City Neighbourhood- Gali Godo Wali, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood- Gali Godo Wali, Old Delhi

A secretive world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] With its extreme narrowness and darkened ambiance, Gali Godo Wali has the mood of an underground tunnel . Plus, it is so secretive that it doesn’t exist even on Google…

City Neighbourhood - Gali School Wali, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Gali School Wali, Old Delhi

Lane of doorways. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Standing outside an archaic blue doorway, a man in blue (see photo) is singing a tragically worded lullaby, pleading for alms. He pauses, stands silently for some time, and walks…

City Neighbourhood - Anjuman Chowk, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Anjuman Chowk, Old Delhi

Heart of the world. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Anjuman Chowk is the center of the world. This belief is firmly instilled into the sensibilities of the Anjuman Chowk gentry. After all, almost all the galis that matter…

City Neighbourhood - Gali Ghisi Int, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Gali Ghisi Int, Old Delhi

A street with an unusual name. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It feels like Vladivostok. Just as remote, as isolated from the crowded and familiar world. This silent Old Delhi street, on the slope of Pahari Bhojla, is…

City Neighbourhood - Gali Ghantewali, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Gali Ghantewali, Old Delhi

A street of the bell. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Lazy but punctual, it comes back every hour to mark the passing of time. Sometimes its sound is so muted by the daytime blabber of the streets, and…

City Neighbourhood - Gali Gondni Wali, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Gali Gondni Wali, Old Delhi

A street of the interiors. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Walking down the Walled City galis is comparable to chase scenes in James Bond thrillers in which the hero is running after the anti-hero through a variety of…

City Neighbourhood - Gali Dakotan, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Gali Dakotan, Old Delhi

Lane of Saturday people. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Place-names in Old Delhi make sense. Gosht Wali Pahari is nestled along a pahari and has shops selling gosht. Pahari Imli had an imli tree. Gali Akhare Wali had…

City Neighbourhood - Gali Bhootni Wali, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Gali Bhootni Wali, Old Delhi

Lane of ghosts. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Bitter cold. Not a mouse stirring. All is silent and dark. Gali Bhootni Wali in Old Delhi gets its name from ghosts, but no such bhoot is to be seen…

City Neighbourhood - Last Bungalows, Hazrat Nizamuddin East

City Neighbourhood – Last Bungalows, Hazrat Nizamuddin East

Era, passing. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Thak, thak, thak. The dusty air is reverberating with the sound of continued hammering. The source of the clatter is a white bungalow, here in Nizamuddin East. The bungalow is being…

City Neighbourhood - Ganj Meer Khan, Old Delhi

City Neighbourhood – Ganj Meer Khan, Old Delhi

A place-name in the Walled City. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The suburbs are wild with five-storied housings, dwarfed by even taller multistories. But this five-storey is looming Everest-like in Old Delhi’s cramped, narrow Ganj Meer Khan, where…