Space and the city.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

There is a rare bungalow on Tolstoy Lane, a pedestrian-friendly street in the colonial-era business district of central Delhi’s Connaught Place. Nobody lives in the house. The only inhabitants are a couple of unwieldy trees. “The family left long ago” – the deserted building seems to say to the onlooker. It looks severely weather-beaten. The windows are broken and the paint has peeled off the walls, exposing the bricks beneath. The boundary wall is overrun with wild creepers. The porch is buried under fallen leaves. A couple of high-rises stand behind the bungalow.

The old building is now being demolished. A high-rise is to be built in its place. After all, the city has to bring down the high cost of wasting precious real estate.

Now & then

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.