City Landmark – Bharat Tin Traders, Subzi Mandi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - March 18, 20210 House of rats. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A rare landmark, you won’t easily find another place like this in most of the the city. This shop in Gurgaon’s Subzi Mandi in the Greater Delhi Region deals exclusively with mousetraps. “We make metallic choohe dani,” says Kuldeep Verma. This afternoon, the young man is presiding at his little shop filled on all sides with mousetraps, these airy cages with metal bars, in which you are supposed to put a piece of roti or bread hoping that the pesky rat will enter and be trapped inside. The shop, Bharat Tin Traders, is named after Mr Verma’s father, “and it was started by my father’s father, Shri Moti Lal, 60 years ago.” The founder
Mission Delhi – Raghav Kumar Jha, Connaught Place Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 16, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a job that needs confidence. To reach out to people. To talk smartly, and without awkwardness. To be prepared to be snubbed. To answer various queries. And it needs the employee to be well versed in the art of persuasion. And yes, a nice smile is a bonus. Raghav Kumar Jha has a brilliant smile, in fact, that glows about his entire face like a luminous halo. This evening he is stationed beside a zebra crossing in Connaught Place, standing amid a continuous motion of shoppers going about in all directions. Despite the crowd, he is easily noticeable in his uniform. Working in the
Home Sweet Home – Kiran Bhushi’s Terrace, Khel Gaon Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - March 16, 2021March 16, 20210 Season's space. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are many beautiful terraces in Delhi, but this one might be the most beautiful of all—at least at this time of the year. When semal trees are still in bloom, and that their red flowers set alight every surface they fall upon. Kiran Bhushi’s second floor apartment lies right under the branches of a gigantic semal, in south Delhi’s Khel Gaon. And this evening the terrace is covered with semal’s pulpy flowers, dropping one after another. “The other day one fell on my friend’s wrist, and she said it hurts,” mutters Ms Bhushi. Wearing a peach-coloured tussar silk sari, she has just returned from work. A sociology professor, she reigns alone in this
Mission Delhi – Kanchan Patwa, South Delhi Garden Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 13, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Long hair. Same-same dresses. And all three are dancing together this morning in a corner of this south Delhi public park. As if fairies had taken over a secret spot, thinking no one else was around. The young women laugh. “No, I want to be a YouTuber,” says one of them, clearly the group leader. But Kanchan Patwa corrects herself immediately. “I’m already a YouTuber... I have my own channel with lakhs of followers.” Kanchan currently has 219K subscribers on her YouTube channel. She is a dancer, and lands up daily in one of the very many Delhi destinations (Connaught Place, Dilli Haat, Lodhi Road,
Mission Delhi – Musaddi Lal Gupta, Deer Park Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 13, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s a familiar yet a super-rare sight. No, not the centuries old-monument behind him, but the elderly man himself, here in in south Delhi's Deer Park. He is spinning khadi, the way you might have seen Gandhi do on old photographs. Except that this man’s charkha, or spinning wheel, looks more modern, the wheels fitted inside an elegant coffee-colored wooden box. “Yes, I spin my own khadi,” says the gentleman, introducing himself as Musaddi Lal Gupta. He says that he lives nearby with children and grandchildren, and comes to the park to “pass my empty time.” But why, at 71, does he need to make his own
City Moment – Writer Arundhati Roy Visits Her Father, Indian Christian Cemetery, Burari Moments by The Delhi Walla - March 12, 2021March 12, 20210 A daughter's pilgrimage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is afternoon. Writer Arundhati Roy is wading through tall, disheveled grass here in the Indian Christian Cemetery, in north Delhi’s Burari. She is carrying a few long stems of pink lilies in her left arm. A handbag is hanging from her right shoulder. The ground is littered with crosses that must have fallen from their graves over the years, many of which lie unseen under the vegetation. At long last, Ms Roy arrives at her destination. The inscription on the marble grave reads: Just as I Am Rajib Roy “Mickey” Born on 28.09.1932 Died on 09.07.2007 He was Ms Roy’s father. She bends down on her knees, keeps the flowers under these words, and places her right palm close
City Hangout – Morning Market, Chitli Qabar Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - March 11, 20210 Dream bazar. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] All sorts of colors and curiosities spring up along the street, with shoppers and sellers engaging in a most comely harmony. This has to be Delhi’s dreamiest and most eclectic pavement market. When so many visitors come to Old Delhi for its monuments, cuisines and street life, it is astonishing that this pavement market isn’t featured in any guidebook. According to one seller, it has been functioning since the 1950s. So see, it is a historic landmark too. The bazar is located in the Walled City’s Chitli Qabar neighbourhood. Every day, hawkers claim the pavements from the early hours of the morning, decking their many stalls with their many specialities. The entire way is clouded
City Season – Leafless Tree, Lodhi Garden Nature by The Delhi Walla - March 11, 20210 Look this season. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Leaves are falling. As brutal summer inches closer, scores of trees across Delhi have started shedding their leaves. If it’s windy the yellowed leaves drop continuously in a gentle shower. By noon, roads are carpeted with a golden-coloured layer. Many leaves find their way onto the subway stairs, into ATM cabins and even into the open kettles of roadside tea vendors. In the evening, when office-goers reach the parking stands, they first have to wipe the papery leaves from their cars’ windshields. One recent morning in Panchsheel Park, leaves were falling like a steady snowfall upon and around a security guard stationed outside a bungalow. He remained absorbed by his mobile phone. Indeed, one
Home Sweet Home – Laila Tyabji’s Window, Shanti Niketan Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - March 8, 20210 Her stay-at-home consolations. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Dressed in a many-hued hand-woven Murshidabad silk sari, craft activist Laila Tyabji, 73, is sitting in her book-lined drawing room in south Delhi’s Shantiniketan. Behind her sofa is a huge glass window through which all you see are sky, clouds and trees. As she chats, the birds fly past the window—like fish swimming in the aquarium. During the lockdowns last year, “my drawing room window reminded me that looking out is as important as looking in,” she says. “Things have their own beauty, but also the beauty of memory and the people with whom you associate them.” She tells The Delhi Walla about 5 cherished objects that were a source of comfort during the homebound
City Style – Pramod Kumar’s Flowery Mask, Roshanpura Style by The Delhi Walla - March 8, 2021April 16, 20210 The mask sartorialist. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Elegant, his dressing style. His blue-and-white striped, long-sleeved shirt is going well with his gamchha, which is arrayed in a check pattern of of blue, pink and green. Both ends of the gamchha are falling on either sides of his shoulders, like a set of extra limbs, for decoration. But the most remarkable thing about rickshaw puller Pramod Kumar’s sartorial style is his pandemic-era mask. Especially when you compare it to the masks of folks going about him this afternoon, here in Gurgaon’s Roshanpura in the Greater Delhi Region. Their face covers are in plain shades, some are branded. But Mr Kumar’s mask is looking like a garden. It has a blue background