Photo Essay - Sandal Vs Chappal, Delhi High Court & Elsewhere

Photo Essay – Sandal Vs Chappal, Delhi High Court & Elsewhere

The great riddle. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] What is India Gate and what is Gateway of India? The first monument is in Delhi and the second is in Bombay. But there’s a greater riddle. What is chappal…

City Monument - Delhi's Vanishing Ruins, Mehrauli

City Monument – Delhi’s Vanishing Ruins, Mehrauli

The dying heritage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Outrageous. No other word to describe it. A new garish pink building, still splotched with cement stains, now stands right beside what is probably the last important Mughal monument in…

Netherfield Ball – Author RV Smith's Kissing Escapades With Delhi's Beautiful Ladies, Central Delhi Garden Party

Netherfield Ball – Author RV Smith’s Kissing Escapades With Delhi’s Beautiful Ladies, Central Delhi Garden Party

The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He came, he saw, and he kissed one willing woman after another. This is Ronald Vivian Smith, Delhi’s ultimate romantic figure. One afternoon, The Delhi Walla attended a garden party…

City Walk - The Regal Cinema Backside, Central Delhi

City Walk – The Regal Cinema Backside, Central Delhi

The underground excursion. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This has to be the craziest ‘walk’ in Delhi. Actually, it is nothing but a little lane hidden behind the Regal cinema building in the Colonial-era Connaught Place. You might…

City Moment - The Homeless Person Sleeping Through Sufi Songs, Hazrat Sarmad Shahid's Dargah

City Moment – The Homeless Person Sleeping Through Sufi Songs, Hazrat Sarmad Shahid’s Dargah

The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a concert without an audience. One night The Delhi Walla is at the Sufi shrine of Hazrat Sarmad Shahid… sorry, a factual error.This is actually a shrine to…

Atget’s Corner – 996-1000, Delhi Photos

Atget’s Corner – 996-1000, 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,…

City Library - Rakhshanda Jalil's Urdu Books + Her Forthcoming Urdu Festival, Central Delhi

City Library – Rakhshanda Jalil’s Urdu Books + Her Forthcoming Urdu Festival, Central Delhi

A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Can you dream of touching with your own hand Ghalib’s handwritten poem? Well, just visit author Rakhshanda Jalil’s private library. One freezing evening, Ms Jalil unfolds this priceless object on…

City Life - The Marvelous Sighting of The Bride's Palki, Galli Chooriwallan

City Life – The Marvelous Sighting of The Bride’s Palki, Galli Chooriwallan

The long life of the past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was draped in silk, or so it seemed. One cold night The Delhi Walla comes across a silver-plated palki (aka doli), the palanquin traditionally used to…

City Faith - The Urs Qawwalis, or Death Anniversary Celebrations, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Central Delhi

City Faith – The Urs Qawwalis, or Death Anniversary Celebrations, of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Central Delhi

The Sufi date. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ranbir Kapoor. Rockstar. Kun Faya Kun. This particular actor and his 2011 movie and its chartbuster song, a qawwali, are what many of us think of when the Sufi shrine…

Mission Delhi – Ibrar Ahmad, Hazrat Nizamuddin's Sufi Shrine

Mission Delhi – Ibrar Ahmad, Hazrat Nizamuddin’s Sufi Shrine

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Huddled within the folds of a white shawl, he is sitting as still as a rock. One cold night The Delhi Walla walks upto a…