City Notice for 4 PM, 27 March - Artist Dayanita Singh To Celebrate The Delhi Walla Website as Delhi's Archivist

On cloud nine. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla has never met the great Dayanita Singh although she lives in Delhi. Of course, I have come to know her over the years through her books. I also once sighted…

City Life - The Book Shop Walks With Bahrisons Booksellers, Jor Bagh

Two landmarks. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] They are walking together. One evening The Delhi Walla sees Nini KD Singh and Aanchal Malhotra at a public park in the quiet Jor Bagh. The two women are intimately connected…

Mission Delhi – Catherine Lama, Lodhi Road

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A red rose is tucked into her hair. A green scarf is tied under her chin. Her wrinkled hands lie folded on her lap. Her…

Delhi Proustians - First Meeting With Marcel, Venice

First day, first show. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Very soon, his life will revolve around a single object—a book with 2,058 pages. And if in this world of million distractions he manages to read even five pages…

Netherfield Ball – Sadia Dehlvi's Grand Bash, Nizamuddin East

The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Everybody who is somebody in Delhi is Sadia Dehlvi’s friend. That doesn’t mean that the author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam does not have important friends outside Delhi. One…

City Monument - Chhoti Gumti, Green Park

Small wonder. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a beautiful nothing. Chhoti Gumti in South Delhi’s Green Park Colony is of no historic consequence. It is such a tiny Lodhi-era ruin that its survival is a marvel….

City Nature - The Two Bougainvillea Trees, Lodhi Gardens

The true city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The truth is that the actual city consists of only two bougainvillea trees—the rest of Delhi is an illusion. The two trees stand in Lodhi Gardens. One March afternoon The…

City Moment – The Solitary Man's Private Prayer, Hazrat Nizamuddin's Sufi Shrine

The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] His palms were folded together; his lips occasionally trembled. The young man stood at one side of the courtyard. It seemed he was praying. The Delhi Walla saw him one…

City Library – Riccardo Calimani’s Books, Venice

A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The weekend edition of The International New York Times is lying in one corner. It has a story on the ancient Jewish district of Venice. The full-page feature, timed to…

Photo Essay - La Hune Bookstore's Second Life, Paris

A great landmark’s afterlife. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Once upon a time one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world was in the most beautiful part of beautiful Paris. La Hune, next to the historic Saint-Germain-des-Prés…