City Event – Indian Languages Festival, India Habitat Centre
Meeting of voices. [Text and photo of India Habitat Centre by Mayank Austen Soofi] Three days, 10 sessions, 13 Indian languages, 60 writers. The first Samanvay festival of Indian languages will be hosted in Delhi by the India Habitat Centre…
City Culture – De Bhasar, Connaught Place
The philosophy of nonsense. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] ‘Fuckass.’ The Delhi Walla saw this calligraphy in the middle circle of N-Block, Connaught Place, Delhi’s colonial-era commercial district. It is depicted on a white paan-stained wall, whose paint…
Mission Delhi – 50 Faces, Around Town
The faces of Delhi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] On November 11, 2011, The Times of India carried a news story: Researchers to preserve city’s oral history NEW DELHI: Museums have for long recorded the tangible heritage of…
City Moment – The Woman’s iPad, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah
The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One cold evening The Delhi Walla saw a burqa-clad woman in the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the 14th century Sufi saint. The shrine is in central Delhi. The…
City Books – On the Decline of Shahjahanabad
Two books on the Walled City. [Text by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the mid-19th century, Shahjahanabad was the civilizational heart of the Mughals. The limits of their capital were guarded by a rampart of random rubble that protected it from…
City Landmark – St Paul International Book Center, Connaught Place
Jesus loves you. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Halleluyah. St Paul International Book Center is one of the very few shops in Delhi selling Bibles in all the 22 official languages of India. Situated in an Outer Circle…
City Special – Arundhati Roy in New York City
Delhi-based author in the heart of the empire. [Photos by Sarahana] While touring the world’s most dangerous country, author Arundhati Roy, the greatest living Delhiwalla, talked to its hapless citizens at an event hosted at City University of New York’s…
City Hangout – Sarojini Nagar Market, South Delhi
Everything and more. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Think of Sarojini Nagar, or SN, as the setting of a trashy fairy tale. It is fit for a beautiful princess, robbed off her principality and left with little to…
Photo Essay – Street Vendors, Around Town
Threatened by Foreign Direct Investment. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] ‘Every Little Helps,’ Tesco tells us. ‘Save money. Live better,’ promises Walmart. So, the Indian government has announced foreign direct investment in the multi-brand retail sector. Will Khari…
Mission Delhi – Amir Dehlavi, Shahjahanabad
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Waving towards Jama Masjid, he says, “It inspires me to write verse.” The Delhi Walla met Amir Dehlavi, 82, at a dilapidated lodge in Shahjahanabad…
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