City Series – Anamika Singh in Delhi, We the Isolationists (275th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 4, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Anamika Singh] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see myself wandering in mountains, trekking with my dog who is crazy for treks. Then I open up my eyes to the chirping of birds in my balcony. Is this why I was dreaming of mountains? I ask myself because when I go out and see so many birds flying around, clear blue sky, fresh breeze gushing through my hair, I don’t get the feel of living in Delhi but somewhere else totally a new city commanded by mother nature. Is this what they call blessing in disguise? Maybe maybe not. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a
City Series – Sumaiyya Rehman in Delhi, We the Isolationists (274th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 4, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Sumaiyya Rehman] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see that road which I would take on way to my university, stopping momentarily to adjust my earphones. The summer heat would crawl inside, paving its way into my helmet, making my hair sweat, making me swear I would never come this way again, always knowing I would. I see that road-side joint where the plastic box labeled ‘Centre Fruit’ outside, had ‘Mango Bite’ inside. The seller uncle would always arrange the Bisleri bottles height-wise. Does he dare disturb the universe? The joint was beside the traffic light, where the family of seven lived, under the lamp post, under the sun, under the
Julia Child in Delhi – Italian Woman’s Lockdown Paneer, South Delhi Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] She’s a garlic-loving Italian woman, living in Delhi, and she makes Indian dishes better than many Indians. Her dal makhani is as buttery as in any respectable Punjabi household. And her (dry) aloo palak is so tasty that you might as well pester her to start her home catering service. A designer in her 50s, she is however painfully modest and has urged her identity to remain secret for this dispatch. “Kyunki mein Bharat mein bahut salon se hoon,” she says in fluent Hindi, explaining that her familiarity with desi cuisine comes from the fact that she has been living in the country for long. “I first came to India as
City Series – Abhinab Saxena in Hyderabad, We the Isolationists (273rd Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Abhinab Saxena] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see only the protagonists from the books I have read making a story of their own. I see Rilke telling Mawlana Rumi how to look within one's heart while Estha and Rahel are jealous of growing proximity of Rumi and Rilke. I see Ravinder Singh befriending Hari who just got into IIT. I see Charles Bukowski telling them all to relax and follow the philosophy of 'Don't Try' while Dr. Brian Weiss can't wait to invite them all to know about their past life experiences (evil laugh in the end). And just when I am about to realise this is all a dream,
City Series – Abhimanyu in Faridabad, We the Isolationists (272nd Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Abhimanyu] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see my college walls. Red as a rose. The sweet smell of flowers just outside the principal's office. The puppies with whom I used to play with. (They must have grown up now). They would brighten up even a bad day. Fighting with the 'office wall bhaiya', because his lunch break would never be over. The back stage where I would play and sing on ukulele. The squirrels who just sit nearby and nibble on bread. And finally walking out of the college, as the sun would set, with friends. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share
City Series – Chandrima Das in Guwahati, We the Isolationists (271st Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 2020May 11, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Chandrima Das] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see her standing barefoot behind the walls. The noisy birds fighting over the leftovers drew my attention towards her. Huh, she wasn't new, neither someone I am familiar with; so nothing before that day made me sit longer in my verandah and notice her so closely. I could hear utensils banging on the floor; maybe her drunken father is back home. After sometime she faltered back and made herself comfortable in the well-furnished deck chair in her verandah which was new but had one broken arm. May be the noisy birds, broken chair and the dust filled outdoors was a lot more
City Series – Urvashi Mukherjee in Calcutta, We the Isolationists (270th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Urvashi Mukherjee] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see a rather large empti-ness, like an umbrella or dome or inverted soup-bowl. It has us both protected and trapped. In the routine of nothing-much, I go up to the terrace for at least an hour, religiously, each day - and trace the patterns in the soup-bowl sky. The air gets lighter as our lives sag with the weight of this endless waiting. The stars twinkle brighter in my city and I try to read that as hope rather than illusion. Even soup-bowls need silver-linings. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with
City Series – Aishwarya Shrivastav in Bhopal, We the Isolationists (269th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Aishwarya Shrivastav] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see empty gardens that once housed poetry evenings. We could still run away for verse or worse. I see a kid reciting loneliness and an old professor weaving a love poem. I see unfinished poems under an open sky, trembling to stand in front of strangers. I see myself tasting fresh fear and stale doubt. I see myself. “We the Isolationists” series urges folks from any part of the world to share a brief diary starting with “I close my eyes in my self-isolation from Corona... and I see...” Not more than 100 words. With a horizontal-sized selfie, along with your city
City Series – Geetanjali Chitta in Delhi, We the Isolationists (268th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Geetanjali Chitta] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see myself paying attention to the distant voices around me that otherwise got lost in the noise of routine. In a flat in the next building, a Mom is making dinner and asking her kids not to eat snacks right before. In the house just above, a woman just like me is taking a work call and solving a difficult situation. Someone has rediscovered their passion for drums and is practicing relentlessly throughout the day. Few buildings away, a home is ringing bells ending their evening prayers. In this quiet isolation, voices within me, ones I thought were lost are slowing finding a way
City Series – Misaal Khan in Rampur, We the Isolationists (267th Corona Diary) Corona Diary by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Misaal Khan] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona... and I see nothing. A blank canvas but black, an empty feeling but sweet. When the whole world is on pause, it just tells me that it's okay if I, for a moment, take a deep breath, count to ten and back and just pause. With nothing of the future to tense me and with nothing from the past to agonize me, I just want to be lost in this guilty pleasure of letting myself free. Free from the cobweb of goals that I had planned, and all the self imposed expectations that were holding me underwater. If in this moment someone asks me to