City Hangout - Kohli Lal Yadav's Lungi-Gamcha Stall, Chawri Bazar

City Hangout – Kohli Lal Yadav’s Lungi-Gamcha Stall, Chawri Bazar

The showroom of many shades. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This particular pavement stall stands out at Old Delhi’s Chawri Bazar despite all its other engaging distractions. It looks like an ersatz wardrobe fit for a poet. The…

City Landmark - Cheap Electricals, Ganj Meer Khan

City Landmark – Cheap Electricals, Ganj Meer Khan

The most instagrammable store. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The sight is more than merely amazing. It’s incredibly instagrammable. The entire store is crammed with used electricals as a kind of monument to our modern civilization. All manners…

City Moment - Monet's Metro Station, Vaishali

City Moment – Monet’s Metro Station, Vaishali

The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is rightly chastised for its profound pollution. There are those ghastly days when the very air we breathe is accursed. Even so. There can also be something akin to…

Mission Delhi – Yogendra Yadav, Gurgaon

Mission Delhi – Yogendra Yadav, Gurgaon

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s amazing to discover the kinds of extraordinary people encountered on the road. He looks like any other person walking down the street here in…

City Hangout - Winter Midnight Ice-Creams, India Gate

City Hangout – Winter Midnight Ice-Creams, India Gate

A midwinter night’s dream. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi’s winter is extreme but fleeting. It will no longer do to postpone one of the most memorable ways to cherish the season. Bitter chill is needed for the…

Julia Child in Delhi – Elena Tommaseo Cooks Her Indo-Italian Bathua Risotto, Greater Kailash Enclave I

Julia Child in Delhi – Elena Tommaseo Cooks Her Indo-Italian Bathua Risotto, Greater Kailash Enclave I

The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is that icy season of the year when our chachis/chachas and mamis/mamas surprise us with delicious bathua parathas. Some home kitchens rustle out rotis and raitas…

City Walk - Midnight Round, India Gate Circle

City Walk – Midnight Round, India Gate Circle

Late night wonder. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Just about anybody moving about in Delhi knows something about that radial enveloping India Gate Circle. It’s usually clogged with traffic, of course. Which is why knowledgeable city guides to…

Mission Delhi – Ram Deo, Church of Epiphany, Gurgaon

Mission Delhi – Ram Deo, Church of Epiphany, Gurgaon

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The day began as ordinarily as it always had for Ram Deo. He had no inkling that he would get sucked into the biggest crisis…

City Monument - Gol Gumbad, Lodhi Road

City Monument – Gol Gumbad, Lodhi Road

The romance of an illuminated ruin. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Lodhi-era Gol Gumbad, tucked in a corner of Central Delhi’s Centenary Methodist Church, got its present look way back in 2010. The monument was set up…

City Walk - Homely Views, Ashram Flyover

City Walk – Homely Views, Ashram Flyover

Intruding the privacy. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is 1. 1. 2019. Let’s make a New Year resolution: To never ever invade people’s privacy, with just one exception today please! In any case we don’t usually get…