Home Sweet Home – Nizamuddin & Others, Jama Masjid Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 20210 Housing on the pave. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] They literally live in the shadow of the Jama Masjid. Right under the Mughal-era monument’s west-facing wall, towards which the attendees inside the mosque offer their prayers. This late night, the men are lying — head to feet, head to feet — on the pavement that runs along the mosque’s boundary wall. Only one man has his eyes wide open. He is sitting on a low wooden chest, staring expressionlessly at the road in front. “We are 200 people,” says Nizamuddin, 52. Dressed formally at this late hour in pants and full-sleeved shirt, he informs that “we are mazdoor”. The generic description doesn’t give justice to the specialised skills that distinguish these
City Hangout – Muhammed Irfan’s Chai Stall, Outside Jama Masjid Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 20210 Chai with a view. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The sun is rising behind the distant Red Fort. Its grainy golden shine is falling softly on the centuries-old stone steps of Jama Masjid (gate no. 3). Oblivious to the new daylight, scores of homeless people continue to sleep on the vast ground beneath the great mosque. The world still seems to be at rest. Except for Muhammed Irfan’s chai shop. It opens at 5 in the morning and has already served several rounds of chai to the early birds. This has to be Delhi’s most idyllic tea stall, in terms of its location. It consists of a plain counter with two wooden benches facing the Jama Masjid, which stands a few
Mission Delhi – Vikas, Gurgaon Bus Stand Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are. That’s the famous saying of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. The legendary French gourmand lived during the early 19th century. If he were to be alive today, he could have as well said—show me your mobile and I’ll tell you what you are. Indeed, if you wish to know anything/everything about a person’s life, all you have to do is scan through his or her mobile phone. Vikas’s photo folder on his mobile gives a extensive overview of his world. For instance, here are some of his snapshots on the job--a shirtless Vikas, 24, half sunk in
City Landmark – Notary Clerks’ Cubicles, Asaf Ali Marg Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 28, 20210 A Chekhovian world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] 7 am. Tables are being put out, chairs are being unfolded. Along the corridor where the pedestrians walk. And also along the roadside. It is like a pavement cafe opening up for the day in Paris. But this is Asaf Ali Marg in central Delhi. Soon enough the brief stretch will teem with notary clerks preparing legal documents for their clients, who might have to submit those to the nearby ‘Office of the Sub-Registrar.’ This open-air shrine to paperwork is extraordinarily quaint because every single notary here works on an old-fashioned typewriter. Each one’s booth comprises of a table and a chair. A passerby might easily imagine these busy typists as a bunch of
City Food – Moradabadi Biryani, Around Town Food by The Delhi Walla - August 28, 20210 Battle of the biryanis. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] They had it coming. Big powers squabble among themselves only to lose out to smaller ones. Take megacities like Delhi, Calcutta and Hyderabad. They are forever fighting over whose biryani is better. Lucknow isn’t as big but it’s the capital of the country’s biggest state, and it too has ego issues for its biryani. As tensions continue between these cities, a much smaller city is winning the race. Rude people might dismiss Moradabad as provincial. The less ignorant are aware of the UP city’s reputation as the center of brass handicrafts industry. Now it’s becoming wildly famous for what is called Moradabadi biryani. Little shacks selling this version of the rice
Mission Delhi – Muhammed Aaqib, Around Town Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 26, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody is accusing Muhammed Aaqib of being ungrateful to his adopted city. It’s just that he is too partial to Nagina, his home town in Bijnaur, UP. “It’s a fact, Nagina is far better than Dilli,” the auto rickshaw driver insists, shortly after picking up a passenger in Lakshmi Nagar. The gentleman has been working in the capital as a rickshaw driver for a decade but his heart continues to belong to his native place. “Nagina’s very air, its water, its abo-hawa (atmosphere), the way people interact with each other, their style of speaking….” Plus, Nagina has something unique, he adds with a flourish as if
Mission Delhi – Parash Ram, Hazrat Nizamuddin East Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 25, 2021August 25, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s Raksha Bandhan festival and Parash Ram is wondering what if he were in his village in Lalitpur, MP, this day. “My sister, Preeti, would have tied rakhi on my wrist.” After a pause, he says—“I’ve a big family but I’m lonely. They are all in the village.” This late afternoon Mr Ram is alone in his Delhi home. It is a roadside camp, in posh Hazrat Nizamuddin East lined with gleaming apartment complexes. Mr Ram’s home is transitory, he informs. A labourer, his address keeps shifting, depending on the assignment he gets from his “thekedar,” the contractor. Currently, he is a “water pump operator.” Pointing to
City Hangout – 7 pm Monsoon Sky, Barakhamba Traffic Light Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - August 23, 2021August 23, 20210 Season in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The evening sky is stained in pale but pellucid pink. Such a gauzy shade materialises only by the chance entwining of the monsoon clouds with the setting sun. Meanwhile, birds are wheeling about in the air. Down under, humans are mechanically going about their business. This 7 pm scene at Barakhamba traffic light in central Delhi’s Connaught Place rivals the sunsets of mountains and seas. The area’s sights-cum-sounds are vividly conveying the poignancies of a worn-out city in sundown. Conveniently for the spectator, the sidewalk besides the traffic light, at the mouth of M Block in Outer Circle, happens to have a small seating facility. It is an idyllic location to immerse
City Food – Fresh Fruit ‘Roller’ Ice-Cream, Mathura Road Food by The Delhi Walla - August 21, 2021August 21, 20210 Too much natural. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A moderate crowd of idle pedestrians have gathered about the cart. Their faces are full of wonder. This so-called ice-cream is looking so different from the factory-manufactured nutty-buddy and chocolate-chip. Oblivious to the distraction they are causing on the roadside, the two young vendors are busily slicing apples, papayas, pineapples and bananas. Like in a TV cookery show, they are making their fruit ice-cream step-by-step in full view, which is smelling so fresh, so natural. As if it were not the fruit but the ice-cream itself that must had been growing on the tree. Resigned to the hot, humid evening, brothers Hameed and Aamir are wordlessly operating their “roller machine”, here on Delhi’s
Mission Delhi – Ramesh Kumar, Chitli Qabar Chowk Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 19, 2021August 19, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mobile phone has become as necessary as oxygen. Everybody seems to need it. Not Ramesh Kumar. Even though, he says, he earns enough money as a rickshaw puller to afford one. “I spend my nights on the patri,” he explains, referring to the footpath. And if you sleep on the patri, he says, you get to know all the bad things that happen at night in this city. For instance, “there’s no guarantee you will wake up in the morning with your samaan (things) still by your side.” Indeed, Mr Kumar had “3-4” mobiles stolen in the past while asleep. “And now I don’t keep it at