City Poetry – Ghalib in Persian, Delhi & Isfahan

by The Delhi Walla - 0

Persia is not far. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The news from Iran continues to be distressing. In Delhi, we are geographically removed from the war’s direct reach. Yet Iran is never far. Something of its cultural spirit lingers in this city, including in the work of Delhi’s great poet. To Mirza Ghalib, the Irani bhasha was the language of ambition. In the 19th century Delhi of his time, Persian commanded elite status, like the English in post-independent India or French in Tsarist Russia. Ghalib started by writing poems in both homegrown Urdu and Persian. Over time, he was drawn to the exactness and range of Persian—qualities he apparently didn’t find in Urdu. In all, Ghalib wrote about 2,000 couplets in

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Hemraj, Mandi House Metro Station

by The Delhi Walla - 0

Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Among the late-morning commuters at Mandi House Metro Station, on the Blue Line platform, he is the one carrying something most unusual. The man’s super-long shoulder jhola is crammed with dozens of rolled-up items. These turn out to be maps. Despite being in a hurry to reach his destination, map seller Hemraj graciously agrees to become a part of our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Your main fault. I’m in my 50s, and I have been selling world maps and India maps for 40 years. But sometimes, in order to sell them, I try to appeal to a potential

City Walk – Kucha Seth, Old Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 0

The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here’s the street of the well-moneyed. At least the street shows its wealth in name, if not explicitly so in appearance. For the word seth in Kucha Seth refers to a wealthy man; while kucha denotes a locality of people sharing an occupation. Indeed, quite a few building façades here look grave and dignified despite their dereliction, mutely insisting on the street’s former grandeur. This afternoon, a brown dog is sleeping peacefully beside one such building, sleep coming to him as easily as money comes to the well-moneyed. In all, the street is exceptionally photogenic. Every doorway makes you reach for your phone camera. One striking relic bears the inscription Shri Mahavir

City Hangout – City by Chandeliers, Around Town

by The Delhi Walla - 0

On the gilded places. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A simplest chandelier can stir the myth of a gilded age. At United Coffee House in Connaught Place, the feeling holds. Two chandeliers hang from the ceiling. One long-ago morning, their clear reflections formed flawlessly on the surface of a customer’s black Darjeeling tea, as if miniature chandeliers had been lowered into the cup. The illusion lasted until lifting the cup broke the tea’s still surface. Here is a brief survey of some impressionistic chandeliers across the city. At Samar Guest House in Old Delhi’s Urdu Bazar, the ground floor offers little: just a long, narrow staircase rising to the reception. Yet the road-facing staircase carries an unexpected dignity, conferred by a small

City Landmark – The Bookstore Couple, Khan Market

by The Delhi Walla - 0

The Bahrisons Booksellers pair. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here, everyone’s watching, hoping to be watched in return. Khan Market isn’t a mere market; it’s a mirror of how Delhi sees itself and wants to be seen. Shops and cafés in this bazar come and go, each new name slipping into the place of an old favourite. Established in 1951, the market’s centrality hasn’t been dented by the invasion of shopping malls. At the centre of the front lane stands one of the market’s oldest landmarks, since 1953. Bahrisons Booksellers is run by a longtime couple. Anuj Bahri Malhotra sits upstairs in the shop; Rajni Malhotra downstairs. Their joint portrait is part of a series marking the market’s 75th year. Those who

City Poetry – Jonaki Ray’s War Poem, Alaknanda

by The Delhi Walla - 0

And still the flowers bloom. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Wars are raging in West Asia and Ukraine. And yet, flowers continue to bloom—even along city roadsides. (Sometimes surreal sights of discarded bouquets are encountered in most unusual sites—see photo, snapped in Gurugram’s Jacobpura). Indeed, beyond the news headlines, our lives in Delhi are going on (relatively) unaltered, for now. So is the case with poet Jonaki Ray, who commutes four days a week to her day-job at an IT multinational in Noida. Recently, she moved to an apartment in South Delhi’s Alaknanda, close to Jahapanah City Forest. She has yet to unpack all her boxes of books, but she has already written her first poem in the new

Mission Delhi – Bhaichand Patel, Sujan Singh Park

by The Delhi Walla - 1

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] On 14 February, the venerable Bhaichand Patel did not host his annual Valentine’s Day party. In fact, he hasn’t hosted it for three years in a row. This has been a profound setback for the capital’s fashionable set. After all, for over two decades, Bhaichand’s Valentine’s Day party was a fixture on Delhi’s social calendar. The last one, in 2023, convinced him he would never host it again. This afternoon, seated with a glass of white wine in the back garden of his apartment in central Delhi’s Sujan Singh Park—where the mildly warm March air is alive with the chirping of sparrows—he explains why. Many familiar faces

City Faith – Madhu Mittal’s Fasting Salt, Ghaziabad

by The Delhi Walla - 0

Portrait of a Durga devotee. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] These days, her daily pooja has acquired an additional dimension. Every morning, Madhu Mittal sits in front of the household temple in the drawing room’s balcony, and lights camphor in a dried coconut shell filled with laung, batashe, supari, and paan. She prays to Devi Durga Maa, resuming her reading of the Sri Durga Saptashati. Today, she will complete all 13 chapters of the sacred text. For Navratri is ending, and so it being the final day of her “vrat,” or fast. During this period, Madhu has been abstaining from rice, dal and most veggies. Madhu is not alone. For the nine days of Navratri, many Hindu households in the city

City Nature – Pilkhan Tree, Hauz Khas & Elsewhere

by The Delhi Walla - 0

So surreal, yet so real. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A large long-armed tree is standing by a park gate in south Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village. A small crowd has gathered beneath it, this sunny evening. A band of boys—one with a guitar—is singing love songs, and mostly young listeners are standing transfixed. Others go past without stopping. No one looks up at the tree. This is not done! The tree’s leafy canopy being so magnificent. It is glowing in a shade that is neither green nor brown, but a sort of rust. The leaves do not hold just a single shade. Some leaves bear a burnt tinge, some are pigmented with a kind of faded rosiness, a few are edged with

City Hangout – Khan Market at 75, Central Delhi

by The Delhi Walla - 0

An iconic place's anniversary year. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In 1951, as Delhi hosted the inaugural Asian Games at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, a quieter event unfolded elsewhere in the city. It was the founding of a modest bazar that would become one of the nation’s most recognisable destinations. This year marks 75 years of Khan Market. Today, Khan Market means different things to different people. The intellectuals nurture strong opinions about it, positive as well as negative. But one thing is certain: Khan Market cannot be ignored. Its significance goes beyond being a site to spot the powerful, the famous, or the super-rich. It in fact commands an indelible spot in Delhi’s—and India’s—collective imagination, indicating how the capital

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