City Walk – Civil Lines, North Delhi & Gurugram
Double Lines. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is the balmiest of places. It is the balmiest of places. It is called Civil Lines. It is called Civil Lines. It is in north Delhi. It is further south,…
City Season – October Light, Around Town
Tracking the season’s subtle glow [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The shadows the tree leaves are making on the wall are continually trembling (because a slow breeze is blowing the adjoining trees). On the same wall, a spherical…
City Landmark – Mobile Phone Statues, South Extension
Installations in a changing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] See the smiling woman on the bench staring at her mobile. Maybe she’s reading a WhatsApp joke, or binge-watching those funny Instagram reels with high-pitched laughing sound effects….
Delhi’s Bandaged Heart – Esha Rajan, Najafgarh
Poet in the city. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is a poet and she lives in Najafgarh, so it is logical to call her a poet of Najafgarh. But the assertion holds true only up to a…
City Nature – Tree Tomb, Kasturba Gandhi Marg
Trees of Kasturba Gandhi Road. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In this megapolis of tombs, this too appears to be a tomb. A tree fell down some years ago, here at Kasturba Gandhi Marg. All that is left…
City Life – Greenlands, Gurugram
Train views. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Before the tombs, the qilas, the bhawans, the DDA flats, what was it like? This zameen, on which our Delhi stands. Easy to tell you about the land on which Gurugram…
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 Life – The Delhi Walla’s Speech on Being a ‘Hyperlocal Homer’, India International Center
The Delhi Walla’s talk on International Greek Language Day. [Photo by Ismini Panagopoulou-Boudouris] Hello everyone, hello Mr Ambassador, and thank you Ismini for inviting me. To me, who lives more than 3000 miles away from Athens, the word Greece first…
City Life – Place Names, Around Town
No small wonder. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Time passes. Places are transformed. Something routine in timeless cities like Delhi/Dilli/Indraprastha/Khandavprastha. This year the Mughal Gardens in Rashtrapati Bhawan (formerly the Viceroy’s House) has been rechristened Amrit Udyan. Here’s…
City Nature – Bougainvillea Trees, Lodhi Garden
Life outside the season [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Where have the pinks gone? This pair of much-instagrammed bougainvilleas in Lodhi Gardens are so large that they are as imposing as a tree. In season, which is at…
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