City Landmark – RK Mohan Musical Instruments, Hamilton Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 30, 20230 A city secret. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pinewood harmoniums are piled up one upon another. Over there: a sitar, a veena, a mandolin. Confined to a tiny space, this amazing Hamilton Road shop is densely crammed with “vadhya yantram.” You cannot wander around without hitting-hurting some frail precious-seeming musical instrument, each looking like a valuable family heirloom that somehow found its way to RK Mohan Musical Instruments. This afternoon, the venerable Saravjit Singh is repairing a veena at his dimly lit establishment. His hands are moving slowly, as if assessing every move with prolonged thoughts. The shelves and closets around him are filled beyond capacity with musical instruments. An attic is chock-a-block with upturned sitars and surbahars. All is
City Food – Madhur Jaffrey’s An Invitation to Indian Cooking, Around Town Food General by The Delhi Walla - November 28, 2023November 28, 20230 A city's suisine. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] All cookbooks contain recipes. Only a few give insightful glimpses into a culture. Only a very few of those manage to propel a cuisine to worldwide fame, Some such books are: Claudia Roden’s A Book of Middle Eastern Food, Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Edna Lewis’s The Taste of Country Cooking, and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The common thread tying all these classics together is that they were perfected under the exacting expertise of an American editor—the legendary Judith Jones. A culinary classic with a homelier taste that the late Judith Jones happened to edit was on our Dilli ka khana. The book marks its 50th
City Vox Popili – A Life in Keziah’s Day, IIT Delhi General Life by The Delhi Walla - November 27, 20230 As part of The Delhi Walla series asking citizens to “write down everything you did in one day.” Send yours in 400 words max to thedelhiwallasoofi@gmail.com [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] [By Keziah Souza, a research scholar in IIT Delh] Its 7:30. After thrice snoozing the morning alarm, I sleepily get up. I squint my eyes to see outside the window. The Qutub Minar, which used to show up so clearly from my hostel’s 7th floor room, is almost invisible. Delhi pollution! I quickly rush out with my bucket, scared that all the bathrooms might be full by now, and I’ll have to wait long for my turn to bathe. Afterwards, I make my bed, light a candle, and open my bible to meditate
City Walk – Gali Hanuman Mandir Wali, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 26, 20230 Hidden beauty. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The arched entrance is made of marble, but at this afternoon hour, the entry is shut closed with a metal shutter. The contrast between the smooth white stone and the choppy metallic centrepiece is so jarring that the “dwar,” the doorway, actually looks far more fascinating than if it were made solely of marble. This portal is the core of Gail Hanuman Mandir Wali, for it is the entrance to Hanuman Mandir. The gali is off the bustling Sir Syed Ahmad Road. It is so secretively situated that no outsider might get a whiff of its existence. The narrow lane is lined only with private addresses. This moment, no sign of anyone, not even
City Vox Popili – A Life in Tansy’s Day, Manali General Life by The Delhi Walla - November 25, 2023November 25, 20230 As part of The Delhi Walla series asking citizens to “write down everything you did in one day.” Send yours in 400 words max to thedelhiwallasoofi@gmail.com [Photos by Dasel Troy-Norbu] [By Tansy Troy, an "educator, performer, poet"] First sun streams in through dusky silk curtains, rectangles of light. Passerines are conversing loudly in the pear tree. Dasel, my nine year old daughter, and I, huddle under heaps of quilts, staving off the fast approaching chill. There is already snow on the mountains. We rise, feed the animals, drink coffee in the sun, recount our dreams. Dasel writes a letter to her godmother, thanking her for an illustrated edition of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which she is finding 'even more exciting
City Library – Raghu Rai’s Collection of Books, Mehrauli Library by The Delhi Walla - November 25, 20230 Photographer's company. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The first impulse is to click his gaze, zoom up the photo on the screen and study it in detail. These eyes of Raghu Rai have not only recorded some of contemporary India’s most historic moments, but have also managed to penetrate into the very essence of those datelines. Such as the Bangladesh War, India Gandhi’s assassination, the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Among many memorable images, this “trained civil engineer” has given the world iconic portraits of Mother Teresa, as well as some of the most moody images of Delhi— recall that black and white photo of a man diving into the deep well of the medieval Agrasen ki Baoli, against a backdrop of
City Home – The Courtyard, Hameed Manzil Delhi Homes by The Delhi Walla - November 24, 20230 The last sehen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old houses in Old Delhi were made of onion-like peels. There would be kamra, the room, often called the mehman khana to receive the guests. It would open into dalan, an intermediary space between the interiors and exteriors of the house. It, in turn, would open into sehen, or aangan, the courtyard. Only a few such residences survive in the Walled City. Hameed Manzil in Gali Nal Wali is one of them. The long departed Hameeduddin, a merchant of gold laces, built it in 1910. This afternoon, his grandson Fazle Haque, and this venerable gent’s two sisters and a nephew, are huddled quietly around the dining table, having finished with their lunch.
City Vox Popili – A Life in Kanwal’s Day, Paris General Life by The Delhi Walla - November 23, 20230 As part of The Delhi Walla series asking citizens to “write down everything you did in one day.” Send yours in 400 words max to thedelhiwallasoofi@gmail.com [Photo by Apoorva Arora] [By Kanwal Sohi, who study English--Language, Literature and Society--at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris.] I entered the kitchen and put on the France Inter on the Radio France application while preparing the morning tea and omelette. Israel-Palestine war on the radio. I got messages from the Sorbonne and the American library that I have books overdue. I decided to go to both the libraries to return the books. After breakfast I put the books to be returned in my bag, lest I forget. I surfed social media apps. Time evaporates. I read
City Food – Gur or Jaggery, Gurgaon Food by The Delhi Walla - November 22, 20230 The gur of Gurgaon. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Gurugram's name traces its origins to the ancient days of Mahabharat and means guru’s village. Its former name of Gurgaon too implied the same. Even so, it is possible for some of us to innocently misconstrue the etymology of Gurgaon as gaon of gur, the village of jaggery. Gur—that tasty lumpy mass of brown unrefined sugar that pairs perfectly with a glass of piping hot milk, or with wintertime sarson ka sag and makke ki roti. Meanwhile gur is back in Gurugram. The jaggery sellers always return at this turn of the year. Such as Vendor Mahesh, intermittently pushing his cart this smoggy afternoon along a moderately crowded Roshanpura lane. The
City Landmark – Anil Book Corner, Connaught Place Hangouts Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 21, 20230 The friend around the corner. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Volga river is in Russia. Connaught Place (CP) too had its Volga, the restaurant. A denim showroom exists on the site. Also a part of CP’s history: Gaylord restaurant, Galgotia & Sons bookstore, Madras Hotel… these and many other landmarks in CP have been replaced by new landmarks, which in turn have been replaced by newer landmarks. The churning-manthan is keeping the colonial-era arcade invigorated and youthful. Some long-standing CP landmarks however are still standing, like the Kwality restaurant, the Amrit Book Company, the Wenger’s cake shop, the Ram Chander & Sons toy shop… these places have entrenched themselves into CP’s soul. Each looks stately and venerable. Except for one. Attached