City Travel – Yamuna Expressway, Greater Noida
Delhi to Agra and back. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There are no dhabas, no burger joints — not yet. Neither is there a rail crossing. You will not pass through a single town. The Yamuna Expressway takes…
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Chandni Singh, Janakpuri & Reading
Poetry in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla arranged to meet poet Chandni Singh on the online video call service Skype. Ms Singh, who spent her “happy childhood years” in Delhi where she has…
City Hangout – The Park, Outside Humayun’s Tomb
A free land. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Look. That man standing alone behind that tree. Over there, that gloomy-faced gentleman with his black briefcase… he is looking lost. That young woman, her arms folded. That backpacker with…
City Reading – The Delhi Proustians XXVI, Dilli Gate
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 26th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read…
Mission Delhi – The Silent Woman, Mausam Bhawan Bus Shelter
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her eyes are closed. The Delhi Walla meets her at the Mausam Bhawan bus shelter on Lodhi Road. The woman has occupied a corner of…
City Faith – Sehri Feast, Gosht Walli Pahari
Feasting and fasting in Ramzan. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] The kaleji and korma are done. The khajla has been left to soak in milk. As her daughter-in-law Sumaiya slices onions for the salad, Rashida Qureshi, 50, adds rice to yakhni….
City Travel – Rampur, Uttar Pradesh
200 km from Delhi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the Shikargah, two derelict brick pavilions face each other across a fish-stocked pond observed by mango and jamun trees. “On this one sat the nawab sahib hunting for…
City Notice – The Delhi Proustians XXVI, Dilli Gate
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 26th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, will take place on 6 August 2012. Venue: Dilli Gate, Daryaganj. Time:…
City Landmark – Sapru House, Mandi House Chowk
The decline of an institution. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] More than 50 years ago, on the first day of May, Jawarharlal Nehru flashed a smile (recorded by a grainy b&w photograph) as he flung open the doors…
City Food – Almond Croissant, L’Opéra Pâtisserie
The French way of life. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If it were the French, and not the English, who had colonised us, we would have had bouillabaisse instead of fish ‘n’ chips served in our Colonial-era clubs….
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