Alone with a Sufi. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Tamarind tree. Chess board floor. White arches. Blue lamps. Green dome. The dargah of Shah Sabir Bakhsh Chishti in Daryaganj, central Delhi, has a marble courtyard, a mosque and…
The algebra of infinite merit. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sorry, Stephanians. You will never get as majestic a view as enjoyed by the college across the road. “Hinduites are so lucky to have us facing them,” says…
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Today is the 15th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust. Every Monday evening for an hour we read…
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] She is sitting at the entrance of Syed Rifani mosque, next to Shreen Bhawan sweet shop. It is 6 am. She has just woken up….
Delhi’s grand Friday mosque. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Sitting on the stairs of Jama Masjid, I turn to a travel article on Delhi that novelist Anita Desai wrote for The New York Times in 1989. It is…
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The 15th meeting of The Delhi Proustians, a club for Delhiwallas that discusses French novelist Marcel Proust, could not take place last week. Sorry. I will give you the…
The philosophy of nonsense. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] ‘Rich Fucks.’ The Delhi Walla saw this calligraphy by an unknown Bhasarian artist in Archbishop Makarios Marg, a road in central Delhi named after the first President of the…
The home of headless ghosts. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Khooni Darwaza means ‘bloodied gateway’ and legend has it that blood drips from its ceilings during the monsoon. Built by Sher Shah Suri in 1540 it is in…
Believe it or not. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A ball floating in air with no regard for gravity; a seat of nails actually comfortable to sit on. Discovering science at the National Science Center is fun. The…
[Photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] An Evening with Urdu poet Zehra Nigah on Thursday, 29 March 2012, 6.30 pm, at The Attic, The Regal Building, Connaught Place. The Karachi-based poet will recite her poetry. Zehra Nigah is a legend in…
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