City Landmark – Mobile Phone Statues, South Extension
Installations in a changing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] See the smiling woman on the bench staring at her mobile. Maybe she’s reading a WhatsApp joke, or binge-watching those funny Instagram reels with high-pitched laughing sound effects….
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Esha Rajan, Najafgarh
Poet in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is a poet and she lives in Najafgarh, so it is logical to call her a poet of Najafgarh. But the assertion holds true only up to a…
City Landmark – Bargad Tree, GB Road
Like a guard [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Like a conscientious guard, it stands rigid and upright at the starting point of GB Road, also known as Shradhanand Marg. The road is lined with shops that sell toilet…
City Landmark – Phool Mandi, Daryaganj
Brassai’s stones. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Parisian Cobblestones, shot in 1931. It is one of the most iconic photographs by Brassai, the celebrated chronicler of nighttime Paris. Our Delhi is not Brassai’s Paris. But this place in…
City Hangout – Altering Indian Coffee House, Mohan Singh Place
A changing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The discreet way the daylight streams through the glass windows has remained the same. The silhouette-like reflection of the people falling on the tiled wall hasn’t changed much, either. The…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Muhammed Saleem, Connaught Lane
The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] A glass cabinet containing dozens of keys forms the backdrop of his pavement kiosk. Key maker Muhammed Saleem have been manning this modest Connaught Lane landmark for decades. A while ago, this afternoon,…
City Faith – Night-Long Qawwali, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah
The rest is noise. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is world-famous for its qawwalis, the sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. The dargah’s most special night in the year falls tonight. The qawwalis will be offered at…
City Landmark – New Bharat Hair Dresser, Khan Market
The market story. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Muse, let’s again sing of the tony Khan Market. The fashionable front lane has a foreign-origin confectionary; something like the Haldiram of Paris. It opened during the pandemic, and by…
City Landmark – Five Graves, Around Town
In the city of tomns. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Good puzzle would be to cross Delhi without passing a grave. Sometimes anonymous graves lie clustered in neighbourhood alleys (see photo). Here are the city’s five lesser known…
City Food – Om Pal’s Parantha Cart, Satsang Vihar Road
Life of a cart. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The two peepal are picturesque, but he didn’t chose the spot 25 years ago for these eye catchers. Back then, the trees anyway must have not been as luscious….
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