City Library – Renato Maestro’s Books, Venice Ghetto
A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Thick yellowing pages sewed within leather-bound volumes. Ancient threads escaping out of cracked spines. Centuries-old letters tucked inside spotlessly white envelopes. Bundles of very old newspapers. And boxes after boxes…
City Notice – ‘Somewhere in Delhi’ Exhibition, Second Show in Venice
Facebook on khadi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was a curious show. Instead of being decked up on walls, the art works were laid down on the floor. The Delhi Walla attended the second viewing of Somewhere…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Srija Sharma, Ludhiana
The 113th death. [Text by Srija Sharma; photo by Preeti Saini] She dozed off to a deep slumber while sitting in her library, a work of lifetime. And never woke up. Srija Sharma wasn’t the one who believed in clichés….
City Food – Mummy Giusi’s Kosher Bakery, Venice Ghetto
The family story. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Meet the family. Mummy Giusi. Papa Davide. Their shy son, Nicolo. And his cheery girlfriend, Eleonora. Together they run Panificio Volpe Giovanni–the only old-fashioned bakery in the ancient Jewish district…
Photo Essay – Bahrisons Booksellers After Balraj Bahri’s Passing Away, Khan Market
Life of a bookshop. [photos by Florian Morin; text by Mayank Austen Soofi] February 26, 2016: Balraj Bahri Malhotra, the 87-year-old founder of Delhi’s iconic Bahrisons Booksellers bookstore in Khan Market, passes away. (The Delhi Walla wrote his obituary here.)…
City Moment – The Artist Sits Beside His Biography, Venice Ghetto
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He looks like Walt Whitman from one angle and Leo Tolstoy from another. But the man with the white beard is Gilberto Visintin, a self-described vagabond artist. He has two…
City Landmark — Emilio Piacentini’s Wood Carving Shop, Venice Ghetto
The last man standing. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This frail white-haired man is among the last of his kind in Venice. Emilio Piacentini is a wood-carver in the city’s ancient Jewish ghetto, which is observing its 500th…
City Notice – Balraj Bahri, The Founder of Khan Market’s Bahrisons Booksellers, Is No More
A Khan Market icon. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi; the black & white photos belong to Bahrsions Booksellers] Balraj Bahri Malhotra, the founder of India’s most successful independently owned bookstore, died on February 26, 2016. He was 87….
Netherfield Ball – Tea Scandal in ‘Somewhere in Delhi’, Venice
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The man from the East was full of himself. He was the only oriental face–in flesh and blood, that is. There were also quite a few such faces to be…
City Notice – Somewhere in Delhi, An Exhibition in Venice
[By Mayank Austen Soofi] Can you touch a Facebook post? Yes, you can. Friends, the first batch of my select Facebook posts–both photographs and texts–have been adapted by Venice-based designer Anna Gerotto into the soft texture of a hand-woven muslin…
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