One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Soumya Singh has big black eyes and a sunny smile. She doesn’t seem to be weighed down by life. It could be because she is…
The taste of light sweetness. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Every time The Delhi Walla visits an artsy home in this city and happen to fall in love with some exquisite table or chair, it turns out that…
The world of a sex worker. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The room is smaller than the kitchen of an average DDA (Delhi Development Authority) flat. The walls are painted pale purple. A small ceiling fan hangs down…
The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds,…
Chairs of heart. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is evening and ghazal singer Athar Hussain Khan is rendering ‘Chupke Chupke’ to a packed audience. The Delhi Walla is at Ghalib Academy in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti. The front…
Fan stories. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Before the AC, before the cooler, there was the fan. It is probably still hanging there in your room — look up and check. Or maybe you have a pedestal fan…
A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Never befriend a foreign correspondent. They always leave. Take Ellen Barry, the South Asia bureau chief of The New York Times. She arrived in our city four years ago and…
The season’s destination. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] No secret is being leaked if The Delhi Walla tells you to head to Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid area one of these Ramzan nights. I go there every year in…
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Society women never accumulate years. The solidity of this universal truth stands severely strained this evening. Author Sadia Dehlvi is celebrating her birthday. She claims she is turning sixty. The…
Celebrating the English rose. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is possible to feel romantic about Delhi summer. Just hang out at the Rose Garden in Lodhi Gardens. This central Delhi park is famous for its tombs and…
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