The beautiful Delhi instant.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

One evening The Delhi Walla was at the Stein auditorium in India Habitat Center.

Author Arundhati Roy had just finished speaking on The Doctor and the Saint, her book-length introduction to Annihilation of Caste, the recently-published annotated edition of a radical speech written by anti-caste Indian statesman Dr B.R. Ambedkar. A large number of people had queued up on the stage to have their copies of the book signed by Ms Roy.

But one woman in that line stood barehanded. When her turn came, she grinned and hugged Ms Roy. Stunned speechless, the author of The God of Small Things responded by hugging her back. The woman then immediately left the auditorium – barehanded. It was a beautiful moment.

Embracing a writer

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