The Delhi Walla Books – Interview by Yuva Magazine
[By Yuva Magazine] Despite being bestsellers, most newspapers and magazines ignored The Delhi Walla books. Corrupt as India media is, the editors and book beat reporters are always plugging books of friends or of authors who can afford the services…
City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, Nizamuddin Basti
Searching for the stylish. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla saw this man on Mirza Ghalib street in Nizamuddin Basti, a 14th century village famous for the shrine of sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. The man…
Mission Delhi – PM Sahay, Connaught Place
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Standing against a pillar, his head lowered, he slips the pink duck-faced puppets into his hands and waves weakly. The passers-by don’t notice. The…
City Memo – In Which Anna Gives it Those Ones
The marketing of brand Anna Hazare. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] In an apartment in Ghaziabad, Delhi’s satellite town, lives a family that regularly watches Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs, a singing talent show…
City Memo – Arundhati Roy on Anna Hazare’s Siege of Delhi
We’re not Anna. [Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If what we’re watching on TV is indeed a revolution, then it has to be one of the more embarrassing and unintelligible ones of recent times. For now, whatever questions you may…
City Monument – Restoring Red Fort, Old Delhi
Recreating a lost time. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Can it be done? “It’s like drawing the picture of how a dead person looked by putting together stray pieces of his unconnected skeleton,” says Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, conservation…
Hauz Khas Series – A House in the Village, Chapter 2
Life in Delhi’s prettiest neighbourhood. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] My house looks to the Hauz Khas monument. This morning I got to know a family that lives inside that monument. I met Pappu and Usha on the…
City Culture – B-boying, Connaught Place Subway
Hips and hops. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Twisting the hip. Spinning on the floor. Standing on the head. Freezing into a pose. Legs leaping up. Suddenly, the entire body falling flat with a thud. “Yo, yo.” One…
Mission Delhi – A. Husain, Green Park Market
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] His eyebrows are threaded and his nails are manicured. He is carrying a large brown handbag. “I’m not an Indian,” A. Husain says, dressed in…
City Life – Bird Flying, Matia Mahal
The traditional pastime. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] They fly away but always come back. Mateen Qureshi, 26, the owner of Shireen Bhawan sweetshop in Matia Mahal bazaar, has the largest collection of pigeons in Old Delhi. The…
Recent Comments