City Walk – Gali Guliyan, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - March 23, 20260 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some citizens relate Ballimaran to the blockbuster film song “Kajra Re,” featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, which mentions the Old Delhi ’hood in passing. But it is another Old Delhi ’hood that truly stands out when it comes to cinema. A full-fledged widely praised film is named after this very street—albeit with a slightly different spelling. Gali Guleiyan, starring Manoj Bajpayee, is set in the lanes of Purani Dilli. Spelled Gali Guliyan, the actual street is short and relatively quiet, marked by a sequence of old lovely doors and closely set facades. Outside the peak summer months, it hosts a steady stream of visitors, especially foreign tourists. Many arrive with guides. Some of these
City Life – Place-Names, Around Town Life by The Delhi Walla - March 20, 20260 Is Sundar Nagar really sundar. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A rose smells like a rose. In a world that feels uncertain, that is reassuring. But names don’t always carry such certainty. Take a locality in East Delhi. Despite its name, Khichdipur doesn’t smell of khichdi. Delhi, in fact, is crammed with places whose names have drifted away from their literal meanings. Like a kati patang, a kite cut loose in the wind. Consider the elite Friends Colony and New Friends Colony. Are their residents friendlier than residents of other ‘hoods? Is Shadipur listed in any record book for hosting the maximum number of shaadiyan (weddings)? Is Swasthya Vihar especially known for swasthya (health)? Truth be told, the rooftops of Sunlight Colony are
City Monument – Shahi Sunehri Mosque, Chandni Chowk Monuments by The Delhi Walla - March 19, 20260 A monument in history. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The news from Iran remains troubling and tragic. In recent weeks, this page has reflected on Delhi’s long and layered connections with that land—bonds that mostly predate the modern Iranian state. Many of these connections are deeply enriching. Delhi’s Mirza Ghalib composed his finest poetry in Persian, a language that once linked cultures across regions. As with shared histories, these bonds also bear instances of rupture. Acknowledging those does not negate the good in the shared past. A souvenir of this complexity stands discreetly in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. From the roof of the Shahi Sunehri Masjid, the Persian ruler Nader Shah oversaw one of Delhi’s most devastating episodes, 287 years ago.
City Season – Two Bougainvillea Trees, Lodhi Garden Hangouts Nature by The Delhi Walla - March 18, 20260 Double role story. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The two bougainvillea trees are currently in bloom, synchronising in perfect jugalbandi with each other, twinning brightly, here at Lodhi Garden. The pink flowers are drifting down continually on the ground. The pair is iconic, every Delhiwale should see it. The city itself, it seems, produces pairs in countless forms. Once you perceive the pattern, you spot it across the megapolis. Take Kasturba Gandhi Marg, where the British Council stands across the road from the American Center (both institutions are popular for their libraries, though the latter’s has severely contracted over the years). In central Delhi, statues of Russian writers stand a short walk apart: Pushkin near Mandi House, Tolstoy on Janpath. Coffee
Mission Delhi – Andrea Anastasio, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 17, 2026March 17, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The entire wall is covered with a woman’s black-and-white portraits. In each one of them, she is dressed in black, and happens to be a mother in grief. This is Andrea Anastasio’s bedroom. The head of the Italian Cultural Centre, Andrea lives in a central Delhi apartment. Hundreds of books fill the home. Dozens of objects—statuettes, paintings, photographs, artful lamps, some designed by Andrea himself—are arranged with the affection of someone who lives among things not as possessions but as companions. Guests to the apartment tend to wander slowly, pause, gaze, often break into small utterances of “wah wah.” But the bedroom is usually private territory. This
Mission Delhi – Gulab, Old Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - March 16, 2026March 17, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Over the past few years, Old Delhi’s cramped streets have begun to feel even more congested. Much of this is due to the arrival of the so-called battery rickshaw, which has almost entirely replaced the old-fashioned manually driven rickshaw. Battery rickshaws are broader and take up more space in the already narrow lanes. For the rickshaw man, of course, they have arrived as a life-changing relief. Unlike the traditional rickshaw puller, he does not have to squeeze out the last ounce of energy from his exhausted body to drag passengers through crowded streets—sometimes clambering down to haul the vehicle by hand on steep slopes. A good
City Walk – Gali Dharampura, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - March 14, 20260 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This must be the city’s most beautiful barbershop, though it has no name. Its stone portal is flanked by a trio of graceful arches, and stepping through them feels less like entering a place for a quick shave and more like walking into a monument meant for admiration. Gali Dharampura, as this lane is informally known, is among the most picturesque streets of Old Delhi. The lane feels curated, as though shaped by an aesthete determined to keep out the embarrassing aspects of the Walled City. It is oddly orderly, free from the usual intrusions of Old Delhi’s chaos—the noise, crowds, tangles of wires, and impossible traffic of bikes and rickshaws. Walking
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Paridhi Narayan Singh, Ghaziabad Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - March 14, 20260 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is excited about April 15, and has already, with her gang of friends, got the tickets for Shakira’s Delhi concert. Meantime, this evening in her Ghaziabad study, young entrepreneur Paridhi Narayan Singh, an apparel brand boss, 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. If not yourself, who would you be? Moon. The principal aspect of your personality. I need to constantly experiment. Your favorite occupation. Searching for weirdly creative things on Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. Gives me a thrill and helps prime my creative mind. Your idea of misery. Living with the mindset that I am a helpless
City Hangout – Shah’s Dagger, Humayun Museum Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - March 12, 20260 A dagger most extraordinary. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two museum visitors stroll past the display, not pausing by the dagger. Yet this object, on permanent exhibit at the Humayun World Heritage Site Museum in central Delhi, has acquired renewed fascination in light of the events unfolding in Iran. Like India, Iran’s long past has been moulded by the rise and fall of many empires. The dynasty that shaped the Iran we recognise today was the Safavid dynasty, founded by Shah Ismail I about 500 years ago. It was Ismail’s son, Tahmasp I, who went on to become the longest-reigning Shah of Islamic Iran, solidifying the empire during his 50-year reign. A personal souvenir of that ruler rests in Delhi: the
City Monument – Qutub Saheb ki Baoli, Mehrauli Monuments by The Delhi Walla - March 12, 20260 The step-well around the corner. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is early March, the afternoons are already hot. If humankind had never invented electricity—no air-conditioners, no coolers—the good old way to escape from the hostile weather would have been to move downward into this curious structure, step by step, toward the receding water below. There the breeze rises directly from the surface, cooler and cleaner, in shade and shantih. This is the baoli—the old stone step-well. A monument to summer. One of Delhi’s most intriguing and lesser-known baolis stands beside the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki in Mehrauli. This afternoon, the Qutub Saheb ki Baoli is covered by a metal grid. While its massive stone walls are lined