City Hangout – City by Chandeliers, Around Town Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - March 31, 2026March 31, 20260 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 Hangout – Khan Market at 75, Central Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - March 23, 20260 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
City Season – Two Bougainvillea Trees, Lodhi Garden Hangouts Nature by The Delhi Walla - March 18, 20260 Double role story. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The two bougainvillea trees are currently in bloom, synchronising in perfect jugalbandi with each other, twinning brightly, here at Lodhi Garden. The pink flowers are drifting down continually on the ground. The pair is iconic, every Delhiwale should see it. The city itself, it seems, produces pairs in countless forms. Once you perceive the pattern, you spot it across the megapolis. Take Kasturba Gandhi Marg, where the British Council stands across the road from the American Center (both institutions are popular for their libraries, though the latter’s has severely contracted over the years). In central Delhi, statues of Russian writers stand a short walk apart: Pushkin near Mandi House, Tolstoy on Janpath. Coffee
City Hangout – Shah’s Dagger, Humayun Museum Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - March 12, 20260 A dagger most extraordinary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two museum visitors stroll past the display, not pausing by the dagger. Yet this object, on permanent exhibit at the Humayun World Heritage Site Museum in central Delhi, has acquired renewed fascination in light of the events unfolding in Iran. Like India, Iran’s long past has been moulded by the rise and fall of many empires. The dynasty that shaped the Iran we recognise today was the Safavid dynasty, founded by Shah Ismail I about 500 years ago. It was Ismail’s son, Tahmasp I, who went on to become the longest-reigning Shah of Islamic Iran, solidifying the empire during his 50-year reign. A personal souvenir of that ruler rests in Delhi: the
City Walk – Gali Ram Richhpal, Old Delhi Hangouts Walks by The Delhi Walla - March 8, 20260 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a strange street, one that almost seems unsure of its own name. Only a single signboard identifies it as Ram Richhpal Street—the faded board of Orion Public School (“Recognised English Medium”). Other establishments disagree. The signage of Blue Diamond Hotel and Dr Ahmad Mian Homeopathy Clinic both label the place as Gali Prem Narain, a lane that in fact lies just outside this one (and has already been chronicled on this page). The street is short and contains only the three establishments already mentioned. This afternoon, the school’s gate is closed, and the lane carries the stillness that often settles after schoolchildren leave. The next-door hotel stands with blue stripes
City Season – Pink Trumpet Tree, Lodhi Garden Hangouts Nature by The Delhi Walla - March 6, 20260 An American in Delhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Wednesday evening is slowly-slowly settling down over Lodhi Garden. The day of Holi is drawing to a close. High in the air, a cloud of pink appears to hang suspended. It resembles the gulal of the festival. But the colour is not powder thrown in celebration. It comes from the flowers of a tree. The flowers rise on long, leafless branches of a tree standing at the edge of the park’s central lawn. For most of the year, this tree draws visitors for simpler reasons. Its leaves cast a broad, restful shade. Beneath it sit green benches from which one of the garden’s most familiar views opens out: a panorama that
City Hangout – Ramzan at 5am, Outside Jama Masjid Faith Food Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - March 2, 20260 On the sacred month. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Every year during Ramzan, Jama Masjid in Old Delhi is strung with lights. The surrounding lanes glow with lamps and buntings, drawing selfie-seekers in search of the right angle. Across the road, in Matia Mahal Bazar, pavements fill with snack stalls selling sevai and khajla. Carts are stacked with dates from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Coconut parathas—made only in this month—reappear. “Come late night,” seasoned chroniclers of Ramzan advise. The script is familiar, faithfully documented by Instagram reel-makers. Less often suggested: arrive at 5 in the morning. This is Ramzan in a quieter register. For a month, Muslims observe roza, fasting from dawn to dusk. Iftar—the evening meal that breaks the fast—is communal,
City Hangout – Sunder Nursery, Central Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 10, 20260 Some questions on a beloved park. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Opened in 2018, the 90-acre Sunder Nursery, with its gardens and monuments, swiftly became Delhi’s great escape (photo of the park gardeners’ midday break was snapped last week). Lately, some have expressed discomfort over its ongoing evolution. We confront Ratish Nanda of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which created and manages the park. The traffic towards Sunder Nursery is impossible! Even for commuters not heading to the park. Was your parking facility an afterthought, or was clogging the access roundabout the plan? A UNESCO World Heritage Site will attract visitors. Across the Humayun’s Tomb–Sunder Nursery–Nizamuddin Basti area, we have conserved 75 monuments, landscaped 200 acres, planted 300 tree species that attract
City Hangout – Defence Colony Secrets, South Delhi Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 4, 20260 The market's three stars. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It isn’t only Khan Market where Delhi goes to see and be seen. Fashionable crowds also condescend to grace Defence Colony Market with their august presence. Less theatrical than its aforementioned cousin, the neighbourhood market has been extensively surveyed by city chroniclers. Even so, it still holds a few overlooked curiosities—beyond, of course, an unusually high concentration of pharmacies. The first is a deserted relic wedged between Genre Kids Collection showroom and Broadway Drycleaners (the laundry service has been operating since 1959). At street level, the entrance to the two-storey structure is sealed shut by a weather-beaten metal shutter, rusting at the edges. It is the first floor that arrests the eye.
City Obituary – A Bougainvillea Shaving Stall, Chelmsford Road Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - February 3, 20260 On the passing of a place. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is gone. The shaving stall is no longer here. Also gone is the dense hedge of bougainvilleas that roofed over it, turning a dusty stretch of paved footpath into an unexpectedly beautiful site. On a cold, grey evening, the scene in central Delhi’s Chelmsford Road is unrecognisable. Blue construction barricades line the dug-up browned earth. A labourer in yellow hamlet is standing beside a yellow excavator. Arms on hips, he says a flyover is being built. If so, the consolation is that a small, human-scaled world that stood here has been erased to raise something grander, more utilitarian, all for our greater common good. The stall has already been celebrated