City Life – Dr Yunus Jaffery, Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - May 20, 20261 His life, like a Persian memory. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The stalemate in Iran continues to dominate headlines. In Delhi, we are geographically removed from the war’s direct reach, yet its repercussions are strongly felt. So too are the enduring traces of Iran’s cultural heritage, which lingers across India and in its capital. Just last evening, the Iran Culture House in Delhi opened an exhibition at Sunder Nursery titled Shared Epic Worlds: The Shahnameh, the Mahabharat, and the Indo-Persian Imagination.In fact, these pages have already explored some of the intersections between Delhi and Persia. Today, it is time to recall a great Persian scholar of our city, whose tenth death anniversary falls this year. A professor of Persian at Zakir
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Varun, Netaji Subhash Marg Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - May 20, 20260 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dekho dekho, a new star is born. Varun, 21, a fresh Business Administration graduate, has occasionally been seen helping his father, a veteran bookseller, sell used books at the latter’s stall in the legendary Sunday Book Bazar. A few weeks ago, Varun opened his own bookshop, MK Books, on Netaji Subhash Marg (sandwiched between Jain Book Depot and Book Adda). The bookstore is also manned by his father. This evening, the young man graciously agrees to join 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’m a very jolly person. Even when feeling sad, I
City Walk – Chatta Abdul Hakeem, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - May 20, 20260 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The dead-end street is narrow, cramped and dark. Late evening has settled over the place, but the darkness is not entirely because of the hour. At noon as well, daylight enters reluctantly. That is the peculiarity of Chatta Abdul Hakeem. There is a solid reason why the street stays dark even after the sunrise. It is short and tightly hemmed in on both sides. The main cause is the structure from which it takes its name: the chatta. In Old Delhi, a chatta is a bridge-like structure that connects buildings across a street. Usually covered and so very private, it links the upper storeys of the same house while hanging suspended above
Mission Delhi – Pawan Kumar Tomar, Sri Nivaspuri Depot Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 18, 2026May 18, 20261 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the American film Paterson, the hero, played by Adam Driver, is a city bus driver who writes poetry, earnestly jotting down the lines in a notebook. In Delhi, there is a man as striking as that film actor. Plus, Pawan Kumar Tomar too drives a city bus, with the Delhi Transport Corporation. And he too writes poetry, earnestly jotting down the lines in a notebook. His poems have appeared in the poetry anthology Aaj ke Hindi Kavi (Contemporary Hindi Poets). Indeed, his notebook rests openly on the dashboard beside the steering wheel, a blue-ink pen tucked into its lined pages, ready for use during breaks. “As
City Food – Nizam’s Game Wali Kulfi, Turkman Gate Bazar Food by The Delhi Walla - May 15, 20260 A summertime tradition. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In cities, traditions slowly fade, until one day nobody remembers when they disappeared, and no one anyway has the time to notice what has been permanently lost. Delhi’s game wali kulfi is close to that precipice. Even so, on scorching afternoons, at least one street vendor still hawks this unusual phenomenon. Look for him in the lanes of the Walled City. Citizen Nizam returns to these pages because he is among the last surviving custodians of a summertime tradition that blends dessert with gambling, harmless gambling really. This late morning, he is at Turkman Gate Bazar, bearing the familiar smile, and the same hand-painted cart, the same kulfi. Everyone knows kulfi. It is
City Landmark – St. Stephen’s College, North Delhi Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - May 14, 20260 She breaks the glass ceiling. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi University’s St. Stephen’s College breaks a glass ceiling. The new principal will be a woman. Best wishes, Professor Susan Elias! Here are some Stephanian kissa-kahanis to mark this iconic moment. The college takes its name from Christianity’s first martyr, who was stoned to death outside Jerusalem’s city walls for his faith. Another Delhi University college named after a martyr is Shaheed Bhagat Singh College; Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom of course had a fierce anti-colonial, patriotic intent. The college traces its origins around our first war of independence of 1857, when even the British must not have realized they would remain in India for the next 90 years. The college started as a
City Food – Dilkhush Tea Stall, Ballimaran Food by The Delhi Walla - May 13, 20260 Chaikhana by Ghalib's. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Debt-ridden poet Mirza Ghalib is nearing the end of his life, passing the final days in a mansion in Old Delhi’s Ballimaran. He is still writing verses, still daily walking the short distance to a chaikhana with a disarmingly hopeful name—Dilkhush, meaning “heart-happy.” Ghalib is long gone. Dilkhush still stands in Ballimaran. If only this were true. Parts of it are. Ghalib’s last home is indeed nearby, and the chai establishment does exist. But Ghalib died about 150 years ago, while Dilkhush Tea Stall appeared twenty years ago, as the man at the counter explains. Those historically minded people who like continuity, and try to seamlessly stitch the present to the past in the historic
City Monument – Two Baolis, Around Town Monuments by The Delhi Walla - May 13, 20260 ACs of the older times. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are many baolis in Delhi, but two of these old stepwells embody distinct responses to the summer season, and to the way our city remembers, or forgets, its old edifices. One is Agrasen ki Baoli. The other is Gandhak ki Baoli. One has become a popular hangout. The other remains a secretive refuge. Both are easily accessible, tucked beside busy roads. One sits in the central sprawl of the city, near the office towers of Barakhamba Road and KG Marg. The other lies in the southern parts, near the medieval tower of Qutub Minar. One is frequently photographed; it has been framed by Raghu Rai’s lens and has also appeared in an
City Food – Modinagar ki Danedar Shikanji, Around Town Food by The Delhi Walla - May 11, 20260 A zila Ghaziabad drink. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Agra is known for its petha. Ajmer for its sohan halwa. Gurugram for its doda barfi. Indore for its poha. Kakori for its kebabs. Mathura for its rabri. Nagina for its gulab jamun. Nainital for its bal mithai. Orai for its rasgulla. Sandila for its peda. Ghaziabad for its… oh, here’s news! The Government of Uttar Pradesh has assigned each zila, or district, a signature dish that is acknowledged to be its culinary speciality. Ghaziabad, across the Delhi-UP border, has been paired with soya chaap and pickled chillies. In the coming days, this reporter will try to investigate the city’s soya chaap culture more closely, though the street food scene currently visible
City Walk – Gali Altaf Hussain, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - May 11, 20260 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] No, he can’t be that one. The Altaf Hussain of Old Delhi’s Gali Altaf Hussain street cannot be the exiled Pakistani politician who lives in England. For one, the Pakistani Altaf was born after Partition, in the city of Karachi, and has nothing to do with our Delhi (his parents were originally from Agra). Dilli ka Altaf Hussain must be someone else—though no man accosted this afternoon in Gali Altaf Hussain and its vicinity is able to trace the antecedents of the mystery man. The clueless passers-by sportingly suggest that Altaf Hussain must have been an esteemed resident of the street in the early days of the centuries-old Walled City. He