Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Neyaz Akhtar, Hotel Shalimar

Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Neyaz Akhtar, Hotel Shalimar

Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla arranged to meet poet Neyaz Akhtar on the roof of Hotel Shalimar in Gali Murgan, a street in the Old Quarter. In his early 30s, Mr…

Dateline Delhi – Man Has Unnatural Sex with Dog, Clip 1

Dateline Delhi – Man Has Unnatural Sex with Dog, Clip 1

Reporting from the capital. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla keenly reads the city pages of national dailies in search of weirdly disturbing/amusing newspaper reports on our capital’s daily life. Here’s the first part – as seen in Hindustan…

Photo Essay - Mobile Phone, Around Town

Photo Essay – Mobile Phone, Around Town

Text me. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One day in 2013 The Delhi Walla’s Sony Xperia stopped working. It felt as if my wife had died. The touch-screen phone had everything I would need if I were to…

City Culture - Brecht in Delhi, Sri Ram Centre

City Culture – Brecht in Delhi, Sri Ram Centre

Good persons of our capital. [Text and photos by Manika Dhama] On the Christmas Eve of 2013 theatre enthusiasts lined up outside the Sri Ram Centre in Central Delhi to meet Ramkali, the central character in ASMITA Theatre Group’s adaption…

City Monument – Safdarjung’s Tomb, Aurobindo Marg

City Monument – Safdarjung’s Tomb, Aurobindo Marg

A melancholic spectacle. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The mausoleum of Mughal aristocrat Safdarjung (1754), with its stained sandstone walls and inadequate marble, reflects the twilight years of a great empire. The ruin looks very sad and beautiful…

City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, Karol Bagh

City Style – The Classy Delhiwalla, Karol Bagh

Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla finds this man standing beside a bus shelter in the central neighbourhood of Karol Bagh. He is wearing a light brown bandhgala suit. The matching light…

Delhi Metro – Jahangir Puri, Yellow Line

Delhi Metro – Jahangir Puri, Yellow Line

The final frontier. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One cold morning The Delhi Walla travelled on the yellow line of the metro train and got off at Jahangir Puri, the route’s last destination in the north-west. At the…

City Hangout - The New Shahpur Jat, South Delhi

City Hangout – The New Shahpur Jat, South Delhi

The lesser village. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Shahpur Jat Village can never have the strut of the nearby Hauz Khas Village. If optimists believe otherwise, then the closure of Bookwise in November 2013 should clear that up….