Delhi Metro – Love on the Tracks, Around Town Delhi Metro by The Delhi Walla - February 11, 2012February 11, 20122 Romance in the subway. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This msg is for cutie pie who boarded Metro from Pitampura on 2 February around 8.30am & left at Sec 16 Noida station. She was wearing blu jeans & black levis tee. U were looking gorgeous. I am the guy standing near u. Is there any chance of new frnd. If you too liked me, reply me. — A message on “Dil Se”, a classified section in the HT City, Delhi, supplement of Hindustan Times. A train pulled into the yellow line underground Metro station at Rajiv Chowk, below the bustle of Connaught Place. The doors opened. They entered. The doors closed. The train moved. Leaning over her in the crowded compartment, his
City Series – Stones of Jama Masjid – I, Shahjahanabad General by The Delhi Walla - February 9, 2012February 10, 20120 Delhi’s grand Friday mosque. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the beginning, the things I was to love so passionately in Shahjahanabad did not immediately strike me: the hill-side alleys, the butcheries, the Sufi shrines, the domesticated goats, the old wooden doors, the carved balustrades, the unknown tombs, the trees flourishing in most unexpected places. I imagined that my repeated excursions to the Mughal-era capital were due to the Jama Masjid mosque, the most imposing landmark of this 17th century city, established by the builder of Taj Mahal. Each time as I approached the mosque from the narrow road of the Matia Mahal bazaar, I would be overwhelmed by the dark red tone of its stones. Over the years as
City Culture – De Bhasar, Oberoi Hotel Flyover Culture by The Delhi Walla - February 7, 2012February 7, 20122 The philosophy of nonsense. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Three heart-shaped outlines. The Delhi Walla saw these drawings in the Oberoi Hotel flyover. They are depicted on the pillars adjacent to Lodhi Road, which runs through the underside of the flyover. This is the third instance that I have come face-to-face with De Bhasar movement in Delhi. (Click here to view the first exhibit.) According to Wikipedia, De Bhasar or Bhasarism is a cultural movement that began in Nantes, France, during the post 9/11 Gulf War, reaching a tipping point between 2007 to 2009. The movement involves graphic designs and literature, which concentrates its anti-sentimental politics by rejecting aesthetic birth-control measures through anti-catholic works. De Bhasar might be regarded as pro-Berlusconi in nature. “Heart,
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians – VII, Indian Coffee House Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - February 5, 2012April 17, 20131 A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the seventh meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. It is 7.02 pm and The Delhi Walla is with a young woman. This evening we don’t plan to read, but eat Proust. A reader from France has parcelled me madeleines from Paris. In Swann's Way, Marcel’s narrator suddenly remembers his childhood after eating a madeleine soaked in tea; this is the point when the novel meets its theme. Therefore, a basic knowledge of madeleine is essential to understand Proust. According to Larousse Gastronomique, the bible of French
City Living – Stray Dogs Feeding Sites, Around Town Life by The Delhi Walla - February 3, 2012February 3, 20120 Feeding the soul. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nosering, Sweety, Kaajal and Sudama are sitting close to a Mother Dairy booth in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. It’s 3pm, and Sonya Ghosh is expected. An associate professor of English at the University of Delhi, Ms Ghosh arrives daily in a Maruti van carrying six pails, two buckets and 20 plastic bowls. Driving through sectors 3 and 4 of Vasant Kunj, she feeds 25 dogs, including the fat Bullah and the old Kaali. Milk, rice, daliya, soybean, pumpkin and chicken waste — all cooked together — is the meal Ms Ghosh serves stray dogs at India’s first designated dog-feeding sites, set up in 2009. Today, the Capital has more than 100 feeding sites
City Monument – Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Central Delhi Monuments by The Delhi Walla - February 1, 2012February 1, 20124 Reflections of faith. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Built by a Sikh general in 1783, this gurudwara, or Sikh temple, has an expansive compound and a large sarovar (holy pond). Dedicated to Guru Har Kishan, the eighth Sikh guru, it was so named because it is on the site of the bungalow of the Mughal noble Mirza Raja Jai Singh, where the guru stayed during a visit to Delhi in 1664. The gold-plated dome reflects beautifully in the rippling pond, which teems with goldfish. A corridor, skirting the pond's entire length, has a small white dome on each corner. Up the stairs from the pond is a marbled courtyard with a nishan sahib, a tall flagpole that marks every gurudwara. This