City Life – Summer Refugees, Somewhere in Delhi
Life in the heat wave. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] White hot noon. The road is deserted, here in this summertime spot of the megapolis. A group of men is huddled under a pavement tree, along with two…
City Obituary – Book Man Ramesh Chandra Jain, Ansari Road & Gurgaon
Passing of a book man. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His bookstore rarely pops up in cool slick Instagram stories.. But then venerable scholars are not known to be social media savvies. And they are the exalted ones…
City Neighbourhood – Pahari Bhojla, Old Delhi
‘Hood on the hill. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The congested mohalla of Pahari Bhojla is nestled about a pahari, a hill, and is said to have been the hideout of Bhojla daku, back when the Walled City…
City Life – Peacock Sighting, Mausam Bhawan & Elsewhere
In search of beauty. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Wow, this one’s costume more dazzling than even Rihanna’s oversized hooded camellia covered Valentino cape at the Met Galla red carpet. Conservation architect Ratish Nanda just spotted the super-stylish…
City Life – Villages of Gurgugram, Gurgaon Village
Village in the city. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] You see those buildings? Those were the khet, carpeted with gehu, once upon a recent time. The housing block there was a baagh of ber, the very berries that…
City Landmark – Poet Ameer Dehlvi’s Room, Opposite Jama Masjid
The beautiful room is empty. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The door to the left opens to the long balcony; the window in the front wall looks on to Jama Masjid. The room is an imperfect rectangle. The…
City Life – Pilkhan Tree, Old Delhi
Tree like home. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A solo violin miraculously producing the effect of an orchestra. Or, a whole universe bursting out from a single atom. Such is this tree. A stubby trunk splitting into a…
City Life – Nemat Khana, Delhi & Rampur
A way of life. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was a household sight as ordinary as a toaster or a microwave. Usually seen in the bawarchi khana, this wooden cabinet with a steel jaali, or net, was…
City Life – Barricade Trees, Sarojini Nagar
The city greens. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Hundreds of leaves here. All pitch black. After all, they are mere shadows. Shadows of the tree leaves falling on the metal bulwarks, the metal slow-heated by the day’s sun….
City Obituary – Ameer Dehlvi, Haji Hotel
The death of a poet. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] His life was like a love poem. He himself was a poet, and a familiar face (and voice) at the Red Fort’s nighttime poetry mushaira, held every year…
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