The Delhi Walla: A true flaneur

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 We always fashion these words for ourselves, especially on social media. Words like wanderlust, cinephile,flaneur... But how many of us really take the pains to understand the meaning of the term we so easily appropriate to describe us or our work? Very few do.

I fully comprehended the significance of "flaneur" only when I stumbled upon the blog of Mayank Austen Soofi, popularly known as The Delhi Walla. Travelling all over the city of Delhi, especially its lesser-known corners, is his chief pastime. An avid reader of Proust, Austen, Dickinson and Stevens, among others, he is an expert at hunting out the most mundane as well as most extraordinary and heartwarming stories off the streets, and recording them in photos and writing. He has been meandering through the city for more than a decade, revealing sights and stories unknown to tourists and even residents. and he has garnered quite a following in the process, published a few books and been featured in The New Yorker.

During the 2020 lockdown, he started a series titled 'We the Isolationists' wherein readers could send in photos with a short caption that would begin"I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona . . ." and be featured on his blog, adding the ripples of the nationwide lockdown to his ouevre. He is well acquainted with the roadside chai-sellers as with authors such as Sadia Dehlvi (who passed away recently) and Arundhati Roy. He adeptly records ordinary lives and an age-old hotel or bookstore closing down saddens the heart of a reader who might never have been there.

Almost always ending the day with a picture of the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah, he occasionally writes about poetry and his love for his favourite writers as well, and pictures of his overstacked bookshelf are many.He is also a daily contributor to the Hindustan Times and Mint. There is no doubt that his body of work will prove to be a valuable cultural record of the times; in fact, it already is.

What he does is truly splendid. May his tribe grow (Or not!).

If you haven't had a taste of his work yet, head to his blog without further ado :

https://www.thedelhiwalla.com/

 

 

32 urban culture heroes on the front lines of India's indie revolution | GQ India

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