Letter from Venice – Remembering the Hall of Nations, Pragati Maidan
A brief obituary. [Text and photos by Anna Gerotto] The Hall of Nations has been flattened. Even its name evoked respect. During my visits to the wide open exhibition grounds of Pragati Maidan, I always tried to enter the building…
Mission Delhi – Simona Anedda, Old Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most foreign tourists experience their fleeting glimpse of Old Delhi from behind the dust-free glass of their air-conditioned bus windows, with the bus circling the…
Netherfield Ball – Arundhati Roy Sighting, Somewhere in Delhi
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her wild hair was not tied back to look straight. A tiny diamond, however, did gleam in one of her nostrils. She still had absurdly beautiful collarbones. One evening The…
Atget’s Corner – 1021-1025, Delhi Photos
The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds,…
Home Sweet Home – Novelist Manan Kapoor’s Room, Shakti Nagar
A whole world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Karl Marx is lying on his shoe rack. Italo Calvino is on his double bed. Federico García Lorca is beside a little guitar. Amitav Ghosh, VS Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Ernest…
Photo Essay – In Memory of the Nameless Homeless Man Who Died, Around City Pavements
Rest in sleep. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is almost midnight. He is lying sprawled on the road divider. He seems to be sleeping. His eyes are closed. The headlights of a speeding car fall on his…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Sreeparna Chaudhury, Calcutta
The 143rd death. [Text by Sreeparna Chaudhury; photo by Shamindra Chaudhuri] Sreeparna Chaudhury, a nobody, a ghost of her own being, died last night by choking on an ice cream of her least favorite flavor. She perhaps always knew that…
City Faith – A Late night Encounter with Mast Qalandar Sufis, Mehrauli
Trance world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was a scene with a timeless appeal. It would not have looked out of place even centuries ago. One night while walking down a lane in south Delhi’s Mehrauli village,…
Mission Delhi – Elena Tommaseo, Lajpat Nagar
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is a white European woman in South Delhi. Her home, however, is not in places such as Jangpura, Hauz Khas Village, Defence Colony, Greater…
City Monument – Mubarak Shah Sayyid’s Tomb, Kotla Mubarakpur
The elusive memorial. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is true only up to a point. It is late afternoon and The Delhi Walla is walking along the alleys of south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur village for more than…
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