City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

City Walk – A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

Surprise oasis.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Hard to know what to make of this.

Here we have a dead-quiet lane, right in the heart of Delhi. So serene you might as well be walking along some remote mountain trail.

Then, there’s that concrete wall which easily could present itself as stand-in for a Berlin Wall documentary. Thick layers of patina have settled on it, making the wall appear so very grand and older than it probably is.

Ingenious street artists have given the derelict a breath of life, here at Connaught Place where the lane strays off from the Outer Circle–tapering off past a pokey market of small stalls.

It seems almost disorientating to find a corner of the city so still, devoid of madding traffic and sweaty shoppers almost reeling from relentless humidity. What you do hear clearly is a squirrel who refuses to shut up, as though calling out in deep mourning.

Things are left to die along this lane, ages ago scuttled by the City Fathers. The other side of the wall finds a telephone office long abandoned. The lane itself finally peters out at an abandoned building where a crudely scrawled hand-written sign advises one and all not to stand underneath: The damaged ceilings could apparently collapse anytime without warning.

A few more steps and you suddenly get back into the noisy city you so well know, while the tranquility of the lane hovers in the mind, like an unconfirmed rumor.

Strolling through a silent lane

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place

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City Walk - A Super-Serene Lane, Near Super Market, Connaught Place