A rare summer treat [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sniff it, this strange vision in pink. The cool intense fragrances rushing out of it hint to apple and mango and possibly kiwi. This is actually fresh ice, infused…
Tiles in the city [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Taak, a niche on the wall, is a disappearing element of Delhi’s architecture. Maybe because suburban flats no longer have walls thick enough to afford taak. But here’s a…
A poet-saint’s anniversary [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] As monuments go by, it is not instantly striking. But it is cloaked in rich layers of histories. In the beginning, it was just a marble grave and remained so…
The laddu valley [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Lady with a dog. Gentleman with a chai kettle. A temple. A peepal tree as immense as Kipling’s jungle. A water pyau. And manning the entry of this introverted world…
Life with a device. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Time passes. Call tunes change. For a long time a black rotary dial telephone graced exorcist Syed Nabi Ahmed’s chamber, here in in Old Delhi. He then replaced it…
5-star culinary tour. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Food tours in Old Delhi—nice, but now such a cliche! Do a food tour in old Gurugram, for a change, especially in Sadar Bazar. And be sure to stop by…
Learning to see a new landmark. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It looks like an ocean liner stranded in plain land, far from the sea it belongs to. This is a fairly new landmark in zila Ghaziabad, that…
Into a citizen’s heart. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] She earns by singing and dancing and offering blessings in household celebrations such as weddings, childbirths and grih-pravesh. This afternoon, combing her long oiled hair in a Walled City…
Story of bookstores. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Chicken Corner. Is that what the great bookstore has become? No disrespect to the pavement eatery, but it is right outside the bookstore, blocking the access to the shuttered front…
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