City Landmark – Wenger’s, Connaught Place Food Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - December 19, 20251 A city institution is turning 100. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Don’t be nervous about the forthcoming new year. At least one of its aspects is guaranteed to be special, in a sweet way. 2026 will mark the 100 years of Wenger’s. An iconic Delhi institution, the cake shop started as a catering outfit for the British troops in 1924. A Swiss lady called Jeanne Sterchi had co-founded the place with her husband, a Mr Wenger. Two years later, in 1926, the catering outfit reinvented itself as a confectionery and tea room at the Exchange Store Building in north Delhi’s Civil Lines. The confectionary shifted to its present address in Connaught Place’s A Block during the late 1920s, or perhaps the early
City Landmark – Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Road Hangouts Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - December 8, 20250 Souvenirs of a landmark. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is not merely a bunch of glued up printed pages, but a precious memento of Delhi’s illustrious art world. Sadly, the institution that published this slim book is left with only a single copy. The rare object will be a part of the forthcoming exhibition “Triveni Kala Sangam turns 75: Sundari Shridharani and the Making of a Cultural Landmark,” from February 27 to March 15. The book was presented to select invitees in 1963, marking the inaugural of Triveni Kala Sangram’s then new building. The capital’s pioneering art institution is in fact clocking its diamond jubilee this year. While the centre was set up way back in 1950 in Connaught Place
City Life – Olive Trees, Around Town Landmarks Life by The Delhi Walla - December 5, 20250 Rare presence. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The cold evening is unfolding smoothly in an “exclusive” gathering at the Italian ambassador’s residence in central Delhi’s Chandragupta Marg. Imported wine is being circulated among the privileged set. The highlight is a dinner buffet curated by a Michelin starred chef visiting from Sardinia. Indeed, the society people are greedily queuing up at the risotto counter. Meanwhile, a tree stands outside in the residence’s large garden, looking a tad smudgy in Delhi’s winter-time smog. The tree is short, its disproportionately vaster foliage hanging upon the stumpy trunk like a halo. See photo. It is an olive tree. The all-knowing Wikipedia says that the natural home of olives is the Mediterranean region. But Delhi is 4000
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