City Food – Anarse ki Goli, Around Town Food by The Delhi Walla - August 16, 20260 Monsoon sweet. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A heap of small spheres is piled atop a metal tray, each coated with sesame seeds. The white seeds cover the caramel-coloured surfaces so densely that the spheres look almost like til ka laddu. A few have cracked open. This is the scene at a mithai shop counter in east Delhi, where anarse ki goli appears for a brief period each year. This sweet delicacy is limited, at least in the capital, to a handful of mithai shops and to the short rainy period in July and August, with some believing that its season is centred around the festival of teej. In western Uttar Pradesh, anarsa has an additional seasonal identity. A Delhi resident from
Mission Delhi – Saddam Akhtar, Urdu Bazar Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 13, 2026August 13, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Clocks cram the shop. They cover the walls, hang from hooks and stand on shelves. There are grandfather clocks, round clocks, square clocks, big clocks and small clocks. Their wooden cases, glass fronts and faded faces make the room feel out of step with the present. A few pendulums hang motionless behind the glass. Not one of the clocks is showing the correct time. None seems to be moving. The clock repair shop in Old Delhi’s Urdu Bazar feels timeless, though it has existed only since 1970. At the far end sits Saddam. His father, Suhail Akhtar, was a repairer and collector of old clocks who died
City Landmark – Press Club of India, Raisina Road Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - August 12, 20260 Scent of a scoop. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Why is the Press Club of India’s most prominent portrait that of a foreigner? It hangs above the club’s stately wooden staircase, overlooking the mid-landing. In the black-and-white photograph, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is raising a hand in greeting. A plaque describes him as the Father of the Nation of Bangladesh. Upstairs is the explanation. One of the halls there is called the Bangabandhu Media Centre. It was inaugurated in 2021 by a visiting Bangladeshi minister to mark the 50th anniversary of his nation’s independence. The portrait was unveiled at the same time. The members-only Press Club of India is a classic Delhi institution. Located at 1, Raisina Road, in the heart of Central Delhi
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Dilshad Ali, Sunday Book Bazar Delhi Proustians by The Delhi Walla - August 11, 20260 Portrait of a citizen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Many decades ago, in the hill town of Nainital, a second-hand book dealer called Dana Mian walked the hills with a coolie carrying a steel trunk filled with books on his head. Decades later, in Central Delhi’s Mahila Haat, second-hand bookseller Dilshad Ali arrives every Sunday with several street trunks crammed with used books. He takes the books out of the trunks and lays them on plastic sheets, turning his allotted space into a makeshift bookstall, like the dozens around him. He has been a fixture of Delhi’s Sunday Book Bazar for 25 years. His stall is particularly popular with lit students because it stocks all the English authors taught in
Mission Delhi – Billa, Sir Syed Street Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 10, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sir Syed Street is never still. The Old Delhi gali is always packed with people, fruit stalls and small shops. An upper-floor restaurant with large glass windows offers a clear view of the decorative lanterns hanging inside. Old balconies and spiralling staircases overlook the street. Signs, wires, carts and shopfronts compete for attention. But this evening, the most arresting sight is inside a little wayside shop. A brown-and-black striped cat is asleep on the glass counter of Elahi Watch Maker. Beneath the glass are rows of watches in their boxes. Behind the sleeping cat, watches and clocks cover the walls. The cat has stretched its paws across the
City Walk – Gali Garhiya, Old Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 10, 20260 The Old Delhi encyclopedia. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Bharat Shocker, Cheena Shocker, New Star Shocker… Step into Gali Garhiya, and almost every signboard bears the word "Shocker." A trader explains that mechanics call a motorcycle shock absorber a shocker. The Old Delhi lane in Matia Mahal owes its name to garraya, a pit that once existed at the end of the street. This rainy afternoon, a grandfather, his son and his son’s son are sitting dry inside a shocker shop. The elder man offers chai, confirming the story about the street's name. He also says that the Walled City has two more streets with this name, in Kucha Chelan and Chitla Gate. As you walk deeper into the cramped lane, it
Mission Delhi – Bablu Bhai, Seelampur Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 7, 2026August 7, 20260 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Socks are stacked in neat piles atop a small folding table. Black, grey and white pairs fill every inch of it. Riyaz, known in this Central Delhi market as Bablu Bhai, is standing behind the display. His forehead is lined, his hair partially grey. His face does not belong to someone who has spent his working life selling just one thing. Bablu Bhai is from Muzaffarpur in Bihar. His father spent his entire life farming the family's tiny plot of agricultural land in the village. Today Bablu Bhai sells socks in the national capital. His only son installs air-conditioners in Dubai. One son-in-law sells frocks on Delhi's
City Monument – Gol Gumbad, Lodhi Road Monuments by The Delhi Walla - August 6, 20260 A roadside ruin. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The humid August afternoon is settling gently on the yellow walls of Gol Gumbad. Weak sunlight is making its way through the branches of a leafy tree, scattering across the walls. Leaf shadows are trembling in the mild breeze, making the wall seem to breathe. Lodhi Road is rich in centuries-old monuments. Within a short distance stand Humayun's Tomb, Safdarjung's Tomb, and the stone ensemble inside Lodhi Garden. Gol Gumbad, which stands right beside the road, remains the least noticed. Traffic streams past the monument every hour, but hardly anybody slows down to notice its square body and broad dome. This afternoon, the monument compound is open, but the iron gate to the gumbad
City Food – Haider Tea Stall, Outside Jama Masjid Food by The Delhi Walla - August 5, 20260 Beyond the picturesque. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The monument is very old, but the sight is very new. The tea stall outside the walls of Jama Masjid in Old Delhi appeared only recently. Here the historic quarter, with all its clutter and chaos, has arranged itself into a picturesque frame. Nothing in the scene appears arranged, yet everything is in its place. So Purani Dilli! The hand-painted signboard announces Haider Tea Stall in Hindi beneath the drawing of a steaming kettle. Above the stall spreads a dense canopy of pink bougainvilleas that almost hides the roof. The southern minaret of Jama Masjid rises behind the flowers. Beside the bougainvillea, the bare branches of a dead tree reach into the sky. The
City Life – Embassy Spotting, Vasant Vihar Life Walks by The Delhi Walla - August 4, 20260 On an affluent neighbourhood. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The idea for a foreign trip begins with two images. An embassy and an aeroplane. In Delhi, Vasant Vihar brings them together. The shortest foreign trip takes only an afternoon. You do not need a hard-to-get visa or a boarding pass. Just walk through this South Delhi neighbourhood where foreign missions line leafy residential streets and aircraft descend towards Delhi airport every few minutes. For an hour or two, the rhythm of embassy, aircraft, embassy, aircraft, persuades the mind that the overseas journey has already begun. The illusion begins with the roadside signboards. Every few streets seem to belong to a different country, with directions to the embassies of Maldives, Bosnia and Herzegovina,