Photo Essay – Basant Celebrations, Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah

Colour me yellow. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] On January 19th, 2010, the shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya was all yellow. It was the eve of Basant Panchmi, the day that marks the arrival of spring. Hence yellow,…

City Monument – Birla Temple, Mandir Marg

The land of Vishnu. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Spread over seven acres, Shri Lakshmi Narain temple, popularly called Birla Mandir, is a dense neighbourhood of gods. A world in itself, it is a land of plenty. It…

City Faith – Muharram & Christmas

Mourning and celebrating. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is December 24th, 2009. Late night. A few people — some of them historians, diplomats, designers, actors — are driving to Nizamuddin East, a neighbourhood near Humayun’s Tomb. The…

City Faith – Ramayan Paath, Sahibabad

City Faith – Ramayan Paath, Sahibabad

Finding peace in the Hindu epic. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Pushpa Singh’s living room in Vasundhara Valley Apartment Society has been turned into a temple. She and her husband, Kshetra Pal, are hosting Ramayan Paath, a continuous…

Capital Experience – Dawn @ Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah

A must-see sight before you die. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] One of the things to do in Delhi before you die is to watch the daybreak at Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, the shrine of the 14th century sufi…

City Notes – No Women Inside Nizamuddin Dargah

Shame on the house of Delhi’s best known Sufi shrine. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] What if Nobel laureate Mr. VS Naipaul goes to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya’s dargah? What would Mr. Naipaul, ever the pessimist, ever the cynic,…