City Institutions – Shakeel Artist & Diamond Bakery, Old Delhi Food Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 28, 20250 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
City Landmark – Safdarjang Tomb’s Traffic Light, Lodhi Road Landmarks Monuments by The Delhi Walla - November 26, 20250 Delhi's coolest traffic light [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What a road, the Lodhi Road. It has to be among Delhi’s most picturesque roads. The Central Delhi avenue passes by the super-beautiful Lodhi Garden. It also passes by India Habitat Centre, the great architect Joseph Stein’s final creation in Delhi. The same road also has the good fortune to pass by India Islamic Centre, the façade of which bears a work of tile art that is intensely reminiscent of Persian architecture. The road also passes by Lodhi Road post office, whose painted boundary walls evoke the ambiance of Madhubani art. And here’s the icing on the cake—Lodhi Road culminates at a traffic light that has to be among Delhi’s prettiest
City Landmark – Stalled Clock, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 20, 20251 Time ticking on one stalled second. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] What’s the time, bhai? It is six something, sir, but can’t confirm the exact minute. Can’t even tell you if it is six in the morning, or six in the evening. Be assured though, the time here will always be six something. Such is this place, here time stands halted. Just when one imagines to have explored every hidden nook and crevice of good old Connaught Place (CP), something outrageously dramatic pops up in the area, of whose existence one had no idea. Delhi’s colonial-era shopping district is dense with history, but its ever-evolving restaurants and cafés show CP to be super-sensitive to the present, constantly altering to the expectations of
City Landmark – Lending Library, Shankar Market Landmarks Library by The Delhi Walla - November 19, 20250 The books around the corner. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A citizen in Ghaziabad tends to fondly recall her childhood in Allahabad town. Once a week she would walk from her home to the mohalla market, stepping into a tiny room crammed with books. It was the neighbourhood’s lending library. Now, she says, she lives in a city so big that it has no place for a space as homey as a lending library. But Delhi neighbourhoods did harbour lending libraries. Members would drop in regularly into those libraries to get new reading material. They would also chat with the library owner, sometimes gossiping about fellow members not seen for long. Many of these lending libraries have gone extinct. The
City Landmark – Anil Book Corner, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 14, 20250 Longtime landmark in changing time. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This stall has been selling used books for decades. This evening, it is additionaly selling first-hand framed posters bearing such motivational exhortations: “Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy” “The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow” “If you are not happy, make a change” The bookstall introduced the frames this week, for the first time in its long life—per an attendant. The development tells of an iconic establishment, in an iconic shopping district, attempting to adjust to the changing times. Anil Book Corner is a modest establishment in Delhi’s Connaught Place (CP), and has been a part of the city landscape for more than 50 years.
City Life – Barakhamba Lane, Central Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 12, 2025November 12, 20250 Once was Ground Zero. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The day had set a couple of hours ago. By now, the tree-lined pathway in central Delhi’s Barakhamba has grown deserted, except for an occasional man, or woman, hurrying towards the bus stop, or the metro station. For the moment, the brightest light is emanating out from citizen Sunder’s fruit salad stall (see photo). The man’s calming presence makes it even more surreal to recall that this peaceful area was the site of a terror attack. It was among the five places targeted during a synchronised bomb blasts in September, 2008. This week, one more place joins the city’s scarred topography of tragic sites. On Monday evening, at least 10 people were
City Landmark – Old Bridge, Deshbandhu Gupta Marg Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 6, 20250 Bridge of sighs. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The train engine hoots out a long wail. The sound drifts far up into the afternoon’s smoggy air, disintegrating slowly. The express gives a sudden jerk, and the red coaches starts to move, slowly leaving the station. The train will go past the shunting yards, past the grimy backwalls of tall buildings, past the slums, past the suburbs, and will soon be out of city limits. The train passengers will break free from Delhi. And from Delhi pollution. Many of us have built our life on the soil of this city. There are times, though, when the idea of quitting Delhi demands a serious consideration. Such as during these days of extreme
City Monument – CP’s White Columns Part 3, Connaught Place Hangouts Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 3, 20250 On a colonial-era legacy. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sure, this is easier than counting the stars. But still, it is something—to manually count the columns of Delhi’s iconic Connaught Place (CP). The white colonial-era columns constitute CP’s signature persona. They support the ceilings of its many colonnades. Identical in shape and height, the stately columns line the market arcades of the Inner and Outer Circles, as well as the corridors that link the two circles. Last to last week, the first part of this series conducted a count of the Outer Circle columns. Last week was the turn of Inner Circle columns. This week, the concluding agenda is to count the columns of CP’s intervening corridors that link the Inner and
City Faith – Sheetala Maa Temple, Chirag Dehli Faith Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - October 1, 20250 A neighbourhood shrine. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A veggie seller is dragging his cart along the lane. He stops on reaching a tiraha trisection, turns towards a corner temple, reverently joining his palm into a posture of prayer—see photo. The historic Chirag Dehli village is well-known for its centuries-old Sufi dargah of Hazrat Chirag Nasiruddin Roshan Dehlavi—the saint gives his name to the village. But the south Delhi neighbourhood harbours also other points of pilgrimage. Just outside the village’s gateway rises the tall spire of Shiv Mandir. A short distance within the gateway is the aforementioned temple of “Maa Sheetala.” This is the shrine of a goddess who is said to ward off small pox, as well as other
City Monument – CP’s White Columns Part 2, Connaught Place Hangouts Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - September 25, 2025September 25, 20250 On a colonial-era legacy. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here’s a thing to mull upon. If all the columns of Delhi’s Connaught Place (CP) are pulled out from their foundation, and installed one upon another, could they then reach the altitude of Mount Everest? The stately white colonial-era columns constitute CP’s signature sight. They support the ceilings of its colonnades, rooting them to the good earth. Identical in their circular shape and height, the columns line the market arcades of the Inner and Outer Circles, as well as the corridors that link the circles. Last week, the first part of this series conducted a survey of the Outer Circle columns. Today’s the turn of the Inner Circle columns. The following observations culled