City Style – Rakhshanda Jalil’s Ghararas, South Delhi
Searching for the stylish. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Strange outfit this. It’s neither a skirt, nor a gown. It’s definitely not a sari. It’s also not a pajama. What is it? “It is gharara,” says author Rakhshanda…
Netherfield Ball – Barkha Dutt’s Book Reception, The Taj Mahal Hotel
The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was an exceedingly posh party. The capital’s cold toxic air smelled of expensive perfumes. Almost every important person was there except for the Prime Minister. He was not missed….
Mission Delhi – Sona Devi, Near Sahibabad Village
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her first name means ‘gold’ in Hindi. One morning, The Delhi Walla meets Sona Devi in a shared autorickshaw, somewhere just outside the city limits,…
City Moment – The Privacy of The Midnight Poets, Suleman Tea Stall
The remarkable Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One late night The Delhi Walla entered the Suleman Tea Stall at Chitli Qabar Chowk. It was empty except for five men who occupied a table at the end….
Atget’s Corner – 881-885, Delhi Photos
The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds,…
Delhi Metro – Divya Babu’s Commute With Proust, Pamuk, Dalrymple, Lahiri, Huda City Center
The book lover’s commute. [Text by Divya Babu; photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] I open William Dalrymple’s Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan. I look around and try to reposition my elbows in the best way possible. It’s…
City Walk – Ghalib Street, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti
Poet’s highway. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] While the poet has been dead for over a century, his poetic landscape lives on in the iambic pentameter of the crowds on Ghalib Street. Here human rhythms beat out a…
Our Self-Written Obituaries – Pepsi, Sarita Vihar
The 106th death. [Text and photo by Nipa Charagi] If Pepsi, 14, hadn’t bitten off her stitches, she would still have been, well, alive… eating, sleeping, snoring (it’s like a truck trying to get out of a ditch, but more…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Remembering Urdu Poet Musheer Jhinjhanvi, Ghalib Academy
Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Urdu poet Iffat Zarrin arrived at Ghalib Academy with her two brothers, Naseer ul Hasan and Muneer ul Hasan. They had driven together from their respective houses in Old…
Atget’s Corner – 876-880, Delhi Photos
The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds,…
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