Netherfield Ball – Actor Sharmila Tagore Creates Sensation With Her Bikini-Clad Entourage in Aruna Chakravarti's Book Launch, India International Center

The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] So many people and for… literature! Beyond belief. One evening The Delhi Walla attends the book launch of Daughters of Jorasanko at the India International Center. The evocatively-named Multipurpose Hall…

City Hangout - Café De Art, Connaught Place

Somewhere beyond Paris. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody cares about the art. The Delhi Walla is in the imaginatively named Café De Art, yet another freshman in Delhi’s overpacked CP, or Connaught Place. And it is deathly…

City Style – The Imperial Woman in White, Aurobindo Marg

Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She looked extraordinary. The Delhi Walla saw this woman one rush hour morning at a bus stop in Aurobindo Marg. She was in a white sari; it was embroidered…

Photo Essay - The Most Beautiful Writer's Room in the World, Ubud, Bali

A refuge to remember forever. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is utterly quiet. The reading lamp is glowing like smoldering coal. The bed sheets are as white as the Arctic. It is more than midnight. The Delhi…

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Ali F. Kazmi, Sargodha & Lahore & Karachi & Melbourne

The 136th death. [Text by Ali F. Kazmi; photo by Hussain Kazmi] It was a moonlit night of early December when Ali F. Kazmi had his overly sweetened evening tea in the same soot-covered cup and slept for good. Although…

City Monument – Black & White Ruins, Around Town

The dream images. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Last night The Delhi Walla dreamt Delhi again. It seemed to me I was in Chausath Khamba. The Jehangir-era monument seemed to have taken leave of its colors. The white daylight streamed in…

Netherfield Ball – Bali High Society Makes Out With Writer Types, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival

The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Most dresses were flowery, and since white people love Bali, most complexions were decidedly pale. One evening The Delhi Walla attended the opening of Ubud Writers & Readers Festival on…

City Walk - Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

Touched by moonlight. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is pleasant to be in Chandni Chowk, to sweep the eyes 360 degrees in this in-your-face Secular India theme park—temples, mosques, church and gurdwara. To see masked Jains, kirpan-wielding…

The Biographical Dictionary Of Delhi – Naseem Mirza Changezi , B. Old Delhi, 1910

The definitive directory of great Delhiwallas. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Old Delhi’s living encyclopedia, he knows the stories of its every street and alley, and he is probably more important to the well-being of this city…

Atget’s Corner – 971-975, Delhi Photos

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,…