City Hangout – Poetry Racks, Fact & Fiction and Others
[Verse corners] [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The world is dense with prose; it is not easy to find poetry in our tweeting lives. Fortunately, Delhi continues...
City Hangout – Triveni Tea Terrace, Mandi House
Garden conversations. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The decades-old Triveni Tea Terrace shut down late last year. Triveni means “three plaits” in Sanskrit and, indeed, this Delhi...
City Hangout – Mudrika Bus Route, Ring Road
Circling the capital. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It takes almost the same time that it takes to fly from Delhi to Helsinki, Finland. And the ticket...
City Hangout – New Landmarks, Connaught Place
The hot from the oven CP. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Connaught Place (CP) has returned from its long Arctic exile. After years of being outclassed by...
City Hangout – Traffic Training Park, Baba Kharak Singh Marg
An unusual garden. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi despises traffic rules because hardly any Delhiwalla visits the Traffic Training Park. Situated on central Delhi’s Baba Kharak...
City Hangout – Bullock Carts, National Crafts Museum
The other world’s symbols. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The bullock cart continues to be a common means of transport in rural India – says the display...
City Hangout – Ganga Dhaba, Jawaharlal Nehru University
The revolutionary outpost. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is like a welcoming jungle — except for the guerrilla ants that are constantly invading your clothes. The...
City Hangout – Tonga Rides, Walled City
Journeys recalled. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Every year the newspapers report that the authorities are planning to banish the tongas of Old Delhi to address the...
Mapping National Museum – The Dancing Girl, 2500 BC
A little marvel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is stark naked, except for bangles, rings and a necklace with four pendants. Sculptured in bronze more than...
City Hangout – Madras Coffee House, Connaught Place
A place to dissent. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The food is not memorable. The flowers are made of plastic. The walls are painted to a dull...