On the margs [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dalhousie Road and Aurangzeb Road, rest in peace. In February 2017, the New Delhi Municipal Council renamed Dalhousie Road as Dara Shikoh Road. Lord Dalhousie was a colonial-era administrator in British India. According to newspaper reports, the demand to rename it came from New Delhi’s MP, Meenakshi Lekhi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Indian Express reported her as saying: "Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, had promoted the peace and concord between the followers of Hinduism and Islam, and has interest in comparative religions, universal brotherhood, humanism and peace. In fact, the library in Delhi named after him is a live example of his desire to

Best loved dishes. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Yet another geriatric giant shut shop in the well-set Khan Market. The Chonas restaurant on the Front Lane closed early this year. It had begun as an ice-cream parlour when the market was set up in 1951; and reinvented itself as a formal dining area in the 1980s. Since then it was popular for its Chinese sizzlers. But don’t cry for those greasy snacks. Something exciting has come up where Chonas used to be—a Royal Enfield showroom. Alas, you can’t eat bikes. But there’s still good news for your sweet tooth. The Big Chill chain of restaurants—God bless them for their unearthly banoffee pie—recently opened their first bakery—in Khan Market. Wait, there’s more news

Beyond Ghalib. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] An English newspaper reader is more likely to have heard of Upamanyu Chatterjee (who lives in Nizamuddin East) or Aatish Taseer (near Lodi Garden) than Khalid Jawed (Okhla) or Anjum Usmani (Lodi Colony). To get a sense of Delhi’s Urdu literary landscape, The Delhi Walla has mapped 20 writers, detailing where they came from, where they live now, and what their day jobs are. Being Urdu-illiterate, I took the help of author Rakhshanda Jalil and Urdu website Rekhta.org founder Sanjiv Saraf in selecting the writers. While these men and women are not the only ones being published in that language, their brief profiles give a sense of the scene in Delhi, or—as Urdu-speakers would have

Remains of the past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Never judge a fort by its ramparts. The only grand part of the Mughal-era Red Fort palace complex is its outer wall. Inside, the old buildings look ruined. In fact, their survival is a miracle. After crushing the mutiny in 1857, the British had destroyed 80 percent of the fort’s buildings. (The Delhi Walla wrote here on the monument.) Red Fort still has more than 20 edifices, however. They must last. 1. Delhi Gate 2. Lahore Gate 3. Chatta Chowk Bazaar 4. Naqqar Khana 5. Jilau Khana 6. Diwan-i-Am 7. Asad Burj 8. Mumtaz Mahal 9. Darya Mahal 10. Kwaspura 11. Rang Mahal 12. Musamman Burjh 13. Khas Mahal 14. Diwan-i-Khas 15. Hammams 16. Moti Masjid 17. Moti Mahal 18. Shah Burj 19. Common Houses 20. Zafar's Pvailion 21. Princes' Quarters 22.

The Capital heritage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The most beautiful and inspirational post-colonial architecture in New Delhi is the work of a Jew. In other words, Delhi’s Jewish legacy goes beyond its only Jewish graveyard near Khan Market. The Delhi Walla lists four people of Jewish parentage who helped shape the sensibilities of our city - for better. 1. Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed Venerated today as a Sufi saint, Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed, who was also a poet, was briefly profiled by author Saleem Kidwai in his book Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History. He wrote: “Sarmad was born a Jew in Kashan (in modern-day Iran), around 1590. He became a trader and acquired knowledge of mystic traditions and of Arabic

The Delhi gaydar. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi; the above photo was sourced from Gaylaxy magazine] From the top to the bottom, this is a list of Delhi's most well-known and lesser-known queer sites. Made with inputs from LGBT activists Steven Baker and Dhamini Ratnam, it details popular cruising areas for men who want to have sex with other men, locations charged with equal-rights activism and commercial spaces where the pink rupee might be spent. Since the advent of gay dating apps like Grindr and Bendr that reveal how close a user is to his next conquest - within an accuracy range of 20 feet - finding a date can be achieved through the touch of a button. The cruising areas

Migrants from Bukhara. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid formally received its future 'royal' imam, or chief cleric, in November 2014. The Mughal-era mosque and the immediate surroundings were lit up with electric bulbs at night to celebrate the occasion. The mosque’s present imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, anointed his college-going son Shaban Bukhari as the naib imam (deputy imam). The ceremony took place in the backdrop of Delhi High Court’s ruling that such a succession has no “legal sanctity”. The forefathers of the mosque’s imam are said to have come from Bukhara in central Asia. The first imam was appointed by Emperor Shahjahan. The office has remained within the same family. Here is a list* of all the shahi imams

From Kashmir to Karachi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla started his blog/website in 2007. The aim was (and remains) to understand this city through its people, places, buildings, cuisines, seasons, and many other such aspects. The point is also to capture the changes we all Delhiwallas have to constantly deal with in our private and public worlds. And the hope is that nothing on the pages of this website gets outdated -- a hundred years from now, the writings and the photographs on thedelhiwalla.com should show a precious world that has been lost. Meanwhile, a few other interesting walla blogs/websites have come up in places other than Delhi. Of course, those web addresses got the idea from this

Architecture from 1928 to 2007. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In 2008, architecture scholar Rahul Khanna and photographer Manav Parhawk published The Modern Architecture of New Delhi. In the book's introduction, Mr Khanna said, “We do not intend to document the Mughal period nor catalogue Lutyens' Delhi. We aim to showcase the finest examples of modern architecture of New Delhi, treating 1931 (the year the capital city came into being) as a point to start.” Profiled in the aforementioned book, these remarkable new buildings of Delhi include works by architects Charles Correa, Kuldip Singh, Raj Rewal and Romi Khosla. 1. St Martin’s Garrison Church Arthur Gordon Shoosmith (architect), 1928-1931 (building timeline). Church Road, Delhi Cantonment (address). 2. St Stephen’s College Walter Sykes

Delhi by list. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi Sultanate spanned five dynasties, 32 rulers and 320 years. It laid the foundation of Islam in India and lasted from 1206 to 1526. Delhi is filled with its ruins. The Delhi Walla lists all the rulers of the Sultanate – one of whom was India’s first woman ruler, while the last was vanquished by Babur, the Central Asian founder of India's Mughal dynasty. Slave Dynasty 1. Qutbuddin Aibak (1206–1210) 2. Aram Shah (1210–1211) 3. Shams ud din Iltutmish (1211–1236) 4. Rukn ud din Firuz (1236) 5. Raziyat ud din Sultana (1236–1240) 6. Muiz ud din Bahram (1240–1242) 7. Ala ud din Masud (1242–1246) 8. Nasir ud din Mahmud (1246–1266) 9. Ghiyas ud din Balban (1266–1286) 10. Muiz ud din Qaiqabad (1286–1290) 11. Kayumars