Photo Essay – Sense of the Place
In love with clichés. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Paharganj = Foreign tourists. Kinari Bazaar = Narrow streets. Khan Market = Rich-looking people. Turkman Gate = Ghetto Muslims. Select Citywalk = Mall rats. Gali Qasim Jaan = Ghalib’s…
Mission Delhi – Muhammad Aslam, Nizamuddin Basti
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] “When I was a child, my parents took care of me. Now it’s my turn for they are old and need care,” says Muhamamd…
City Season – Palika Bazaar Park, Connaught Place
Short and beautiful. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The sky is blue, the grass is wet and the flowers are blooming. Delhi’s strangest and shortest season – from mid-February to mid-March – has begun. Neither hot, nor cold,…
Sujan Singh Park Diary – My Life with Khushwant Singh
Author Sadia Dehlvi on Delhi’s legendary writer. [Text by Sadia Dehlvi; pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you ask me about the women in author Khushwant Singh’s life, I would say I am the only one. That’s how special he…
Mission Delhi – Deen Dayal, Safdarjung Enclave
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] A firecracker goes up into the cold night sky and burst into a shower of sparkles. “That must be from a wedding celebration,” garbage…
City Region – Kamla Market, Central Delhi
Asia’s big air-cooler bazaar. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s a Dickensian sight. The driveway through the entrance gate is rutty. The clock on the clock tower doesn’t work. Men pee on the boundary wall. Mechanics drill holes…
Dateline Stockholm – The Delhi Walla Enters the Nobel Prize Club
The blogger’s photography gets recognition. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla has got the Nobel Prize for literature. Well, almost. A picture taken by me has been put up in the official website of the Nobel…
Mission Delhi – Sumanta Roy, Khan Market
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] “Where’s the doorman?” Outside the entrance of Sidewok, a dimly lit Chinese eatery in Delhi’s upscale Khan Market, Sumanta Roy refuses to go in…
City Secret – Hardayal Municipal Public Library, Daryaganj
The newspaper readers’ club [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] In these iPad times of 24X7 news channels and streaming video sites, when the death of the newspaper is considered a certainty, a small bookless library in Daryaganj is…
Mission Delhi – Rakesh Chandra, Connaught Place
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] With a cloth tied to the end of a wooden rod, the bookseller is busy cleaning the shelves – “wooshaaaacck” goes his duster. Puffs…
Recent Comments