A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One afternoon The Delhi Walla visited the home of Jeet Thayil, the poet and novelist in his 50s, who lives with his partner, designer and photographer Akanksha Sharma, and cat, Marjorie Stuart Baxter, in their first-floor apartment in South Delhi’s Safdarjung Development Area (SDA). Their living room looks quite bare. Slouching down on a corner sofa, the poet-novelist says, “I had about 2,000 books but I’m beginning to develop papyrophobia.” Mr Thayil helpfully adds that he is referring to his fear of paper, which might be the reason behind his recent generosity—he has given away many of his books to friends. He also tried to give away some really bad ones to “enemies”.