City Hangout – Kucha Pati Ram, Old Delhi Hangouts Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 16, 20240 Line of beauty. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] When not much subsists of a city’s material past—after the elderly people are gone, after the things are broken and scattered—what happens of the place? Then, it likely resembles Old Delhi. The Walled City lanes are littered with timeworn wreckage. One street, though, is stubbornly holding onto an unusually substantial portion of architectural heritage, and it is remarkably well-preserved. The façades of Kucha Pati Ram residences remain dense with quaint balconies, windows and doorways. Kucha traditionally referred to any lane where the dwellers exercised the same occupation. And Pati Ram… well, neither shoe repairer Sonu, nor nankhatai seller Heera Lal, or chai stall owner Praveen, could tell anything precise about the
City Hangout – Kamla Nagar, North Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - November 7, 20240 A town in the city. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Eyes darting around wildly, as if desperate to soak in all the sights along all the paves. Kamla Nagar in north Delhi always lifts the mood with its wondrously kaleidoscopic disposition. Especially catchy is the buzzy road that cuts through the main market. The multifaceted universe is inevitably youthful due to its nearness to Delhi University colleges. But it doesn’t have the alienating vibes of an age-arrogant college campus. Instead, it exudes the calmly pace of a small town bazar where everyone feels welcome, irrespective of age or style. (So appropriate then that the place-name ends with the Hindi word for town). The tick to best experience the Nagar is
City Hangout – Sunday Book Bazar, Mahila Haat Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - November 2, 2024November 2, 20240 Evolution of a place. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Place-names are frequently deceptive. Logically speaking, it ought to be a village market for female artisan-entrepreneurs. It actually is Ali Baba’s cave for secondhand books. Opened atop a basement car park in 2012, Mahila Haat overlooks the Walled City’s vanished walls on Asaf Ali Road. The planners had expected it to be Delhi’s second Dilli Haat, that much-loved Disneyland of art-and-craft stuff. The good intentions failed, and Mahila Haat stayed deserted and squalid. Its kismet turned in 2019, when it was chosen as the site for the capital’s iconic Sunday Book Bazar, which earlier would unfold every week on the pavement of nearby Daryaganj. (The new location proved far superior due
City Hangout – Cotton Market, Old Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - October 20, 2024October 21, 20240 Unique bazar. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is easy. The logic behind the name is no rocket science. Old Delhi’s Cotton Market owns its two words because it is a market that stocks cotton-made stuff, like quilts and mattresses and—per shop no. 15--“all kinds of shaneel, Jaipuri bedsheet, razai, gadda, pillow, coirform, mattress, quilt sheet, etc).” The place is spectacular in terms of sights. Parts of it offer a long sprawling view of the Jama Masjid, a perspective of the centuries-old monument not seen from anywhere else. The unassuming market is actually a stretch connecting Urdu Bazar to Chandni Chowk. The shops also sell carpets and suitcases. All of these cram up both sides of the narrow lane, and in
City Hangout – Gates of Lodhi Garden, Central Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - September 24, 20240 Five ways of seeing the park [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It has many monuments, lawns, trees, flowers, birds, butterflies, ducks and also many dogs. Each of these aspects of Lodhi Garden has been chronicled on these pages. Except for one additional aspect. Most Delhi parks don’t have as many entry points, but that’s not what makes the numerous gates of Lodhi Garden unique. The huge garden is so full of dramatically different picturesque sights, that each gate presents a distinct perspective of the park. Much like a kaleidoscope in which every turn shows something new. Lodhi Garden has twelve gates, out of which 5 are open to visitors. Others stay shut, such as the beautiful gate no. 10 that
City Hangout – Masjid Udyan, Gurgaon Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - September 18, 2024September 18, 20240 Notes from a park [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] No hint of flowers or grass. The damp mossy ground is instead littered with browned leaves, empty tobacco sachets, discarded paper cups, plastic spoons and beedi stubs. Even so, Masjid Udyan is intense. Facing the Jama Masjid in Gurugram’s Sadar Bazar, the public park used to be bare, forever exposed to the grey sky, but now it is crisscrossed with young shade-giving trees. Of course, the massive peepal is a beautiful exception. It has been here for a long time. A foundation plaque beneath the graceful giant dates the park to September, 1975. This warm afternoon, an elderly man is seated under the sheltering peepal, eating rookhi rotis. There is also a woman
City Hangout – G20 Relic, M-Block Market, GK II Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - September 9, 20240 A new souvenir of times past. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two white butterflies are flying over countries and continents, but are totally oblivious to the grand geography. They now pass over the Indian Ocean, gradually turn towards Northern Africa, and head to southern Europe. The butterflies are chasing each other over a map of the world, here at the public park in south Delhi’s M Block Market, in Greater Kailash 2. The world map came up a year ago, as part of a much larger installation to mark the G20 summit that opened in Delhi this day last year. In a city of monuments and limitless ruins, the G20 setup looks like one more relic of the capital’s multi-layered history.
City Neighbourhood – Tiraha Bairam Khan, Old Delhi Hangouts Regions by The Delhi Walla - September 7, 20240 A Walled City intersection. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tiraha Bairam Khan is a tiraha, a three-way avenue. One crowded passage goes to Chitli Qabar, one goes to Kucha Chelan, one goes to Dilli Gate. The center of the intersection is most fascinating, ringed by a mishmash of sights, sounds and colours. It comprises of a chhole kulche stall administered by Umesh Kumar, a tall letter box unlocked daily by the postman at 4pm to pick up the post, veggie stalls of Arshad and Irfan respectively, a fruit-and-clothes stall owned by Taufeeq (the stall was founded 50 years ago by his father, the late Syed Ahmed), and a display counter of plastic bins administered by vendor Amit. Overlooking the intersection is
City Landmark – Lakshmi Book Store, Janpath Bhawan Hangouts Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 20, 20240 A lesser-known haven. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Bookstores aspire to build a community of loyal readers, nudging the book browsers to linger on for hours. But this bookstore has a note stamped on the counter saying: “Please do not spend more than 15 minutes in the shop.” The little-known Lakshmi Book Store in Connaught Place’s Janpath Bhawan specialises in “occult sciences,” crammed with volumes on astrology’s many branches—astronomy, palmistry, numerology, Vastu, tarot card and face reading. The mezzanine floor destination is empty this evening in contrast to the jam-packed eateries (including the legendary Depaul’s!) downstairs in the market corridor. The shop started as a pavement stall in CP in 1951 by migrant Prem Sagar. It moved through a series of CP
City Neighbourhood – Gali Haveli Kallu Khawas, Old Delhi Hangouts Regions Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 17, 20240 The world of a long lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] What to write about it? This is just a narrow lane remarkable only for looking too-too unremarkable. Its mouth at the bustling Chitli Qabar Bazar street is flanked by a bangle stall. Whatever, the gali seems short and dull, it must end some dozen steps ahead on reaching that facing wall. The lane reaches the wall, but doesn’t end there. It veers to the left, goes straight, turns sharply to the right, goes straight, to the right again, straight, to the left, finally ending into a panel of partly pink doorways. Contradicting the first impression, the entire path turns out to be dense with many sights and many sounds. Such