City Monument - Hazrat Sarmad & Hazrat Hare Bhare, Old Delhi

City Monument – Hazrat Sarmad & Hazrat Hare Bhare, Old Delhi

Old new world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some of us like to perceive the world through colours (to truly see the impressionism of colours in everyday existence, you have to google for the New York street-life snapshots…

City Monument - A Perspective of Jama Masjid, Old Delhi

City Monument – A Perspective of Jama Masjid, Old Delhi

The Dilli style. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Typical Delhi aesthetics, some might say. Two eras co-existing side by side. One belongs to the 17th century. One belongs to our time. One is of red sandstone, other of…

City Monument - Kalan Masjid, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

City Monument – Kalan Masjid, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

A souvenir around the corner. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Shut your eyes. Walk carefully, lest you stumble. Pockmarked with a pothole, the rutty claustrophobic alley is very narrow, very dark, flanked by grim faded walls. Now, open…

City Monument  -Chausath Khamba, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

City Monument -Chausath Khamba, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

Of light and stone. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Winter dhoop is making the marble glow, as if the soothing sunlight were emanating from the opacity of the stones themselves. The most beautiful of all buildings—old and new—in…

City Monument - Stone Jaalis, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya's Dargah

City Monument – Stone Jaalis, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah

Screens forever. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Air entwined with stone, becoming jaali. The lattice screen has long been an element of Delhi’s architecture. One unlikely place to experience this living heritage is the sufi shrine of Hazrat…

City Monument - Madrasa Aminia, Kashmere Gate

City Monument – Madrasa Aminia, Kashmere Gate

A lesser-known beauty. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] First, the eyes are drawn to the arched pool. Then, to the greenish water in it; to the sky in the water; to the reflected crows flying in the reflected…

City Monument - Dilli Gate, Najafgarh

City Monument – Dilli Gate, Najafgarh

A namesake. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The world has many Dilli Gates. There is a Dilli Gate in Lahore. There is a Dilli Gate in Ajmer. In Bharatpur. In Aligarh. In our very own Ghaziabad. All these…

City Monument - Neela Gumbad & Subz Burj, Near Humayun's Tomb

City Monument – Neela Gumbad & Subz Burj, Near Humayun’s Tomb

Blue dome’s doppelgänger. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Life would have been less complicated if our Delhi didn’t have so many monuments. And some of those look so same-same! Take the early 16th century Neela Gumbad and the…

City Monument - Unnamed Mosque, Lodhi Garden

City Monument – Unnamed Mosque, Lodhi Garden

A little known exquisiteness. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One life isn’t enough to crack the megapolis of Delhi and its NCR cousins. The microscopic magnitude of a teenie weenie lane in Roshanpura will be enough to claim…

City Life - Ghalib's Graveyard, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

City Life – Ghalib’s Graveyard, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] You cannot get close to Mirza Ghalib by sitting beside his marble grave. That intimacy can only be attained by reading the poet’s ghazals and…