"City Hangout – Café Turtle, Khan Market" Winning Entry for Week July 17-23, 2010

[Text by Abdusalaam al-Hindi. Pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi.]

[Cafe Turtle, Khan Market. Image: The Delhi Walla]

I. WINNING ENTRY

Statistics: Before I talk about the winning entry for this week, let me provide you with some numbers.

Number of Blogs Updated This Week: 18.
Number of Blog Posts Read: 44. (Not considering guest posts.)

Best Blog Post of the Week

Although, there weren't many excellent blog posts to choose from, I was really conflicted between two of my final choices. I'll talk about it further below when I mention the runner-ups.

Winning entry for the honor of Best Blog Post in Delhi's Blogosphere for the week of July 17 Saturday - July 23 Friday, 2010 is:

"City Hangout – Café Turtle, Khan Market" by Mayank Austen Soofi, dated July 20, 2010, at "The Delhi Walla."

About the Post: Mayank, in his usual sentimental style, reviews a Cafe at Khan Market in central Delhi. His description of the place serves his reader with the feel, character and atmosphere of the place. You get to read characterizations like, "an experience almost bordering Proustian tranquillity." Now I haven't read Proust to know the difference, but I'm betting it's better than the regular kind of tranquility. The post is also accompanied with some beautiful pictures of the place, making it a fine post. [Link.]

[Mayank Austen Soofi]

About the Blogger: Mayank Austen Soofi, which by the way is his real name as I've recently found out, has been blogging at The Delhi Walla since May 2005. He also runs four more blogs; namely, "Pakistan Paindabad," "Ruined By Reading" (Members Only), "Reading Arundhati Roy" and "Mayank Austen Soofi Photos."

Mayank is probably the most popular blogger in Delhi, and among the most popular in India. The Delhi Walla's focus is entirely on the city of Delhi, its people, their faith, food, monuments, inner-city culture and everything else that makes this city so different from others. His coverage of the city is like no other.

He works and writes for the Hindustan Times on similar themes. And as per his blog, Mayank lives at Basti Hazrat Nizammuddin inside a library. However, it doesn't specify if it's an actual library or not. I'm assuming he means he is surrounded by books and does not live in an actual library.

Furthermore, and this is just as an interesting tidbit which I believe requires mentioning here since it is such an apparent characteristic of his online persona; Mayank holds a near obsessive fascination for the work and person of Arundhati Roy. I don't believe I've seen a bigger fan.

Runner-up

This week we only had one contending blog post for the top pick, and boy was it a close one. Runner-up for this week is:

"Employing Staff" by Naomi dated July 22, 2010, at "Delhi Bound."

I feel I need to explain a little why this blog post was such a close pick and why it did not make the final cut.

Before I talk about the post, let me give you some background information on the blogger.

Naomi is an American expatriate; wife of an American diplomat. I'm not certain on the diplomatic status, but is somehow connected to the Embassy. Her blog revolves mostly around her life and experiences as an expat in India, but more specifically in Delhi.

Now I don't want to cast any aspersions on her blog by what I'm about to say because it is a popular blog and I don't believe I'm even a target reader for her. So what I say should be taken accordingly.

As a liberal studies student, my interest in her blog is very much academic, which makes my overall interest in her blogging topics, rather tenuous. I seldom even read through an entire post.

However, this post in question was different from her usual stuff. Her blog entry is about how she deals with the domestic help she employs; a staff of eight people. And that grabbed my attention. Whatever she was about to say was bound to be interpreted in terms of foreign vs native. And I'm guessing she had sensed the sensitivity of the topic early on, because she makes it clear, right in the beginning, by stating, "Before anyone gets their panties in a wad over this expat from the United States writing yet another gripe post about living in Delhi, India and having the hellacious requirement of employing a staff ... it's not a whine (or a whinge) post."

However, it was too late for me, because the moment I realized what the post was about, the color of my computer screen had turned colonial brown. Naomi's American accent turned British. Naomi had turned into a Gori Memsahib about to lament the difficulties of finding good and competent domestic help among the natives. I had only begun to read, and my panties were already in a wad.

But she, I'm glad to say, tactfully and gracefully dealt with the subject without causing any offense to my sensibilities. My Offense-o-meter was dialed all the way up, to detect any hint of prejudice. And after I had finished reading her long post, and had come out the other side feeling satisfied with the outcome, I wondered why I even thought it would be any other way? I've been reading her blog for sometime now and I know what kind of a person she is. She is one of the good ones. I've never read anything that would lead me to believe otherwise. I guess my initial reaction to her article was more visceral than rational. And I'm a bit ashamed to admit it.

Now though her post was most interesting and captivating for me personally, I could not bring myself to call it the best blog post of the week based on the criteria I have set to make that choice. Unlike Naomi's post, Mayank's post has general appeal. It has all the elements of a good post. It is informative, concise, descriptive, accompanied with beautiful pictures, and above all, it's about Delhi.

This entire account is to tell you that I try to be as objective as possible in my choice. A little thought goes into making my final pick.

II. STATE OF THE BLOGOSPHERE

Public Service Announcements
 
This week I have nothing special to report. It was uneventful as far as the blogosphere is concerned.

However, I do have some exciting news to share. Mayank Austen Soofi, I have been personally informed, is soon to be a published author. Harper Collins is set to release a book on Delhi by Mayank sometime this year. I don't have specifics yet, but will inform as I receive them.

[POST SCRIPT JULY 28, 2010: I've been informed by Mayank, that there are four books titled 'The Delhi Walla' with different subtitles. And it will hit the stands in the first week of September this year. We wish him all the luck.]

New Additions to our Blogroll

This week we have three new additions to our blogroll.

1. "Delhizen's Blog" by Pallavi. (http://taxfreethoughts.wordpress.com/)
2. "SnowLeopard's Blog" by Prateek. (http://unpredictableblog.wordpress.com/)
3. "My Blogs-Food Delights" by Manjusha Sinha. (http://lajjatdaar.blogspot.com/)


Until Next Week

I hope this edition of Delhi Speaks Like This Only has been of value to our readers. You can show your appreciation by leaving a comment, or by simply clicking on the Facebook Like Button.

I hope you'll revisit us next week on Monday, August 02 at 8:00 a.m. for another edition,  announcing another weekly winning entry for the title of Best Blog Post in Delhi.

Till then, take care and happy blogging.

[Read our last week's issue HERE.]

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