Mission Delhi – Sush Pal, Vaishali Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - September 28, 2019September 28, 20190 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] At first glance, this auto-rickshaw driver in Vaishali in the Greater Delhi Region looks like somebody out of the post-gender age—where it’s politically incorrect to define people based on being male or female. Peering at him in the rear-view mirror, it seems that Sush Pal has a moustache as well as a nose ring and lipsticked lips. But, well, it’s only an illusion. “I’m very much a man,” declares Mr Pal, slightly annoyed. The trick is the rear-view mirror itself, which has a female face imprinted onto it. Just a few strokes rendered by an auto decorator (yes, that too is a profession), and consisting of eyes, nose and lips.
City Landmark – Venus Digital Colour Lab & Studio, Jacobpura, Gurgaon Landmarks by The Delhi Walla - September 28, 2019September 28, 20190 The museum of visuals. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a treasure house and nobody realises it. Perhaps not even the good owner himself. “There was a time when we would daily sell 20 cameras, 100 film rolls, and 100 film rolls accessories,” laments Prem Narang, owner of Venus Digital Colour Lab & Studio in Gurgaon’s Jacobpura in the Greater Delhi Region. And then the camera phone arrived, bringing with it the instantly gratifying custom of sharing photos on social media. The need to go to a photo studio became unnecessary. Everyone knows this story. You, however, don’t have to visit this city landmark to cultivate nostalgia for the old models of Yashica, Minolta and Pentax—the black and white cameras the studio