Mission Delhi – Bhai Wali, Mohalla Qabristan Chowk Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 16, 2023October 16, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] When does Bhai Wali sleep? The tall, slim, elderly insomniac is always seen sitting fully alert on a battered chair, at all times of the day and night, here at a corner of Mohalla Qabristan Chowk in Old Delhi, beside Munna Roti Wale, in front of the locked entrance to a dusty cobwebbed room that once was Maulana Aagan Chai Khana. Bhai Wali’s smouldering Gopal beedi is as much an extension of him as his long white beard. “I was married to Gold Flake. Then my fate stepped in and I could no longer afford cigarettes.” The broody talk is deceptive. Bhai Wali has a biting sense of
City Landmark – Muhammed Rafi’s Shaving Stall, Ajmeri Gate Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 15, 20230 Time's veteran. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Look at this monument. It has been standing on this spot for years and years. An unsuspecting person will naturally mistake the monument in question for Ajmeri Gate, one of the four surviving gateways of Old Delhi’s vanished city wall. But the particular monument one is talking of here is actually positioned beside Ajmeri Gate. It’s not made of stones. It is a longstanding pavement stall, predates its current owner, and memorialises the tenacity of a furniture-less landmark that is so fragile but has been existing for so long. The venerable Muhammed Rafi has been managing this barber’s establishment beside Ajmeri Gate for 50 years. This afternoon, he is in the midst of shaving a
City Season – October Light, Around Town General by The Delhi Walla - October 13, 20230 Tracking the season's subtle glow [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The shadows the tree leaves are making on the wall are continually trembling (because a slow breeze is blowing the adjoining trees). On the same wall, a spherical shadow of some indecipherable thing enlarges and contracts. Elsewhere on the wall, spheres of brightnesses partly intersect, like circles in a Venn diagram (see photo). Meanwhile, the evening light is becoming slightly gold, stripping the wall of its corporeality, turning it almost translucent. Such are the illusions unfolding on Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg. The shadows formed by the foliage of the roadside peepals have transformed a dull boundary wall into a panel of artistic cut-outs. This is indeed a special time of the year,
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Zahid Ali Khan, Somewhere in Delhi Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - October 13, 20230 The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] He joined the All India Radio as an Urdu news reader in March, 1965. He retired in April, 1999. He hasn’t retired from hyperactive life. At 86, he flits around the city everyday on his own, meeting friends, and attending literary meets. The venerable Zahid Ali Khan agrees to become a part of my Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. Reading and writing. I have written 12 books, both poetry and prose. Your favorite qualities in a man. His akhlaq, eitquees, should be pleasing and acceptable to the society. He should not have negative approach to life. Your favorite qualities
City Food – Kamlesh Kumar Saini’s Lunch Kiosk, Ajmeri Gate Food by The Delhi Walla - October 12, 20230 A moveable feast [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] What to do when one’s village is midway between the bustling urban centers of Motihari and Muzaffarpur? You accept them both as your homelands. That’s why Kamlesh Kumar Saini named his food stall ‘Motihari Muzaffarpur.’ “I’m from Bihar, and most of my customers are from Bihar and Bengal,” explains the gentle-mannered man, standing at his roadside kiosk, here at Ajmeri Gate. Nodding at the dishes heaped up on the counter, he points out these as the daily food of his Bihar. “This is aloo bhaji, this is machhli fry, this is karela bhaji.” A corner tray is filled with green chilies. Two customers critically gaze at the fried fish, enquiring about its background.
Mission Delhi – Manzoor, Abul Khair Street Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - October 11, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] There’s baingan, lauki, aloo, bhindi, turai, tamatar, patta gobhi, neembu, hari mirchi, adrak, kaddu, palak and there is also Manzoor, who is the seller of these subzi-bhaji, here at Old Delhi's Abul Khair Street. The man arrived in the megapolis “as a boy many years ago” from his village in Araria zila, Bihar. “Back then, I was akela (single), now I have a family.” His wife, Kauser, and four children live in the village, he says, sitting cross-legged on his pavement stall, behind the weighing scale. Manzoor’s incredibly expressive eyes appear now to smile, now to frown, as if they were in a synchronised coordination with the
City Life – Faces of a Far-Off War, Paharganj Life by The Delhi Walla - October 11, 2023October 11, 20230 On Israel and Palestine. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Everyone is smiling in these photos. A few are even grinning. All seem to be young. All are Israelis. The same carefree expressions are to be found on their faces, as on those of the attendees at last weekend’s Supernova music festival, held in the southern Israeli desert, close to the border with Gaza. Some of us have seen those attendees in viral video clips filmed during the attack by Hamas on Saturday morning. (The carefree expressions were seen in a clip that was filmed just before the attack.) 260 festivalgoers were killed, many others have been taken hostage. The internet is full of the videos and pictures of those young Israelis.
City Landmark – Bahrisons Booksellers, Khan Market Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 9, 20230 Icon at 70. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is 48. He joined the bookshop when he was 21. Today, Bahrisons Booksellers turns 70. And Mithilesh Singh (see photo) is its longest serving and most senior staffer. Founded by partition refugee Balraj Bahri Malhotra (d. 2016, see photo), the store has a branch in Gurugram, as well as in a few other places. This one in Khan Market is the flagship entity. It is also among the very few original landmarks still standing in the country’s premium shopping destination. As with the rest of the market, the shop is often chock-a-block with the capital’s lawdeedaw movers and shakers. The awe and intimidation they emit is counterpoised by the ghar-jaisi homey
City Landmark – Maktaba Jamia Limited, Urdu Bazar Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 8, 20230 The book house. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Amid shelves packed tight with books, two men in white kurta-pajama are browsing intently, their bodies barely moving. In a darkened book-lined chamber within, a ladder is going up to an attic. The utmost silence is broken as a woman enters, enquiring for Jaun Eliya’s ghazal collection. Lifting his eyes, the shop’s longtime face instantly nods. He is the venerable Ali Khusro Zaidi. An A4 print of his beloved Faiz poem is neatly spread out along his desk, as it always has. Maktaba Jamia Limited is alive. A primary destination for Urdu books, the Book House (literal translation!) is teeming with customers this October afternoon. Weeks ago, news of its closure set off
City Food – Cotton Candy Men, Around Town Food by The Delhi Walla - October 6, 20230 Mama-bhanja chronicles. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Quietly they are walking along the pave. A huge tokri, basket, is clamped on the back of each man. The baskets are filled with rolls of blue and pink wool, heralding the two as winter’s ambassador. The sight is in sync with the on-going shift in season. These are the early days of October, the nights have grown cool, right now even the afternoon air is not uncomfortably hot. On nearing the vendors, the idea of them being wool merchants dissolves. They are actually carrying “budiya ke baal,” literally the old woman’s hair. Some of us might know these sticky sweet street treat as cotton candy. Each serving is packed within a plastic vessel,