One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Histories and havelis, kebabs and tikkis, bazars and lanes. People flock to Old Delhi from all over for these attractions. But nobody comes here to…
Poetry in the city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] She is an engineer in a Noida-based multinational, but has been working from her home in Vikaspuri since March last year, because of you-know-what. But Jyoti Vij Ahuja is also a writer,…
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] It’s late morning and he is quietly arranging his cart, here on Gurgaon’s Mehrauli Road in the Greater Delhi Region. He is picking up each…
The living landmark returns. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here she is. “I came back one or one-and-a-half months ago.” For years, Ramrati’s morning routine stayed the same: reading aloud passages from the sacred Ramcharitmanas, her upper-half rocking…
The parlour confession. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is special. Not only for being an acclaimed Sufi musician but because he is our living link to the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Dhruv Sangari-Bilal Chishty trained under…
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Lamps are off. Tables are empty. Old posters on the wall are showing photos of Buddha and Benares, palak paneer and vegetable burger, etc. A…
Finding old times. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a cold late afternoon. Four labourers are sitting around a makeshift fire they have lit up from a pile of wooden planks. Two of them are in their…
A wayside shrine. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is the Capital’s super-congested heart, next to the New Delhi railway station. Outside, the road is clogged with cars and autos and the pavement packed with purpose-filled masked humans….
Beyond the practical utility. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Open sky. Nobody. Just you and your solitude, and a quiet walk mid-air. Footover bridges are among the most escapist places of a city, especially when suspended in places…
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