City Life – Three Ghori Wale, Chawri Bazar Life by The Delhi Walla - January 12, 20260 On a cold night's assignment. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is nearing midnight. The cold polluted Delhi air is growing chillier, here in the Walled City’s Chawri Bazar. The last of the boiled egg stalls lining the street-sides are preparing to wind down their operation. Scores of labourers, who work and live in the area, are lying along the length of the darkened market corridors, head to feet, head to feet—each body wrapped tight in blankets. On one spot along a pave, two white splendidly attired mares are standing face to face. Underneath the mares, three young men are sitting cross-legged on the pave, silently gazing at the market street. Shahnawaz, Saddam and Kamil are brothers. They introduce themselves as
City Obituary – Anup Bamhi, Faqir Chand Bookstore Life by The Delhi Walla - January 11, 2026January 12, 20260 On the passing of a bookseller. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He was gently proud of his family-run establishment, one of Delhi’s most iconic bookstores, located in the capital’s posh Khan Market. But when you chatted with him, it seemed that he would show more enthusiasm for his connections with… Nainital. To Faqir Chand bookstore’s Anup Bamhi, who died on Saturday following a heart attack, aged 64, merely uttering the word “Nainital” was sufficient to induce him to chat nonstop about the lake town—his school-days in St Joseph’s College, his walks to the Bandstand. If you were willing, he would also lists all the Delhiwale who, like him, were alumni of Nainital’s prestigious boarding schools. Anup was also a lawyer, but the
City Walk – Gali Dilsukh Rai Khajanchi, Old Delhi Life Walks by The Delhi Walla - January 3, 20261 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] No “tiny tot” is setting foot this morning into the lane, though its gateway bears a large red hoarding of ABC Tiny Tots. The “school for little kids” lies towards the dead-end of the lane, where the lane expands into a little square. Gali Dilsukh Rai Khajanchi is one of the many tributary lanes of the much larger Gali Charkhewalan. The street has understandably taken its name from some long-ago figure who must have been a khajanchi, or treasurer. But treasurer of whom or what—who can tell?! Truth be told, most Old Delhi lanes named after figures of long-ago past have no longer anything left to say on the life of those
City Life – 2025 Losses, Around Town Hangouts Landmarks Life by The Delhi Walla - December 31, 20250 The year that was. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] We feel most acutely for what we have lost. As the year reaches an end, here’s an accounting of three profound losses that the city suffered this year. One is a tree, one is a tea house, and one is a bookstore. Truth be told, this tree was never alive in our living memory. It had always seemed dead and leafless. Nobody could even tell what kind of tree it was. The woody skeleton, however, had stood upright in Lodhi Garden for many years. Its bare branches, ending in prickly tips, were in constant use as a resting place for birds in flight, just as the grassy ground below served as
City Places – “Wale” Census, Around Town Life by The Delhi Walla - December 26, 20250 On place-names. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] We are the Delhiwale. The ‘wale’ in Delhiwale loosely means ‘belonging to.” Indeed, very many place-names in the city end with ‘wale.’ So do the names of citizens; their name mostly pertaining to their profession. Two years ago, this page conducted a census of names ending with ‘wale.’ The list also included the citizens lying buried in the city graveyards. The gravestones being inscribed with their “wale” identities: such as Sheikh Mohammad Aslam Chashme (eye glasses) Wale, Mohd Aqil Khilone (toys) Wale, and Sultan Ahmed Ghari (clock) Wale. Over the ensuing 24 months, The Delhi Walla has come across many more wale, obliging to update the census. So, let’s start by stopping at Bhure Bhai
City Life – 100 Years of New Delhi, 1926-2026 Life by The Delhi Walla - December 18, 20250 A milestone in time. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The year 2025 is about to end. The forthcoming 2026 is very special to Delhi. Or shall we say to New Delhi. For this name—New Delhi—is set to turn 100. It was on December 31, 1926, that the colonial British empire christened the “new imperial capital” as New Delhi. To mark the looming milestone, here is a quiz on new New Delhi road names, as they were known in the old New Delhi. We call out the roads by their colonial-era names, your job is to identify them by their new names. Answers are at the bottom, but no cheating! Keeling Road The road was named after Hugh Keeling, the chief engineer of New
City Life – Ren Basera Night Shelters, Around Town Life by The Delhi Walla - December 17, 20250 The world's a ren basera. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ren implies night-time in Hindi, basera means shelter for transitory rest. Ren basera translates to shelter for the night. It is also a name for government-supported porta cabins and camps that come up across the city during winter months to protect the homeless citizens from extreme cold. These roadside ren basera tents are usually identifiable by their conical tip. One such basera stands against the backdrop of a tower-in-progress. See right photo. Another basera stands a short walk away from its aforementioned counterpart, beside a pilkhan tree. (In summer months of May and June, the area’s homeless citizens often congregate under this same tree to shelter from the deadly heatwaves.)
City Anniversary – Jane Austen’s 250th Happy Birthday, Daryaganj General Life by The Delhi Walla - December 16, 20250 She wrote for Delhi people too. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Let us be grateful to our scholars. They undertake the hard labour of analysing the joyful novels of Jane Austen under the probing lens of very many isms—colonialism, feminism, etc. Their brainy chore helps us, readers, to better understand our beloved writer. That said, all the six complete novels of the English novelist are essentially love stories, and each ends with at least one wedding. Yet, not a single novel gives a detailed description of the wedding. Today, the world is celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birth anniversary, and one way to offer homage to the great novelist is by compensating for that perplexing gap in her books. Here’s the
City Life – Bungalows of Gurugram, Sushant Lok and Other Places Life by The Delhi Walla - December 12, 20250 Built heritage, forever fluid. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The house must have had two storeys. But the upper storey rooms seem to be gone, except for a few leftover walls. A pair of labourers are standing up there, relentlessly hammering on the floor, right beside their feet. The building is meanwhile cloaked in a thin layer of dust. Yet another residence is being pulled down. Greetings from Sushant Lok. As things stand, many stand-alone houses in the so-called Millennium City of Gurugram have been replaced by sleek apartment complexes. Some old single-storey bungalows continue to survive though. A few of these survivors lie deserted in a ruinous state, probably waiting for their turn to be erased from the face
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