City Obituary – Bhag Bahri Malhotra, 1932-2023 Life by The Delhi Walla - July 31, 20230 A bookstore icon. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] As a 15-year-old girl, she survived the partition in which two millions perished. Like many others lucky enough to live through that cataclysm, she went on to survive a migration, a new beginning, and decades of struggles. She also endured with fortitude the passing of her husband with whom she had shared 61 years. During her late 80s, she even survived the Covid-19 infection, twice. This Saturday afternoon, she died at her home in Safdarjung Enclave, surrounded by people she loved. Bhag Bahri Malhotra was 91. Her principal legacy being the flagship store of Bahrisons Booksellers in Khan Market, one of the very few original landmarks left standing in India’s most premium
City Hangout – Dining Hall, India International Center Annexe Food Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - July 30, 2023July 30, 20230 The lesser-known IIC. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The rainy day’s subdued light deftly streams through the misty windows, filling up the interiors with a diffused illumination. While the framed artworks on the walls glisten with the reflection of diners. The members-only Dining Hall at the India International Center’s (IIC) Annexe receives fewer guests than the members-only Dining Hall at the main IIC. A few years ago, an acclaimed author confided that “no one in the main IIC building knows anyone who frequents the Annexe: that’s a less important country”. The main IIC, next to Lodhi Garden, dates back to the 1960s. The Annexe came up later, in the 1990s. Compared to the Dining Hall at the main complex, which can be
City Landmark – Agrawal Sari Emporium, Chirag Delhi Village Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 28, 20230 Personal history. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi, a city of monuments. One gets tired of the adage. But its true. So many forts, so many tombs. More thrilling is when you land into a place that looks cent percent contemporary, yet contains too much past. Agrawal Sari Emporium epitomises such a landmark. It is on an ordinary lane in Chirag Delhi village, crammed with hundreds of saris and a dozen mannequins. The couple running the shop—Neeraj Agrawal and wife Rekha—chat with customers as cordially as distant relatives encountered in a wedding. This afternoon they guide their visitor into the small “kotha” at the showroom’s far-end—a small store crammed with sari packages. Neeraj looks up at the ceiling: “Its daab
City Food – Chole Bhathure, Civil Line Walla Food by The Delhi Walla - July 28, 20230 Cricketer's choice. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The angrez types spell it as wallah, as in Merchant-Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah. But we desis pronounce it as walla, no ‘h.’ Walla is a super-endearing word that instantly resonates with the idea of belonging. Chai walla belongs to chai, Dilli walla belongs to Dilli, and Civil Lines walla belongs to Civil Lines. The last is the name of a chole bhathure shack in Gurgaon’s... guess! (The place is spelled Civil Line Walla, no ‘s’—see photo). Actually, The Delhi Walla has already been to the place, had its chhole bhathure and even wrote about it. But that was years ago. Long before reel after reel started popping up on our Instagram feed of Virat
City Hangout – Forgotten Graveyard, Mathura Road Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - July 27, 20230 Lost cemetery. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Could it be the rains? The sprawling ground is choked with weedy grass and unknown plants, so tall and numerous that their tips prick the chin. Wading through is fearful. What if the next step fall on a hooded cobra? This is actually a graveyard, here beside the busy Mathura Road, on the westside of the sprawling Humayun Tomb complex, just behind Isa Khan’s mosque. The cemetery has not been in use for long, perhaps decades, or even centuries. It will be difficult to identify the people buried in these graves. This humid afternoon it is impossible to spot any grave anyway; even the narrow path has been subjugated by the vegetation. But somewhere
City Hangout – July Cloud Watching, Around Town Hangouts Nature by The Delhi Walla - July 26, 20230 The pleasure of merely circulating. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Full of the pomp and stateliness of emeritus professors, they are broodily sauntering about the empty space, indulging in the rarefied pleasures of merely circulating. These clouds of our late-July sky. One of the bad news these days is the weather. Unbearable humidity. Short spells of rain make it worse. While a full fledged session of rain raises fears of renewed flooding. And the sun isn’t being a friend. The consolation is the beautiful day sky, freckled with clouds. The only happy people must be the city’s countless nephophiles, the cloud connoisseurs. Naturally, at this time of the year, one ought to return to the highway commute between Gurgaon’s Shankar
City Life – Hijron ka Phatak, Old Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - July 24, 20230 A lost world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Katra Chandi Walla in Old Delhi is home to handicraft artisans of chandi or silverwork. Most people call it by its former name--Hijron ka Phatak. The place used to be largely inhabited by citizens identifying themselves as members of the hijra, or transgender, community. No such person live here now, says elderly artisan Riyaz, a katra resident. This afternoon, he points out the homes that earlier belonged to those former dwellers—see photo. A time was when scores of transgender people resided not only in this katra, but also in the surrounding galis and kuchas. “They called their home ‘dera,’ they were very polite, they kept to themselves,” recalls an elderly grocer. A chai
City Landmark – Water Fountain, Kasturba Gandhi Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - July 24, 20230 Time passing by a place. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] New in town. This water fountain. A couple clicks a selfie with it as their backdrop, and walk on contentedly. The fountain came up at one end of a road divider where it expands into a small plaza, right on the tip of Kasturba Gandhi Marg, across the road from Connaught Place’s N-Block. It started spewing out the “pani” a week ago, says Ramesh Kumar, who administers a pavement shoe repair establishment, nearby. Whether or not you, dear reader, find a big deal about this three-tiered fountain, it shall play its role in altering the face of one of the most historic parts of your megapolis. Within weeks, the modest
City Life – Green Benches, Lodhi Garden Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - July 22, 2023July 22, 20230 A readers' collective. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Not many might register their absence if they were to suddenly disappear from the park. So many of us anyway prefer to lie on the park’s cool grass. Even so, the green benches of Lodhi Garden are as much a part of its ambiance as its many monuments, flowers, trees, birds, butterflies, dogs, kettle wali chai vendors, guitarist-singers, VVIPs and conscientious joggers. Some of these benches exist singly, many others are thrown together in great numbers, as if placed there to host a mega-match-making session (check the yard beside the Rose Garden—20 face-to-face benches). The most distinguished bench is also the most picturesque, ensconced under the garden’s famous dead tree, in front of
City Life – Local Chatter, Gali Haveli Azam Khan Life by The Delhi Walla - July 20, 20230 Talk of the street. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Shabrati is shuttered. The Gali Haveli Azam Khan landmark was reinvented in the uncertain early months of the coronavirus pandemic into a fancy grocery, breaking the heart of a multitude of ageing loyalists who grew up on the flavour of its meaty nihari. Within weeks, the owners cancelled the grocery, bringing back their signature dish, the cooks and the cauldrons. Today, the closed Shabrati hints of time passing, as if yet another familiar sight is to disappear. Turns out it is merely that time of the evening when the eatery is customarily closed. It is to reopen in an hour. Elsewhere too in the vicinity, life is following its daily patterns. At