Jaipur Diary – First Day in the Lit Fest, 2011 Edition
No literary pretensions. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Keep the focus on blue sky and beautiful people. In the 2011 edition of Jaipur Literature Festival, The Delhi Walla is staying away from post-colonial-post-modern-post-everything literature. There is so much…
Sign of the Times – Terror Attack in Data Darbar, Lahore’s Sufi Shrine
Requiem for the dead. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] On the night of July 1, 2010, three suicide bombers struck in quick succession at the Sufi shrine of Data Ganj Baksh, or Data Darbar, in Lahore, Pakistan. 35…
Pakistan Diary – Travels in My Country
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla traveled for nine days in Pakistan. I consider it my own country in a way that’s difficult to understand by those whose comprehension…
Pakistan Diary – T2F, Karachi’s Cool Cafe
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most regulars to The Second Floor, or T2F, are young and speak with an American accent. If this were some other city in some other country, T2F…
Pakistan Diary – Reading Chick Lit in Karachi
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pakistanis love reading Chick Lit as much as Delhiites. The Delhi Walla discovered it while attending the two-day Karachi Literature Festival. Held on on March 21-21, it…
Pakistan Diary – At Home in Lahore
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] In Lahore, The Delhi Walla pretended to be a Lahori. I travelled in an auto rickshaw. I rode on a bike. I boarded a city bus. As…
Pakistan Diary – The Dancing Girl of Lahore
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Heera Mandi, Lahore’s fabled red light district, is almost dead. Most dancing establishments have shut down. The courtesans no longer pretend to be mere dancers. Operating as…
Pakistan Diary – The Karachi Kartography
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] With its sultry days and breezy evenings, Karachi is cosmopolitan like Bombay, class-driven like Delhi and edgy like Baghdad. It is rich, poor, good, bad, beautiful, ugly,…
Pakistan Diary – Jinnah’s Mausoleum, Karachi
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mazar-e-Qaid. Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah lies buried here. The Delhi Walla is accompanied by Asim Ghani, a Delhi-born Karachiwalla. On the eve of Pakistan’s first Independence…
Pakistan Diary – Is Karachi Unsafe?
The Delhi Walla in the fatherland. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is 7 am. The room is lined with old paperbacks. Tiger, the house dog, is looking out of the grill into the garden. Rosemary, the maid,…
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