City Walk – Post-Lockdown Lodhi Road, Central Delhi
Notes from a pandemic-era stroll. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Two masked men are sitting on the dusty footpath, by the traffic light, with sketch pads on their laps. They are drawing Safdarjung’s Tomb, standing just across the…
City Walk – Florence Nightingale Lane, Green Park
Street of the nurse. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi has all sorts of lanes, all over the place. And then there’s Florence Nightingale Lane in Green Park—reminding us of the need for nurses in these grim days…
City Walk – Main Avenue, CR Park
The Bengal country. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The men look carefree, playing cards by the pavement. The vegetable seller is napping by his cart. A balloon hawker is slowly dragging his bicycle and the helium balloons, tied…
City Walk – Taak Sightings, Roshanpura, Gurgaon
Finding old souvenirs. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] If you look closely, you can find taaks in at least some houses of New Delhi villages—these disappearing arch-shaped niches built into walls. Traditionally meant as alcoves to keep sacred…
City Walk – Signature Chowk Bridge, Gurgaon
Beyond the practical utility. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Open sky. Nobody. Just you and your solitude, and a quiet walk mid-air. Footover bridges are among the most escapist places of a city, especially when suspended in places…
City Walk – Sounds of Alleys, Pahadi Imli
Going aural. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] There is no one to be seen. It is totally empty. And yet this is the same Old Delhi, that historic quarter, very picturesque — but usually so cramped and noisy….
City Walk – The Circles of Shakti Nagar, North Delhi
City islands. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is commonly assumed that nothing exciting ever happens in small towns and villages. At best, the threadbare public life centers around a tree in the square, under which folks might…
City Walk – Pandemic-Era Connaught Place, Central Delhi
Same place, different time. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Nothing has changed. The same white colonial-era columns. The same showrooms, with their immaculately dressed mannequins gazing by the glass displays. The same giggles of passersby. And wait, there…
City Walk – Gali Kebabian Street, Matia Mahal
Beyond Karim’s. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The shutters are pulled down. The doorways are closed. The place is empty. This is Karim’s, in Old Delhi. From early morning to late night, the iconic restaurant would always be…
City Walk – Corona-Era Lodhi Garden, Central Delhi
Old beauty in the new normal. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is super-crowded. Lodhi Garden. There are totas, bayas, kala papeehas, puhyas, mynas, babilas, kauwas, ullus, gaurayyas… bulbuls, koyals, the beautifully named ram chiriyas, kabutars and, of…
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