City Landmark – Scholar’s Cubicle, India International Centre
The hideout of the intellectuals. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] How is it like to be an India International Centre scholar? One evening, The Delhi Walla enters the IIC scholar’s sanctum sanctorum — it’s the heart of the…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Sayesta Yamin, Moti Bagh
The 191st death. [Text and photos sent by Sayesta Yamin] Sayesta Yamin finally succumbed to melancholia. Hers was a daily struggle between optimism and grave despair, until she finally gave up. Her diary entries reveal that she knew about her…
Mission Delhi – Nayana Chowdhury, Blue Line Metro
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Faithful Metro commuters like The Delhi Walla are now patronising the Blue and Yellow lines with a degree of caution. We never know when our…
City Hangout – The Hill of Pahari Imli, Old Delhi
Trekking in the neighborhood. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nowadays almost no one except some pedantic historian would describe Old Delhi as “hilly”. The vagaries of modern architecture mostly mask the natural hills (paharis), but exceptions happily remain….
City Life – Two Vagabonds, Mathura Road
Living on the road. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A pavement on Central Delhi’s Mathura Road recently received two new residents. Shera has a long white beard and is always dressed in black, while Raja is a light…
City Hangout – Salim Tea House, Matia Mahal Bazaar
The pleasures of a hyperlocal lounge. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Students of human behavior could do worse than turning up at the Salim Tea House where all manner of men can be scrutinized. This morning two gentlemen…
City Faith – Beyond Thursday Evening Qawwalis, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah
The world of sufi music. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] You can find it in the Lonely Planet and in most city guides. Even William Dalrymple has written about it in his Delhi memoirs. It also appears in…
City Moment – Friends from Kabul, Lodhi Gardens
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two thousand four hundred years after it was written, The Delhi Walla bumps into somebody actually reading the classic Chinese text Tao Te Ching. And poring over it in Farsi,…
City Landmark — The Long Narrow Entry Lane, Basti Mir Dard
The relationship with the passageway. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi may be a world unto itself – encompassing nearly 25 million of us. But it’s also countless private lives vividly played out on the streets and alleyways…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Rajeswari Bhattacharya, Bangalore
The 190th death. [Text and photos sent by Rajeswari Bhattacharya] Rajeswari Bhattacharya has been pronounced dead. She jumped off the building with as much enthusiasm as she would sing Tagore’s “Bhalobasi, Bhalobasi” (I love, I love), as if in eager…
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