City Landmark – Manohar Bookstore, Ansari Road
Best collection of non-fiction on India. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] If it were a book, it would be thick, dense, informative, wonderfully engaging, but wrapped in unattractive grey paper. Manohar bookstore in central Delhi is that sort…
City Season – Bougainvillea Bloom, Around Town
The gift of summer. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The beginning of Delhi’s harsh summer has its comforts. In March and April as the temperature rises, the city’s green cover is taken over by bougainvillea flowers. The red…
City Moment – The Hanging of Joseph Lelyveld, Jantar Mantar
The beautiful Delhi instant. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Walla was one afternoon walking around Jantar Mantar, the area outside the 18th century solar observatory where Indians protest against injustice. Heading to Tolstoy Marg, I witnessed…
City Hangout – Flipside Café, Hauz Khas Village
A cultivated casualness. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] No. 7. First Floor, at Hauz Khas Village (2651 6341) – Taken in by its faux-bohemian spirit, some consider Hauz Khas Village a John Lennon song. People come here to…
Photo Essay – 2011 Cricket World Cup Final Match, Around Town
Watching the cricket-watching Delhiwallas. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Cheers and screams. On April 2, during the final match of the 2011 Cricket World Cup between Sri Lanka and India, The Delhi Walla walked around the town –…
Mission Delhi – Editor, Nizamuddin East
One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] He doesn’t talk much. The Delhi Walla is with Editor, a spoilt south Delhi brat with a weakness for Parmesan cheese and chocolate chip…
City Monument – Nila Gumbad, Nizamuddin East
Delhi’s oldest Mughal-era ruin. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Its beauty lies in its tiled dome, rare in Delhi. Situated behind Humayun’s Tomb, Nila Gumbad, or blue dome, was on the banks of Yamuna, the course of which…
The Biographical Dictionary of Delhi – Simon Digby, b. Jabalpur, 1932-2010
Delhi’s last eccentric. [Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; pictures given by Christie’s; Simon Digby’s photograph is courtesy of Robert Skelton] Born in Jabalpur to a colonial-era judge and a vagabond painter, British scholar Simon Everard Digby was a part-time Delhiwalla…
City Life – Home Sweet Home, Sahibabad
Inside the walls. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] One morning The Delhi Walla knocked at the door of Mr Rajkumar. His one-room house is next to Aditya Garden City, a seven-floor residential high-rise in Sahibabad, a suburb in…
City Food – Haleem, Meena Bazaar
The one-dish meal. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is hearty food, different from the subtle confections of traditional Mughlai cuisine, like koftas and pulaos. Yellow and with paste-like consistency, haleem is a one-dish meal of wheat, lentils…
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