Delhi Joyceans - The Delhi Walla's Speech on Bloomsday, 2022, at the Irish Ambassador's Residence, Sardar Patel Marg

Delhi Joyceans – The Delhi Walla’s Speech on Bloomsday, 2022, at the Irish Ambassador’s Residence, Sardar Patel Marg

Text of The Delhi Walla’s speech delivered at the Irish ambassador’s New Delhi residence on June 16. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dear friends, whether we are “Stately, plump” or not, whether we are Dubliners or not, Happy…

City Homes - Dayanita Singh's Book Walls, Vasant Vihar

City Homes – Dayanita Singh’s Book Walls, Vasant Vihar

Inside an artist’s studio. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Dayanita Singh lives amid moving walls of her books. This afternoon, at her second floor studio in Vasant Vihar, the artist appears by sliding away one of the walls….

City Food - Mr Hameed's Roller Ice Cream, Rani Garden

City Food – Mr Hameed’s Roller Ice Cream, Rani Garden

Summer’s fresh. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s not a common sight — well, the ice creams are but not the ice cream roller. On this hot muggy night, two men are stationed with their cart in a…

Mission Delhi - Muhammed Sabir, Near Ashram

Mission Delhi – Muhammed Sabir, Near Ashram

One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is an afternoon in the heatwave. The road doesn’t have much traffic. A man is riding a cart. The cart is loaded with long,…

City Faith - Mandir Chaurasi Ghanta, Seetaram Bazar

City Faith – Mandir Chaurasi Ghanta, Seetaram Bazar

A temple with sound. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tnnnnm. The sound at first has a sharp tone, and then wafts around the air, growing softer and calmer, passing along like a light breeze. After that it rushes…

City Hangout - Barahpulla Flyover, Central Delhi

City Hangout – Barahpulla Flyover, Central Delhi

Best flyover. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This flyover has something unique: one always hopes for a traffic jam while one is on it. Why? Because of the view. And such traffic jam there is, one recent evening…

City Walk - Galli Shiv Prasad Street, Old Delhi

City Walk – Galli Shiv Prasad Street, Old Delhi

World of a street. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One night, the narrow Galli Master Shiv Prasad is lit up with electric lamps. The part where the lane ends into a cramped courtyard is filled with folks watching…

City Landmark - Oberoi Hotel Flyover, Central Delhi

City Landmark – Oberoi Hotel Flyover, Central Delhi

Art of the street. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The friend’s the biggest enemy. The maxim is scrawled in black chalk on the wall of the Oberoi Hotel flyover, here in central Delhi’s Zakir Husain Marg (see photo)….

City Life - Urmila & Jeetu, Patel Nagar

City Life – Urmila & Jeetu, Patel Nagar

Portrait of a marriage. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s noon, and they are directly exposed to the heatwave. She is standing barefoot on a mound of dug-up earth. He is in the ditch below. They are talking…

City Landmark - Mango Tree, Deer Park

City Landmark – Mango Tree, Deer Park

The bench under a special tree. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is handsome, with a pleasant disposition, seeming to unite some of the best blessings of existence. It has lived here for many years, with very little…