City Walk – Brijmohan Chowk, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 7, 20260 The Walled City enyclopedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A giant flowerpot is standing under the blue sign for Brijmohan Chowk. Nothing is growing in the pot. Its wide mouth is holding plastic bags, empty cigarette packs, wrappers and other rubbish. The paving around it is cracked. Cars are edging past on either side in the afternoon rush. As you can see, dear reader, even a flowerpot can grow into something else in your beloved Dilli. This one has the air of a nihilist art installation to which the common man has been invited to contribute. This Saturday, our weekly series exploring the present and past of Old Delhi’s streets arrives at this dreadful crossing on Netaji Marg in Daryaganj. Here, you
City Landmark – Work in Progress, New Delhi Railway Station Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 7, 2026November 7, 20260 Inner Circle charkhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dilli is changing furiously. From a road bridge beside New Delhi railway station, you can look down and see how deep the change goes. This sunny, smoggy afternoon, the footpath along the old red-brick bridge on Central Delhi’s Deshbandhu Gupta Marg gives you a clear view of the railway station’s redevelopment site. The bridge is outside the station. No platform ticket needed. A fence keeps you safely apart from the messy traffic. The sight is eye-popping. An enormous pit has opened up beside the station, its walls sheer stretches of brown earth. You might be looking into a quarry. Far below, metal rods stick up from wide concrete bases. A heap of concrete blocks
City Life – Diwali Walk, Connaught Place Faith Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 7, 20260 Inner Circle charkhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This evening in Central Delhi’s Connaught Place, the Diwali lights are already turned on while there is still some daylight left. You can see the wires from which the little bulbs hang. Soon as the daylight fades, the wires become invisible and the decorative arrangement above A Block, Inner Circle, gives the illusion of a curtain of gold hanging at its entrance arch. The upper windows of the Museum of Illusions are glowing blue behind it. Diwali falls on Sunday. In the evenings leading up to it, Delhi’s roads jam up and the markets are super-packed. CP’s Inner Circle is one of the few places in the city where, in the thick of
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Aslam, Ghalib Academy Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - November 4, 20260 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A longtime staffer at Ghalib Academy, a literary institution in Central Delhi, Aslam is a very quiet man. Yet his presence is strongly felt, perhaps because of the calm he exudes even while standing still. See photo. This evening, he graciously agrees to take part in our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Your favorite occupation. I work in this building devoted to shayari (poetry). I make chai for visitors. I serve them biskut and water. I do all kinds of other work, when needed. I arrange things in the auditorium each time it hosts meetings and conferences. I’m an
Delhi Metro – Book Readers, Violet Line & Other Routes Delhi Metro by The Delhi Walla - November 4, 20260 On commuter-readers. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Something suspicious is going on aboard a train coach on the Delhi Metro Violet Line, just as it leaves the JLN Stadium station. Almost everybody has a mobile out. So far, so normal. But this man is holding a book. An open book! He stands amid a crush of shirts and pants, his Ho Chi Minh beard lowered towards the bulky hardbound of Akshaya Mukul ‘s “Writer, Rebel, Soldier, Lover: The Many Lives of Agyeya.” Truth be told, Delhi Metro commuters are dedicated readers. But of mobile screens. A paper book remains a rare sighting. Here is an abridged anthology of such rare sightings, gathered over many journeys. One sighting, on the Blue Line:
City Life – Sakina’s Tyeb Mehta, South Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - November 2, 20260 Glimpsing into an artist's private world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] She called him Tyebi. The world knew him as Tyeb Mehta. Four years shy of a century, Sakina Mehta brings out her first book this month. My Tyebi: A Memoir tracks her six decades with Tyeb and their life in the world of modern Indian art. The couple’s daughter Himani wrote it with author Nusrat Jafri, using over a decade of recorded conversations with Sakina and her archive. From the mid-1960s through the 1970s, Sakina and Tyeb lived with their children, Himani and Yusuf, in Delhi: first in a bungalow outhouse in Nizamuddin East, then in a two-bedroom pad in Nizamuddin West. Tyeb would scarcely have imagined then the obscene sums
City Walk – Gali Shakeel Artist, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - October 31, 20260 The Walled City enyclopedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is Gali Shakeel Artist, just off Old Delhi’s Urdu Bazar. Dear reader, forgive the misleading introduction. The severely weathered marker for the street beside the tea stall calls the street Khidki Tafazzul Hussain—see photo. But surely it would be fitting to name the street after one of Old Delhi’s great living artists, whose workshop stands here and whose art is seen in almost all parts of the Walled City. Our weekly exploration of Old Delhi’s streets, their present and past, begins here with a mystery. The said marker points into the street. Khidki means window. But which window? And who was Tafazzul Hussain? The marker offers no explanation. The name is nowhere else
City Hangout – Sunday Book Bazar Updates, Mahila Haat Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - October 31, 20260 Contemporary art in Iraq, and other improbabilities. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pity the poor rich. They too apparently deserve sympathy. Delhi’s Sunday Book Bazar has a book devoted to them. “Pity the Poor Rich” once surfaced at this capital institution of discarded possessions. The decades-old bazar moved from Daryaganj’s paves to nearby Mahila Haat grounds in 2019. The bazar’s booksellers traditionally scouted mohalla kabadis for books to sell each Sunday. Sadly, truly eccentric books are increasingly becoming harder to find in the bazar. Cheaply printed bestsellers have overrun Mahila Haat. Academic books and stationery are abounding too, which certainly are useful in a hopelessly practical world. But, dear reader, consider the citizen who merely wishes to discover the peculiar books an
City Monument – Ruins of Mehrauli, South Delhi Monuments by The Delhi Walla - October 28, 20260 Vive la Mehrauli. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Adam Khan’s tomb rose above Mehrauli’s bus adda, its façade visible against the sky. Then, a few weeks ago, a large sign appeared before it. “WELCOME,” it said, followed by “JAI MEHRAULI.” The dome rose above the greeting, while the arches appeared behind the red, green and saffron letters—see photo. The monument had been given a new role of formally welcoming everyone to the neighbourhood. Mehrauli has a new store by fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. It also has so many monuments that a citizen might pass one while looking for another. The area is vast, and one sprawling part of it is called Mehrauli Archaeological Park. But outside the park, too, monuments are
City Food – Daulat ki Chaat, Chawri Bazar Food by The Delhi Walla - October 28, 2026October 28, 20260 Taste of a certain season in a certain place. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The unwieldy e-rickshaws are stuck beside one another. A handcart loaded with a large parcel is caught between them. Beside his fruit cart, the vendor rests his chin on folded arms. Overhead, cables sag past signboards advertising wedding cards. Just another difficult afternoon in Old Delhi’s super-congested Chawri Bazar. The traffic is going nowhere. A little away, a vendor stands motionless behind a giant platter of daulat ki chaat. Mubarak! The wintertime street dessert is back. His shirt sleeves rolled up, vendor Sunil says he hit the streets with the season’s daulat on October 16. A fine white net, held with binder clips, is shielding the dessert from