City Landmark - Bharat Tin Traders, Subzi Mandi

City Landmark – Bharat Tin Traders, Subzi Mandi

House of rats. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A rare landmark, you won’t easily find another place like this in most of the the city. This shop in Gurgaon’s Subzi Mandi in the Greater Delhi Region deals exclusively…

Mission Delhi - Raghav Kumar Jha, Connaught Place

Mission Delhi – Raghav Kumar Jha, Connaught Place

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a job that needs confidence. To reach out to people. To talk smartly, and without awkwardness. To be prepared to be snubbed. To…

Home Sweet Home - Kiran Bhushi's Terrace, Khel Gaon

Home Sweet Home – Kiran Bhushi’s Terrace, Khel Gaon

Season’s space. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are many beautiful terraces in Delhi, but this one might be the most beautiful of all—at least at this time of the year. When semal trees are still in bloom,…

Mission Delhi - Kanchan Patwa, South Delhi Garden

Mission Delhi – Kanchan Patwa, South Delhi Garden

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Long hair. Same-same dresses. And all three are dancing together this morning in a corner of this south Delhi public park. As if fairies had…

Mission Delhi - Musaddi Lal Gupta, Deer Park

Mission Delhi – Musaddi Lal Gupta, Deer Park

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s a familiar yet a super-rare sight. No, not the centuries old-monument behind him, but the elderly man himself, here in in south Delhi’s Deer…

City Moment - Writer Arundhati Roy Visits Her Father, Indian Christian Cemetery, Burari

City Moment – Writer Arundhati Roy Visits Her Father, Indian Christian Cemetery, Burari

A daughter’s pilgrimage. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is afternoon. Writer Arundhati Roy is wading through tall, disheveled grass here in the Indian Christian Cemetery, in north Delhi’s Burari. She is carrying a few long stems of…

City Hangout - Morning Market, Chitli Qabar

City Hangout – Morning Market, Chitli Qabar

Dream bazar. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] All sorts of colors and curiosities spring up along the street, with shoppers and sellers engaging in a most comely harmony. This has to be Delhi’s dreamiest and most eclectic pavement…

City Season - Leafless Tree, Lodhi Garden

City Season – Leafless Tree, Lodhi Garden

Look this season. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Leaves are falling. As brutal summer inches closer, scores of trees across Delhi have started shedding their leaves. If it’s windy the yellowed leaves drop continuously in a gentle shower….

Home Sweet Home - Laila Tyabji's Window, Shanti Niketan

Home Sweet Home – Laila Tyabji’s Window, Shanti Niketan

Her stay-at-home consolations. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Dressed in a many-hued hand-woven Murshidabad silk sari, craft activist Laila Tyabji, 73, is sitting in her book-lined drawing room in south Delhi’s Shantiniketan. Behind her sofa is a huge glass window through…

City Style - Pramod Kumar's Flowery Mask, Roshanpura

City Style – Pramod Kumar’s Flowery Mask, Roshanpura

The mask sartorialist. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Elegant, his dressing style. His blue-and-white striped, long-sleeved shirt is going well with his gamchha, which is arrayed in a check pattern of of blue, pink and green. Both ends…