Mission Delhi – Berenice Ellena, Jangpura

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] When sad, Berenice Ellena locks herself in her Jangpura apartment and listens to flamenco songs, Portuguese lamentations or nostalgic Brazilian music. “I love the…

Madrid Confessions – What I Really Did

Schmap Madrid Guide has liked The Delhi Walla. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] [One of the several photos taken by The Delhi Walla has been selected for inclusion in the ninth edition of Schmap Madrid Guide. Click here…

Dateline GB Road – Sex Workers Want License

Delhi’s red light district is hopeful. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] GB Road, Delhi’s red light district, is all gratitude to the Indian Supreme Court. “We are so happy,” says Ms Nasreen, a sex worker. On December 9th,…

Mission Delhi – Muhammad Salim, Mathura Road

One of the one per cent in 13 million. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] He is holding onto the rear bumper of a fast moving auto, the wheels of his low-floor improvised wooden trolley making a clattering noise…

Mission Delhi – One Percent in 13 Million

Cracking the city. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] You don’t understand a city by its buildings and bazaars, but by its people. That’s why you can’t take in the entire Delhi in one lifetime – we have 13…

City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Jamia Millia Islamia

She was mobbed by admirers. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] There was no wine, no cheese. Yet it was a full house at the 600-seater Ansari Auditorium at Jamia Millia Islamia University. A day after her 48th birthday,…

City Monument – Ghalib’s Tomb Restoration, Nizamuddin Basti

Restoring the dignity of Delhi’s greatest poet. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi By March, 2010, the 19th-century Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib will finally lie in a resting place worthy of his iconic status. “It will all be simple…

City Sighting – Arundhati Roy, Around Town

On the Delhi-based author’s 48th birthday. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi November 24, 1961. That’s when Arundhati Roy was born. On her 48th birthday, The Delhi Walla presents a few Delhiwallas seen with The God of Small Things,…

Memo from Jantar Mantar – 19/11, The Day of Infamy

Delhi’s historic solar observatory attacked. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is quiet on Ground Zero. “I have worked in Jantar Mantar for 40 years and have seen many demonstrations but never such vandals,” says Harilal, a sweeper,…

City Life – William Dalrymple, Bestselling Author

Delhi’s most famous expat author. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] William Dalrymple has a big paunch. When The Delhi Walla met the Delhi-based British author at his Mira Singh farmhouse off the Mehrauli-Gurgaon highway, he was lounging on…