City Walk – Ghamand Sarai Street, Gurgaon
True paradise is the paradise lost. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some believe a land becomes our own only after its soil grows fertile with our memories. A city too begins to truly belong to us only after…
City Life – Gali Chamre Wali Part 2, Old Delhi
Life of a lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Walls have ears, we know that. But doors with mouths? That’s the magic happening in this gali—two facing doors are chitchatting, that too in human-speak. Blame the twilight dark….
City Neighbourhood – Pahari Bhojla, Old Delhi
‘Hood on the hill. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The congested mohalla of Pahari Bhojla is nestled about a pahari, a hill, and is said to have been the hideout of Bhojla daku, back when the Walled City…
City Walk – Jama Masjid Road, Old Delhi
A way of mixed feelings. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The setting sun has made the sky incarnadine. Or, is the sandstone minar turning the sky red? Tall and utterly alone, suspended in the thin air, this lean…
City Walk – Gali Gunna Mishra, Near Dilli Gate
A Walled City street. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Narrow, secretive. The street is 50 steps away from Dili Gate, and 10 steps away from the crowded khasta kachori kiosks of Jaipur Namkeen Bhandar and Brajbasi Namkeen Bhandar….
City Walk – Chelmsford Road, Central Delhi
Saddest road. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some places are too melancholic, and Chelmsford Road must be one the saddest in the entire Delhi region. Maybe because of its stark disparities. Elegant bungalows bordered by bougainvilleas; and under…
City Walk – Gali Nawab Mirza, Old Delhi
A secretive lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The door is half-open. Inside, bright daylight is descending chup-chaap from the steep staircase, fading into a cooling darkness on nearing the floor. A young man is standing mutely by…
City Walk – Gali Kebabiyan, Old Delhi
The lane of kebab makers. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] People step into this lane for nihari and biryani, for burra and korma—all to be had at the “world-famous” Karim’s restaurant. Those in the know wade deeper, to…
City Walk – Niti Marg, Central Delhi
Sunny day walk. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is limpid in some places, parched in others. It is not a stream. Rationalists will rightly dismiss it as a mere optical illusion. But the magic is palpable— an…
City Walk – Gali Chandi Wali, Old Delhi
Rue du silver. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] See the photo. That deg is filled with molten chandi, the silver. Anybody can come and get a bowl full of it for 30 rupees. If only. But then it…
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