City Home – The Courtyard, Hameed Manzil
The last sehen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Old houses in Old Delhi were made of onion-like peels. There would be kamra, the room, often called the mehman khana to receive the guests. It would open into dalan,…
Delhi Homes – Windows of Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti & Elsewhere
That opening in the room. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] With an upsurge in extreme weather conditions, along with pollution, smog and dengue mosquitoes, most of us are obliged to keep our household windows curtained and shut. The…
City Home – Faqir Chand Household, Khan Market
End of an era. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Its over. The last of the old Khan Market is gone. A pivotal event concerning India’s most upscale shopping destination took place quietly, some months back. Khan Market’s last…
City Home – A Transitory House, Somewhere in Delhi
A home in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The house is now a debris. A huge mountain of broken bricks has spilled out into what used to be a driveway. It looks like one of those…
City Home – Late Scholar Abdul Sattar’s Room, Pahari Imli
The room lives on. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is gone, lying buried in Dilli Gate cemetry, but his packed bookshelves are in their appointed places. His mattress and pillows, too. The angle the afternoon sunlight is…
City Home – A Fifth Floor Roof, Sukhdev Vihar
Seeing the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If only you can sneak into this art gallery to visit the tapestry embroidered with a panorama of our city. At first, it looks merely a messy maze of roofs,…
City Home – On the Lane, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
Their temporary address. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nizamuddin East is too posh. The dwellers include a nawab’s daughter, a former chief minister, another former chief minister’s politician son, a jet-setting film director, a top notch hotelier, a…
City Home – House for Four, Hazrat Nizamuddin East
Home sweet home. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The small cooking gas cylinder is limply hanging down the wall, as casually as a cotton gamcha from a wardrobe hook. A chequered gamcha is hung similarly, in fact. There’s…
City Home – Roommates in Ruin, Galli Chooriwallan
Roomies, a portrait. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] So dark, so musty. It’s like a cave. As the eyes adjust to the dimness, this mysterious world exudes even more mystery. The jagged walls—unpainted, bare— are of long-ago lakhori….
City Home – Irshad’s Residence, Near GB Pant Hospital
Home sweet home [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Here, the white cord of a mobile phone charger. There, a blue-rimmed handheld mirror. On a hook, two jackets. On the floor, a blanket. This room is an entire house,…
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