The anonymous relics. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The first one is near the entrance, next to the stand where visitors take off their shoes. Step into the courtyard and you’ll find another one, half hidden behind a…
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,…
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is a pianist. Tall and slim. His fingers are slender and long; his hair a forest of ringlet curls; his wrists as delicate as…
The 139th death. [Text by Shweta Kumari Sharma; author photo by Unknown] This morning the sun was glistening brighter than ever. It was glowing fervently as it was going to embrace the soul of Shweta Kumari Sharma who just left…
The classic Old Delhi breakfast dish. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Deep-fried, crisp and very puffy, bedmi poori is a bread made of wheat flour and ground urad lentil. Served with aloo subzi (potato gravy), it is heavier…
A whole world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is easy to identify a haveli in Old Delhi. The tell-tale sign is an archway that usually hosts a half-awake stray dog. Within, a passage leads to a forecourt…
The 138th death. [Text by Maria Faraz; photo by Faraz Jahangir] Everyone thinks a psychologist knows everything, a proverbial mind-reader, magical being, twister of fates…. But she was an ordinary woman. Drawn to her destiny by the strings of circumstance…
Summer’s great hero. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The arrival of Delhi summer can be ascertained in a number of ways. A poetic way is to look for the yellow flowers of Amaltas trees. The Delhi Walla’s summer…
Intimations of a new season. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi’s seasons are extreme. Winters are so freezing that it is impossible to imagine that this city could ever survive even a gentle rise in temperature. Summers are…
Remembering the Delhi massacre. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was from Sunehri Masjid that the Persian invader Nader Shah watched the massacre of Delhi in March, 1739. In his book The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah, from…
Recent Comments