City Walk – Gali Lohe Wali, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 23, 20250 The Walled City dictionary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Gali Choori Wallan no longer has any choori shop, or choori worker. So why should you today expect Old Delhi’s Gali Lohe Wali to have anything to do with loha, or iron? In fact, the lane near Chawri Bazar exposes an altogether different character than you would expect from its name. It is lined with stores selling… wedding cards! This afternoon, as the weak November sunshine tries to penetrate through the winter smog, the street walls deepen the grim mood with their dust-covered smears of peeling paint. A rotting genda garland is strung around a wall flyer advertising the services of a “shutter repairer.” A kati patang is stuck behind
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Syed Shahnawaz, Hazrat Sarmad Shahid’s Dargah Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - November 21, 20250 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is late night. Syed Shahnawaz is manning the rose stall at the historic Sufi shrine of Hazrat Sarmad Shahid in Old Delhi. Following some small talk on the winter chill, he 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. Your favourite flower. Red rose. Your favourite occupation. This rose stall belongs to my baap-dada-pardada (forefathers). For centuries, pilgrims have been buying roses from us to offer at the dargah. I continue the tradition by attending to it for a few hours daily. But my main business is selling fancy lights. My shop is at Bhagirath
City Landmark – Stalled Clock, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 20, 20251 Time ticking on one stalled second. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] What’s the time, bhai? It is six something, sir, but can’t confirm the exact minute. Can’t even tell you if it is six in the morning, or six in the evening. Be assured though, the time here will always be six something. Such is this place, here time stands halted. Just when one imagines to have explored every hidden nook and crevice of good old Connaught Place (CP), something outrageously dramatic pops up in the area, of whose existence one had no idea. Delhi’s colonial-era shopping district is dense with history, but its ever-evolving restaurants and cafés show CP to be super-sensitive to the present, constantly altering to the expectations of
City Landmark – Lending Library, Shankar Market Landmarks Library by The Delhi Walla - November 19, 20250 The books around the corner. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A citizen in Ghaziabad tends to fondly recall her childhood in Allahabad town. Once a week she would walk from her home to the mohalla market, stepping into a tiny room crammed with books. It was the neighbourhood’s lending library. Now, she says, she lives in a city so big that it has no place for a space as homey as a lending library. But Delhi neighbourhoods did harbour lending libraries. Members would drop in regularly into those libraries to get new reading material. They would also chat with the library owner, sometimes gossiping about fellow members not seen for long. Many of these lending libraries have gone extinct. The
City Poetry – Jasbir Chatterjee’s Pollution Poem, Vikas Puri City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - November 18, 20250 On sore throat. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sore throat? You have it too! Must be the city’s bad air. Whatever, early in the month, as Delhi was beset by extreme pollution, customer relations manager Jasbir Chatterjee was forced to take three days’ leave due to “respiratory problems.” It was deeply frustrating, because she is very careful of saving her office leaves, to utilise them for truly important family occasions. Thankfully, she has recovered, resuming her long commutes to work at a commercial vehicles showroom in Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar. This weekend afternoon, at her residence in Vikas Puri, over a tasty fish curry prepared by husband, Sukhangshu, she reads aloud a poem she wrote on the disruption caused to
City Walk – Chaurasi Ghanta Chowk, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 17, 2025November 17, 20250 The Walled City dictionary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] See the small tiled platform at the centre of the chowk. A few flowers are scattered about it. Now, a citizen steps out from one of the lanes intersecting at the crossroad. He walks up to the platform, and bends down, reverently laying his right palm on the platform. He brings the palm to his forehead, as if partaking something of the platform’s divinity. “Mata ki Chowki,” he explains, turning towards Chawri Bazar. Old Delhi’s Chaurasi Ghanta Chowk however is not named after this platform, but after another sacred destination. That place is a full-fledged temple under a peepal tree, and stands steps away from the platform, across the lane from Banarasi Das
City Landmark – Anil Book Corner, Connaught Place Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 14, 20250 Longtime landmark in changing time. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This stall has been selling used books for decades. This evening, it is additionaly selling first-hand framed posters bearing such motivational exhortations: “Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy” “The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow” “If you are not happy, make a change” The bookstall introduced the frames this week, for the first time in its long life—per an attendant. The development tells of an iconic establishment, in an iconic shopping district, attempting to adjust to the changing times. Anil Book Corner is a modest establishment in Delhi’s Connaught Place (CP), and has been a part of the city landscape for more than 50 years.
City Food – Neta’s Chai, Chawri Bazar Food by The Delhi Walla - November 13, 20250 Portrait of a tea stall. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two things distinguish his chai stall, here in Old Delhi’s Chawri Bazar. The first is its extreme conciseness. Of course, most tea stalls are tiny, but this is tinier. While manning the stall, he is obliged to stand for hours squeezed in the small space between the market corridor’s pillars. The second thing is Neta Chowdhury’s name. But Neta is simply the Hindi word for politician. Could it be a nickname? Many tea stall owners have fond names given to them by their loyal customers. There’s Mama, meaning uncle, in Gurugram’s Sector 14 Market, and there's Aunty Ji on Golf Course Road. Neta Chowdhury shakes his head. Neta is really his
City Life – Barakhamba Lane, Central Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 12, 2025November 12, 20250 Once was Ground Zero. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The day had set a couple of hours ago. By now, the tree-lined pathway in central Delhi’s Barakhamba has grown deserted, except for an occasional man, or woman, hurrying towards the bus stop, or the metro station. For the moment, the brightest light is emanating out from citizen Sunder’s fruit salad stall (see photo). The man’s calming presence makes it even more surreal to recall that this peaceful area was the site of a terror attack. It was among the five places targeted during a synchronised bomb blasts in September, 2008. This week, one more place joins the city’s scarred topography of tragic sites. On Monday evening, at least 10 people were
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Umang, Lodhi Garden Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - November 11, 20251 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] One polluted evening, she is seen sitting on a bench in Lodhi Garden, under a tree, facing the centuries-old Sheesh Gumbad monument. Instead of looking around at the beautiful sights, she is absorbed in a book. Next evening, she is again sighted, sitting on the same bench, reading the same book. Following an exchange of greetings, Umang 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. What is the principal aspect of your personality? Being alone and enjoying my company. After my parents passed away, I came to the realisation that in the final analysis