Mission Delhi – 50 Faces, Around Town
The faces of Delhi.
[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]
On November 11, 2011, The Times of India carried a news story:
Researchers to preserve city’s oral history
NEW DELHI: Museums have for long recorded the tangible heritage of a city; the bricks and mortar with which the city was built. But can a museum capture the idea of a city, or its memories? Can a museum capture the life of a city in transition? This is precisely what an ambitious new project sets out to do.
In a possible first for India, a group of scholars, academicians and researchers from the Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK) at Ambedkar University Delhi have embarked on the Citizen’s Memory Project, a digital archive of the lives of the people of Delhi and the oral history of the capital.
This is good news, but it’s not a first for India. The Delhi Walla started such an ‘oral history’ project in 2009. It’s called Mission Delhi.
A city is not made by its buildings and bazaars, but by its people. In Mission Delhi, I’m making portraits of one percent of Delhi’s population. To make each portrait, I sit down with a Delhiwalla, take his photos and spend a few hours talking to him, trying to get a sense of this city through his past, present and also through his hopes for the future.
In November 2011, I profiled Mission Delhi‘s 50th portrait. Here are all the 50 faces.
Muhammad Salim, the first portrait
Berenice Ellen, the second portrait
Shankar, the third portrait
Satnam Singh Juneja, the fourth portrait
Mushirul Hasan, the fifth portrait
Pooja, the sixth portrait
Aanchal Malhotra, the seventh portrait
Changa Kumar, the eighth portrait
Rakesh Chandra, the ninth portrait
Sumanta Roy, the 10th portrait
Deen Dayal, the 11th portrait
Muhammad Aslam, the 12th portrait
Syed Haider Raza, the 13th portrait
Sarah Rose, the 14th portrait
Aarti, the 15th portrait
Rachana Rao Umashankar, the 16th portrait
Muhammad Waseem, the 17th portrait
Surinder, the 18th portrait
Ram Swaroop Sharma, the 19th portrait
Kareem Khan, the 20th portrait
Sunita Pandit, the 21st portrait
Salim Javeri, the 22nd portrait
Irene Banias, the 23rd portrait
Nitin Chanana, the 24th portrait
Suresh Shah, the 25th portrait
Noor Bano, the 26th portrait
Rakhshanda Jalil, the 27th portrait
Ajeet Singh Chauhan, the 28th portrait
Naresh Chandra, the 29th portrait
Muhammad Chand, the 30th portrait
Siddhartha Gigoo, the 31st portrait
Ankit Verma, the 32nd portrait
Raghavendra Vanjre, the 33rd portrait
Vijay Kumar, the 34th portrait
Usha Hooda, the 35th portrait
Ajit Phogat, the 36th portrait
Fahad Khan, the 37th portrait
Sakina Mehta, the 38th portrait
Editor, the 39th portrait
Sadia Dehlvi, the 40th portrait
Mritunjay Kumar Tiwari, the 41st portrait
Abhay Singh, the 42nd portrait
Nameless Kapoor, the 43rd portrait
Zubeida Bano, the 44th portrait
Ramlal Thakur, the 45th portrait
A. Husain, the 46th portrait
PM Sahay, the 47th portrait
Shyam Sundar Thapa, the 48th portrait
Dr Ubaidul Aleem, the 49th portrait
Amir Dehlavi, the 50th portrait
Mayank,
I am not sure if any historian or culture-wallah can capture the essence of this city the way you have with your portraits. This blog is the best account of delhi and its denizens in 21st century.
All the best.
What is remarkable is remembering the stories associated with each portrait.
great job bhai…