City Hangout – Secret Passageways, Connaught Place
Less seen spots. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ducked in light and shade, some parts are refreshingly cool, some parts are on slow-roast. This arched passageway is breathtaking, evocative of the legendary arched bridge of Isfahan. Yet the…
City Food – Rasgulla Sandwich, RM Vats Marg
A dish less celebrated. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The blinding white April afternoon is hinting of the looming heat waves. Auto rickshaw driver Sajid stops by a pavement stall, here on south Delhi’s RM Vats Marg, close…
City Faith – Ramzan Treats, Old Delhi and Around Town
Season’s evenings. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Jama Masjid is lit for night. The facing street is jazzed up with lamps, buntings and selfie clickers. Salam Namaste to this evening in Ramzan, the Muslim month of quiet…
City Landmark – Faizan’s Charging Point, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti
Stall we all need. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It can’t be the only one in the entire megapolis. There must be such stalls elsewhere too. May be you have to dander along the bazars more attentively. Even…
City Season – Jacaranda Blossoming, Humayun Tomb & Elsewhere
Purple prose. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] That’s not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually not even cerulean blue. This is just purple, with no brighter colour to compete with it under the smoggy…
City Landmarks – Two Bridges, New Delhi and Gurgaon Railway Stations
Bridge to bridge. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] All bridges cross over something to reach somewhere. But some bridges are themselves an overwhelming destination. Here are two such unusual landmarks in the Delhi region. They happen to be…
City Food – Ramzan Khajla, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti & Elsewhere
The fasting snack. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] An almost fully round moon is hanging in the 10pm sky. But its enigmatic majesty has been hijacked by a handful of similarly rounded things. They are hanging much lower,…
City Landmark – Mall Wall, Gurgaon
The other walled city. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Blue sky and cottony clouds. Silently sliding Metros. Stalagmite-like towers. All of these elements are only slightly out of focus. This is no painting. This is a real world…
Mission Delhi -Leden, Majnu ka Tila
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Namaste ji. Better still, say Tashi delek, for Leden is a bashinda of the Tibetan enclave of Majnu Ka Tila (MT). “Guruji” Leden is the…
City Faith – Durga Mandir, Paharganj
A blessed street. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The lane is alive with the sound of a man singing a bhajan. Everything else this afternoon is quiet, as if to keep the sanctity of the sacred lyrics. The…
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