Atget’s Corner – 671-675, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - January 20, 2015January 21, 20150 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 671 to 675. 671. Chausath Khamba 672.
Letter from Gurgaon – Novelist/Journalist Raj Kamal Jha, Gurgaon General by The Delhi Walla - January 19, 20152 On writing Delhi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] As the chief editor of The Indian Express, Raj Kamal Jha spends his day at the newspaper’s office on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in central Delhi. He gets home only by midnight. Despite his exhausting schedule, the 48-year-old journalist is ready with his fourth novel, She Will Build Him A City. This novel shows a surreal, and frightening, side of Delhi. Mr Jha spares no effort in making the city feel as dangerous as it does every morning in our newspapers — including, for instance, a gruesome gang-rape. The author of such a dark novel must make for fearful company. But the long-haired Mr Jha is quite the opposite. He laughed a lot while
Atget’s Corner – 666-670, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - January 16, 20150 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 666 to 670. 666. Ghaffar Manzil 667.
Delhi Archives – Agrasen ki Baoli, Connaught Place Delhi Archives by The Delhi Walla - January 14, 2015January 14, 20151 [Digging out old stories from The Delhi Walla] Amid the business towers and residential apartments of the Colonial-era Connaught Place, this 14th century baoli or ancient step-well, is flanked on both sides by niches, chambers and passageways, and the 104 stone steps descending into the well’s dried-up base, have three levels. It is not certain who built it, though some credit it to a king called Agrasen; hence the name. As you enter, you will see a mosque on one side. Initially, you will hear the cooing of hundreds of pigeons. But as you walk down the stairs, the silence deepens, the city skyline disappears and the daylight fades away. Click here to read the rest of this article originally published on The Delhi
Atget’s Corner – 661-665, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - January 14, 20151 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 661 to 665. 661. Barakhamba 662. Tughlaqabad
Delhi Metro – Poet-Commuters, Around Town Delhi Metro by The Delhi Walla - January 12, 2015January 12, 20151 Poems on the Metro. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] We know that the Delhi Metro has become a part of our lives. The undocumented development, however, is the Metro’s deep tunnelling into the Capital’s literary bedrock. “Meanwhile, as the last train from Rajiv Chowk station pulls away, a young man rides the Metro and dreams of murder” — says the blurb of Raj Kamal Jha’s forthcoming novel, She Will Build Him A City. The well-known author has company. The Delhi Metro has been a muse to writers and poets before him. Jasbir Chatterjee, 48, is a customer relations manager at a car showroom. She wrote a poem on the Metro way back in 2006. That poem appeared in a UK textbook in 2012. Nishtha
Atget’s Corner – 656-660, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - January 11, 20150 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 25,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Each day five randomly picked pictures from this collection will be put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 656 to 660. 656. Saket 657. Paharganj 658.
City Landmark – Amrit Book Company, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - January 9, 2015January 9, 20152 Surviving, for now. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This bookshop is a great spot for another Starbucks. (Connaught Place has just two Bucks so far.) The display counter will take over the left-side book shelves. The Classics corner will become a table for two. The poetry section will be a sideboard. The place will feel less bookish. There will be real life scenes of lovers, loners, and backpackers, with occasional sightings of book lovers. The coffee crowd will have no idea that this place used to be Amrit Book Company. The store was founded in 1936 by a former railway clerk named Amrit Dhar. Today, his son Prem Sharma sits at the cashier’s desk. Prem Sharma’s two sons, Puneet and Sumit, handle
Photo Essay – Delhi for Paris, Around Town Photo Essays by The Delhi Walla - January 8, 2015January 8, 20153 Je Suis Charlie. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] On January 7 2014, radical Islamists killed 12 people in Paris, the city that gave us the dangerous ideas of secularism, liberty and democracy. Therefore an attack on Paris hurts all of us. The Delhi Walla stands with Paris. Delhi is Paris 1. 2. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 9a. 10.
City Hangout – Mudrika Bus Route, Ring Road Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - January 7, 2015January 7, 20151 Circling the capital. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It takes almost the same time that it takes to fly from Delhi to Helsinki, Finland. And the ticket costs a mere 15 rupees. One rush-hour evening The Delhi Walla dared to travel on the Outer, or Bahri, Mudrika Seva of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). At 105km, the city’s longest bus route is a progeny of the legendary Mudrika Seva, which marked its 40th anniversary in 2014. “The Mudrika was our lifeline,” says Bangalore-based historian Ramachandra Guha who was a hosteller in north Delhi’s St Stephen’s College in the late 1970s. Talking on the phone, he says, “I took that bus route each time I had to go to south Delhi to