
The Delhi Walla’s Biographical Dictionary – Jis James, Indirapuram & Kerala
Their story, in their words. [By Jis James] What Delhi has got to do with a boy who comes all the way from the southern most part of the country which is Kerala? But it has got some real genuine…

The Delhi Walla’s Biographical Dictionary – Tahreema Rahim, Daryaganj
Their story, in their words. [By Tahreema Rahim] Tahreema, 19, lives somewhere in Daryaganj with her parents and a 5-year-old brother. She never knew that this will be the time when she will revisit her blue, towelled, patched childhood album….

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Amir Khusro, b. Patiali, Uttar Pradesh, 1253-1325
The definitive directory of famous Delhiites. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] At 72, the maker of Hindustani classical music lost interest in the world. Poet Amir Khusro, the 14th century courtier to seven kings, was in mourning after…

The Biographical Dictionary Of Delhi – Naseem Mirza Changezi , B. Old Delhi, 1910
The definitive directory of great Delhiwallas. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Old Delhi’s living encyclopedia, he knows the stories of its every street and alley, and he is probably more important to the well-being of this city…

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…

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Mark Tully, b. Calcutta, 1935
Our foreign correspondent. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is noon, yet the drawing room is washed in a cool darkness. The gentleman is seated on a sofa. The November sunlight pierces the window and falls on his…

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Raghu Rai, b. Jhang, Pre-Partition Punjab, 1942
India’s great photographer.[ Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This year, Raghu Rai completed 50 years of photography. In December, Aleph India will publish his book Picturing Time: The Greatest Photographs of Raghu Rai. Born in Jhang village in…

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Chandan Singh, b. Tehri, Uttarakhand, 1930
Author Khushwant Singh’s longtime cook. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Chandan Singh, 85, has a kind of sculpted face that won’t look out of place in a room filled with death masks of Roman emperors who had lived…

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Bhim Sen Puri, b. Garhdiwala, Punjab, 22 March, 1922
The face of Delhi’s fifth estate. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Extra, extra, read all about it. Is there a more pleasurable morning ritual than the ceremony of unveiling a crisp, unread newspaper? Bhim Sen Puri’s daily beat…

The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Ajit Vikram Singh, b. Delhi, 26 November, 1955
The bookish bookseller. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ajit Vikram Singh is the founder of the cramped Fact and Fiction Booksellers, the capital’s most eclectic bookstore. No other place in Delhi offers such rich selections of books in…
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