Julia Child in Delhi – Colleagues wali Curry, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
Experiment with fish. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] Rotis are ready, as well as the rice. Dinnertime is nearing. Eggs have been boiled and shelled. The small portion of yellow arhar dal is only for the two vegetarians….
City Food – Nadeem’s Cream Rolls, Sadar Bazar
Street rolls. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The stuff he hawks is rustled out in Ghaziabad, UP, and sold miles away in Gurugram, Haryana. The two places are bridged by the bulk of Delhi. According to Municipal Corporation…
City Food – Sitaram’s Jaljeera Cart, Sadar Bazar
Taste of a shifting time. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The memory of a particular image is but regret for a particular moment. Some writer said that. It perhaps implies that what we are seeing in front of…
City Food – Ushop Veg Spl. Thali, Manipur
A food stall in Dilli Haat. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The tables are empty, though it is lunchtime. Manipur is one of the many food stalls in Dilli Haat craft bazar, where each eatery in the food…
City Food – Tea Places, Gurugram
Chaigram. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A longtime chai place in Gurugram has been lying shut for 20 days. Showing his carefully preserved original copy of the municipal corporation’s “Certificate of Vending,” the stall owner attributes the reason…
City Food – Proust’s Paape, Diamond Bakery
Proust for Old Delhi. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Seven volumes, 3,000 pages, 1.5 million words. Naturally nobody has time for In Search of Lost Time. Why read the novel anyways when you can live it, and so…
City Hangout – Dining Hall, India International Center Annexe
The lesser-known IIC. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The rainy day’s subdued light deftly streams through the misty windows, filling up the interiors with a diffused illumination. While the framed artworks on the walls glisten with the reflection…
City Food – Chole Bhathure, Civil Line Walla
Cricketer’s choice. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The angrez types spell it as wallah, as in Merchant-Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah. But we desis pronounce it as walla, no ‘h.’ Walla is a super-endearing word that instantly resonates with…
City Food – Mango Ice-Cream, Shahi Cool Point
Taste of the season. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] A resort near Gurgaon’s Bhawani Mandir has a mango tree so inspiring that the place is called The Mango Tree. While a restaurant there, in Golf Course Extension, is simply called Mango….
City Food – Jamun Berries, Around Town
Year’s consolation. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] They are dropping from the tree, hitting the ground—plop! Some of them burst, squirting their purple juice. Some lie whole, waiting for an unsuspecting person to step on them and slip….
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