City Obituary – Bhag Bahri Malhotra, 1932-2023
A bookstore icon. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] As a 15-year-old girl, she survived the partition in which two millions perished. Like many others lucky enough to live through that cataclysm, she went on to survive a migration,…
City Hangout – Dining Hall, India International Center Annexe
The lesser-known IIC. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The rainy day’s subdued light deftly streams through the misty windows, filling up the interiors with a diffused illumination. While the framed artworks on the walls glisten with the reflection…
City Landmark – Agrawal Sari Emporium, Chirag Delhi Village
Personal history. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi, a city of monuments. One gets tired of the adage. But its true. So many forts, so many tombs. More thrilling is when you land into a place that looks…
City Food – Chole Bhathure, Civil Line Walla
Cricketer’s choice. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The angrez types spell it as wallah, as in Merchant-Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah. But we desis pronounce it as walla, no ‘h.’ Walla is a super-endearing word that instantly resonates with…
City Hangout – Forgotten Graveyard, Mathura Road
Lost cemetery. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Could it be the rains? The sprawling ground is choked with weedy grass and unknown plants, so tall and numerous that their tips prick the chin. Wading through is fearful. What…
City Hangout – July Cloud Watching, Around Town
The pleasure of merely circulating. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Full of the pomp and stateliness of emeritus professors, they are broodily sauntering about the empty space, indulging in the rarefied pleasures of merely circulating. These clouds of…
City Life – Hijron ka Phatak, Old Delhi
A lost world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Katra Chandi Walla in Old Delhi is home to handicraft artisans of chandi or silverwork. Most people call it by its former name–Hijron ka Phatak. The place used to be…
City Landmark – Water Fountain, Kasturba Gandhi Road
Time passing by a place. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] New in town. This water fountain. A couple clicks a selfie with it as their backdrop, and walk on contentedly. The fountain came up at one end of…
City Life – Green Benches, Lodhi Garden
A readers’ collective. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Not many might register their absence if they were to suddenly disappear from the park. So many of us anyway prefer to lie on the park’s cool grass. Even so,…
City Life – Local Chatter, Gali Haveli Azam Khan
Talk of the street. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Shabrati is shuttered. The Gali Haveli Azam Khan landmark was reinvented in the uncertain early months of the coronavirus pandemic into a fancy grocery, breaking the heart of a…
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