City Faith – Sufi Qawwali, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah Faith by The Delhi Walla - September 3, 2024September 4, 20240 Saqlain & Chand. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tonight (3 September, '24) Delhi’s most famous sufi shrine will host poetry-filled musical qawwalis until the morning. It is the 810th Jashn-e-Wiladat, or birthday celebrations, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulya, whose grave constitutes the historic dargah’s heart. Now see the photo of the two qawwal singers snapped in the shrine’s courtyard a week ago. Chand Nizami, right, might be more familiar because of his appearance in a chartbuster film qawwali (you know which!). While the much younger Saqlain is the third son of the greatest qawwal of our times. The two are rarely sighted together. Maybe because they belong to rival qawwal clans. That said, Saqlain’s Nizami Khusro Bandhus and Chand’s Nizami Bandhus
Mission Delhi – Saurabh, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - September 2, 20240 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Uniformed in blue, he is stationed at the posh neighbourhood’s entrance, here in central Delhi, attending to his day shift as a gateway guard. Saurabh is 23. He arrived in Delhi five days ago from his home district of Rewa in Madhya Pradesh. It is his first time in the city, he says. He informs he did his postgraduate master's degree in commerce from Rewa’s Awadhesh Pratap Singh University. Saurabh was awarded the degree a year ago, but he did not immediately try to search for a suitable employment. Instead, he stayed at home, pressing pause on his private plans to focus on performing a grandson’s duties.
City Landmark – Cinema Excelsior, Bazar Sirki Walan Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 2024August 31, 20240 A Walled City landmark. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pahari Imli takes its name from being a hill that once boasted of a tamarind tree, Gali Mem Wali was the lane housing a “ma’am,” and Amrood Wali Masjid is a mosque that had a guava tree. The origins of Old Delhi place-names are easily relatable, with notable exceptions. Take this landmark. Its name feels as foreign as caviar will in Chandni Chowk. Oxford dictionary dates the word to 1778 when it originated as the Latin motto (‘higher’) on the seal of the State of New York. Say salam-namaste to Excelsior (pronounced "ek" + "sel" + "see" + "aw".). Shut since 2016, the single-screen cinema at Bazar Sirki Walan stands discreetly behind the
City Life – Rat Poison Sellers, Gurgaon Life by The Delhi Walla - August 31, 20240 One of the ways of making a living [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The world has its share of unloved and unwanted rats. This becomes evident in Gurugram’s bustling Sadar Bazar. It offers an unusually frequent sightings of street hawkers selling rat poison. Here are brief sketches of a few of them encountered across the seasons. Seeshpal arrived in the city more than two decades ago from a Rajasthan village. He spent the early weeks surveying the markets, observing the many street businesses. One afternoon in Sadar Bazar, he sighted a hawker walking along a packed lane with a placard hanging from his neck. The placard depicted a rat. The man was selling rat-killing pills and powders. Today, Seesh
City Home – Sharif Manzil, Ballimaran Delhi Homes Life by The Delhi Walla - August 29, 20241 An old mansion in the times of climate crisis. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The summer of 2024 will soon pass into memory for Sharif Manzil. The historic residence in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran has withstood the passing of too many summers. 304 summers to be precise—the house came up in the year 1720. This afternoon, Sharif Manzil’s patriarch is ensconced in his upper-floor drawing room. If you open the door behind the sofa on which Masroor Ahmed Khan is seated, and step out into the balcony, you will have a direct view of Gali Qasim Jan. That street is the address of Ghalib’s last haveli, the home of the great poet is a flower’s throw away from Sharif Manzil. “The haveli
City Monument – Rahim’s Dome, Mathura Road Monuments by The Delhi Walla - August 28, 20240 Delhi's weirdest dome. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It looks like icing on the cake. But who licked off more than half of the yummy cream? This is the weirdest dome among all of the Delhi monuments. It tops Rahim’s tomb on Mathura Road. The dome is made of stone and lime mortar, but parts are covered with marble blocks. Actually the dome had no marble in living memory. These white blocks were put up a few years ago during an ambitious conservation project. One wonders if funds dried up, preventing the acquisition of the rest of the marble needed to complete the conservation. A citizen is naturally perturbed for such a significant 17th century monument built by Mughal-era poet Rahim (originally)
City Food – Jalebi Tour, Chandni Chowk and Other Places Food by The Delhi Walla - August 27, 20240 A sweet walkathon. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tell all the truth but tell it slant. These are Emily Dickinson’s words. The poet from Amherst must have been a devotee of sweet delicious jalebi, which too is anything but straight. Here’s a citywide tour of the twisty dessert, starting from a classic landmark and ending at a rather lesser-known destination. What Humayun’s Tomb is to Mughal monuments, Old Famous Jalebi Wala is to jalebis. The Chandni Chowk establishment (since 1884; founder: Nemchand Jain; “we have no other branch in Delhi & NCR”) stands at the turning to Dariba Kalan. Start the experience by watching the cook in action (he could be any of these: Bachha Ram, Saurabh, Arun, Vikesh). Ensconced
Mission Delhi – Salma, Turkman Gate Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 26, 20240 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] His wife of two decades died this week on August 20, and “I don’t have a single photo of Salma,” Shehzad says, three days after burying her in a graveyard in Madangir. Shehzad sells chooran and similar digestives on a small trolley outside Old Delhi’s Turkman Gate gateway. His establishment is close to the area’s police post, beside a fruit seller’s stall. He has seven children but only Rukhsar and Aleem are with him this afternoon (see photo)—“others are with relatives.” Salma was the family breadwinner, says Shehzad. The couple had arrived more than two decades ago from Agra. He started in the Walled City as a labourer,
City Walk – Gali Lal Darwaza, Old Delhi Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 26, 20240 A Walled City lane. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The yellow door headlines the saffron doorway, and the wall around is light blue. The sight dazzles the eye. It is one of the many compulsively clickable private doorways on this Walled City street, which is actually named after a doorway. Gali Lal Darwaza is entered, naturally,, through a lal darwaza, red doorway. This long lane near Bazar Sitaram goes past a series of residences and temples before ending into a… well, doorway. Here’s a severely truncated tour of Lal Darwaza darwazas. —An unusually tall wooden door graced by a sculpted Ganesh ji forms the portal to Jugal Bhawan, marked with the year 1953. —A doorway’s dark-wood door is arrayed out
City Food – Lalchand’s Tea Pot Chai, Chawri Bazar General by The Delhi Walla - August 24, 20240 A market institution. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Delhi chai stall depends on a stainless steel kettle, and never on some pretentious bone china tea pot, the kind sighted in BBC adaptations of Jane Austen’s teatime novels. This roadside stall in Old Delhi’s super-chaotic Chawri Bazar however possesses almost that type of tea pot. “Very najuk (delicate) ketli,” says the busy tea stall man. The city’s pavement tea stalls are distinguished for their fragile place in the world. They might be in existence for decades, yet every evening after the stall closes for the day, the long-time street landmark vanishes, as if it had never been. Tea stalls also keep closing permanently all