GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Curses are same but Bhai becomes Bhaiyya.[Text by Shandana Minhas; pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] The author, an eminent Pakistani writer, visited Delhi to launch her novel 'Tunnel Vision' in Jamia Millia Islamia University. She lives in Karachi.This is a letter from a Karachiite in Delhi, which is somewhat akin to being an Englishman in New York. Same language, different rhythms. Most aptly illustrated by the use of the word bhai. In Karachi we say bhai. Here in Delhi I have only heard bhaiyya (which assumes a whole different connotation across the border) or bhai sahib. But the curses, as curses generally do, flow fluidly

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Food lovers’ guide to Delhi.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]This canteen profile is a part of the Table for One series.The Raj, Britain’s empire in India, is no more, but its successor, the Nehru Gandhi family, remains. The sprawling mansion of Teen Murti Bhawan, built for the British Commander-in-Chief, was eventually taken up by the anglophilic Prime Minister Jawarharlal Nehru as his official residence. Today it is a museum striving to sustain the allure of his descendants. Resist the dynasty's charm and instead ask for directions to the canteen.The Grand MansionThe museum canteen, like the museum, (usually) remains as quiet as grave. The surrounding

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Here you get classic first editions for cheap.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Delhi is a city of surprises. Who could believe that great bibliophilic booty is lying right in the heart of Lajpat Nagar Central Market, of all places? This Alibaba's cave, innocuously called Anjali Book World, is unknown to many. Its patrons, some from as far as Chandigarh, are so protective about it that they wish it to remain a secret forever. "If too many people know about this place, the wonderful books here will be sold out sooner and I'll be the loser," said a customer who comes here all the way

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.A special Delhi guide for readers with children.Don’t let malls, multiplexes, and video games be the only memories your child has of her childhood. The Delhi Walla has started a new series - Delhi for Children. It will recommend those special hangouts which the city has for its non-voting citizens. Take your children on these entertaining excursions and re-discover your childhood in the process.National Rail Museum - Train to TrainistanAt an altitude of 206.70 meter, Museum Junction at the National Rail Museum is probably the safest train station in the city. No child-lifting gang operates here. Coaches don't move; steam engines don't hiss; signals don't

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Spotting filmstar Dimple Kapadia in Bahrisons bookshop.[Picture of Khan Market taken by Thomas Kappler; text by Mayank Austen Soofi]Yes, it was her. Dimple Kapadia. As I stepped inside Khan Market's Bahrisons bookshop, I saw her standing in front of the Lonely Planet shelf. Black top. Long black skirt. Auburn hair. Yes, she was Dimple. Of course, it is normal to spot celebrities in Khan Market, Delhi's uppity bazaar favored by the wealthy, the beautiful, and the influential. One evening in Khan Market's Café Coffee Day outlet I had found myself sitting next to charismatic Kashmiri politician Omar Abduallah (I swear he looked at me for

Hindu kitsch in times of unprecedented prosperity.[Text by Gaurav Sood; picture by Akshardham temple authority]The huge red sandstone and marble monument, visible from the nearby highway, stands alone, proud, and out of place. The local road abutting the walled complex has a few informal ‘check points’ where men in plain clothes check cars. As our Maruti Zen lurches into the ‘complex’, the true enormity of the ‘operation’ – the beehive of activity that keeps this place running – becomes clear. The complex employs at least a few hundred people (almost all men), mostly young, eager, full of self importance, and too prone to giving directions where none are necessary. The job of frisking visitors, shepherding them through metal detectors, collecting

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The place where mountain people get their song and dance.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]The smoggy ITO crossing can hardly be mistaken for the breezy Mall Road of Mussoorie. But curiously, it is here that the natives of Kumaon and Garhwal presently residing in Delhi head for their music fix. All thanks to four rickety stalls specializing in Garhwali and Kumaoni music videos.These stalls are a treasure-trove for Uttaranchali music lovers. (Uttaranchal is a tiny Himalays province north of Delhi and primarily consist of two regions of Garhwal and Kumaon.) About 300 VCDs, audio CDs, and cassettes fly off their shelves daily. Although there

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.A Delhi Walla having a passion for Pakistan.[Text by G V Krishnan; picture by Rajesh Thakur; the author is a retired Times of India journalist and host the blogs Recycled Writings, My Take by GVK, and Mysore Blog Park. This story was originally published in Desicritic.]'Who is this bloke?'. I wondered, on reading about his blog - Pakistan Paindabad - making waves. Mayank Austen Soofi. The name didn't mean a thing to me till then. And then there was this mail from fellow Desicritic and friend Tanay, recalling Mayank's post at Desicritics one year back, about his visit to Lahore's Heera Mandi. "I was able

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Investigating Delhi's quizzing scene.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]One summer evening last year, five members of an endangered species - three Mastermind India participants, a University Challenge contestant, and a school quizzer - met over Java at SDA Market's Barista. Their mood was grim. Delhi boy Siddhartha Basu, India's top quizmaster, was preparing to abandon the city to produce glamorous TV game shows in Mumbai. The tribe was on the verge of extinction. The capital was losing out to quiz shows from Hyderabad, Chennai, and Coimbatore. Worried but resolute, these five wise men took matter's in their own hands. Kutub Quizzers was born. The

GO STRAIGHT TO CITY CLASSIFIEDS & CITY EVENTSGO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Eyewitness account of the terror tragedy in the courtyard of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz.[Text by Sufi Salman Chishty; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi. The author lives in Ajmer; his picture was taken at Hazrat Nzamuddin.][Publisher’s note: Ajmer is 7-hour-long train journey away from Delhi. But what happened in the sufi shrine there cannot be ignored. It can happen again – in Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin’s dargah.]The terrorist attack on the shrine of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Ajmer has shaken all of us very deeply. 2 devotees were killed and 17 were injured. Our house, Chishty Manzil, is opposite the blessed Dargah. The balcony gives a very clear