City Hangout – Rail Track Twilight, Barakhamba Flyover
Sky-filled evening. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The rail tracks seem to extend to the point where the earth touches the sky. Though the earth is pitch dark at this moment in the evening. The sky however has…
City Hangout – District Park, Jasola
By a hospital. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The mere sight of a hospital stirs up our deepest fears. The world around it suddenly seems too carefree, its concerns flimsy. That’s what makes Jasola District Park in south…
City Hangout – Jaiveer Singh’s Covid-Era Chai Stall, Roshanpura
Hard times. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His world has reduced. Stacked against a showroom’s glass wall, Jaiveer Singh’s pavement kiosk in Gurgaon’s Roshanpura has lost its joy. This afternoon, the stall seems barely alive. A man is…
City Hangout – BRICS Rose Garden, Chanakyapuri
The sky above the park. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A sea surface dotted with clouds—this is what the blue sky looks like these days. But this view can be experienced only in certain spaces of Delhi, open…
City Hangout – Muhammed Irfan’s Chai Stall, Outside Jama Masjid
Chai with a view. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The sun is rising behind the distant Red Fort. Its grainy golden shine is falling softly on the centuries-old stone steps of Jama Masjid (gate no. 3). Oblivious to…
City Hangout – 7 pm Monsoon Sky, Barakhamba Traffic Light
Season in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The evening sky is stained in pale but pellucid pink. Such a gauzy shade materialises only by the chance entwining of the monsoon clouds with the setting sun. Meanwhile,…
City Hangout – Cul-De-Sac, Jacobpura
Dead-end destination. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Undeniably, some words are more intriguing than others. One can spend an entire afternoon thinking of them, uttering them out loud, seeing the image their very mention forms in the mind….
City Hangout – Pintu’s Penguins, Sunday Book Bazar, Mahila Haat
A new star. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Times change, institutions alter. The iconic book bazar that used to unfold every Sunday on Daryaganj footpaths has been moved to the exhibition ground of Mahila Haat. It is very…
City Hangout – Kuashambi Bus Station, Delhi-UP Border
Small town connect. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Bus terminals, or bus addas, aren’t thought to have the romance of a railway station, or an airport’s departure lounge. Such a prejudice collapses while aimlessly wandering in Kaushambi Bus…
City Hangout – Basant Lok Market, South Delhi
Missing the old landmarks. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s a small space but it doesn’t matter. You are stepping inside Delhi’s most eclectic bookstore. Here’s the owner poring over The New York Review of Books. Walk straight,…
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