City Food – Daulat ki Chaat 2021, Chawri Bazar Food by The Delhi Walla - November 4, 2021November 6, 20210 The delicatest delicacy. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s just another tiresome evening in the Walled City’s Chawri Bazar. The entire road from the rear of the Jama Masjid to Ashok Chaat Corner is blocked by a massive traffic jam. Gradually the twilight hour arrives, and the light envelopes the dusty bazaar in a golden hue. Against this backdrop, Aadesh Kumar is sighted with a platter filled with what seems to be freshly fallen snow. This is Old Delhi’s most fabled dessert, and surfaces only in winter. “This time I started Daulat ki Chaat on October 19,” says Mr Kumar. A street vendor, he sells spicy golgappas the rest of the year. Much legend is attached to the making of the
Mission Delhi – Ranjeet, Nehru Place Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 4, 20210 One of the one percent in 13 million. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Such tall multi-storeys. Such a crowd of busy pedestrians. And he is sitting cross-legged on the ground, with his little basket in front of him. His statue-like stillness is accentuating the fast life around him. Like a hand immersed motionless in a stream that dynamically feels the shock and animation of the stream’s fast-flowing water. Ranjeet has been selling coconut slices in the commercial plaza of Nehru Place for more than 20 years. He seems frail and far too advanced in years for such demanding work. “I’m do kam assi,” he says, implying that he is two years short of 80. Many people on reaching this age exile themselves irreversibly into