Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Siddharth Sijoria, Ghaziabad

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Siddharth Sijoria, Ghaziabad

Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This budding Delhi poet is moving to Mumbai for good, and with at least one high hope. Maybe he’ll finally meet some real poets in flesh and blood. At…

City Landmark - Hafizji's Old Clock Shop, Old Delhi

City Landmark – Hafizji’s Old Clock Shop, Old Delhi

Lost time regained. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is truly an inner sanctum for all those who pine for old time. Dozens of old clocks bearing unfamiliar names line the walls of this watch repair establishment in…

City Walk - Skywalk Passageways, Pragati Maidan

City Walk – Skywalk Passageways, Pragati Maidan

New kind of stroll. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s as if an artistic child had scribbled lines across a blank page. Or this is at least how the Pragati Maidan footbridges, or the skywalk if you will,…

City Season - Amaltas Poems, by Delhiwallas

City Season – Amaltas Poems, by Delhiwallas

Golden heat. [Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] We are sailing through midsummer. Amaltas trees, aka Indian Laburnum, are blooming across Delhi. The most beautiful places to view the fragrant golden-yellow flowers are: Amrita Shergil Marg, BK Dutt Colony Park, Hailey…

Mission Delhi - Vasundhara Raj Baigra , Vasant Vihar

Mission Delhi – Vasundhara Raj Baigra , Vasant Vihar

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] As a marketing director with a publishing company she always needs to be at her polite best when dealing with writers and book critics. Vasundhara…

City Landmark - Button Shop, Near Chitli Qabar Chowk

City Landmark – Button Shop, Near Chitli Qabar Chowk

Ali Baba’s treasure. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s just a hole-in-the wall shop, and pretty easy to button down. Because, it’s all about buttons. Only buttons, a warehouse of thousands, many trimmed with laces and countless other…

Mission Delhi - Urmila, Civil Lines, Gurgaon

Mission Delhi – Urmila, Civil Lines, Gurgaon

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Urmila is 20 and had never imagined while growing up in a small West Bengal village that one day she shall be living in the…

City Faith - Rickshaw Puller's Ram Temple, East Delhi

City Faith – Rickshaw Puller’s Ram Temple, East Delhi

His private shrine. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Rickshaw puller Sooraj lives alone in this city of millions but doesn’t feel lonely. Not at all. “I have Ramji with me,” he says haltingly this late evening in east…

City Food - Fresh fruit Roller Ice-Cream, Mathura Road

City Food – Fresh fruit Roller Ice-Cream, Mathura Road

Fresher than the fresh. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It isn’t every day one stumbles across fresh fruit ice cream that is really fresh. But that’s exactly what you get from the brothers Arif and Amjad who make…

Mission Delhi - Unnamed Mule, Gurgaon

Mission Delhi – Unnamed Mule, Gurgaon

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Things are easier for humans. When a mosquito lands on our shoulder or wherever else on our body, we simply slap down our hand on…