The Jewish festival of lights. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] 27 December, Tuesday, 7 pm. It was the final evening of Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd…
A vanishing world. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] One late evening The Delhi Walla knocked at the door of Sonal Aggarwal, a devoted reader of Anita Desai and many other authors. In her 30s, Ms Aggarwal, an industrialist’s…
Bhajans and rotis from Jharkhand. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] A day before Bada Din, a day also known as Christmas, The Delhi Walla met a migrant from Jharkhand, eastern India, who left her land to make a…
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi Proustians club plans to meet every Sunday noon at the Indian Coffee House in Connaught Place. Since it’s Christmas this Sunday, the club’s second meeting…
Make your life smart and sexy. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Me- 30. Male. White. Not wheatish or fair. I mean white, Anglo American, Gora, Angrej. (Is this offensive yet?) Married. (Now?) To an Indian. (It must be offensive by…
They exist. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] The Delhi government works hard to make the city’s homeless invisible. In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the wretched of the roadsides were pushed behind giant hoardings so that foreign athletes could…
The moon-lit bazaar. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] Heart of the Walled City, Matia Mahal bazaar is the land of chicken stew, bearded mullahs, kaftan-clad beggars, fat goats and veiled women. Chaotic during the day, it shows its…
A la recherche du temps perdu. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] For a long time I would try to sit down with In Search of Lost Time, a seven-volume novel by the French writer Marcel Proust. In my…
One of the one percent in 13 million. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] 5.25 am. The sky is still black. It’s freezing. Holding the microphone close to his lips, he opens his mouth to recite the azaan, and……
A la recherche du temps perdu. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] According to an article in The New York Times Book Review: “When Marcel Proust was asked by a French newspaper how he would spend his last hours on earth if…
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