GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Your guide to Trans-Yamuna’s elite address.[By Julia Dutta; an advertising professional, she owns the blog Xebecbooks; picture by Ravindra Nath Munshi]If you are in a tearing hurry to reach Indirapuram, via Noida Mor, be warned. You can not arrive at Indirapuram without a massive traffic jam. Why? Because at the next traffic signal from Noida Mor, the traffic is going to Mayur Vihar Phase II. Home to those who could not afford the more elite addresses in South Delhi, trans-Yamuna was perhaps the only way out to have a roof over one’s head in the early 70’s. Thus, grew an enormous number of buildings,

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Organized city walks that enrich the flavor of the capital.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Many organizations and individuals have been conducting city walks in Delhi. Led by qualified guides, these tours are professional in their execution. The present structure of their itineraries has been laid out after years of experience. Tourists, students, and corporate groups are a few of the beneficiaries. Tree Walk Pradip Krishen's book Trees of Delhi may be priced at Rs 795 but taking a tree walk with him is absolutely free. Doctors, artists, accountants, furniture designers, and many others have ended up wiser about the city's green life after walking

A temple addicted to whiskey. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] This temple prohibits devotees from giving prasad to beggars. After all, the pooja thalis here look tempting with their Royal Challenge bottles. The deity, though, is perhaps soft on Johnnie Walker. Clinging to the stone-red ramparts of Purana Qila, Bhairon Mandir is an alcohol-friendly shrine. The temple accepts liquor as prasad. A signboard that warns not to give it to beggars outside is mostly ignored. The drunken urchins freely run around with half-empty bottles. "Devotees bring their own bottles, sometimes even cartons," says beer-bellied Pandit Ram Prasad. The tradition is to offer some of the whiskey (or beer, vodka, rum…) to the deity. The rest is given to the priest or taken

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.How to mourn the death of an author you never read.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi; Ms. Hyder's photographer could not be traced.]The hill was alive with the sound of the grave digger's shovel. I was looking for a grave. In the next hill perhaps? It was dug yesterday. For Qurratulain Hyder. She was an Urdu writer who died on August 21, following a prolonged lung ailment, in a hospital in NOIDA, a Delhi suburb. I have never read Ms. Hyder. Yet I came here in Jamia Nagar’s Muslim graveyard to express my sadness at her passing away.With me was a cutting from today's

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.An authentic Korean eatery in a stinky bazaar alley.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]As soon as I plopped a pickled fiery-red cabbage into my unsuspecting mouth, the ground beneath the taste buds started shuddering. My eyes burned with million mutinies. The cabbage in Kimchi Jigae (Rs 150), the Korean stew I ordered, had fermented to the right degree but its spiciness was jolting. I quickly hurled in cucumber slices, one of the six banchan, small side dishes if you please, that included eggplant and spinach.It was my fault. The pony-tailed hippie who was supervising Dokebi Nara - this little known Korean eatery deep inside

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The Delhi walli visits the rival city Mumbai and is impressed.[Text by Manika Dhama; picture by Dharmesh]“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have landed at the Chhtrapati Shivaji Airport in Mumbai. Outside temperature 28 degrees Celsius.” The announcement brought a smile on my face on a recent afternoon. I was in Mumbai and it was raining.My first trip to the city had been in 2005. That time I played the tourist and dutifully went to see the museums, the gardens, the beach and the film-star homes (from a distance). I quite liked it then, especially for the (albeit stinky) beach that doesn’t exist in Delhi.However, this time

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.A peek into the world of Kaanwariyas.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Appearing annually during the rainy month of Shrawan, and invoking the hippie-God Shiva with the constant cry of Bam Bam Bhole, they are called Kaanwariyas or Shiva Bhakts. Dressed in saffron-colored t-shirts and knickers, these men – young, old and even children - walk all the way from Haridwar, sometimes from the higher reaches of the Himalayas, carrying the holy Ganges water to their homes.The precious pots hang on the two ends of a wooden rod that is supported on their shoulders. Topped with fluorescent-green and red-colored paper canopies, the rods are usually

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Discovering the inner world of Delhi’s pavement kids.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Talking the Walk21-year-old Javed, a former street kid who arrived alone and penniless in the city some fourteen years ago, led us, in excellent English, into the inner life of New Delhi railway station region. Brainchild of a British volunteer, the walk is organized daily by Salaam Baalak Trust, a NGO established by film-maker Mira Nair.For two hours we were guided into a Dickension world we never knew existed: a secret attic above a railway bookstall, a Contact Point where 'new kids' are brought every morning, and a teacher called 'Mummy'. Starting

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Playing the game with a halaal touch.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Besides its Sufi shrine, Thursday qawwalis, and Karim restaurant, Hazrat Nizamuddin has another attraction – Islamic Volleyball. Each evening young Muslim men collect in an open courtyard called Urs Mahal to play this American game. Many of these players have long wiry black beard; some are clean shaven with chocolate looks; all have strong arms, powerful fists, quick feet, and deep voices.Their sports attire is most unusual. Most are dressed in shalwar-kurtas; few prefer lungis; and only one man, Raahat, likes to show off his Salman Khanisque body in blue-colored jeans and body-hugging