Netherfield Ball – The Flop Show at Tavleen Singh's Book Launch, India Habitat Center

The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was a scandal and it was very distressing. Only a few people were there to celebrate the iconic Tavleen Singh, the bestselling author and journalist with 228K followers on…

Delhi Proustians - A Journey to Marcel Proust's Balbec, France

A day’s outing into Lost Time. [Text and photos by Florian Morin] If you take as a starting point the Saint-Michel Church, and from there walk north on the Avenue de la Mer, then you will pass all kinds of…

City Life - The Mystery of the Burning Egg Crates, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti

Secrets of the night. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The white-haired man is shrouded in smoke. An empty egg crate is smoldering dangerously close to his bare feet. But he is fast asleep; his sandals are parked under…

Mission Delhi - Mohan Charagi, Herald House, ITO

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The picture captures his essence. You see all the elements that made him: the work desk, the cigarette in his hand, the top shirt button…

City Culture - Delhi's Table Manners, Kasturba Gandhi Marg

Dining rituals. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The delicious food was being served free to passers-by in honor of goddess Mata Rani. The road-side bhandara counter had large cauldrons filled with aloo subzi and deep-fried pooris. One afternoon…

City Monument - The Oberoi, Zakir Hussain Marg

The old hotel. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is no furniture in the lobby. The rooms are vacant. The Oberoi looks abandoned. Its security staff prohibits people from taking photographs of the building even from outside. The…

City Moment - Father to Son, Turkman Gate Bazaar

The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The father is at work. The little son is playing in an adjoining alley. One morning The Delhi Walla sees the man and his boy in Delhi’s Turkman Gate Bazaar….

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Rajeev Roark, The Coffee Lab

The 120th death. [Text by Rajeev Roark; photo by Abhinav Chandel] Many things can and are being said about Rajeev Roark. The epithets rain in place of the much needed clouds in the much too dry Lutyens’ Delhi. Oddly missing…

City Library – Barbara Del Mercato’s Books, Venice

A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake, wrote poet Wallace Stevens. And if the lake is too far, step into the poetic world of Steven’s ardent devotee…

Our Self-Written Obituaries – Simran Brar, Vasant Kunj

The 119th death. [Text and photo by Simran Brar; the picture selfie shows the author with her grandmother] The hazardous cocktail of unabashed laughter, untiring idiocy and boundless adventure took Simran Brar’s life one unremarkable April morning. She had been…