City Nature – Pomegranate Tree, Nizamuddin Chilla

City Nature – Pomegranate Tree, Nizamuddin Chilla

The nature’s gift. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] One evening The Delhi Walla saw a small pomegranate tree in the courtyard of the sufi retreat of Nizamuddin Chilla, behind Humayun’s Tomb in central Delhi. The tree’s thin branches…

Photo Essay – Believe It or Not, Janpath

Photo Essay – Believe It or Not, Janpath

Strange encounters in the city. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was over in a minute. The Delhi Walla was outside McDonald’s in Janpath, Connaught Place. The traffic light turned red. The cars halted. One was a silver-colored…

Photo Essay – The Aloofness of a Man in the Indian Coffee House

Photo Essay – The Aloofness of a Man in the Indian Coffee House

Seeking a Shangri-la. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] One summer evening, The Delhi Walla spotted a turbaned man in the Indian Coffee House, Connaught Place. With its weak coffee, soggy sandwiches, oily cutlets, watery sambhar, creaky sofas, slow-moving…

Photo Essay – The Ninth Symphony Continues, Deer Park

Photo Essay – The Ninth Symphony Continues, Deer Park

The music of a tree. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Life is a series of disappointments. And then you see something grand and noble, which surpasses life. A few months ago, The Delhi Walla came across a giant…

Photo Essay – Akshaya Tritya Wedding, Noida

Photo Essay – Akshaya Tritya Wedding, Noida

The portrait of a marriage. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] On May 6, 2011, Delhi saw thousands of weddings. It was Akshaya Tritiya, a lucky day in the Hindu calendar for people to get gold, silver and brides….

Photo Essay – I Want Your Smile, Around Town

Photo Essay – I Want Your Smile, Around Town

Looking for Delhi delights. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some think of Delhi as a city where people don’t have time to acknowledge each other and where nobody smiles. Wrong. Every Delhiwalla is as curious about the other…

Photo Essay – 2011 Cricket World Cup Final Match, Around Town

Photo Essay – 2011 Cricket World Cup Final Match, Around Town

Watching the cricket-watching Delhiwallas. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Cheers and screams. On April 2, during the final match of the 2011 Cricket World Cup between Sri Lanka and India, The Delhi Walla walked around the town –…

Photo Essay – Hauz Khas Lake, Near Green Park

Photo Essay – Hauz Khas Lake, Near Green Park

An urban oasis. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The lake is still. Its dead trees lie marooned, partially submerged in water; the bare trunks standing erect. Ducks swim, leaving a trail of ripples behind them. Birds flap noiselessly,…

City Faith – Urs Celebrations, Khawaja Qutub Dargah

City Faith – Urs Celebrations, Khawaja Qutub Dargah

Delhi’s oldest sufi shrine. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Reached via the congested bylanes of Meharuli, south Delhi, the shrine is entered through a broad uncovered pathway. Outside an old red mosque, sit the dargah qawwals. It’s a…

Photo Essay – Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Birthday Celebrations, Nizamuddin Dargah

Photo Essay – Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Birthday Celebrations, Nizamuddin Dargah

Night of the committed devotees. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 796th birthday of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the 14th century sufi saint of Delhi, was celebrated on the night of February 1, 2011. Forgetting their professional rivalries, musicians…