City Life – Jane Austen Readers, Aryabhatta College Life by The Delhi Walla - November 10, 20250 Jane Austen in Delhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Such happiness to join a party cheering for Jane Austen. The coming December marks the novelist’s 250th birth anniversary. As a buildup to the auspicious occasion, the English literature students of Delhi University's Aryabhatta College have assembled this afternoon in the college’s… oh well, one wants to call this hall a ballroom, but ballrooms belong to Jane Austen’s rural England, where rich men and handsome women fall in love over dance, gossip, and piano forte. This hall is simply called Student’s Activity Center. The consolation is that many students present here happen to be reading Jane Austen, that too for the first time; her novel Pride and Prejudice being a part of
City Walk – Gali Jamun Wali, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 8, 2025November 8, 20250 The Walled City dictionary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is no jamun in Gali Jamun Wali. The historical fact is that a jamun tree did stand there, and it did give its name to the street. While the tree ceased to exist a long time ago, it has not wholly become a part of unverifiable legend. A street dweller has been a rare witness to the tree. “That jamun ka ped was there in my childhood, I would see it daily,” insists Muhammed Sayeed. In his late 60s, the hospitable man administers an envelope-making workshop in the street. This evening, he is sitting on a chair right outside the workshop with his friend, journalist Fasiullah. Both men are dressed in
City Monument – Old Landmarks, Mehrauli Monuments by The Delhi Walla - November 7, 20250 Not Old Delhi, but older Delhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is Old Delhi. There is also older Delhi. A lot many monuments of Mehrauli were already centuries-old by the time Shahjahan laid the foundation of Old Delhi some 400 years ago. In an attempt to exhaustively dig into the innards of historic Mehrauli, we start with a handful of monuments. They are not as world-famous as Mehrauli’s most touristy monument (guess which!), but are perhaps more deeply entrenched into the region’s social and cultural landscape. Jahaz Mahal is said to look like a jahaz, a ship. Legend has it that its reflection on the rippling wavelets of an adjacent lake were said to resemble a ship on sail.
City Landmark – Old Bridge, Deshbandhu Gupta Marg Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - November 6, 20250 Bridge of sighs. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The train engine hoots out a long wail. The sound drifts far up into the afternoon’s smoggy air, disintegrating slowly. The express gives a sudden jerk, and the red coaches starts to move, slowly leaving the station. The train will go past the shunting yards, past the grimy backwalls of tall buildings, past the slums, past the suburbs, and will soon be out of city limits. The train passengers will break free from Delhi. And from Delhi pollution. Many of us have built our life on the soil of this city. There are times, though, when the idea of quitting Delhi demands a serious consideration. Such as during these days of extreme
City Poetry – Professor Desai’s Poem, East Patel Nagar City Poetry by The Delhi Walla - November 5, 20250 A scholar's life. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The tall and stately Rupin Walter Desai commands awe, esteem, and gratitude among scores of Delhiwale, who had the privilege of attending his English Literature lectures in Delhi University. That said, the professor’s professional academic days are long gone; he retired more than 30 years ago. However, the man’s formidable stature is continually invigorated by his unceasing intellectual interventions, and has transcended the university circles. Professor Desai happens to be among India’s greatest living Shakespeare scholars. He founded the highly regarded Hamlet Studies, a journal that he single-handedly sustained for more than two decades. Indeed, to commemorate his lifetime’s worth of scholarship, the professor’s colleagues and disciples had honoured him with a
City Nature – Saptaparni Tree in Bloom, Connaught Place Nature by The Delhi Walla - November 4, 20250 And still it blooms. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is late Saturday evening. The air is smoggy. The season’s extreme pollution is causing the eyes to suffer from a slight burning sensation. Anyhow, life goes on. Connaught Place is packed with shoppers, and a particular species of trees here is packed with flowers. These trees are currently in full bloom. The most picturesque sight is of a giant tree that guards the mouth of Inner Circle’s A Block. It is covered with hundreds of green flowers. Welcome to the blossoming season of saptaparni, which lasts from mid-October to December. Saptaparni trees are spread across the avenues of Delhi, and its surrounding regions. A tree stands near Gurugram railway station, close
Mission Delhi – Laila Tyabji, Shantiniketan Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - November 3, 20250 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Laila Tyabji, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, unites some of the best blessings of existence. Oh well, how to hide it from you, dear all-knowing reader? The line above has been plagiarised from the famous opening of a famous Jane Austen novel. Except that the heroine’s name has been replaced by the name of Delhi’s no. 1 Jane Austenite. (Otherwise Jane Austen’s description fits our fellow citizen to a tee.) This December marks Jane Austen’s 250th birth anniversary, and craft revivalist Laila Tyabji’s reading life effortlessly connects us to the world of the timeless English writer. Laila has been living with Jane
City Walk – Gali Khan Khana, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - November 2, 20250 The Walled City dictionary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was a poet’s alley. Or maybe it was a fish market. Perhaps it was both. Old Delhi’s Gali Khan Khana has a past full of conjectures. Khan Khana, of course, was the title that Emperor Akbar famously awarded to his court noble Rahim, the legendary poet well-versed in Sanskrit, as well as Persian. Indeed, one recent afternoon, a Walled City man encountered in front of the Jama Masjid had introduced himself as a poet who lived in a nearby street, which he said with some flourish, was named after a great poet. He had meant Gali Khan Khana. But Gali Khan Khana could as well have been named after any VIP. For
City Walk – Lighted High-Rises, Barakhamba Road Walks by The Delhi Walla - October 31, 20250 Barakhamba Heights. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody walks on Barakhamba Road for sightseeing. But everyone should, especially after sundown when the many high-rises of the central Delhi avenue sparkle with night lights. This evening, Indra Prakash and Narain Manzil are gleaming like mineral-rich crystalline stalagmites. It is however the building between these two that is sheathed in a brilliant splatter of multitudinous lights. The scene could be a Jackson Pollack painting—see photo. (The building in the centre is Hindustan Times House that actually stands on the road behind, on Kasturba Gandhi Marg.) Whatever, Barakhamba Road’s most iconic symbol has to be the Statesman House. 236 feet tall*, the sand-coloured tower crowns and consecrates almost every nook and corner of the
City Food – Daulat ki Chaat 2025, Paharganj Food by The Delhi Walla - October 30, 20250 A classic returns. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] So many people here, and the market street strung with fairy lights. Such a grand welcome for the one and only Daulat Ki Chaat. Ok, let’s cool down the hyperbole. There indeed is crowd, but it is an everyday feature of Paharganj’s Main Bazar. And the streets lights are truly festive, but they are remnants of the recent Diwali decorations. Even so, this Tuesday evening, the surrounding props do seem like appropriate trappings to mark the return of Delhi’s most poetic wintertime street dessert. It is his Daulat’s inaugural day for the new season—says vendor Rohit, see photo. The classic dish the young man is hawking on his cart is arranged neatly into