Mission Delhi – Annu Begum, Panj Peeran Graveyard
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her voice is fainter than the slight sound of the evening breeze. “Hussain, Hussain, mera Hussain, Hussain…” At times, the voice falls completely silent, though…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Irish Ambassador Brendan Ward, Bloomsday Special!
The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Thálatta! Thálatta! It’s June 16, the date on which the entire Ulysses is set. The novel by James Joyce is considered among the literature’s greatest modernist masterpieces. Today, Ulysses fans worldwide will celebrate…
City Food – Crossword Chai, Sirajuddin’s Tea Stall
A tea house too unique. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The yellow walls are gone. They are now blue. “I painted it myself, some weeks ago, before the beginning of the Ramzan,” says the tea stall man. Fortunately,…
City Home – A Transitory House, Somewhere in Delhi
A home in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The house is now a debris. A huge mountain of broken bricks has spilled out into what used to be a driveway. It looks like one of those…
City Hangout – Public Park, Greater Kailash II
Jungle raj. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A huge tree with thousands of leaves. And another tree, dissimilar in the shape of its leaves and the fanning of its branches, but similar in grandness. Then another such tree….
City Season – Heatwave Citizens, Around Town
June is the cruellest month. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water……
City Life – Chowk Mohalla Qabristan, Old Delhi
Life of an intersection. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Ignore the power cables, the crowd, the rickshaws. Gradually, this derelict many-windowed mansion reveals its raw beauty. The elegant edifice commands Chowk Mohalla Qabristan as regally as Maharani Victoria…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Parth Sarathy Sharma’s Poetry Prints, Around Town
Poetry in the city. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some say love looks like a pair of pyjamas, and some say it’s a bird… oh, see, here’s love! Stuck on a Lodhi Garden tree, having the size of…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Anant Kumar, Sunday Book Bazar
The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] It is a truth universally acknowledged that the greatest place to shop for all kinds of books in the entire Delhi region is at the Sunday Book Market. For decades the bazar unfolded…
City Monument – Lodhi Garden Ruins, Central Delhi
The ‘qilas’ of Lodhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a qila. That is a qila. And that also is a qila. Very common to overhear visitors to the world-famous Lodhi Garden call each of its monuments…
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