New in Town – Boxed Set, The Delhi Walla Books
The lovely claustrophobia. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In 2010, HarperCollins India published The Delhi Walla volumes, a series of four guidebooks on Delhi — on the city’s monuments, food and drinks, hangouts and its people. Three years…
City List – Prohibited Items, Delhi Metro
Delhi by list. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] According to the Delhi Metro Railway (Prohibition of Carriage of Large-sized Luggage, Carriage of Offensive and Dangerous Goods in the Metro Railway, Travelling of Persons Suffering From Infectious and Contagious…
City Monument – Gandhi’s Samadhi, Rajghat
Official India’s holy shrine. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In our city of tombs, this mausoleum stands without a tomb. This is the site of Mohandas K Gandhi’s cremation. The stone footpath runs along a manicured lawn. The…
City Travel – Hindu/Buddhist Heritage, Kathmandu
The painful history. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was raining. The Delhi Walla was in Nepal. I was being driven to Nagarkot, a village few miles outside Kathmandu that stands on a cliff and offers panoramic views…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Gajra, Sector 34, Noida
The Proustian self-introspection. [By The Delhi Proustians] The Proust Questionnaire represents a form of interview that owes its structure to answers given by French novelist Marcel Proust, the author of In Search of Lost Time, at two birthday parties that…
Photo Essay – The Wandering Woman, Old Delhi
An evening in Shahjahanabad. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The other evening The Delhi Walla followed a woman in Old Delhi. It was humid. The woman was walking in Matia Mahal Bazaar. She was wearing a long green…
City Travel – Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu
The Nepal diary. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The devotees were sitting on the stone stairs in groups of families and friends — some were talking to each other, others were quiet. They were looking down at the…
City Secret – Blood Letting, Rahat Open Surgery
Old Delhi cure. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Kamini Khatoon lives in Amroha, a small town near Delhi. She was suffering from body ache for many years. Ms Khatoon consulted doctors, visited hospitals, tried allopathic and homeopathic medicines….
City Moment – The Rat’s Funeral, Jorbagh
The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One afternoon The Delhi Walla attended the funeral of a rat in the Central Delhi neighbourhood of Jorbagh. “Our dog attacked him,” the woman told me. She lives in…
City Food – Iftar Snacks, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah
Breaking the fast. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The platter consists of a jalebi, a samosa, a litchi, a banana, a sliced piece of water melon or papaya, and a glass of Roohafza sharbat. This food is served…
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