In search of lost time. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] With sloping tin roofs, decorated iron columns, terracotta jaalis, independently-owned stores and a 19th century church, Kashmere Gate in north Delhi suggests a small-town setting, in which the life's daily rhythm never changes. The Sunday prayers are still held at St. James, Delhi’s oldest church. Down the lane, on Lothian Road, Martin Drycleaners, circa 1947, is still in operation. Close by, Garg Armoury has been selling guns and ammunition for more than 60 years. Across the road, the chemist shop C. Lal & Sons is in buisness since 1935. However, not everything has stayed the same in Kashmere Gate, a neighbourhood named after a surviving gateway of the Mughal-era city wall.

The Raisina show. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sleekly muscled. Powerful. Well-groomed. These were some of the assertions made in a letter sent by Rashtrapati Bhavan in December 2012. The invitation to The Delhi Walla was for a preview of the “revamped and relocated” Change of Guard ceremony. As promised, the caparisoned horses were sleekly muscled, powerful and well-groomed, and the ceremony “visually appealing”. Like most of the general public, I was largely under the impression that the gates at the top of Raisina Hill are opened only for Very Important People. Not true. The Change of Guard ceremony has been open to the public since 2007. And President Pranab Mukherjee, I was told, is keen to ensure that the vast

Rats, ducks, dogs, birds of our oasis. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Lodhi Gardens is a land of Very Important People and very showy lovers -- as any regular visitor will testify. Also, according to figures provided to The Delhi Walla by the Gardens’ authority, this 90 acres of oasis in central Delhi has 198 species of trees, 50 species of birds, 40 species of flowers, at least 30 stray dogs and -- a dangerously high number of lesser bandicoot rats, or Indian mole-rats. In October 2012 The Times of India warned the park’s regulars, saying, “Joggers will soon have to watch their step at Lodhi Gardens. For, bandicoot rats are feasting on food left behind for birds by visitors, and

Historic treasures. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The past gets tangible here. With over 200,000 exhibits, spanning over 5,000 years, the National Museum, India’s largest, is a storehouse of heritage. The museum has three floors. Its corridors are lined with 800 sculptures, from the 3rd century BC to the 18th century AD. The exhibition halls have statues, paintings and coins, toys and pottery. There is also a woman’s skeleton, with pottery shards arranged around her head, indicating that people of the Harappan civilization believed in life after death. With each gallery dedicated to a theme or period (Harappan civilization, Maurya dynasty, Sunga and Satvahana art, Gandhara sculptures), it is unsettling to walk through so many centuries in so little time. And

On the road. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Friday. 10.30pm. Hauz Khas Village. The street lamps are not working. The headlights of passing cars briefly illuminate the faces of a chic crowd on the roadside, returning well-fed from Hauz Khas eateries. A group of four is walking towards the Pind Balluchi restaurant in Deer Park, twittering in American-accented English. The street is jammed with cars filled with people who have booked tables in the area’s various restaurants. There are as many pedestrians. Our car finally manages to speed towards Aurobindo Marg. This Tata Indigo is one of the 300 Meru Cabs (a radio cab service) that zip through the city’s roads during the small hours. Driver Chand Choudhary, a veteran of

A free land. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Look. That man standing alone behind that tree. Over there, that gloomy-faced gentleman with his black briefcase... he is looking lost. That young woman, her arms folded. That backpacker with his Lonely Planet India; he seems to be overwhelmed by our country. The park in front of Humayun’s Tomb complex in central Delhi is a sanctuary of grass, trees and gentle slopes. It offers a feeling of freedom from the city. The sound of the traffic on Mathura Road plays as a soft background score. A double row of trees in one corner of the park shelters an exquisite walking track. Every afternoon a substantial portion of the garden is taken over by

India's modern art. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Set up in 1954 at Jaipur House near India Gate, the National Gallery of Modern Art’s old wing has stately marble flooring and arched corridors. One of the wing’s two sections is devoted to the works of Indian painters; the other is a permanent gallery of paintings by international artists. Chilean artist Arturo Pacheco Altamiran’s Ships at Anchor resonates with personal journeys yet to be undertaken. Bosnian artist Mersard Berber’s Chronicle of Sarajevo, with its neighing horses and a melancholic pasha, hints at the dark Balkan history. The Holy Cow by a Japanese painter makes us Indians look exotic in our own eyes. The new wing (2009) comprising five floors over two

A refuge for rejects. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The most liberating space for Delhi’s social rejects lies in the heart of the capital. The park above Palika Bazaar parking in the colonial-era Connaught Place is one of those rare public places in the city where the jobless, the homosexuals, the eunuchs, the smack addicts, and other lonely souls gather daily. Until 2005 this crowd was seen in the adjacent Central Park. Elderly prostitutes stood beside bushes. Homosexuals made emergency love in the white-tiled urinal. Those who wished to be alone were left untouched. Foreign backpackers lounged on the grass. Book lovers read novels under giant neems. But Delhi was building its first subway system, and Central Park was to be

Believe it or not. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A ball floating in air with no regard for gravity; a seat of nails actually comfortable to sit on. Discovering science at the National Science Center is fun. The learning is incidental and the exploration unending. Staircases lead up to more exhibition halls. Galleries open up more wonders – including a cave alive with the farting sound of dinosaurs – and an entire section devoted to replicas of these prehistoric giants. Thankfully there is no smell. Beware of the maze of mirrors. You may get lost in their reflections. Get inside a giant kaleidoscope to see multiple reflections of yourself. Walk into a cabin to freeze your shadow. Those tormented by

Into the wild. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Situated between Purana Qila and Mathura Road, National Zoological Park has 75 species of animals, birds and reptiles. The area is wooded. Squirrels hop across trees with slanting branches. Tired visitors lounge on the grass. Each tree is marked by a steel plate bearing its name. One dead trunk is identified as White Mulberry. It takes two hours to walk through the zoo. There are benches along the way. Parents with small children ask the shortest route to lions and bears. You can hire a ‘trolley’ to be driven through the garden in 45 minutes (charges applied). Life in the zoo is lethargic. Mynahs perch listlessly on the backs of sea