City Life – Barsatis, South Delhi
The vanishing rain shack. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s vanishing. The barsati. The small room at the top of the house where the family could enjoy the cool breeze during the monsoon. A unique Delhi phenomenon. The…
Campus Notepad – Fuchchas, Hindu College
On the morning of July 21, 2010, The Delhi Walla went to Hindu College in Delhi University.
City Life – One Year of Legalised Gay Sex
Celebrations in Jantar Mantar. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the new Delhi. It happened in public. Men kissed men. Women hugged women. And cops just watched. On the evening of July 2, 2010, a year after…
City Life – Gay Delhi is Getting Straight
One year after the landmark Delhi High Court verdict. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Time: Late evening. Place: Central Park, Connaught Place. Props: Trees, pathways, bushes and men — young and old, masculine and effeminate. Under unlit lamps,…
City Life – Honour Killings in Delhi
Love birds under threat. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is no longer happening elsewhere — in Pakistan, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. The killings of runaway couples belonging to the same gotra (sub-caste) or different caste…
City Life – FIFA Soccer World Cup, Jo’burg & Jor Bagh
A home away from home. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Evening. June 11, 2010. The Jor Bagh resident is in her living room, in front of the television. She is waiting for the inaugural ceremony of the FIFA…
City Life – The Love Life of Vidya Rao, Thumri Singer
The other woman in her life. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Vidya Rao, thumri singer, actor and part-time editor at Orient Longman, lives with Sufi in a sunny second-floor apartment, not far from Qutub Minar, in Mehrauli, south…
City Life – Admission Season, Delhi University
The rite of passage. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is the last hurdle before you become an adult. The admission process in Delhi University (DU) has its own rituals. It comes in summer. It demands long queues….
City Life – Unique Gym, Kucha Tarachand
Sweating for the body. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a large room with no window. The air smells of salty sweat. The walls are painted orange and purple. Stairs go up to a smaller floor area…
Sujan Singh Park Diary – My Life with Khushwant Singh
Author Sadia Dehlvi on Delhi’s legendary writer. [Text by Sadia Dehlvi; pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you ask me about the women in author Khushwant Singh’s life, I would say I am the only one. That’s how special he…
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