City Landmark – Blue Wall, Roshan Pura
The Roshan Pura blues. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This blue can never be perfectly rendered in a photograph. The shade is that fragile. This afternoon, as you stand in front of it, the colour seems to be…
City Walk – Post-Lockdown Lodhi Road, Central Delhi
Notes from a pandemic-era stroll. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two masked men are sitting on the dusty footpath, by the traffic light, with sketch pads on their laps. They are drawing Safdarjung’s Tomb, standing just across the…
City Landmark – Udhmi Ram’s Shoe Repair Stall, Green Park
A longtime destination. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is back. As the lockdown eases, shoe repairman Udhmi Ram has returned to his pavement stall in Green Park Market. “I’m opening after one whole month,” he says, sitting…
Mission Delhi – Namita Gokhale, South Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is an acclaimed author and lit-fest director, with successful daughters, a frank disposition and a comfortable book-filled home in south Delhi—seemingly uniting some of…
City Monument – Sabz Burj, Mathura Road
A ruin restored. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s not even cerulean. It actually is somewhere between turquoise and lapis. These tiles on the dome of the…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Henri Cole, Boston
The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi; photo courtesy (unless specified otherwise)–Henri Cole] One of the great living poets working today, Henri Cole is the author of many poetry collections. His most recent book, Blizzard: Poems, was published in 2020….
Mission Delhi – Shailesh Kumar, Central Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is sitting beside his packets of masks. His masked face is plopped on his knees, as if he were trying to escape from the…
City Hangout – Secretive Garden, Outer Ring Road
A place for the invisibles. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Quietness is the reigning monarch here. Greenery is entwined with solitude. Squirrels are frolicking about. Marooned in isolation, this secretive tree-filled place feels detached from all the news…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Isha Ahuja’s Poem on Post-Recovery, Janak Puri
Poetry in the city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Her life is returning to some sort of normalcy, but the recent days were a nightmare. In April her “Nanaji” was lying terminally ill with cancer. The whole extended family was attending…
Mission Delhi – Sant Ram, Jangpura
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Seasons dominate his life. This is in the nature of his occupation, which depends on the month of the year. It’s early June and hawker…
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