Book of The Times - Michiko Kakutani's Review of 'Ruined by Reading', by Mayank Austen Soofi

Book of The Times – Michiko Kakutani’s Review of ‘Ruined by Reading’, by Mayank Austen Soofi

The definitive Delhi novel. [Review by Michiko Kakutani] Ruined by Reading, Mayank Austen Soofi’s affecting first novel, begins as a sort of diary entries of a lonely book lover. What novels to buy today? Where to find a lover? What…

City Food - Kunal Gupta's Poha Stall, Lakshmi Nagar

City Food – Kunal Gupta’s Poha Stall, Lakshmi Nagar

The taste of home. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Kunal Gupta’s poha stall is a rarity. This spicy puffed-rice snack is a beloved tea-time staple at home, but it hardly qualifies as Delhi’s street food. The Delhi Walla…

Atget’s Corner – 1041-1045, Delhi Photos

Atget’s Corner – 1041-1045, 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 Obituary - Uma Marwah of Khan Market's Faqir Chand & Sons Bookshop is No More

City Obituary – Uma Marwah of Khan Market’s Faqir Chand & Sons Bookshop is No More

Life of a bookstore matriarch. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] For some affluent Delhiites, posh Khan Market is like a second home. For a very, very few, Khan Market is home. Uma Marwah, who lived in house number…

City Hangout - Midnight in Nehru Place, South Delhi

City Hangout – Midnight in Nehru Place, South Delhi

A poetic world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Have you noticed how some places evoke different feelings at night and in the day? Take Nehru Place. Nobody would go to that business district for aesthetic reasons. The concrete…

City Style - Jaya Jaitly's Sari Closet, Hazrat Nizamuddin East

City Style – Jaya Jaitly’s Sari Closet, Hazrat Nizamuddin East

Style in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She lives in a world of handwoven saris. Even the blinds of her drawing room are, well, saris (see second last picture at the bottom). One afternoon, The Delhi…

Netherfield Ball - Alika and Akbar's Jane Austen Wedding on Aunt Jane's 200th Death Anniversary, India Habitat Center

Netherfield Ball – Alika and Akbar’s Jane Austen Wedding on Aunt Jane’s 200th Death Anniversary, India Habitat Center

We love you Aunt Jane. [The Delhi Walla special; all photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The decorously subversive chronicler of England’s drawing rooms died on 18 July, 1817. In Sufism, the death anniversary is celebrated, not mourned. So, as we…

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Amir Khusro, b. Patiali, Uttar Pradesh, 1253-1325

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Amir Khusro, b. Patiali, Uttar Pradesh, 1253-1325

The definitive directory of famous Delhiites. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] At 72, the maker of Hindustani classical music lost interest in the world. Poet Amir Khusro, the 14th century courtier to seven kings, was in mourning after…

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Shehla Nawab, Tees Hazari Court

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Shehla Nawab, Tees Hazari Court

Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She writes in verse though her field is ‘criminal matters’. Shehla Nawab works as a lawyer and lives as a poet. The Delhi Walla meets her one afternoon at…

City Monument - Najaf Khan’s Tomb, Near Lodhi Road Railway Station

City Monument – Najaf Khan’s Tomb, Near Lodhi Road Railway Station

Tomb without the dome. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What if Humayun’s Tomb didn’t have a dome — just the stone plinth on which it stands? To see what it would look like, just head to Najaf Khan’s…