Netherfield Ball – The Superhit Show at Rana Ayyub’s Book Launch, India Habitat Center
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There was so much room to breathe during the forgettable launch of Tavleen Singh’s book a few weeks ago at the India Habitat Center. The veteran journalist with 233K followers…
Photo Essay – Sufi’s World, Mehrauli
Meow. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sufi lives in a monument-facing apartment in South Delhi’s Mehrauli. She shares it with Vidya Rao who is a human. Sufi is very old now. She spends her days reading books about…
Mission Delhi – Kutte Walle Baba–Part II, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here’s a real-life story with a happy ending. The greatest landmark of Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti is its Sufi shrine from which this Central Delhi village…
City Moment – The Opera Singer’s Front Row Audience, Alliance Francaise de Delhi
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is summer and yet the air is not warm. The opera singer’s song is sneaking out of the door. Inside, her booming voice has flooded the whole world. She…
City Food – Jodhpuri Paratha, Eatopia, India Habitat Center
The crushed dream. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Why should you go all the way to Parathe Walli Galli, in Old Delhi’s congested Chandni Chowk, to have delicious deep-fried parathas when you can get Delhi’s most delicious (and…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Anannya Dasgupta’s Amaltas Poems, Amrita Shergil Marg
Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is crossing the road. A car heads straight towards her putting her existence in doubt. An entire self-contained world is at risk: her own being + the poems…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Poulami Chakraborty, Calcutta
The 130th death. [Text by Poulami Chakraborty; photo by Ria Chakraborty] The sweet grandma who used to write stories for her grandchildren is no more. She had just turned 70 when she died of a brain tumor. This kind-hearted lady…
The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Gravedigger Allah Hu, b. Piplauti Village, 1930-2016
The definitive directory of great Delhiites. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] He was always seen in a green kurta, this lean man with deep-set eyes and a long beard. Allah Hu was a gravedigger at the Batla House…
City Style – A Woman from Kashmir, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti
Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She looked like the cover picture of a yellowing National Geographic magazine. One evening The Delhi Walla saw a woman in an eatery in Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. She was…
The Delhi Proustians – Benoît Puttemans of Sotheby’s Paris Talks to The Delhi Walla on the Great Proust Auction
On Sotheby’s auction of Proust memorabilia. [By Mayank Austen Soofi; photo given by Sotheby’s / art digital studio] Imagine that your lover’s most intimate letters and private photographs are sold away. This is probably what the most devoted readers of…
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