would not
City Landmark – The Gloomy Staircase, Near New Delhi Railway Station Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 11, 20190 When a piece of utilitarian infrastructure becomes poetic. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This fine old staircase leading to the overhead bridge in Central Delhi somehow seems steeped in a kind of melancholy. Here in early evening, a couple of good folk are huddled on the steps, quietly, while a woman standing further up seems lost in her thoughts. With some 50 years on its back, not even sunlight can offer a glimmer of optimism—the surrounding area appears bleak and shabby. An elderly man is spotted sitting on the neem leaf-strewn steps, his head plopped on his hands. Close by is a blank-faced street vendor with his basket of golgappas, who climbs further up in hopes of a sale or two before it
City Walk – The Lane to Cornwallis Colony, Central Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 10, 2019November 10, 20190 The colonial-era way. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most British-built neighbourhoods, avenues and streets in our fair city of Delhi have been stripped of their original English names. (Goodbye colonialism!) Post-Independence rulers made certain that Curzon Road, for instance, gave way to Kasturba Gandhi, while Lady Willington Park became Lodhi Gardens. But not all names were changed. Within walking distance of Lodhi Gardens is tranquil lane going past the elegant Cornwallis Colony. Lord Charles Cornwallis was Governor General of British India best known to us for his wars with Tipu Sultan (there’s even a famous painting of him receiving Tipu’s two sons as hostages in the year 1793). He went on to establish a Sanskrit college in Benares and India’s first
Atget’s Corner – 1136-1140, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - November 6, 20190 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 1,00,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 1136 to 1140. 1136. Because the Mind of