City Library – Ashis Nandy’s and Uma Nandy’s Library, Hazrat Nizamuddin East Library by The Delhi Walla - April 9, 20220 Couple's collection. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One day, some years ago, an academic from abroad entered their house. He was courteously told to sit. He replied, “But where?” The books are on the sofa, and on the chairs. They claim the dining table, and also the double bed in the guest room. This is sociologist Ashis Nandy’s home. He shares the second-floor apartment in Hazrat Nizamuddin East with wife, Uma. This evening the couple are in their bedroom. She is with the Bengali translation of Ajeet Caur’s memoir Khanabadosh; he is with Joanna Bourke’s An Intimate History of Killing. “I have a huge collection of books on all kinds of violence,” he remarks. “For 15 years I have been working off-and-on
Mission Delhi – Ram Kumar, Civil Lines, Gurgaon Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - April 9, 20221 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Anyone can be sighted with them. Once even the World Bank chief (Paul Wolfowitz) was sighted with torn socks. Auto rickshaw driver Ram Kumar is no exception. He too is wearing such socks. Both the socks are partly torn. Both have holes on the heels. “But I cannot get new socks for now,” he confesses, saying, “There isn’t much earning in auto rickshaw.” It is a hot afternoon and Mr Kumar is lounging on his vehicle’s passenger’s seat. The auto is parked on a roadside, beside a shopping complex in Gurgaon’s Civil Lines in the Greater Delhi Region. Mr Kumar has no intention to shop. “To spend