City Monument - Subz Burj, Central Delhi

City Monument – Subz Burj, Central Delhi

A mysterious blue. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the evening, it looks frail. At night, it is barely perceptible. During the day, it is a dust-cloaked apparition. The dome of Subz Burz should have looked subz (green)….

City Library - Jhampan Mookerjee's Books, Gurgaon

City Library – Jhampan Mookerjee’s Books, Gurgaon

A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One mildly-warm dusty noon, The Delhi Walla knocks on the door of Jhampan Mookerjee. In his fifties, he lives in an apartment in Gurgaon with his thousand books, three dogs,…

City List - Dancing Girls & Boys, 18th Century Delhi

City List – Dancing Girls & Boys, 18th Century Delhi

A few famous names. [Compiled by Mayank Austen Soofi] During the reign of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah, a young man from Hyderabad called Dargah Quli Khan stayed in Delhi from 1739 to 1741. Muraqqa e Dehli, his diary of those…

City Landmark - Three Delhi Friends, Old Connaught Place

City Landmark – Three Delhi Friends, Old Connaught Place

A Capital ritual. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the story of three men in their mid-80s who meet every Sunday in Connaught Place for coffee. The rendezvous always lasts 2 hours, starting 10.30am. The friends have…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Supriya Chatterjee, Gurgaon

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Supriya Chatterjee, Gurgaon

The Proustian self-introspection. [By The Delhi Proustians] The Proust Questionnaire represents a form of interview that owes its structure to answers given by French novelist Marcel Proust, the author of In Search of Lost Time, at two birthday parties that…

City Food - Migrant's Meal, Tagore Road

City Food – Migrant’s Meal, Tagore Road

By the homeless, for the homeless. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s 9pm. The cart is barely visible in the dark. But the stack of lukewarm puris sits on it like a beacon, illuminated by the gas lamp….

City Book - Nobody Can Love You More, First Paperback Edition

City Book – Nobody Can Love You More, First Paperback Edition

On Delhi’s red light district. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Hot off the press. In February 2014, Penguin Books India published the first paperback edition of Nobody Can Love You More: Life in Delhi’s Red Light District, a book by The…

City Landmark – Ram Chander & Sons, Connaught Place

City Landmark – Ram Chander & Sons, Connaught Place

India’s oldest toy store. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The pillars outside the corridor have been repainted. The adjacent Odeon Cinema has been taken over by a multiplex chain. Elsewhere, most familiar landmarks have given way to junk…

City Travel – Views of Paris, Around Town

City Travel – Views of Paris, Around Town

Made in France. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In Paris, The Delhi Walla spent many many hours in streets, gardens, bookstores, restaurants and graveyards. I also visited landmarks associated with the life and work of novelist Marcel Proust….

Delhi Proustians - Cemetery of Montparnasse, Paris

Delhi Proustians – Cemetery of Montparnasse, Paris

Searching for Proust’s people. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the address of a number of people who were related to novelist Marcel Proust. The Delhi Walla is in the cemetery of Montparnasse, on the left bank…