The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.He died on March 29th, aged 25.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Qasim Ali, a resident of Daryaganj in Old Delhi, a journalist, an occasional photographer and my friend died on March 29, 2009, aged 25. Early this year he was diagnosed with leukaemia. Thereafter he was admitted in Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, Rohini, from where he was not able to return home. Mr Ali, who is survived by his parents and an elder brother, always encouraged me with my writing. We had also planned to walk around in Daryaganj

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.He is against job reservations for Dalits.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]His life could be like the plot of an old Amitabh Bachchan film. Both his grandfather and father were sweepers. Both met with an accident while on the job. Grandfather died. Father got soft in the head so mother got the father's job. Meanwhile, Mr Praveen Parcha grew up to become a painter by passion with a day-job as a call centre employee. He is a 25-year-old school-dropout who lives in Delhi's Valmiki Sadan, popularly known as Dalit

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Delhi's sole Saturday night gay disco is horrid.[Text by Anonymous; picture by Gigi Elmes; this is a visual representation of Polka Club where photography is not permitted]It is true the arrangements at Kailash Colony's Polka Club, the only Saturday night disco for Delhi's gay people, are completely horrid. (You may also like to read: City Life – Gay Saturdays at Polka Club, Kailash Colony)The organisers at Polka seem to have completely missed out on the 'pink' factor beyond managing to entice the rupee in that colour. Come to think of

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Air conditioners a must to survive Delhi summer.[Text by Satya Prateek; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Though I understand that The Delhi Walla is not used to queries of such type, much less expect them, his advice could be of great help. I'm an advanced year law student at NUJS, Kolkata and I shall be working at the Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, during the summer of 2009. However, I'm yet to find a decent accommodation at a place that may make my stay enjoyable for those months. Around two years

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Delhi loves its street cricket.[Text and pictures by mayank Austen soofi]On a Monday noon as hot as this, these boys should have been cooling their heels in their lecture halls. Instead, they are playing cricket at India Gate maidan. All are dressed in white, two wearing hats, and one stretching his limbs. No one seems to be soft-spoken. The age of gentleman cricketers is truly gone. Maa-behen curse words are flying as high as the bowler's ball. If India Gate were a woman, it would have been blushing red. In

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Malling in the time of slump. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]"Happiness can be now bought – on purchases of Rs 10,000." This announcement on a giant hoarding outside Saket's Select Citywalk mall may not cheer Delhi shoppers much. "I don't have spare cash for hardcore shopping," says Mr Amit Chandan, 24, a software engineer who was 'malling' one Monday with his girlfriend. "People in my office are being fired – who knows what may happen to me?" It was a very different world when this mall was thrown

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Chasing the pink rupee.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; picture by Gigi Elmes; this is a visual representation of Polka Club where photography is not permitted]The place: Polka Club, Kailash Colony, South Delhi. The time: Saturday, 12.36am. Section 377, which criminalizes gay sex, may be well and alive in Indian society, but that doesn't stop gay men in the Indian capital from putting on their dancing shoes. I'm in Delhi's sole Saturday night gay spot to check out the scene. Previously boys-who-like-boys were restricted to Pegs ‘n’ Pints' legendary Tuesday night.

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The city’s Hindu youth have all but forgotten the 2002 anti-Muslim progroms.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]The young tattoo artist in Ahmedabad’s Dev-Arc’s mall started laughing when told that many Indians outside Gujarat think of Mr Narendra Modi as a communal politician who looked the other way as over 1,200 Muslims were killed in 2002 riots. “Modi is a real mard. He has so much power in him that he can change the world in a single day,” said 19-year-old artist Mr Pancal Sureshbhai. After a pause, he added,

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Six un-Dilli experiences.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; picture by Unknown]In March, 2009, I traveled to six places and did six things which I had never done in Delhi.No book browsing in SuratI was in this pretty Gujarati city for three days and did not browse in any bookshop. I had no choice. There is no Khan Market in Surat. A fellow booklover who spent his childhood there told me that he had left the town as soon as he turned 18 because... there were no bookshops. Perhaps he was exaggerating.

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.An afternoon with a Sainik Farms-based artist.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Keywan, a Tehran-born artist whose moody oil paintings of nature often strike a guftagu with the soul, invited me for lunch at her bungalow in Sanik Farms during the first week of March, 2009. She has been living in Delhi for the past 15 years.The lady who would not tell me her age had just finished holding her second exhibition, New Beginning, in an art gallery in Gurgaon. She wished me to take a look at them privately.We