Mission Delhi – Vidya Rao, Lodhi Gardens
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The city is losing a beat of its music. Delhi-based thumri singer Vidya Rao will no longer be based in Delhi, where she has lived…
City Landmark – K & R Pickle and Murabbas, Matia Mahal Bazar
Pickle with monthlies. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The pungent aroma is heady. This is Ali Baba’s treasury of pickles —mango, karela, carrot, lemon, ginger, garlic, shaljam, amla, bamboo, lesua, tela, green chillies, and red chillies. Each red…
City Food – Dolly Sharma’s Lunch Van, Shankar Chowk
From the world of rajma chawal. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tej patta leaves are floating underneath the thick red gravy. Whole roasted lal mirchi too can be spotted. The dish is so hot you can see steam…
City Season – Bougainvillaea Watching, Indirapuram & Other Places
A sight most surreal. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] You really have to be in this place in Ghaziabad to believe it. Even if your home is as far away as in Gurgaon, or Faridabad, or Uttam Nagar….
City Life – Vaccination Camps, Jama Masjid
The mosque in the Covid-era. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The five tents are in red. A flap of cloth sewed on one of them says: Covid 19 Vaccination Center. The tents stand in Jama Masjid, as a…
City Monument – Bagh e Nabiullah Mosque, Hauz Qazi
Hidden mosque. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The courtyard springs up without warning. Outside—a dense blab of peoples, sounds, streets and multifarious sensations. Inside—this airy courtyard, utmost silence, and barely anyone. Bagh e Nabiullah sits in the heart…
City Season – Leaf Fall, Around Town
Autumn in March. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is a particularly friendly tree in Jacobpura in old Gurgaon, under whose shade the area’s cart pullers would sit for a few minutes of repose. But today the place is…
City Monument – Toy Qutub Minar, Mahipalpur
Dummy history. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Next time your flight lands at Delhi airport, look outside carefully from the aircraft window. Moments before the plane’s wheels hit the runway, you are likely to spot the iconic Shiv…
Mission Delhi – Khajani, Old Delhi
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] His heart is pierced by Cupid’s arrow. And within the heart is inscribed ‘I Love You’. This is a tattoo on Khajani’s right arm —…
City Food – Bittu’s Moong Dal Samosa, Tiraha Bairam Khan
An unusual samosa. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There’s more than one Eiffel Tower in the world. They are in Hangzhou, Slobozia, Tokyo, Les Vegas, Blackpool, and there’s one in our Delhi too. The purists however insist that…
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