
City Food – Budiya ke Baal, Green Park
Sweet magic. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Spun out of sugar, ‘Budiya ke baal’–the old woman’s hair–is also known as cotton candy and candyfloss. The Delhi Walla met vendor Rajpal Singh near Green Park. All day long the…

Mapping National Museum – The Great Erection and Other Shrouded Mysteries, In The Dusty Corridors
Amid 21st century dust. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Hooded history here. One afternoon The Delhi Walla walks along the corridors of National Museum. India’s biggest depot of heritage with objects dating back to 3rd century BC, the…

Atget’s Corner – 976-980, Delhi Photos
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,…

Netherfield Ball – Novelist Manu Joseph, Friend of Publisher Karthika V.K., Seen Cozying Up To Publisher Chiki Sarkar at Shashi Tharoor’s Book launch, The Taj Mahal Hotel
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi’s a bitch. You can smell conspiracies even in the most innocent dealings. One smog-filled evening The Delhi Walla was at the outdoor launch of Anglophone politician Shashi Tharoor’s book…

Mission Delhi – Miss Suhana, Lodhi Road
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is glittering under the black sky. On a closer look, she turns out to be a white-haired woman on the roadside. One late night…

Netherfield Ball – Actor Sharmila Tagore Creates Sensation With Her Bikini-Clad Entourage in Aruna Chakravarti’s Book Launch, India International Center
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] So many people and for… literature! Beyond belief. One evening The Delhi Walla attends the book launch of Daughters of Jorasanko at the India International Center. The evocatively-named Multipurpose Hall…

City Hangout – Café De Art, Connaught Place
Somewhere beyond Paris. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nobody cares about the art. The Delhi Walla is in the imaginatively named Café De Art, yet another freshman in Delhi’s overpacked CP, or Connaught Place. And it is deathly…

City Style – The Imperial Woman in White, Aurobindo Marg
Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She looked extraordinary. The Delhi Walla saw this woman one rush hour morning at a bus stop in Aurobindo Marg. She was in a white sari; it was embroidered…
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