Mission Delhi – Naeem, Chawri Bazar
One of the one percent in 13 million. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Crickets are singing. The water is lapping by the shore. This is the lake isle of Innisfree. The dependable Wikipedia locates it in Ireland. While the aforementioned description…
City Food – Daulat ki Chaat 2021, Chawri Bazar
The delicatest delicacy. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s just another tiresome evening in the Walled City’s Chawri Bazar. The entire road from the rear of the Jama Masjid to Ashok Chaat Corner is blocked by a massive…
Mission Delhi – Ranjeet, Nehru Place
One of the one percent in 13 million. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Such tall multi-storeys. Such a crowd of busy pedestrians. And he is sitting cross-legged on the ground, with his little basket in front of him. His statue-like stillness…
City Nature – Saptaparni Flowers, Around Town
Winter’s bloom. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Winter is here. Those feeling homesick for the golden-yellow flowers of the amaltas must resign themselves to a long wait for the tree’s summertime bloom. Some interim relief will however arrive…
City Hangout – Old Windows, Daryaganj
Openings of old times. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a window with six panes. The glass of each pane is discoloured to a different degree—one pane is in fact partially broken, the jagged edges of its…
Mission Delhi – Smita Babar, Sunder Nursery
One of the one percent in 13 million. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s evening and she is sitting alone by the lake in Sunder Nursery with a coffee mug by her side. Architect and urban conservationist Smita Babar, 32, graciously…
City Hangout – Sunset Bench, Lodhi Gardens
A twilight experience. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s just a bench. But right now it is hewn out of the sun’s very soul. This is one of the most thaumaturgic sights in Delhi. The setting is Lodhi…
Mission Delhi – Devki, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This role, to her, is both familiar and strange. Familiar, because being a working woman is by no means a novel experience. She has been…
Mission Delhi – Shambhu Yadav, Outside Ashok Hotel
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s late October. That explains the nip in the air. But is it so chilly that Shambhu Yadav has to wrap himself in a blanket?…
Mission Delhi – Qurban Ansari, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The dainty ornamental park at the B block in genteel Hazrat Nizamuddin East is ringed by trees. All day long they swell with the twittering…
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