A landmark, and a living landmark.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Last week, over two consecutive nights, the tall, lean man would walk the short distance from his home to the bazar nearby. This would happen long after the shops would shut down, and the street would be emptied of insomniac citizens and awara dogs. The man would then set up his iron ladder against a shuttered establishment. He would climb the rungs, reach towards the top of the shutters, and turn the establishment’s metal signage into his artistic canvas board, employing a paint brush that he always sources from a shop near Fatehpuri.

This is an interwoven tale of two Walled City institutions, recording a rare occasion when they came together, briefly. Diamond Bakery and Shakeel Artist.

The bakery in Chitli Qabar Bazar is the Walled City’s oldest surviving bakery, and makes Delhi’s tastiest toasted rusks. It was initially located in Matia Mahal Bazar, founded by an Ambala native the year World War 1 began. In our lifetime, the bakery receives its impressive visual character from the painted hoarding that displays its name in English and Urdu, along with the drawing of a diamond. Over the years, the painted legends on the hoarding had faded, needing the intervention of Shakeel Artist.

As a signboard painter, Shakeel Artist is skilled in Hindi and English scripts, and also in Urdu. Almost every hand-painted hoarding in the Walled City bears his signature. Indeed, if you start paying attention to random hoardings while strolling in Old Delhi, it would appear as if the soul purpose behind the existence of these chaotic streets is to serve as an art gallery dedicated to Shakeel Artist. Some of his recent works include the hoardings of Hazrat Hare Bhare Shah’s dargah, Rasheed Cloth House, and Al-Shahzad Jewellers. This is the third time that he was commissioned to paint the aforementioned bakery’s hoarding.

Discussing the bakery’s famous rusk, a staffer says that the bakery doesn’t use yeast in the preparation, but an in-house “masala” comprising of 20 herbs. That is the reason, he claims, that while most bakeries in the old quarter take just four hours to prepare their rusks, the preparation time in this bakery totals 18 hours daily. (The rusks are freshest around 6.30 pm.)

As for Shakeel Artist, he is 63, and has been painting signboards for 40 years. He learned the skills from his father, who learned from his father. This sunny morning, the soft-spoken signboard painter is on way to his “dukaan” near Jagat Cinema to get his tools for an assignment in Kashmere Gate. He graciously agrees to stop by the bakery to pose for a portrait with his latest creation. Later, the cashier at the bakery counter bows towards Shakeel Artist, saying, “Inke haathon mein abhi bhi hanoor hain (his hands still retain the talent).”