City Monument – Qudsia Begum’s Gateway, North Delhi
A queen’s souvenir. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The arched gateway in north Delhi’s Qudsia Bagh gently summons the memories of an extinct world. The 18th-century edifice originally opened into a walled garden overlooking the Yamuna. Today, the…
City Landmark – Old Mansion, Muneem Street, Gurgaon
An object of beauty. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A ramshackle relic from the past but so dream-like, this old mansion overlooks a lane in Gurgaon’s chaotic Sadar Bazar in the Greater Delhi Region. Muneem street is a…
Mission Delhi – Dawood, Central Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Passed over by a woman he loved, Dawood now immerses himself in work “so that I forget everything else.” Every day he collects large quantities…
City Faith – Hazrat Naseeruddin Chirag Dehlavi’s Sufi Shrine, South Delhi
Finding tranquility in a secluded dargah. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What a marvellous place in the winters to while away a sunny afternoon (go away smog!). Here you can sleepily follow the progress of the friendly sun…
City Library – Information Center Library, Connaught Place
A city secret. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Many of the shelves are simply empty, but occasional visitors do turn up anyway at the Information Center Library tucked away in the city’s busy Outer Circle in the colonial-era…
City Landmark – Ahuja Tailor, Sadar Bazar, Gurgaon
A timeworn establishment. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s like the miniature museum of a dressmaker’s working life. Ahuja Tailors at the Sant Lal market corridor in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazar in the Greater Delhi Region is sparsely populated…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Waqas Ahmed, Lahore
The 246th death. [Text and photos sent by Waqas Ahmed] A misunderstood artist, Waqas Ahmed, 37, was found dead at his home in Lahore. According to the forensic report, he died of drowning in the depths between his throat and…
Exclusive – The Delhi Walla Interviews the Great Emily Dickinson Scholar Professor Cristanne Miller!
On life with Emily Dickinson. [Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi, except for Cristanne Miller’s portrait] It’s so-so. The new Apple TV series on poet Emily Dickinson is trying too hard to make her look like a millennial woke modernist. But…
City Moment – Radio Star, Central Delhi
Pre-TV days. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He was glued to the radio, his eyes focused towards the instrument as if it were a mobile phone screen. One Sunday morning, rickshaw puller Manta Ram Sisodia was lounging in…
City Landmark – The Gloomy Staircase, Near New Delhi Railway Station
When a piece of utilitarian infrastructure becomes poetic. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This fine old staircase leading to the overhead bridge in Central Delhi somehow seems steeped in a kind of melancholy. Here in early evening, a…
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