City Life – Ghalib Dehlavi & Kader Abdolah, Central Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - February 6, 20250 From the Farsi universe. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Best to start at the beginning. Farsi took its earliest form a long time ago in Persia. The language thrived in its homeland, and gradually transcended the geographical borders of modern-day Iran, building homes in other lands. Take Delhi’s Mirza Ghalib, acknowledged among the greatest poets of Farsi. Some decades ago in a politically turbulent Iran, a young man had to leave his country, and was eventually obliged to make a new home in the Netherlands. All these years later, he has become a bestselling author writing in Dutch. This afternoon, the worlds of these two literary figures of the Farsi universe intersect. Kader Abdolah of Delft is in Ghalib’s Delhi, heading to
City Life – Empty Quarter, Ghaziabad Hangouts Life by The Delhi Walla - January 30, 2025January 30, 20250 Topography of the suburbs. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Only a heap of broken images where the evening sun beats. But let’s skip the introductory passage, and straight jump into our on-the-ground report. Following are the surreal scenes observed on reaching an open sprawl in a far-flung corner of the capital region. This vast ground is thickly covered with sand. Swirls of sand are rising from the ground, drifting along some distance, and then fading from view. A green plastic thaila has wrapped itself about a dead plant—see photo. A bunch of sheep are being herded by a man in a huge red turban. A mangy dog is lying exhausted, silent but eyes wide open. Earth has been dug up at various places across the ground;
City Life – Republic Day Parade, Old Delhi Life Walks by The Delhi Walla - January 25, 20250 Walled City's national tradition. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Chapar-chapar, chapar-chapar—the footstep sounds would reverberate all through the night of 25th January on the street outside his home in Mohalla Qabristan. An endless multitude of people would be on their way to watch the great parade, which would be due to begin in the morning. This is how Old Delhi businessman Fareed Mirza remembers the Republic Day of his childhood. Most of us place the annual Republic Day parade of 26th January merely to the short stretch along New Delhi’s Rajpath avenue (now Kartava Path), where it marches through an audience comprising of our republic’s top VVIPs—this is the part of the parade that has been beamed live year after year on
City Life – Jane Austen in Delhi, Around Town General Life by The Delhi Walla - January 14, 2025January 14, 20250 Life's feast with a beloved writer. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Surely no enjoyment is as amiable as reading Jane Austen. The year 2025 might be one more year of busy nothings, but it does mark the 250th birth anniversary of the world’s greatest drawing-room novelist. (After all, when Jane Austen’s characters aren’t plotting about paisa-pyar-shaadi, they are found huddled in the drawing-room, gossiping about the weather and the lace on neighbour’s gown). Jane Austen died at 41. In her brief life, she wrote only about what she knew most intimately—the lives of women and men of rural England. But her storytelling has magically transcended the hyperlocal, becoming relatable to all of us worldwide. Her heroines are our very own mummies
City Landmark – Peepal Tree, Kamala Market Life by The Delhi Walla - January 13, 20252 Sociology of a tree [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A big fat rat emerges out of a hole, stares greedily at the rice dispersed around the trunk of the tree. The rat quickly picks up a rice grain into its mouth and vanishes into the hole. Next instant, the rat re-emerges, picks up one more rice grain and vanishes back into the same hole. The dusty ground about the tree has very many holes. Each hole has a rat—a head peeping out from one, a pair of eyes from another, and so on. The peepal tree outside the Kamala Market complex in central Delhi is distinguished for its massive bulk. It also harbours many squirrels, which too are staking their claim to
City Obituary – Bim Bissell of FabIndia, Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - January 10, 2025January 10, 20251 Portrait of a life [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sunder Nursery has gardens, lakes, fountains, monuments, an amphitheatre, and even a restaurant. And then it has something which is barred to grownups. With its unique “charpai" swings and many slides, the Playhouse is wildly popular among children. This haven for the young-ones was the doing of a very grownup citizen who was lucky enough to have lived to see her ninth decade. The celebrated Bimla Nanda Bissell - Bim to friends - was a grand dame of Delhi society, to say the least. She died on Thursday, aged 93. She is survived by son, William, and daughter, Monsoon. "Bim helped get the funds to set up Sunder Nursery's Playhouse," says
City Landmark – White Flower Tree, Lodhi Garden Landmarks Life by The Delhi Walla - January 3, 20250 The Lodhi Garden snowfall [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The snow lay drifted on the park benches and on the clipped hedges, on the spears of the grass, on the tip of the tombs, and along the pebbled paves. It was falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, upon all the living and the dead. Well, these words are mostly fished out from the celebrated passage of a celebrated story by the great James Joyce. In the short story, the snow was falling all over Ireland. Here, the snow was falling upon Delhi’s Lodhi Garden. Correction: the snow had fallen only upon one tree in Lodhi Garden. Further correction: the snow is not really snow. These are white flowers. From a distance,
City Life – The Twins of Connaught Place, Central Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - December 13, 20240 Anshul and Ankur [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Meet Anshul and Ankur. They are identical twins, having identical voices. Both went to the same school and the same university, entered the same profession, settled in the same city, and now have their day-jobs in the same Connaught Place. The same-same somewhat ends here. Anshul lives with wife Chetna in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj. Ankur lives with wife Shivangi in east Delhi’s Yamuna Vihar. This cold evening, both brothers, after leaving their respective offices for the day, meet in CP’s Outer Circle colonnade. They stand against the backdrop of CP’s distinctive white columns. These columns too are identical, twining each other many times over along the whole colonial-era circle. Separated by nine minutes,
From The Delhi Walla Archives – A Selection of Prints, “Somewhere in Delhi”, Fourth Batch Life Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - December 12, 20240 Tangible souvenirs [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Hello friends! I’ve come out with a fourth batch of “Somewhere in Delhi” prints! The selection is curated and designed by Venetian designer Anna Gerotto, and professionally printed on high quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 paper. Each print is signed and numbered by its writer-snapper--me! These tangible souvenirs are intended to carry a spirit of the work I have been doing non-stop day and night in the lanes of Delhi—since 2007! Three new options! Write to me for details at mayankaustensoofiarchive@gmail.com. Somewhere in Delhi 1. "Humayun's Tomb" a. b. 2. "Mango Cart" a. b. 3. "Nah Nah" a. b.
City Neighbourhood – Chatta Jaam Beg, Old Delhi Hangouts Life by The Delhi Walla - December 9, 20240 The Walled City encyclopaedia [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] No horses here any longer. Haven’t been seen for a long, long time. They aren’t even part of anybody’s lived memory. The horses have become a legend, and so have their “tabele,” the stables. But during the Badshah raaj, when the Mughals commanded the empire from the Red Fort, this Old Delhi street had tabele for horses. That must had also been a time when Jaam Beg hadn’t yet become a myth. Today, the man who gave his name to the street is remembered only as mister somebody who was VIP enough to have got the honorific title of ‘beg.’ Like any classical Purani Dilli street, Chatta Jaam beg in Tiraha