Mission Delhi – Harsh Vardhan Dutta, Lodhi Garden

Mission Delhi – Harsh Vardhan Dutta, Lodhi Garden

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a cold windy afternoon. The sky is grey. Lodhi Garden is looking bleak. But this young man is looking like March rather than…

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Manpreet Kaur Soni, Maitreyi College

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Manpreet Kaur Soni, Maitreyi College

The second death. [Text by Manpreet Kaur Soni; photo by Davinder S. Soni] Manpreet Kaur Soni, a student of English Literature at Delhi University’s Maitreyi College, passed away on the early morning of February 3. She was 18. Her day…

Our Self-Written Obituaries - Mayank Austen Soofi, Hauz Khas Village

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Mayank Austen Soofi, Hauz Khas Village

The first death. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mayank Austen Soofi, a writer and photographer who wrote about lives and places in Delhi, died on July 3 at his one-room apartment in south Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village. The…

New Series – Our Self-Written Obituaries, Delhiites Everywhere

New Series – Our Self-Written Obituaries, Delhiites Everywhere

In our own words. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] You too will die one day. The Delhi Walla begins a new series. Our Obituaries invites Delhiites across the world to write their obituary in 200 words. The idea…

City Hangout - Triveni Tea Terrace, Mandi House

City Hangout – Triveni Tea Terrace, Mandi House

Garden conversations. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The decades-old Triveni Tea Terrace shut down late last year. Triveni means “three plaits” in Sanskrit and, indeed, this Delhi landmark could well have been something a god of small and…

Atget’s Corner – 691-695, Delhi Photos

Atget’s Corner – 691-695, 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 List – Delhi's Great Jews, Around Town

City List – Delhi’s Great Jews, Around Town

The Capital heritage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The most beautiful and inspirational post-colonial architecture in New Delhi is the work of a Jew. In other words, Delhi’s Jewish legacy goes beyond its only Jewish graveyard near Khan…

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Manika Dhama, Delhi Metro - Blue Line

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Manika Dhama, Delhi Metro – Blue Line

Poetry in the city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Poet Manika Dhama (seen above) is a reader of Marcel Proust. She co-edits Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire along with The Delhi Walla. The regular readers of this website will recall that Ms Dhama…

Atget’s Corner – 686-690, Delhi Photos

Atget’s Corner – 686-690, 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 Food - Wenger's Cake Shop, Connaught Place

City Food – Wenger’s Cake Shop, Connaught Place

The Capital’s oldest surviving cake shop. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The most beautiful place in Delhi is not Humayun’s Tomb but Wenger’s. The landmark bakery in Connaught Place’s whitewashed A block appears crowded in all seasons, at…