Home Sweet Home - Bird Housing, Galli Sooiwallan Street

Home Sweet Home – Bird Housing, Galli Sooiwallan Street

A dormitory for pigeons. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Question of the day: where, in fact, do the city pigeons sleep? Truth is that they’re bound to sleep in all sorts of unlikely places, like window ledges. In…

Home Sweet Home – Impermanent Housing, Vasundhara

Home Sweet Home – Impermanent Housing, Vasundhara

Fleeting dwellings. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Vasundhara in Ghaziabad in the Greater Delhi Region is a cluster of residential towers. But this particular housing is too modest. The four homes share a common roof, and this roof…

Home Sweet Home – House of Shadows, Lodhi Road

Home Sweet Home – House of Shadows, Lodhi Road

Monsoon dwelling. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s hardly more than a lean-to. But the recent addition of an awning means the world for the little family. “We recently got that awning from a tea stall owner,” explains…

Home Sweet Home - Rooftop Views, Mehrauli

Home Sweet Home – Rooftop Views, Mehrauli

The story of a home. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s hard to imagine getting a better sense of Delhi than by viewing it from on high. And particularly a panoramic view of a favoured neighbourhood like Mehrauli….

Home Sweet Home - A Window View, Opposite Jama Masjid

Home Sweet Home – A Window View, Opposite Jama Masjid

A prized window. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] At first glance this room seems a bit the worse for wear. Creaky door. Fading paintwork on the walls. So what? The glass window in this room looks straight out…

Home Sweet Home - Ruined Mansion, Roshanpura, Gurgaon

Home Sweet Home – Ruined Mansion, Roshanpura, Gurgaon

The story of a home. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old abandoned houses tend to become hauntingly surreal in their dilapidation. Despite being stereotyped as a fantasy land of high-rises and multi-storey apartments, the Futuristic City of Gurgaon…

Home Sweet Home - A Mother's Handmade Cradle, Central Delhi Pavement

Home Sweet Home – A Mother’s Handmade Cradle, Central Delhi Pavement

Baby’s swing. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Baby Aslam is lying snugly in his padded swing hanging from a tree while Mom keeps a watchful eye out for him. “He’s just turned three months,” says content-looking Firdaus, a…

Home Sweet Home - Staircase to Heaven, South Delhi

Home Sweet Home – Staircase to Heaven, South Delhi

Jacob’s ladder. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Staircases are surely one of the great human inventions though there is no knowing just when the world’s first staircase was built. Neither is it clear which civilisation came up with…

Home Sweet Home - Mintu & Family, Delhi Footpaths

Home Sweet Home – Mintu & Family, Delhi Footpaths

A family with dogs. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This industrious family of ragpickers manages to earn around 10,000 rupees every month, which they reckon is sufficient for themselves and their three dogs–Kaloo, Laloo and Julie. But, on…

Home Sweet Home – Sheeba & Arshad’s House, Chhatta Sheikh Mangloo

Home Sweet Home – Sheeba & Arshad’s House, Chhatta Sheikh Mangloo

A house in Delhi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are as many staircases in the big house as there are sights of the Walled City from the roof. This is the Old Delhi home of Arshad Ali…