City Moment – The Henna Couple, Central Delhi
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Oblivious to the evening rush hour, Rekha is applying henna on Bhagwan Das’ hand on a central Delhi pavement, her eyes barely blinking. Mr Das is lying slumped across the…
City Moment – A Letter Writer’s World, Somewhere in Delhi
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The setting is too picturesque. Here’s a centuries-old monument, an unknown grave in a shabby lawn, a cluster of pink bougainvillaeas, a couple of stray cats, and a man writing…
City Moment – Two Dreams, Jacobpura, Gurgaon
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s just a small pavement tea stall at Gurgaon’s Jacobpura in the greater Delhi region, but it is home to at least two dreams — one that did not materialise,…
City Moment – Two Friends, Lodhi Gardens
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s not always easy to find a true friend. But these two 18-year-olds have found one—in each other. Now on their 8th day in Delhi, Rupesh Kumar and Ravikant hail…
City Moment – Two Houseless Friends, Turkman Gate
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] No doubt about it. They’re inseparable. Far away from their respective families, both Mumtaz and his canine friend have found common cause, living together through thick and thin. They are…
City Moment – Guns ‘N Books, Central Delhi
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] On just about any day of the week, this second-hand bookstore in Central Delhi is packed with rather bored shoppers. Maybe browsing for an old 2018 diary for some reason….
City Moment – Monet’s Metro Station, Vaishali
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is rightly chastised for its profound pollution. There are those ghastly days when the very air we breathe is accursed. Even so. There can also be something akin to…
City Moment – Vermas’ 32nd Wedding Anniversary, Ajmer-Delhi Shatabdi Express
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you’ve been married for lo, these many years, exactly how would you go about celebrating, say, your 32nd? Meet Mrs and Mr Verma. The Delhi couple is comfortably seated…
City Moment – The Middle Lane Midnight Dance, Khan Market
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s about 11 in the night, too early to be so quiet in Khan Market. Perhaps because this is not a weekend. Bored doormen sitting inside darkened showrooms, which have…
City Moment – Friends from Kabul, Lodhi Gardens
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two thousand four hundred years after it was written, The Delhi Walla bumps into somebody actually reading the classic Chinese text Tao Te Ching. And poring over it in Farsi,…
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