Mission Delhi – Ramesh Kumar, KG Marg
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Guru Ravidas’s portrait on the pavement wall is decked with two yellow plastic flowers. Ramesh Kumar, a 51-year-old cobbler, had purchased the poster from Daryaganj….
City Obituary – Tea Man Muhammed Sabir, Kasturba Gandhi Marg
The end of a living landmark. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In many ways this is just like any other January morning. Cold and sunny. But Muhammed Sabir’s tea stall in a side-lane on Central Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi…
City Food – The Super-Romantic Tea Kettle, Om Shanti Chai Stall, Gurgaon
A chai monument. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tea kettles are objects of beauty, especially when they become chipped and worn-out after years of daily use. Then they look as romantic as the tattered copy of a much-annotated…
Mission Delhi – Sanjay Das, Central Delhi Market Lane
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The other day this beggar found himself walking along a footpath in Kashmere Gate thinking about lunch when a careless motor-cyclist suddenly smashed into him…
City Obituary – Restaurant Captain Shamshad Ahmad, Chor Bizarre, Hotel Broadway
The passing of a nice man. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] A legend in his own right, this discreet Delhi restaurant captain more than merely rubbed shoulders with the favoured and famous. Shamshad Ahmad, who died recently, presided…
City Obituary – Old Delhi’s Living Encyclopedia, Naseem Mirza Changezi, Dies at 108, 1910-2018
Death of a landmark. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Naseem Mirza Changezi, born in 1910, died on 5.30 pm, 12 April 2018, at his home in the Walled City neighbourhood of Pahari Imli. He was ill since some…
City News – Mona Ahmed, Delhi’s Most Iconic Transgender, is No More, Mehnediya Qabristan Graveyard
Passing of a legend. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Mona Ahmed, India’s most iconic transgender person, died on the night of 9 September 2017. She would have turned 82 in November. Ms Ahmed was the principal subject of…
City Life – The 40 Kashmiris of Old Delhi, Turkman Gate Bazaar
Home away from home. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] They are like migratory birds who make permanent, if makeshift, nests in a faraway land. A group of 40 Kashmiri men live in a corner at Old Delhi’s Turkman…
Book of The Times – Michiko Kakutani’s Review of ‘Ruined by Reading’, by Mayank Austen Soofi
The definitive Delhi novel. [Review by Michiko Kakutani] Ruined by Reading, Mayank Austen Soofi’s affecting first novel, begins as a sort of diary entries of a lonely book lover. What novels to buy today? Where to find a lover? What…
City Obituary – Uma Marwah of Khan Market’s Faqir Chand & Sons Bookshop is No More
Life of a bookstore matriarch. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] For some affluent Delhiites, posh Khan Market is like a second home. For a very, very few, Khan Market is home. Uma Marwah, who lived in house number…
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