Home Sweet Home – Shamim us Din ‘s Cluttered Room, Gali Mochan
A whole world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old Delhi’s Shamim ud Din loves machinery. So much so that he decided, years ago, that he needed a tiny dark room near the family residence to store it in….
City Hangout – Gallery of Musical Instruments, Rabindra Bhavan, Mandi House
Music as objects. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here, you’ll make friends with the Dama from Tripura, which looks like a tapering dholak (drum). And there’s the Sanitar, a kind of lute from Kashmir, with a hollow resonator…
City List – Daily-Wage Carpenter’s Kit, Sadar Bazaar
Delhi by list. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] You may know what it’s like at Central Delhi’s Sadar Bazaar, so congested you can literally crash into somebody. The Delhi Walla almost stumbled over Muhammed Jaafar, a carpenter sitting…
Julia Child in Delhi – Author Pushpesh Pant Makes His Cool Mutton Khichri, Gurgaon
The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody dares to offers khichri to guests. This rice-and-dal combination is best eaten in complete privacy, as comfort food, or when one is suffering from an upset…
City News – Mona Ahmed, Delhi’s Most Iconic Transgender, is No More, Mehnediya Qabristan Graveyard
Passing of a legend. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mona Ahmed, India’s most iconic transgender person, died on the night of 9 September 2017. She would have turned 82 in November. Ms Ahmed was the principal subject of…
Atget’s Corner – 1051-1055, 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 Monument – Hanuman-Ji’s Statue, Jhandewalan Park
Inside the icon. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s so very tempting to regard that gleaming metro train zipping past the Lord Hanuman statue as a near collision of ancient beliefs with the uneasy ethos of the modern….
Mission Delhi – Salma Sultan, Jangpura
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Salma Sultan hasn’t changed at all, down to the famous red rose tucked gloriously in her bun. The famous Doordarshan newsreader stopped reading TV news…
City Nature – Monsoon Sky, Across Delhi
That touch of impressionism. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The rainy day draws to a close here in west Delhi’s Janakpuri when suddenly something incredible happens. Suddenly the western sky bleaches, a strange shade of reddish-orange that startles…
City Obituary – The Death of Prince Book Stall, Paharganj
The passing of a bookshop. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sad news. Prince Book Stall has become history. One of the only two surviving secondhand bookshops in the backpackers’ district of Paharganj, it was opposite Khanna Cinema (which…
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