City Monument - Corona-Era Jama Masjid, Old Delhi

City Monument – Corona-Era Jama Masjid, Old Delhi

The edifice these days. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The gigantic courtyard is empty. So empty that even the customary pigeons are not there — remember how they would always be seen flying from the courtyard to the…

Mission Delhi - Veena Mathur, Sector 51

Mission Delhi – Veena Mathur, Sector 51

Homecoming dress. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Wow, she speaks such free-flowing Hindi! Now, this might sound like an awkward compliment in the Hindi-speaking Delhi region. But then Hindi is not Veena’s first language. “Main Tamil Nadu ki…

City Obituary - Shabrati Nihari, Shop, Haveli Azam Khan

City Obituary – Shabrati Nihari, Shop, Haveli Azam Khan

Death of a landmark. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Bloggers have blogged about it. Instagrammers have instagrammed about it. Heritage-minded walking tours too would stop by for quick feasts and photo opportunities. And now it is gone. Hazi…

Mission Delhi - Pappu, Central Delhi

Mission Delhi – Pappu, Central Delhi

Homecoming dress. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He’s shining brightly. Pappu is wearing trousers whose bright shade is difficult to determine—is it some sort of brown or mustard color, or brownish-mustard, or something else entirely. Doesn’t matter. The…

Mission Delhi - Preeti Sachdeva, Devilal Colony

Mission Delhi – Preeti Sachdeva, Devilal Colony

Lost world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She would do facial, manicure, pedicure, haircut and many other things in a space she created all by herself. But the dreamworld has ended. She finally shut down her beauty parlour…

Home Sweet Home - Arunima Pakalapati's 27th Floor Balcony, Gurgaon

Home Sweet Home – Arunima Pakalapati’s 27th Floor Balcony, Gurgaon

Into thin air. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her address is like a shifting sand; it moves often. Because her husband works in a multinational oil company, and regularly has to switch from one “location” to another, their…

Mission Delhi - Arman, Sadar Bazar

Mission Delhi – Arman, Sadar Bazar

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Despite living without a house in a tough city like Delhi, despite having to brave every day the dangerous times of the coronavirus pandemic, fruit seller Arman makes sure to have beauty in…

Mission Delhi - Nazma, New Palam Vihar

Mission Delhi – Nazma, New Palam Vihar

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It all began with the bicycle, all those years ago, in Saharanpur town in UP. She was just 8. “Actually it started with the 25 paise Babu (father) would give me every day,”…

City Hangout - DDA Park, Mathura Road

City Hangout – DDA Park, Mathura Road

A discreet enclosure. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] These days, it is difficult to recommend a place outside home that offers physical distancing possibilities. One comes close. But there are many buts about this place. It is thick…

City Series – Suvojit Banerjee in Atlanta, We the Isolationists (415th Corona Diary)

City Series – Suvojit Banerjee in Atlanta, We the Isolationists (415th Corona Diary)

Our corona diary. [Text and photo by Suvojit Banerjee] I close my eyes in self-isolation from corona and I see that in the abundance of the cosmos, our microscopic existences are futile. My conscience is half-awake, as if running on…