City Landmark – Haji Hotel, Motor Parts Market
The Walled City’s billion-star hotel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Haji Hotel lies in the congested Motor Parts Market. There are shops selling used car tyres. It is almost impossible to simultaneously inhale oxygen and fight…
Mission Delhi – Mister Suneel, Ramleela Maidan
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Frowning, he mercilessly crosses a sentence with his blue-ink pen. The Delhi Walla meets the young unshaven man one morning outside Ramleela Maidan, the sprawling…
City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Somewhere in Delhi
The dog of small things. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One winter morning The Delhi Walla sighted Arundhati Roy in a central Delhi apartment. According to reports in newspapers, the author of The God of Small Things is…
City Food – Delhi Tea Party, The Attic
Meditations on the chai. [Text and photos by Manika Dhama] For most Delhiwallas it is impossible to imagine a day that does not begin with tea. However, for a non-tea drinker like me, the allure of this milk, water and…
Family Album – The Hajis, Chawri Bazaar
The Delhi coffee table. [Text and photos of photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In order to feel the intimate life of Delhiites, The Delhi Walla is going from house to house, requesting people to show their family photos. The project…
Tehelka Review – On Nobody Can Love You More
Life in a red light district. [By Ajachi Chakrabarti; photos are by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ajachi Chakrabarti of the Delhi-based Tehelka magazine talked about Nobody Can Love You More: Life in Delhi’s Red Light District, a book by The Delhi…
City List – Old Gates, Walled City
Delhi by list. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Mughal-era Walled City of Shahjahanabad, or Old Delhi, had 14 gateways, out of which two were raised in the Red Fort. The fort was commissioned by Emperor Shahjahan in…
City Faith – Muharram Mourning, Kashmere Gate
The ancient grief. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Wearing black clothes, the men were beating their chests on the middle of the road. Mothers, sisters and wives, robed in black, stood on the pavement. They too were doing…
City Hangout – Ghalib Academy, H. Nizamuddin Basti
A poetic corner. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Devoted to Delhi’s great poet Mirza Ghalib, it has a museum and a library. Its auditorium regularly hosts gatherings of Urdu poets — sometimes they arrive dressed in old-world costumes…
City Landmark – Standard Restaurant, Regal Cinema Building
A New Delhi souvenir. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The empty ground floor used to be its pastry counter. The Delhi Walla is at Standard restaurant, a place that no longer exists. Opened in 1957, Standard was in…
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