City Life – A Room in the Red Light, GB Road
The world of a sex worker. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The room is smaller than the kitchen of an average DDA (Delhi Development Authority) flat. The walls are painted pale purple. A small ceiling fan hangs down…
Atget’s Corner – 1036-1040, 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,…
City Life – Mirza Ghalib’s Love Signs, Ghalib Academy
Chairs of heart. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is evening and ghazal singer Athar Hussain Khan is rendering ‘Chupke Chupke’ to a packed audience. The Delhi Walla is at Ghalib Academy in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti. The front…
Photo Essay – Cooling Fan in Literature, Around Town
Fan stories. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Before the AC, before the cooler, there was the fan. It is probably still hanging there in your room — look up and check. Or maybe you have a pedestal fan…
City Library – The New York Times’s Ellen Barry’s Books, Jor Bagh
A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Never befriend a foreign correspondent. They always leave. Take Ellen Barry, the South Asia bureau chief of The New York Times. She arrived in our city four years ago and…
City Hangout – Ramzan Nights, Old Delhi
The season’s destination. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] No secret is being leaked if The Delhi Walla tells you to head to Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid area one of these Ramzan nights. I go there every year in…
Netherfield Ball – Spotting Laila Tyabji, Salma Sultan and Other Divas in Sadia Dehlvi’s Birthday Celebrations, Central Delhi
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Society women never accumulate years. The solidity of this universal truth stands severely strained this evening. Author Sadia Dehlvi is celebrating her birthday. She claims she is turning sixty. The…
City Hangout – Rose Garden of England, Lodhi Gardens
Celebrating the English rose. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is possible to feel romantic about Delhi summer. Just hang out at the Rose Garden in Lodhi Gardens. This central Delhi park is famous for its tombs and…
Atget’s Corner – 1031-1035, 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,…
Julia Child in Delhi – Author Rakshanda Jalil’s Marvellous Cook Bishen Singh Cooks His Famous Homely Poha, Central Delhi
The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Author Rakhshanda Jalil is famous for translating classic Urdu novels into English and for her writings on Delhi’s monuments. Even so, it is gross injustice to this…
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