City Monument – William Daniell’s Drawings of Mughal Delhi, Around Town
Old views of an old city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Camels wandering around Humayun’s Tomb, an elephant standing by the mausoleum of Safdarjung, and deserted mansions in Old Delhi. Every place looks so quiet and serene, especially…
Photo Essay – The Night of the Lights, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s Dargah
Colors of Sufism. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Orange, purple and green. These were the colors of that magical night. The Delhi Walla was in the Dargah of Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. The shrine’s courtyard is always…
Mission Delhi – Sufi the Cat, Mehrauli
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Thumri singer is seated on her writing chair. The cat is seated on the Thumri singer’s lap. The Delhi Walla is in Vidya Rao’s…
100 Things to Do Before You Quit Delhi – Sky & People Watching, Indian Coffee House
The perfect Delhi experience. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The sky always changes its color. It’s just that many of us don’t ever notice it. There are so many things to do when you live in a big city like…
City Season – Signs of Winter, Around Town
A nip in the air. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The world in Delhi changed on the morning of 28 October 2015. “It is finally cold,” said Arshad Ali Fehmi (see above), an Old Delhi resident. He was…
City Obituary – Meraj Ahmed Nizami, Delhi’s Greatest Qawwal, is No More
Passing of an era. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Qawwali, Islam’s sacred Sufi music offered in the shrines of the Indian subcontinent, confronts its biggest tragedy of our time. Meraj Ahmed Nizami, the patriarch of Nizami Khusro Bandhu…
Mission Delhi – Ashutosh Tripathi, The Bookshop
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He looks as solemn as a nuclear scientist. Ashutosh Tripathi is the new face at The Bookshop in Jor Bagh Market. The Delhi Walla meets…
City Food – Browning the Onions, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti
The pyre. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The younger cook is standing by the fire. The elder cook is peeling the onions. The Delhi Walla meets them one evening in central Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. The cooks…
City List – The Indian Blood in William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns, On a Firangi’s Delhi Book
Native influences. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla knows of many Delhiwallas who first discovered the beauties of their city through William Dalrymple’s travel book City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi. There are also a…
City Travel – Taj Hotel, Ajmer
The best Taj property. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is called the Taj Hotel but it does not belong to the famous Taj Group of Hotels. Actually, it is not a hotel, just an eatery. And it…
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