City Life – Fire-Side Memoirs, Roshan Pura
Finding old times. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a cold late afternoon. Four labourers are sitting around a makeshift fire they have lit up from a pile of wooden planks. Two of them are in their…
City Faith – Shiv Prajapati Mandir, Near New Delhi Railway Station
A wayside shrine. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the Capital’s super-congested heart, next to the New Delhi railway station. Outside, the road is clogged with cars and autos and the pavement packed with purpose-filled masked humans….
City Walk – Signature Chowk Bridge, Gurgaon
Beyond the practical utility. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Open sky. Nobody. Just you and your solitude, and a quiet walk mid-air. Footover bridges are among the most escapist places of a city, especially when suspended in places…
City Food – Delhi-UP Border Cuisine, Anand Vihar
Food carts of diversity. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Borders tend to be formal, edgy places, which one is always a bit nervous to cross. So it’s a surprise to find such a cheery, festive place in the…
Mission Delhi – Laali, Lodhi Road
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Now she’s here, now she’s there — she’s just everywhere. Laali, 4, is all restlessness. She’s unable to stay on one spot for more than…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Ghalib’s Coronavirus, Ghalib Academy
Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What if Mirza Ghalib were alive today? How would Delhi’s great shayar (poet) have coped with the pandemic, and the consequent khud alhaidgi (self-isolation in Urdu!)? What ghazals and…
City Hangout – Train Spotting, The Bridge Upon the New Delhi Railway Station
The pandemic-era thrill of travel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some trains are moving. Some trains are still. A few passengers here and there, walking with their suitcases and kids. And suddenly, a rail engine whistles. The sounds…
City Monument – Hijron ka Khanqah, Mehrauli
The retreat. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A word like ‘freedom’ acquires its true meaning only to those denied it. And so do words like “quarantine’ and ‘self-isolation’, gradually getting more real to us as we experience either…
Mission Delhi – Premchand, Kamla Market
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The life of this betel leaf stall owner is marked by two special facets. First, his modest (but long-time) stall is situated directly beneath the…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Arjun Sagar Gupta, Vasant Vihar
The parlour confession. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] His bedroom’s Yamaha Electone is clamouring for attention, even on Zoom. The statelier Steinway is in the drawing room, out of sight. An accomplished pianist, the enterprising Arjun Sagar Gupta,…
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