A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 24th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is in Lodhi Garden, adjacent to the tomb of Muhammad Shah Sayyid. I have read Marcel in this park before, too, but today I am looking at the garden with a different perspective. I am in the midst of Place-Names - The Name, the third and final section of Swann’s Way, the

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 24th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, will take place on 9 July 2012. Venue: Muhammad Shah Sayyid’s Mausoleum, Lodhi Garden. Time: 7 pm. Where Muhammad Shah Sayyid’s Mausoleum, Lodhi Garden Nearest Metro Station Khan Market/Jorbagh Time 7 pm Muhammad Shah Sayyid’s Mausoleum

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 23rd meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is with Jonas Moses, a Frenchman. We are in the garden outside Humayun’s Tomb. A month earlier this place was glowing with the bright yellow flowers of the Amaltas. The flowers are still here but the colors have faded. The memory of the absent colours makes the garden more beautiful than it actually

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 23rd meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, will take place on 25 June 2012. Venue: The garden outside the ticket window of Humayun's Tomb. Time: 7 pm. Where Outside Humayun's Tomb Nearest Metro Station Khan Market/Jorbagh Time 7 pm The garden outside Humayun's Tomb

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 22nd meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is sitting in the graveyard behind the chilla of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. This cluster of tombs feels as melancholic as certain passages in the Lost Time. I am on page 206 of Swann’s Way, the first of the seven volumes. This is a passage on music. Just see how Monsieur Swann is

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 21st meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is sitting on the stairs of Jama Masjid in Shahjahanabad. I am on page 206 of Swann’s Way, the first of the seven volumes. It is a beautiful scene - Monsieur Swann absorbed in a piece of music. With a slow and rhythmical movement it led him first this way, then that, towards a

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 20th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Each week we meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is at the Café Turtle in Khan Market. I am with Altaf M, who describes himself as a flâneur, and Sanchita Guha, deputy editor of Marie Claire magazine. Ms Guha says she has never read Proust. “I had heard of Proust for years and had read some excerpts online from Remembrance of Things

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 20th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, will take place on 28 May 2012. Venue: Cafe Turtle, Khan Market. Time: 7 pm. Where Cafe Turtle, Khan Market Nearest Metro Station Khan Market Time 7 pm Cafe Turtle, Khan Market 1.

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 19th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. We have moved out of the Indian Coffee House where the sofas are torn and the coffee is watery. Each Monday we intend to meet in a new venue to dive into the atmosphere of Marcel’s novel. It is 7 pm and The Delhi Walla is on the Athpula Bridge in Lodhi Garden. If Proust were alive, I would have described this place to him in the following manner: “An oasis of tranquility with golden gravel paths that

A la recherche du temps perdu. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 19th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, will take place on 14 May 2012. Venue: The Athpula Bridge, Lodhi Garden. Time: 7 pm. Where Athpula Bridge, Lodhi Garden Nearest Metro Station Khan Market/Jorbagh Time 7 pm Athpula Bridge, Lodhi Garden 1. 2. 3. 4.