City Hangout - Yamuna View Point, H. Nizamuddin Bridge

City Hangout – Yamuna View Point, H. Nizamuddin Bridge

River in the city. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Stumbling into this distant scenery is like randomly opening an old issue of National Geographic magazine, and finding a breathtakingly panoramic two-page spread on some legendary river. But this…

City Life - Gali Haveli Azam Khan, Old Delhi

City Life – Gali Haveli Azam Khan, Old Delhi

Street out of a mansion. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The word is spreading along the galis and kuchas. A new eatery is rustling out unorthodox dishes like “chicken white sauce pasta” and “chicken red sauce pasta.” The…

City Hangout - Public Park, Greater Kailash II

City Hangout – Public Park, Greater Kailash II

Jungle raj. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A huge tree with thousands of leaves. And another tree, dissimilar in the shape of its leaves and the fanning of its branches, but similar in grandness. Then another such tree….

City Life - Gali Chamre Wali Part 1, Old Delhi

City Life – Gali Chamre Wali Part 1, Old Delhi

Life of a lane. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tak tak tak tak. An elderly man in an extra-maheen white kurta pajama is walking extremely slowly into the narrow gali. His metal walker is tap-tap-tapping the dusty ground…

City Neighbourhood - Pahari Bhojla, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Pahari Bhojla, Old Delhi

‘Hood on the hill. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The congested mohalla of Pahari Bhojla is nestled about a pahari, a hill, and is said to have been the hideout of Bhojla daku, back when the Walled City…

City Hangout - Foot-Over Bridges of Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Gurgaon

City Hangout – Foot-Over Bridges of Delhi-Jaipur Highway, Gurgaon

The bridges of highway county. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] So you too reach out for the tissue paper while watching reruns of Meryl Streep’s The Bridges of Madison County? That evergreen tearjerker is an adaptation of Robert…

City Hangout - Frangipani Yard, Nehru Park & Elsewhere

City Hangout – Frangipani Yard, Nehru Park & Elsewhere

Heaven on earth. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Last night the moon broke and fell into pieces. Some of those pieces fell in central Delhi, close to the prime minister’s residence. In Nehru Park. See photo. Citizens obsessed…

City Hangout - The Delhi Walla's Speech on Hazrat Nizamuddin Area, Sunder Nursery

City Hangout – The Delhi Walla’s Speech on Hazrat Nizamuddin Area, Sunder Nursery

Text of The Delhi Walla’s speech delivered during the release of DK Eyewitness Guide: Humayun’s Tomb, Sunder Nursery and Nizamuddin on April 29. [Photos by Narendra Swain of Aga Khan Trust for Culture] Hello friends. You know, I’d like to…

City Hangout - Dilli Gate Nukkar, Old Delhi

City Hangout – Dilli Gate Nukkar, Old Delhi

In the big city, a small town. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Khurja, Kalpi, Najibabad, Sandeela… these are the small towns where expresses never stop. The train hisses by the platform in great speed and arrogance. Sympathetic window-side…

City Hangout - Cyber Hub, Gurgaon

City Hangout – Cyber Hub, Gurgaon

Ten years of the Hub. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Some shoppers are strolling down the promenade with a more easy-going stride than others. Some of those others are looking a tad dazed by the scale of things….