Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Annie Ernaux, Gali Kebabiyan Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - February 26, 20230 The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] One of the world’s greatest living authors, French novelist Annie Ernaux is in our city to attend the Delhi Book Fair, in which France is the guest of honour. The 2022 Nobel laureate in literature agreed to be a part of The Delhi Walla's Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Her answers were translated from French into English by Jayashri Sridharan. Your favorite virtue or the principal aspect of your personality. The desire for perfection. Your favorite qualities in a man. Vulnerability, rectitude. Your favorite qualities in a woman. Strength, rectitude. Your chief characteristic. A memory that allows me to walk back in time like one does in a movie. What
Mission Delhi – Annie Ernaux, Gali Kebabiyan Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 25, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here she is, a few hours after travelling from Paris in an Air India flight, walking in Purani Dilli, between Matia Mahal and Jama Masjid, and in the more secretive galis around them. In casual white pants and blue top, her hair is loose, as it always is. She looks calm, easy-going, and only slightly amazed by her surroundings, even though she is so far away from her world — the little town of Yvetot, where she grew up in rural France, and the city of Cergy in the suburbs of Paris, where she lives. A world that she has chronicled for about 50 years in all
City Hangout – Extinct & Existing Bookstores, Urdu Bazar Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 23, 20230 The Lajpat nobody knows. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Urdu Bazar is a terrifyingly congested block of human cacophony and traffic tumult. Tolerated only because it hosts a picturesque part of the Walled City (Jama Masjid gate no. 1), and because of its dozens of kebab shacks (Chunnu Chacha Kakori Kebab’s, etc). Not many are aware that these popular eating joints replaced the once-popular institutions that constituted the spine of Delhi’s literary world—the Urdu bookstores and publishers that gave the bazar its name (according to a version). Today, a Walled City bashinda finds it impossible to name even a single of those extinct landmarks. But reader, you won’t be one of those ignorant citizens. Here’s a list of all the
City Food – “Factory” Cream Rolls, Sher Khan’s Glass Case Food by The Delhi Walla - February 21, 20230 [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Chasing a vendor. Evening, half past seven. The glass case almost empty of cream rolls. Only 10 left. Sher Khan had started at eight in the morning with 300 cream rolls. But no turning to home till the last cream roll is gone. That’s his daily drill. Here’s a day randomly extracted out of this gentleman’s life. Sher Khan gets up at 6 at his home in Noida’s Hindon Vihar. By 7, he is in a “factory” that mass-produces cream rolls. Made by night-shift bakers, these flaky cream-filled sticks are hawked by vendors across the Delhi region. Even so, cream rolls are not a common sight in the capital, certainly not in the hoity-toity patisseries.
City Season – Semal Blossoming, Yamuna Bank and Around Town Nature by The Delhi Walla - February 20, 20230 On the brief spring. [Text and photo Mayank Austen Soofi] You spot the tree in the morning commute. It looks like a thing at the cusp of loveliness. You don’t make much of it. Being busy, you carry on with your day. Later in the evening, or the day after, you see another such tree, in another place. This keeps happening. These are semals, almost blooming. Soon, these trees with their ashy barks and tiered branches will be covered in red voluptuous flowers, as dressy as the cover models of a fashion magazine’s September issue. But we are in mid-February, and semal starts blooming more earnestly only by early March. Then everybody will be instagramming these flowers. For the sophisticated set, however, the
City Walk – Gali Kebabiyan, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - February 18, 20230 The lane of kebab makers. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] People step into this lane for nihari and biryani, for burra and korma—all to be had at the “world-famous” Karim’s restaurant. Those in the know wade deeper, to have the zaikedar haleem at Naimuddin’s, just around the corner. Nobody cares for the poor kebab. And this is Gali Kebabiyan. “This street was exclusively the rehaish (residence) of kebab wale,” mutters mechanic Zaheer Ahmad. A gali resident, he is gossiping with friends outside a shuttered storefront. “Back then, the Kebabiyan’s kebab wale made seekh kebabs as long as this,” he says, measuring half his arm. Following the Batwara (Partition), he goes on, all the kebab wale of Kebabiyan moved to Pakistan.
City Food – Ram Laddu, Lajpat Nagar & Gurgaon Food by The Delhi Walla - February 16, 20230 Snack pilgrimage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Is the best Paris-Brest in Paris? Is the best Mysore masala dosa in Mysore? Is the best Modi Nagar ki mashoor danedar shikanji in Modi Nagar? To get the answer, you must travel the golden triangle of Paris, Mysore and Modi Nagar. Or, do a shortcut. To confirm if a dish tastes best only in the place famous for it, simply shuttle between the neighbours Delhi and Gurgaon. First go to Lajpat Nagar Central Market, in south Delhi, and try the crispy ram laddus in any random stall (here’s a shoutout to young Sukhbeer’s ram laddu cart). The bazar also boast of an immodestly large establishment dedicated to this modest street snack—Ram Laddu Food Corner
Mission Delhi – Kanhaiya, Shanti Niketan Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 16, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is from Bhagwan Ram’s birthplace, but is named after Bhagwan Krishna. Kanhaiya shrugs. “My name was given to me by my mata-pita.” An Ayodhya native, the middle-aged gent is sitting by a shaded roadside in south Delhi’s posh Anand Niketan, a few steps away from the embassy of a much-in-news country. He is perched on a gas pipeline marker. Afternoon sunshine is piercing through the tree leaves and falling directly on the road. A labourer-cum-plumber, Kanhaiya finished an assignment—a water pipe was leaking—and now “I’m resting for a while.” After some minutes, he plans to head to another assignment some miles further south in Vasant Vihar. He
City Home – Roommates in Ruin, Galli Chooriwallan Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - February 14, 20230 Roomies, a portrait. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] So dark, so musty. It’s like a cave. As the eyes adjust to the dimness, this mysterious world exudes even more mystery. The jagged walls—unpainted, bare— are of long-ago lakhori. These hefty columns—hewed out of stones. The floor—all sand. “It’s Badarpur sand,” clarifies one of the men. This is the extraordinary residence of a bunch of men who haul construction material on wooden carts. Their home is without doubt the remnants of a haveli, here in Old Delhi’s Galli Chooriwallan. But it’s just an old ruin, they mumble, dismissing it as a “purana khandahar” owned by a local builder. The place has partly the look of a godown. Sacks of Badarpur sand are stacked
City Landmark – Chauhan Bros. Stationery & Hosiery, Paharganj Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - February 13, 20230 The small shop around the corner. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The white hoarding, the blue and red letters painted on this hoarding, the yellowing shutters. All these adds to the shop’s engrossing ambiance. Merely looking at it transports the gazer into another country. As if inside lies the trapped air of yesteryears, like in an ebony box that hasn’t been opened for centuries. Entering the dimly lit interiors is calmly. The shaded coolness so palpable, you could hold it in your hands awhile. Certainly Chauhan Bros. on Panchkuian Road, across the lane from RK Ashram metro station, must be one of the longest surviving dukan in Paharganj. Well, no. Well, yes. It is merely 20 years old as a stationery.