My childhood friend Fawzia, who’s now based in Delhi and who started the Big Chill restaurants with her husband Aseem, takes me to Khirki Village to visit Khoj, an art gallery where we view “The Other Woman” exhibition. The gallery curators are out of town, as are many representatives of Delhi’s art scene, who are in Kerala to attend the Kochi Biennale.

While in Khirki, I capture a few shots: the broken building across the street from the gallery and a mural close to one of the village entrances.

A few days before I leave, Fawzia and Aseem take me to The Social a hip bar in Delhi’s Haus Khaas, in response to my request to experience at least one bar in Delhi, given that we don’t have such spaces in Karachi. There, I sip a signature drink, the Deconstructed Moscow Mule, and eat snacks handed out on cardboard trays. We are clearly on the older side of the crowd jamming to music that grates on our ears. After a while, we step into the cold and walk through the old village. Fawzia tells me how, before the village became fashionable, the village was a hub for artists.

Street art in Khirki