Hauz Khas Series – A House in the Village, Chapter 2 Life Regions by The Delhi Walla - August 19, 2011December 2, 20132 Life in Delhi’s prettiest neighbourhood. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] My house looks to the Hauz Khas monument. This morning I got to know a family that lives inside that monument. I met Pappu and Usha on the Hauz Khas Village road, a tree-lined stretch that connects the neighbourhood to Aurobindo Marg. The husband and wife are daily wage laborers hired by a contractor to work at Feroze Shah Tughlak’s tomb, the restoration of which is going on for more than a year. That’s why, Pappu said, they have been allowed to set up a temporary home inside the monument. Pappu and Usha call it ‘gumbad’, the Urdu for dome. The husband is dark, slender with a light mustache; the wife
Hauz Khas Series – A House in the Village, Chapter 1 Life Regions by The Delhi Walla - August 7, 2011December 2, 20133 Life in Delhi’s prettiest neighbourhood. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The terrace of my apartment looks to the ruins of Hauz Khas, which were originally built as a mosque and madarsa by emperor Feroze Shah Tughlaq in 14th century. Tughlaq was buried in the same compound. The dome of his tomb soars above the other domes. The monument complex is landscaped with grass, which is scarred with dozens of brown patches. The entrance gateway has vines growing on its stony top. A visitor to the monument takes in the tombs, pillared halls, and dark chambers one at a time. From my terrace, I see it in its entirety, including the hauz, the water tank. The apartment is situated adjacent to
City Series – A House in the Village, Hauz Khas Life Regions by The Delhi Walla - July 30, 2011December 2, 20134 Life in Delhi’s prettiest neighbourhood. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla lives in Hauz Khas Village. The one-room apartment has a window that looks to graceful ruins and a placid lake. The view ahead is of treetops. In the day, birds chirp. In the night, ducks squawk. The sky roars frequently with the drone of airplanes, preparing to land in Indira Gandhi International Airport. The series A House in the Village will try to understand the life in Hauz Khas Village through its monuments, market and people, including the Kashmiri carpet seller who claims to see men’s future on their faces and the owner of a small second-hand bookstore where nobody has bought books since more than six
City Region – Middle Lane, Connaught Place Regions by The Delhi Walla - April 23, 2010May 23, 20100 It's not loved. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Its curved passage is empty. The stone floor uneven. The wall disfigured. The plaster is chipping off. This short passage connects the Outer Circle corridor to the Middle Lane of M-block in Connaught Place (CP), Delhi’s colonial-era shopping district, which is being given a major facelift in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games. Most showrooms and restaurants in CP line its Inner Circle. Since the opening of the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station at Central Park in 2006, newer cafes, fast food outlets and an increase in footfall has brightened the otherwise dull Outer Circle too. It’s the Middle Circle that remains drab. Drabber still is the Middle Lane that links the Outer Circle
City Region – Kamla Market, Central Delhi Regions by The Delhi Walla - February 9, 2010May 23, 20105 Asia’s big air-cooler bazaar. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s a Dickensian sight. The driveway through the entrance gate is rutty. The clock on the clock tower doesn’t work. Men pee on the boundary wall. Mechanics drill holes into steel. Laborers haul cargoes in hand-pulled carts. All around are arranged thousands of air coolers, electric geysers, washing machines, water pumps, sandwich toasters and steel trunks, sometimes packed in colorful cardboard boxes. Situated next to Ajmeri Gate in central Delhi, Kamla Market came up in 1951 to provide livelihood to the Partition refugees who came from what is now Pakistan. (Don't confuse the place with Kamla Nagar Market, which is in north Delhi.) Inaugurated by Dr Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President, and
City Region – Pratap Street, Daryaganj Regions by The Delhi Walla - January 2, 2010May 23, 20104 The alley’s private life. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Walking through Delhi’s bylanes is like being in a surreal art-house movie: peeled walls, closed doors, musty air, entangled wires, clouds of dust, dark corners and dead ends. Pratap Street, behind Golcha Cinema in Daryaganj, is no different. Spending a day here is like secretly flipping through somebody’s family photo album — you get to see the city’s private life. The 100-metre-long strip of road has a rich life. Young men make love-talk on mobile phones, girls in salwar suits walk without making eye contact, men spit and women gossip. There’s a presswalla, a bookstore, and a workshop that repairs car axles. “This street is so narrow,” says Mr Owais, who works in