City Landmark - Metalsmith Muhammed Ikram's Workshop, Galli Chooriwallan

City Landmark – Metalsmith Muhammed Ikram’s Workshop, Galli Chooriwallan

Museum of metal. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Metal coerced into a multitude of shapes. All these disparate tools hanging on hooks nailed into the walls. The tools cover a part of the floor, too. This is like…

City Life - Tikona Park, Near Oberoi Hotel Flyover

City Life – Tikona Park, Near Oberoi Hotel Flyover

Changing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The concrete island beside the traffic light has been dug up, and the raw earth is now full of new trees, so young that their trunks look like mere stalks. Maybe,…

City Hangout - Gwal Pahari, Near Golf Course Road

City Hangout – Gwal Pahari, Near Golf Course Road

City escape. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] I love Rashi—the declaration on the rock is scrawled in white. The ‘love’ is depicted with a heart. The same declaration covers the surface of the adjacent rock. The rock next…

Mission Delhi - Kavita Joshi Rai, Lodhi Garden

Mission Delhi – Kavita Joshi Rai, Lodhi Garden

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This mobile phone snapper has perhaps the most beautifully named instagram handle in Delhi. Please shake paws with Kavita Joshi Rai, the founder of @dogs_of_lodhi,…

City Landmarks - A-One Flower & More A-One Places, Old Delhi & Around Town

City Landmarks – A-One Flower & More A-One Places, Old Delhi & Around Town

A-one. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Galli Chooriwallan, the street of bangle sellers. Mohalla Qabristan, the neighbourhood of the graveyard. Pahari Imli, the hill of the tamarind. Each of these names are requiems for lost worlds. Galli Chooriwallan…

City Walk - M-Block Market, GK-II

City Walk – M-Block Market, GK-II

A walk through good life. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a truth commonly acknowledged, that the universe has three GKs — or Greater Kailashes. GK I and GK II are located in south Delhi, and GK…

City Monument - Shahjahani Masjid, Pataudi House

City Monument – Shahjahani Masjid, Pataudi House

White mosque. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It looks so soft, as if frosted with cream cheese. The domes, the minarets and the walls are dusted in white, like icing on a cake. This fragility is deceptive. Shahjahani…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Michelle Sanya Tirkey, Not in West Delhi

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Michelle Sanya Tirkey, Not in West Delhi

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] She lives in west Delhi’s Janakpuri and admits of having a problem with west Delhi. “It has to do with the way this part of the city is laid out. I cannot just…

City Monument - Unknown Grave, Mehrauli

City Monument – Unknown Grave, Mehrauli

Grave beauty. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is like somebody’s dense handwritten journal lying open on the table, with a twig of leaves serving as bookmark. This sculpted piece of marble, adorned with a tiny neem fragment…

City Hangout - Asaf Ali's Statue, Near Dilli Gate

City Hangout – Asaf Ali’s Statue, Near Dilli Gate

A place like no other. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This day, last year: hundreds of pigeons around freedom fighter Asaf Ali’s statue. This day, this year: hundreds of pigeons still around the same statue. Yet, the place…