City Food – Spring Roll and Other Fries, Khandani Pakodawala
New in old. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Icons are in a shift. Delhi’s Central Vista is changing, and Delhi’s Khandani Pakodawala is changing too. This legendary place has been making a dozen different kinds of pakodas since…
Mission Delhi – Anand, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Anand is carrying a huge gunny sack on his back. “It looks heavy but is actually light,” he says. This evening, near Gurgaon’s bus stand…
City Landmark – Lonely Planet Afghanistan, Delhi’s Book Bazar and Bhogal
Book and land. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] You are so wrong if you believe that Delhi’s Sunday book bazaar is dispensable. That place is like a gigantic public library whose used books are oftentimes precious souvenirs of…
City Library – Rakhshanda Jalil’s Mills & Boon Collection, Central Delhi
Part of her past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] How could any man be so mean? Could Kate really bear Adam long enough to discover the gentleness he apparently possessed? More urgently, did Rakhshanda Jalil really care? Turns…
Mission Delhi – Devki, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This role, to her, is both familiar and strange. Familiar, because being a working woman is by no means a novel experience. She has been…
City Hangout – Cul-De-Sac, Jacobpura
Dead-end destination. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Undeniably, some words are more intriguing than others. One can spend an entire afternoon thinking of them, uttering them out loud, seeing the image their very mention forms in the mind….
City Walk – Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Central Delhi
On emperor’s path. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It no longer needs to be known as Delhi’s Fleet Street, the London road famous for newspaper offices. At least some newspapers that were once located here have wholly or…
City Food – Barfi with Mask, Dilshad Garden
Double bonus. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] No, you don’t commonly spot this delicacy on the streets. Certainly not with this combination—brown barfi with face masks. “I used to sell only barfi, and then the bimari arrived,” says…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Kandala Singh’s Poem Birdwatching, Munirka Enclave
Poetry in the city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Kandala. Such an uncommon name. “It means ‘golden’ and suggest someone who has the properties of gold, such as beautiful, precious, rare,” says Kandala Singh. The word is from Punjabi, her mother…
City Hangout – Pintu’s Penguins, Sunday Book Bazar, Mahila Haat
A new star. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Times change, institutions alter. The iconic book bazar that used to unfold every Sunday on Daryaganj footpaths has been moved to the exhibition ground of Mahila Haat. It is very…
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