GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Delhi's elusive street artist.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; the photographer does not wish to be identified]In a commercial district like Nehru Place where people flaunt books like Microsoft Windows for Dummies, I know a chain-smoking, chai-guzzling guy who recites James Joyce. The bookseller of Nehru Place, let's call him Kareem, lords over a dusty pile of second hand books. For a few years, I was a part of his evening durbar. Methinks he was not fond of me (declining as I did his offer of cigarettes) and would tolerate my presence as long as his friends didn't turn up. Once they arrived, a gang

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.New commute in the city.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]In the winter of 2008 it is not just Delhi’s airport travellers who will want the city sky to be fog free – and sunny, but passengers on the city’s new solar powered rickshaws, too. Soleckshaws, as they are known, run on solar-powered batteries, and were introduced early in October outside Chandni Chowk metro station by the Assam-based Center for Rural Development (CRD). At the time of writing this piece, there are only four soleckshaws in the city; that too on just one route – Old Delhi station to Red Fort. Charge – Rs 15.

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Donning a Muslim skullcap.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; picture by Raj K Raj]In a time when Mr Barack Hussein Obama is trying to play down his middle name, when Mr Saif Ali Khan is rejected from buying property in Mumbai's Hindu housing societies, or a group with a name like Indian Mujahedin claims to bomb Indian cities, I moved around in Delhi donning a skull cap. Brought up in a Hindu family, I wanted to find out how it feels like to be percieved as a Muslim. But, piddle-poo. Nothing dramatic happened. Neither was I denied admission in restaurants. Nor anyone whispered ISI agent on

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.All happy families are alike.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]On the morning of October 2nd, 2008, the day of Eid celebrations in Delhi, Mr Sheikh Sikanadar, a man who looked to be in his early 40s’, was hanging out with his family – three children and a wife – in the festive bylanes of Matia Mahal, the bazaar opposite Jama Masjid.However, shopping was not on their mind; begging was.I caught up with the family near the turning to Karim’s restaurant. Mr Sikandar was lying on a low wooden trolley which was being pulled by his daughter who could not be more than ten. His

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The city's bookworld may be dying.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]On the Sunday that preceded Independence Day, there were no booksellers in Daryajanj's weekly book bazaar. "It's closed for security reasons," a paanwalla told me. I stood on the empty pavement and laughed. Trains were still chugging in Old Delhi station, chaatwallas were still frying tikkis in Chandni Chowk but this booklovers' den was a security threat.I can live in a Delhi minus the Red Fort, but not minus its bookshops. Imagine, what if Daryaganj's Sunday Book Bazaar were closed for good? What if the Bahris, of Khan Market's Bahrisons, shut down their 48-year-old

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.A peek into the mind of young Muslims.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Fourteen days after the Delhi blasts, ten days after the 'encounter' in Jamia Nagar, and a day after the explosion in Mehrauli, life is no longer the same for the students of Delhi's Jamia Millia University. It's night and I'm in the boys' hostel of this prestigious university that, though secular in character, attracts thousands of Muslim students from all over the country. Amidst rumours of 'plain-clothed policemen' interrogating students, Mr Faraz Husain, final year student in B. Arch, says, "Friends outside the University jokes that Jamia will be banned on

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The Delhi Walla takes a ride.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Scene I: ISBT, Anand Vihar. It's so humid that even fish can swim in the air. I have to go to CP and the Anand Vihar-Dhaula Kuan Blueline is gurrring to go. Hey, look – 543. It's red, low-floor and sleek. Is it that AC-walli bus newspapers have written about? But it's heading to Mehrauli. Who cares? Anything to get away from the humidity. I knock on the glass door, the driver sitting inside his 'cockpit' presses a button and phurrr, the door slides open. Noiselessly. Scene II: Inside, it's as cool as Rajdhani

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Sorrows of a far-flung correspondent.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; pictures by the people of Purnia]These are jottings that I scribbled on the notepad during my stay in Purnia, the town closest to flooded regions of north Bihar where I volunteered in relief efforts. I always wanted to be a newspaper correspondent who would cover stories in the world's dangerous hotspots like Baghdad, Mogadishu, Khartoum, Kabul, Peshawar and Kashmir. There I would have clandestine meetings with terrorists, interview dissidents, chat with cab drivers, drink beer in the local press club, attend dinners with socialites and stay awake till dawn to file stories. So, it was thrilling

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.To be or not to be a reporter.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] As a David Remnick wannabe, it's a dream come true to tumble from one disaster zone into another. On 9/11, I was in flood-hit Bihar. On 9/13, my train chugged into Nizamuddin station. Just in time. That day, at 6.32 pm, I was in Khan Market when Barakhamba, Central Park, Karol Bagh and GK I M-Block Market were rocked by serial blasts. This was a big Delhi story and I, The Delhi Walla, thought if I do the right reporting, take the right quotes and write the right adjectives, I would

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Don't forget Bihar's human tragedy.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]I spent a week volunteering in relief efforts in flooded regions of Bihar.The abrupt shift in Kosi's course in Bihar has flooded farm fields, submerged villages, drowned people but it has, so far, failed to snuff out the romance in the life of "perhaps 18 or 19-year-old" Mr Tuntun Kumar (middle in the picture), a "flood victim" at a relief camp in Purnia's spanking new Aastha Mandir. Despite the catastrophe unfurling around him, Mr Tuntun Kumar remains lost in the thoughts of Mrs Archana Devi, his "perhaps 16 or 17-year-old wife" who is still struggling