City Hangout – Underpass, Redeveloped Central Vista
First day in the new Central Vista. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Gentleman in a white mundu, pulled up to his waist, like Shah Rulh Khan’s lungi in the movie Chennai Express. The hat on his head is…
City Faith – Sufi shrine, Redeveloped Central Vista
First day in the new Central Vista. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This Sufi shrine tucked in the Central Vista lawns, close to Janpath Road, used to be a little island in the pond. Circled with trees, it…
Mission Delhi – Ram Bhajan, Redeveloped Central Vista
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ram Bhajan is a lucky person. Unlike most of us Delhiites, who have been allowed to wander about the new Central Vista only since today,…
City Hangout – The Lawns, Redeveloped Central Vista
First day in the new Central Vista. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The grass is thick, green and humid. The air is steamy with late afternoon heat. The lawns fall between Man Singh Road and Janpath Road: trees…
City Landmark – India Gate, Redeveloped Central Vista
First day in the new Central Vista. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] People in funny hats. Selfie snappers. Photographs pestering visitors to get souvenir photos clicked, their prints guaranteed in ten minutes flat. Everything around India Gate feels…
City Walk – Tolstoy’s Country, Connaught Place
Stroll in lit world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] No Natasha. No Pierre. No Vronsky. No Anna Karenina. Not one of them is here. Some might suggest to rather look for them in the pages of Leo Tolstoy’s…
City Monument – Jahaz Mahal after Sunset, Mehrauli
Of stones and shadows [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The cottony clouds are almost touching the jagged tops of the stone walls. A bunch of boys and girls are playfully loitering about the stone arches. The elderly man…
Mission Delhi – Dileep and Suresh, Mehrauli
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The two men are wading their way through a congested bazar in south Delhi’s Mehrauli, singing a devotional bhajan in robust melodic voices. Occasionally, shoppers…
City Landmark – Christian Cemetery, Civil Lines, Gurgaon
Graveyard’s lives. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A graveyard is like a poetry collection. Each grave is a poem, full of sweet and sad feelings, and each grave endures as the final souvenir of a concluded life. Delhi…
City Landmark – Red Arches, Ghaziabad Railway Junction
Station no. 1. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ooh La La! It is looking like some glass-domed international airport. Even so, the dream building shall still have daily departures not to Charles de Gaulle or John F. Kennedy,…
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