City Landmark – Maktaba Jamia Limited, Old Delhi General by The Delhi Walla - October 8, 20240 Story of a bookstore [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] See the shelves. Each crammed tightly with books. The attic within is similarly stocked. A wooden ladder hanging from a shelf is no showpiece—it is to go up the false ceiling crammed with even more books. And if you sit by the bookstore’s desk, you can catch a side glimpse of the centuries-old Jama Masjid outside, see right photo. Old Delhi’s Maktaba Jamia Limited has defied the pessimists. Last year, the Urdu Bazar bookstore triggered a series of false alarms about its closure. At one point early this year it stayed shuttered for more than a month, causing citizens to panic when "Chicken Corner" came up in front of the shutters. This afternoon,
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
City Monument – Bloomsday 2024, Martello Tower General Monuments by The Delhi Walla - June 15, 20240 Bloomdsday Mubarak. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening, two nattily suited men climb a steep cobbled slope to reach a lesser-known Delhi monument. Each of them has a copy of James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses, a classic of modern literature. The duo is here to mark — in advance — the date celebrated worldwide as Bloomsday, named after Leopold Bloom, the novel’s protagonist. June 16, 2024, is the 120th anniversary of Bloomsday; this is the date on which the novel’s story, set in 1904, unfolds. Ambassador of Ireland Kevin Kelly and Deputy Ambassador Raymond Mullen have now climbed the Martello Tower at Old Delhi’s Ansari Road. This monument has a namesake cousin in Dublin, Ireland. That Martello Tower in the
City Life – Staircases, Gurgaon Mosque & Gurgaon Mall General Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 13, 2024February 13, 20240 More than just a fire exit. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here are two aspects of one city. As seen through two staircases. The first one is a steep staircase littered with shoes, sandals and chappals—see right photo. The second one is a sparkling staircase—see left photo. The first is part of a mosque. The second is part of a mall. The first is in Jama Masjid, in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar. The second is in South Point Mall, in Gurgaon’s Golf Course Road. The Jama Masjid staircase is crammed with many footwears today, because it is the Friday afternoon prayer, and the mosque’s courtyard and corridors are packed with barefoot worshippers—Jama Masjid, of course, means Friday mosque. The shopping mall staircase
City Neighbourhood – Anjuman Chowk, Old Delhi General Hangouts Regions by The Delhi Walla - January 22, 20240 Heart of the world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Anjuman Chowk is the center of the world. This belief is firmly instilled into the sensibilities of the Anjuman Chowk gentry. After all, almost all the galis that matter to them drain into this square. One gali flows in from Chitli Qabar Bazar, which has Delhi’s best bakery for breakfast rusk, and which also has Delhi’s best shop for dress buttons of all kinds. One gali emanates from Bulbuli Khana where lies Empress Razia Sultan’s grave. One gali comes from Gali Ghantewali that had a clock tower to which dwellers from other galis would walk over to check the hour of the day. (Gali Salim Wali, which too runs into
City Landmark – Hazrat Chirag Dehli Shrine in Winter, South Delhi Faith General Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - January 17, 20240 Cold courtyard. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The air is windier than elsewhere in the city. The cold too is colder. With its vast courtyard, and its many trees, the sufi shrine of Hazrat Chirag Dehli is one of the most ideal places in the city to experience the Delhi winter. Some might find it a cruel joke to be recommended in this bitter cold to go to a place to feel the intensity of this bitter cold. The idea appears more tolerable on considering the fact that the Delhi winter is like the summer of Shakespeare’s England whose “lease hath all too short a date.” The city’s extreme cold is too brief. The looming heatwave is so much
City Vox Popili – A Life in Jasmine’s Day, Batala, Punjab General by The Delhi Walla - December 12, 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 Jasmine Dhaliwal] [By Jasmine Dhaliwal, a doctor] This morning when I got up, I had a lump in the throat and a load of needless thoughts weighing down the heart. But as soon as I found a peaceful spot to shed a few tears, a call came from the hospital about an emergency patient. Thus ended the process of self-imaginary healing by dripping some tears. -Once free from the patient, called up daughter who was stressed out as she had her finals. -One of the cars had to be sent to the service station as its engine had
City Vox Popili – A Life in Sarthak’s Day, Khan Market General Life by The Delhi Walla - December 8, 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 Sarthak Kaul, a trans-Yamuna writer] I wake up, crawl out of my bed and bow down to the source. I press my hands together and thank existence for giving its object another day. After the breakfast I board the auto for the nearest metro station—Mayur Vihar Extension. The driver tells me about his guru and his knowledge of the Upanishad. Picking out my favorite corner at a quaint, quiet coffee shop in Khan Market, I pull out a thick notepad and my lucky mascot — Mr. Reynolds. “Your usual order, sir?” The apron-clad young
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