Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Aamir, Central Delhi Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - July 4, 20260 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Young Aamir is eating rajma-roti while watching YouTube videos on his phone. See photo. This routine of meal-by-mobile has become part of our shared humanity, connecting citizens across lives that are otherwise vastly different. A shop assistant in Central Delhi, Aamir is on his lunch break. This afternoon, he 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 good person. I respect my elders, I’m kind to people younger than me, I never fight with people my own age. Your favorite qualities in a man. The ability to work diligently, and to
City Monument – Akshardham Temple, Yamuna Bank Faith Monuments by The Delhi Walla - July 2, 20260 Delhi as temple town. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] 25 years ago today, on 2 July 2001, the foundation and plinth work for Akshardham Mandir on the eastern bank of the Yamuna was completed, and the first sculpted stone for the shrine was ceremonially laid. Four years later, the temple opened to Delhiwale and to the rest of the world. In the two decades since, it has become one of Delhi's defining landmarks. A major place of pilgrimage, it also ranks among the city's grandest architectural monuments, comparable in scale to Humayun's Tomb and Jama Masjid. The riverside complex is dedicated to Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a 19th century ascetic. Made of pink sandstone and white marble, the temple features 20,000 sculpted figures,
City Life – Lit Meet in Extreme Heat, Ghalib Academy Life by The Delhi Walla - July 1, 20260 Literary scene in climate chnage. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Oops! Only one person as audience in the hall for a literary gathering. See photo. Blame the heat. Temperatures are in the 40s. The heat index makes it feel above 50. The programme is due to begin at 5pm. It is the monthly prose meet at Central Delhi's Ghalib Academy. Open to all, every participant is invited to the podium to read a short story, essay or some such piece of prose that they have written, in any language. But before anyone can read, there has to be an audience. Yes, dear reader, this is what some of the literary life can look like during Delhi's extreme summer. Just weeks earlier, despite the
City Life – Yamuna, Delhi Life by The Delhi Walla - June 30, 20260 City and its lifeline. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Before we talk of the rising inches. Most Delhiwale are reminded of the Yamuna only when the monsoon arrives, the river spills across its plains, and flooding takes over the front pages of our newspapers. (A. K. Ramanujan’s A River best encapsulates this annual phenomenon; a line from the poem inspires the opening words of this dispatch). Just before the rains, as now, the city’s Yamuna appears narrow, lazy and sluggish. Buffaloes graze on its temporary islands. The blackish water giving no hint of the river’s bonds to the city. Yet this may be a suitable time to see the Yamuna not as a crisis but as one of Delhi's defining landscapes. Coming down
Mission Delhi – Asghar, Central Delhi Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - June 29, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The afternoon heat is oppressive, the humidity makes it doubly oppressive. In such a hostile weather, a citizen is sitting on the roadside. A pair of crutches rests beside him. Whenever someone walks past, he quietly raises his arm, gesturing for alms. He introduces himself as Asghar and, after a few minutes of friendly chitchat, settles down to explain how he reached this point in his life. Asghar is from Godda district in Jharkhand. He came to Delhi when he was 12 years old in search of work. His first job was washing dishes in a small eatery. He stayed there for some years. As he grew,
City Walk – Gali Shah Abul Khair, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - June 28, 2026June 28, 20260 The Walled City encyclopaedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Gali Shah Abul Khair, aka Gali Shahbul Khair, takes its name from the road it opens onto. Shah Abul Khair Marg, the busy market road outside the aforementioned gali, is in turn named after the eighteenth-century Sufi saint buried in the shrine located on the other side of the road. This revered Shah Abul Khair, the mystic, is said to have lived through the reigns of eleven Mughal emperors. Despite carrying the saint's name, the lane is easy to miss. It appears as a narrow slit opening off the market road. At first glance, it seems to lead only to a doorway standing directly ahead. Only on closer inspection does
City Hangout – Regal Cinema Building Corridor, Connaught Place Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - June 26, 20260 A corridor in time. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Go to the Regal Cinema building in Connaught Place. Walk down the corridor to the far end overlooking Sansad Marg and stop. Can you hear the faint piano strains of Vinteuil’s Sonata drifting through the air? You cannot. But if you are of a certain age, memory may supply what the corridor no longer does. Here was once Delhi's grand piano shop. Cities are shaped as much by what has vanished as by what still stands. They are composed of both the present and the past. In this stretch of Connaught Place, the two exist side by side. At this quieter end of Regal Building stood A. Godin & Co. Founded in Quetta in
City Hangout – Two Bougainvillaea Trees, Lodhi Garden Hangouts by The Delhi Walla - June 25, 20260 Pink shelter. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This June afternoon, the two giant bougainvilleas near the duck pond in Lodhi Garden are in rich bloom. Their pink canopies rise above the garden, visible through the summer haze. Blossoms are drifting down from the branches, carpeting the ground with papery petals. Only a few weeks ago, these trees were completely flowerless. That was puzzling, because their summer blooms are usually enduring. Whatever, now the branches are once again in pink. The trees being so picturesque, the benches beneath the trees attract visitors throughout the day. This afternoon is no different despite the sweltering heat. Two lovers are sitting quietly on one bench. Another is occupied by a family of five—a man, a woman,
Mission Delhi – Céline Malraux, André Malraux Marg Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - June 25, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Countless Delhi roads are named after notable individuals. Few of us Delhiwale stop to consider what these people did to merit this form of immortality on our navigation apps. One such road runs alongside the French Embassy in Chanakyapuri. It is named not after Napolean, nor Proust, but after a French intellectual arguably less familiar to most of us Indians. Yet André Malraux looms large in France’s national imagination. A novelist and statesman, he ranks among the most influential French figures of the twentieth century. His ashes lie in the Panthéon in Paris, the immortal resting place of some of France’s most revered giants, among them Voltaire
City Monument – Jama Masjid Towers, Old Delhi Monuments by The Delhi Walla - June 23, 20260 Twin towers tourism. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the hot months, the hottest place in Delhi may well be the top of the Jama Masjid minarets. These twin towers of red sandstone soar above a city whose beleaguered bechare citizens spend much of May and June searching for shade. The towers stand fully exposed to the blazing summer sun, slowly baking in the heat. Yet people keep climbing the towers. They come to the monument, cross the vast courtyard, and buy a ticket to ascend one of the two minarets. In practice, foreign tourists are directed to the northern tower, while Indian visitors climb the southern one. The ascent itself is an adventure. The staircase is narrow and steep. It coils