Looking for the cross. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He always walks with his hand on his heart. Angelo Grossi believes in what he calls Proustianity, but still, he attends the evening mass every Sunday at San Giacomo…
The closet Arlecchino. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Its small size does not match its great historical importance, as is the case with the city in which it is situated. The ancient Jewish district of Venice consists of…
A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Thick yellowing pages sewed within leather-bound volumes. Ancient threads escaping out of cracked spines. Centuries-old letters tucked inside spotlessly white envelopes. Bundles of very old newspapers. And boxes after boxes…
Facebook on khadi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It was a curious show. Instead of being decked up on walls, the art works were laid down on the floor. The Delhi Walla attended the second viewing of Somewhere…
The 113th death. [Text by Srija Sharma; photo by Preeti Saini] She dozed off to a deep slumber while sitting in her library, a work of lifetime. And never woke up. Srija Sharma wasn’t the one who believed in clichés….
The family story. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Meet the family. Mummy Giusi. Papa Davide. Their shy son, Nicolo. And his cheery girlfriend, Eleonora. Together they run Panificio Volpe Giovanni–the only old-fashioned bakery in the ancient Jewish district…
Life of a bookshop. [photos by Florian Morin; text by Mayank Austen Soofi] February 26, 2016: Balraj Bahri Malhotra, the 87-year-old founder of Delhi’s iconic Bahrisons Booksellers bookstore in Khan Market, passes away. (The Delhi Walla wrote his obituary here.)…
The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] He looks like Walt Whitman from one angle and Leo Tolstoy from another. But the man with the white beard is Gilberto Visintin, a self-described vagabond artist. He has two…
The last man standing. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] This frail white-haired man is among the last of his kind in Venice. Emilio Piacentini is a wood-carver in the city’s ancient Jewish ghetto, which is observing its 500th…
A Khan Market icon. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi; the black & white photos belong to Bahrsions Booksellers] Balraj Bahri Malhotra, the founder of India’s most successful independently owned bookstore, died on February 26, 2016. He was 87….
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