City Moment – The Middle Lane Midnight Dance, Khan Market
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s about 11 in the night, too early to be so quiet in Khan Market. Perhaps because this is not a weekend. Bored doormen sitting inside darkened showrooms, which have…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Kanksshi Agarwal, Somewhere in Delhi
The 203rd death. [Text and photos sent by Kanksshi Agarwal] Kanksshi Agarwal was a 25-year-2 month-a-few-rainy-days-old woman. Her sudden demise, tainted with sympathy and poise, looks more like a high-paid planned event. She believed in magic and seems like her…
City Landmark – Piccadilly Book Stall, Shankar Market
The life of a bookshop. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was just another morning in March when bookshop owner Narendra Kumar Chowdhary woke up at his home in Vasant Kunj. Minutes later he died of a cardiac…
City Life – Aunty’s Tree Stall, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon
Life under a dead tree. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Aunty has been working under this Kikar tree, here on Gurgaon’s Golf Links Road, for 15 years. Her real name is Salma Begum but barely anyone knows it….
Atget’s Corner – 1111-1115, 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 – Tughlakabad Fort, South Delhi
The grand desolation. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Red Fort is nothing to it. Seriously. This fort is grander. How to describe it? Think frozen music. The Tughlakabad Fort’s sloping rubble-filled outer walls are spread out on a…
City Hangout – The Sheetla Mata Temple Grounds, Old Gurgaon
The soothing secretive corner. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some places are like a laidback piece of music that initially leaves you indifferent but soon enough, even before you realize it, you are humming its tunes in the…
Mission Delhi – Omkar Gupta, Daryaganj
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Omkar Gupta’s secondhand bookstore opens seven days a week. But this month, the shop stayed shut for three continuous days. This was unusual. “Mummy passed…
City Hangout – Ranji Jhansi Park, Mehrauli
A dreamworld of grass and ruins. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It isn’t every day new parks in Delhi make their debut. But this setup in South Delhi’s Mehrauli village frankly feels like a little Lodhi Garden next…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Pallavi Barnwal, Connaught Place
Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A poet’s life isn’t easy. Pallavi Barnwal still has to shuttle daily to her day job. After all, one ought to pay the bills, and Ms Barnwal, a single…
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