City Walk – Towards Flaubert’s Tomb, Cimetière Monumental de Rouen
Visiting a writer’s grave. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] So harmonious, these living arrangements of the dead. The Delhi Walla is at the Monumental Cemetery in Rouen, the home of Gustave Flaubert, the creator of Madame Bovary. In…
Photo Essay – Stealing a Letter and Doing Pushups at Marcel Proust’s Tomb, Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
After Proust. [Photos by a Friend of Marcel Proust; text by Mayank Austen Soofi] Suddenly, MARCEL PROUST. His tomb. The Delhi Walla is at Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. I have come to see Proust, the author of In Search of…
Atget’s Corner – 986-990, Delhi Photos
The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds,…
City Moment – Seeing Proust’s Soul in a Solitary Seagull, Cabourg, France
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The seagull is quietly watching the waves. One evening The Delhi Walla is on Promenade Marcel Proust in Cabourg, the coastal town immortalised by Proust as Balbec in his novel…
City Landmark – Proust’s Bed & the Grand Hotel, Cabourg, France
Marcel’s host. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the same bed on which Marcel Proust slept and the same window through which he would watch the sea outside. It is a cold and quiet day. The Delhi…
Home Sweet Home -Patrice Louis’s Proustian Homestead, Combray
A whole world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His house is devoted to Marcel Proust, his most beloved writer. One evening The Delhi Walla enters the home of author Patrice Louis in Combray. This French town is of…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Emily Dickinson, Somewhere in Normandy
Poetry in the world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is like a myth in her neighbourhood–it is rare she steps out of her homestead. On a recent evening, however, poet Emiliy Dickinson is spotted wandering aimlessly out…
City Life – The Art of Currency Garland, Chitli Qabar Chowk
The poetry of money. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Money is a kind of poetry, said a corporate lawyer who was also a great American poet. Nowhere is Wallace Stevens’ maxim more evident than in the work of…
City Food – Daal Chaat, Around Town
The zesty health punch. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Shocking. It is not deep-fried and yet it is a popular and cheap street food of Delhi. What’s the appeal? Served in a leaf bowl, daal chaat is sprouted…
Photo Essay – ‘Somewhere in Delhi’ Exhibition, Goa Arts & Literature Festival
Floating visions from The Delhi Walla’s online archives. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] ‘Somewhere in Delhi’ is a collaborative work between The Delhi Walla, and Anna Gerotto, a designer in Venice (see photo 5a below). Since 2007, I…
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