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 Life – Graveyard Epitaphs, Around Town Hangouts Life by The Delhi Walla - December 4, 2025December 4, 20250 Grave words. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A grave has limited dimensions, and yet possesses a sentimental scope without a limit—to the person whose loved one lies buried in the grave. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Delhi is a city of graves. Some neighbourhoods stand on former graveyards, such as Kaka Nagar. There is even a 5-star hotel standing upon an ex-qabristan, (but we won’t name it!). One city locality takes the cake—it is called Mohalla Qabristan. Here’s a survey of select graves spread across Delhi’s many graveyards. To be more precise, this is a tribute not to those graves, but to lines inscribed on the graves. These carefully considered words memorialise our fellow citizens who once walked
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Shahnaz, Bawana Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - December 3, 20250 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a soothingly warm sunny afternoon, and she is walking along the city roadside, simultaneously knitting an ear warmer for herself. Continuing to walk and knit, Shahnaz, who works as a street recycler, graciously agrees to become a part of our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. The principal aspect of your personality. I always speak truth. I’m honest. I don’t fight with anyone. Our lives last just for two days. If we spend it in fighting others, we would leave behind, I think, nothing in the world but resentments. Your favourite qualities in a man. The ability to not give
City Food – Doda Mithai, Sham Sweets Food by The Delhi Walla - December 3, 20250 To the jubilee year. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] 2025 is soon ending. The forthcoming 2026 will create its own anthology of fortunes and misfortunes. It will also mark a landmark’s diamond jubilee. The Millennium City sobriquet for Gurugram suggests as if the city came up only after the year 2000. Gurugram in fact dates back to the ancient time of Mahabharat. Consider the “guru” and “gram” constituents of the name: the city originated as a gram, or village, that was gifted by the Pandavas as gurudakshina to Guru Dronacharya. Today, however, the high-rises of contemporary Gurugram are so overwhelming that one forgets the city’s timeless past. As well as the fact that this land of shopping malls and office
City Life – Street Dogs List, Hazrat Nizamuddin East Life by The Delhi Walla - December 1, 20250 Namrata’s extraordinary buddy list. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] We may as well start with her mobile phone. A hospitality industry professional, Namrata Rynjah’s mobile is filled with photos of very many dogs. The photo album is named Nizz east buddies. “Nizz east” being Nizamuddin East, which is Namrata’s central Delhi neighbourhood; and the “buddies” in the album’s name refers to… well, Nizamuddin East’s street dogs! Namrata is like the Dr Salim Ali of dogs. The ornithologist catalogued the birds of India, Namrata has catalogued all the street dogs of her neighbourhood. Indeed, many dogs are living here, spread across residential blocks, community parks, including in the sleepy backside market. Since the “colony” is a bit upscale, these street dwellers are
City Walk – Charkhe Walan Chowk, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - December 1, 20250 The Walled City dictionary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Look at these brown cardboard cartons, and then look at that brown wooden doorway. The juxtaposition defines the jarring character of Old Delhi’s Charkhe Walan Chowk intersection. Tidy relic of the past commingling with the industrious present. The cartons contain bottles of soap dispensers, says one of the five friendly men sitting around the cartons. They work as labourers, and live jointly like a band of brothers in a nearby alley. One man, with a summertime gamcha slung along his shoulder, is seated at some distance away from the rest of his colleagues, his back leaning against the beautiful doorway. He explains that the cartons arrived a while ago in a van,
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 Hangout – Sunday Book Bazar’s King, Mahila Haat Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - November 27, 2025November 28, 20250 Reporting from a Delhi institution. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here’s a citizen’s frank verdict on X about Delhi’s iconic Sunday Book Bazar—“This place is more of a hype… you see heaps of random books without any indexation done by the seller. If you have to buy real classics then you need to go to a reputed bookstore.” Indeed, what will Delhi be without its reputed bookstores; the reputation earned after years of hard work and sustained excellence. And let’s face it, the open-air Sunday Book Bazar is messy, loaded with tens of thousands of used books that you might refuse to accept even if offered for free. Even so, the market held every week in Mahila Haat exhibition ground (near
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 Poetry – Gulnaaz’s Darcy Poem, Delhi University City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - November 24, 20250 "I hate Darcy." [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He’s handsome and rich, and full of pride. She’s intelligent and not rich, and full of prejudice. Much misunderstandings follow before they unite in matrimony. The man is Fitzwilliam Darcy. The woman is… oh well, first meet another woman. She says, “I hate Darcy.” Gulnaaz is a Delhi University (DU) student. Dear readers, we may not harbour such intense sentiments for this Darcy, but he certainly is more intimate to thousands of DU students. Darcy happens to be the hero of Pride and Prejudice. The novel is in the university’s first-year English Literature curriculum. It was written by the great Jane Austen of England—the coming December marks her 250th birth anniversary. Literature scholar