Mission Delhi – Rajeev Ranjan, Near Gurgaon Railway Station Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 27, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In a metropolis of millions, what is it like to live alone? This question is bluntly put to Rajeev Ranjan who lives all by himself near Gurgaon’s railway station in the Greater Delhi Region. “It is better than living with people,” he says after a thoughtful pause. The masked man with a gamcha-scarf on his head is wearing blue denim jeans and a blanket is flung about him like a shawl. This late morning he is walking down the lane to—“time pass, there is no reason for walking.” But further queries reveal there is a reason. He says he has almost no possessions. At night he sleeps
City Hangout – Matkaman’s Water Point, Panchsheel Park Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 26, 20210 Art for water's sake. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here’s a place to briefly escape from all the negativity. This refuge is by a busy road, on a pavement in south Delhi’s Panchsheel Park. The seat is... an ambassador car, the yellow cab often identified with Kolkata. Actually, it’s just the front of the cab; its middle portion lopped off and a nice cushiony seat fitted into it (which could as well be the back-seat of the same cab). Here you sit, quietly watch the traffic go by, while beside you the pavement is decked up with inspiring inscriptions like this one—“Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” This
Mission Delhi – Muhammed Naeem Khan, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 26, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His face exudes immense calm, and sitting beside him is somewhat relaxing. He has the vibes of a fakir, an ascetic, which is nothing surprising when you know that he spends his days sitting in one of the courtyards of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s sufi shrine, in central Delhi. “I’ve been a khidmatgar in the dargah for decades,” says Muhammed Naeem Khan, referring to himself as a server of the shrine. It is a pleasantly cool evening. The worst part of winter is gone. The brilliantly blue sky has receded into hues of darkness. Mr Khan is sitting by a grave, alone. The shrine houses the grave
City Monument – Old Connaught Place Staircase, A Block, Inner Circle Monuments by The Delhi Walla - February 24, 20210 Finding lost time. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A creaking wooden staircase going up one side of the hall, opening into a narrow attic, or the mezzanine floor. In the earlier landmarks of the colonial-era Connaught Place (CP) shopping district, this simple element of architecture tended to be most common. But most of those longtime landmarks — or perhaps all of them — have now become history. You may remember this typical staircase, so evocative of an earlier time, from the legendary New Book Depot, famous for its collections of classics and for its charmingly eccentric owner. But that relic of the old CP shut down in 2012 – today, it is part of a clothes showroom run by
City Hangout – Ebony Cafe, Pai Walan, Jama Masjid Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 22, 20210 Paris in Purani Dilli. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In Paris, you have your cappuccino in front of Notre-Dame. In Delhi, it has recently become possible to enjoy a cappuccino — and not just sweet milky chai — in front of the Jama Masjid. Actually, it’s a side view of the Jama—which offers a very different perspective of the Walled City’s signature monument than the stereotyped appearances encountered in books and movies. Ebony café opened some days ago and is Old Delhi’s only bistro-style hang out. It’s in the heart of the historic district, and close to its ethos in many ways, and yet far from it. No pretensions here for the glorification of the area’s heritage, like in other local eateries.
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Namit Arora, DLF Phase 3 Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - February 18, 20210 The parlour confession. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Namit Arora is into reading, writing, travelling—so much so that he and his partner gave up their corporate career in California to travel and write about India, where they took up a place in Gurgaon in the Greater Delhi Region. Across the years, the couple have been to over a hundred destinations in 20 states on trains and buses but rarely on the plane, returning frequently to their “base camp” in DLF Phase 3. They would share their travelogues on their website and he even finished a book on Indian history based on his travels, which was ready to hit the world... just when the coronavirus hit the world last year. The
City Hangout – Vasudev’s Tea Stall, Hauz Khas Village Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 18, 20210 Chai with kindness. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The night is cold. Vasudev has rustled out a small fire from wooden twigs he picked up from the pavement. Dressed in cap and woollen overcoat, he is fortifying himself with a glass of steaming ginger chai. He is alone in his tea stall, which lies on the roadside, midway between Hauz Khas village and Aurobindo Market in south Delhi. The establishment is very modest but very comfortable. A plank of cement laid across two chunks of concrete serves as a seat for customers. The boundary wall on the back is crowded with idols of many gods, giving the stall a homely feel, as if this open space were part of a cosy
Home Sweet Home – Madame Bovary’s Windows, Golf Course Extension Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - February 16, 20210 A house of windows. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s midnight. Her fourth-floor house is quiet. Her daughter, husband and ma-in-law are sleeping. She settles down on the durrie by the window, lights a diya, pours herself a glass of red wine, and opens her much-scrawled copy of Madame Bovary. Sugandha Sehgal, 36, teaches this novel to grad students. An assistant professor in Delhi University’s Jesus and Mary College, she has taken leave from work to finish her doctoral thesis on “bodies out of context: politics and aesthetics of social media feminism.” Late last month, she shifted from her longtime house in Delhi’s Dwarka to Gurgaon, in Sector 62, Golf Course Extension. Trying to strike a friendship with the new home, she tells
City Monument – Delhi’s Most Beautiful Door, Gali Badliyan Monuments by The Delhi Walla - February 16, 20211 A heritage nobody knows. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Found. At long last, Delhi’s arguably most beautiful door has been discovered. It doesn’t have a doorbell. It’s not in any of the forts or palaces, or museums. Surely not in the bungalow districts of Golf Links or Vasant Vihar. It doesn’t belong to a temple, or to a mosque. It’s not part of any grand haveli either. It is in Old Delhi, true. But not in Gali Naughara Street, famous for its old houses and doorways. It is somewhere you might never have stepped in. Gali Badliyan is a part of Gali Chooriwallan street, a kind of long winding alley, the turning to it so discreet and the street itself so
City Life – Two Painters, Kamala Nehru Park Life by The Delhi Walla - February 16, 20210 On life and its disappointments. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is late morning and Manoj and Ravi are sitting in a city garden. The Kamala Nehru Park, tucked next to Gurgaon’s Roshanpura in the Greater Delhi Region, is otherwise largely empty. In their early 20s, both men are quiet. Manoj is drowned in the tree shade but Ravi’s face is speckled with occasional flashes of sunshine. At one point his right eye is immersed in shaded darkness, and the other is soaked in bright daylight, making his face appear like one of those classical paintings of the Renaissance. Both men are painters. Not the artist kind, but house painters. “We are labourers,” says Manoj. “Today is our off, so we