City Season – Amaltas in Decline, Amrita Shergil Marg
Farewell to summer. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The magic is gone. It’s no longer the same thing. The flowers look pale, many are almost sickly white. To tell the truth, most of these Amaltas trees no longer…
City Walk – Playing Footsie at Sunday Book Bazaar, Daryaganj
Leaping past the secondhands. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s not Chandni Chowk. Not Mehrauli Archaeological Complex. No, not even Lodhi Gardens. It’s the Sunday Book Bazaar in Daryaganj. This mile-long pavement market for secondhand books is the…
Delhi Archives – Pegs N Pints, Tuesday Night Report From a New Delhi Gay Bar
Thank God It’s Tuesday. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was close to midnight at Pegs N Pints pub in Chanakyapuri – New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave. Illegal acts were being performed close to the maximum security zone of…
City Monument – Bijay Mandal, Near IIT Delhi Flyover
Delhi’s most puzzling ruin. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This was the palace of Muhamamd bin Tughlaq (1300-1351), a sultan so stupid that he forcibly moved Delhi’s entire population 700 miles south to the Deccan. Having survived many…
Mission Delhi – Faisal Khan, Indian Coffee House & Ghaffar Manzil
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The year 2013 was important in his life. Then, he led a “Dil Jodo Nafrat Choro” journey to bridge Hindu and Muslim hearts, travelling…
City Food – Sadia Dehvi’s Iftar Fast Food, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
The evening meal. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ramzan is the month when the Quran is believed to have been sent down from heaven and revealed to Prophet Muhammad. It is also the best opportunity for believers to…
Photo Essay – Ramzan Sky, Matia Mahal Bazaar
The silvery stretches. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Yesterday, it was a blue sky. Today, it’s embroidered in silver. One day before the start of the Islamic month of Ramzan, the sky above the Matia Mahal street in…
Home Sweet Home – Tahmina Laskar’s Private Universe, Abul Fazal Enclave-I
A whole world [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Is there anything more beautiful in the world than a woman with a room of her own? The person The Delhi Walla is talking of lives in a room filled…
Netherfield Ball – Novelist Arundhati Roy Stuns Society by Opening a Banarasi Saree Showroom, Chitli Qabar Bazaar
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was the day when the unthinkable became the thinkable and the impossible really happened. One sweltering afternoon novelist Arundhati Roy was seen inaugurating a Banarasi saree showroom in Old…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Oredola Ibrahim, Ibadan, Nigeria
The 131st death. [Text by Oredola Ibrahim; photo by Adegbaju Deborah Kevwe] Today marks exactly the 65th day after his 23rd birthday. Though he never made it to Forbes’ Lists or any of the “Most-Something” lists that lorded over the…
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