City Landmark – Cinema Halls, Around Town
City screens. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Minerva in Mori Gate, Paras in Nehru Place, Robin Talkies in Old Subzi Mandi, Filmistan in Tees Hazari and Radhu Palace in Laxmi Nagar. These are some of Delhi’s cinema theatres…
City Landmark – Peepal’s People, Outside Jama Masjid, Gurgaon
The social ecology of a city tree. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s like an island in the sea. So different from the surrounding world. This gigantic peepal tree. Its massive trunk spreads out into an array of…
City Landmark – Venus Digital Colour Lab & Studio, Jacobpura, Gurgaon
The museum of visuals. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This is a treasure house and nobody realises it. Perhaps not even the good owner himself. “There was a time when we would daily sell 20 cameras, 100 film…
City Landmark – Stein’s Architecture, India Habitat Centre
A work of art. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It’s like a beautiful art mural shattered into pieces. This is actually the building’s multitudinous ceiling panels reflecting off the water puddles. It just stopped raining here at the…
City Landmark – Barber Baldev Raj’s Pavement Stall, Daryaganj
A fragile landmark. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Gone is the atmospheric Afghan eatery nearby with photographs of Kabul and Kandahar on the walls. Gone is the mile-long Sunday Book Bazaar that ended at this point. And long…
City Landmark – Brijlal and Sons, Meharchand Market
The gentrification survivor. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It wasn’t always that way. But now, a pot of tea for one at the Meharchand Market can set you back by 150 rupees. Flush with expensive restaurants and showrooms,…
City Landmark – Bimla Devi’s Water Filter, Sadar Bazaar, Gurgaon
A woman’s portrait. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She isn’t famous, but she is a public landmark. Bimla Devi has a pyayu, a cold water filter for thirsty passersby, named after her in Gurgaon’s Sadar Bazaar in the…
City Landmark – Everest Tailors, Rajiv Nagar, Gurgaon
The idea of home. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Millennium City of Gurgaon in the Greater Delhi Region is hundreds of miles away from Nepal, and the closest thing to Kathmandu you can find here might be…
City Landmark – The Banyan Tree, Shiv Park, Jacobpura
A solitary wilderness. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is like spotting a long-haired hippie stranded amid a group of suited-booted hedge fund managers. The banyan is looking that out of place. The tree stands in the centre…
City Landmark – Subhan Factory Dry Cleaners, Old Delhi
Connecting present to past. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Although Old Delhi’s history stretches far back into 16th century, its oldest surviving laundry service is curiously recent. Founded in 1922, the Subhan Factory is surprisingly spacious in the…
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