City Life – Barricade Trees, Sarojini Nagar
The city greens. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Hundreds of leaves here. All pitch black. After all, they are mere shadows. Shadows of the tree leaves falling on the metal bulwarks, the metal slow-heated by the day’s sun….
City Food – Game wali Kulfi, Old Delhi
Taste of heritage childhood. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s gone. That’s how old people with clear memories of their childhood summers speak of it. But here is that same thrilling ice-cold treat, just around the corner, mobbed…
City Hangout – Shri Shakti Raj Park, Lajpat Nagar
The Lajpat nobody knows. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Begin, Muse, this poem to commerce. Sing it aloud, the way Homer chanted the names of ships and warriors of the Achaean army: Keshika Creations, Lucy Beauty Parlour, Apna…
City Food – Zina Tea Stall, Near Chitli Qabar
Staircase chai. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Staircase is obsolete. This is the experience of many of us living in places like Gurgaon and Noida. Days go by without spotting a sweeping flight of steps. The reason is…
City Walk – Gali Nawab Mirza, Old Delhi
A secretive lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The door is half-open. Inside, bright daylight is descending chup-chaap from the steep staircase, fading into a cooling darkness on nearing the floor. A young man is standing mutely by…
City Landmark – Central News Agency, Connaught Place
Passing of an era. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There would be many, many (print) dailies, in many languages and editions, trooping in daily from across India and abroad. Where have they gone? The shelves and racks are…
City Season – Best Bougainvillea Show, Chelmsford Road
Season’s gift. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Cancel all appointments, postpone all deadlines, and rush to Chelmsford Road. Close to the New Delhi railway station, this spot might be hosting the best bougainvillea show in our megapolis. No…
City Monument – The Jali, Gurgaon & Elsewhere
The world of screen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Look at this derelict building. The central pattern is as intricate as an embroidered fabric. It is made of entwined quadrangles and circles, multiplying several times over, and spanning…
City Monument – Sequence of Taak, Deer Park
A disappearing element in architecture. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] All are dusty, and some are cobwebbed. But it doesn’t matter. After all, it might be the most exquisite collection of taaks in the entire Delhi region. Taak,…
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Maliha Sultan, Gurgaon
The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] She spent her growing years in a home that overlooks Humayun’s Tomb. Perhaps it was the perfection of the Mughal-era dome that inspired her to become an architect. Maliha Sultan’s work has straddled…
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