City Walk – Niti Marg, Central Delhi Walks by The Delhi Walla - February 2, 20230 Sunny day walk. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is limpid in some places, parched in others. It is not a stream. Rationalists will rightly dismiss it as a mere optical illusion. But the magic is palpable— an ordinary pedestrian path has been rendered extraordinary by the sunny afternoon light. Streaming down from a clear blue sky, the straight beams of sunshine crash-land on the unwieldily trees that line both sides of the path. The very many leaves cause the light to scatter into a multitude of fragments, which fall on the paved track with the splatter of a Jackson Pollack painting. The consequence is ethereal. Patches of gold and white are crisscrossing the walkway. This patchwork, in turn, is crisscrossed
Mission Delhi – Mobeen, Matia Mahal Mission Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 2, 2023February 2, 20230 One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The main street of Old Delhi’s Matia Mahal is a sea of people, this afternoon. One person in the crowd is crouched on the ground. The gentleman is dragging himself slowly along the packed lane, his right hand is simultaneously pushing an artificial leg lying atop a pair of crutches. He agrees to share the recent developments in his life. “I am Mobeen. I was working in a power loom factory in Bhiwandi, near Mumbai. I lived with my wife, Rihana Banu, and our daughter, Shifa Banu. I earned enough money for us to live comfortably. Our daughter would go to school everyday. “Around six months ago, we