The Delhi Walla Books – Launch Event, Lodhi Restaurant
Good snacks, good talk.
[Pictures by Yajuvendra Upadhyaya, Marina Bang, Mark Williams and Surabhi Chauhan]
The book launch for The Delhi Walla series was a success. The venue was packed. People laughed and clapped. And Arundhati Roy came! This is what I said:
Hello, and thank you for coming.
Since I’m a writer, I’ve written down what I want to say. On November 25, 2009, as I was eating ram laddoos amid the ruins of Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla, while several pairs of lovers were kissing in the shrubberies, the idea of writing about the decline and fall of the this city stirred my mind. In other words, I wanted to do an Edward Gibbon.
But to write The History of the Decline and Fall of Delhi Sultanate, complete with six volumes? To do the research, to catch up with dead despots, to sort through the files of the National Archives of India, to bug the historians… to write it all in a exquisite prose … Could I do it?
And then one day in a Khan Market café, HarperCollins’s Sheema Mookerjee appeared like a djinn and – over date cake with hot toffee sauce – convinced me that if Gibbon were alive today, he would have written four slim guidebooks on the Roman Empire instead. After all, who reads nowadays? I agreed.
To complete these four books – the fourth will hit the stores in April – I travelled all around Delhi, sometimes by metro, mostly on foot. One winter morning, I snooped around in Hauz Khas ruins. One muggy afternoon, I walked down Daryaganj searching for the elusive tonga. One rainy evening, I sat around the peacocks in Teen Murti Bhawan. The most romantic was that summer night in Lajpat Nagar Central Market when, after eating gobhi manchurian at a stall, I felt the first rumblings of Delhi belly. Later, in the McDonald’s restroom, I finally became a certified Delhiwalla.
Friends, it is for you to figure out how good the books are. But one thing is certain. In the long list of people who have written on Delhi – Ibn Battuta, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Mirza Ghalib, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Ahmad Ali, Anita Desai, Khushwant Singh, RV Smith, William Dalrymple, Sadia Dehlvi, Narayani Gupta, Pavan K Verma, Rakhshanda Jalil, Mark Tully, Aatish Taseer, Sam Miller and Pradip Krishen – my name too has been added. Thank you to my parents for loving me (look at them)! Thank you Marina for designing the books! And thank you Delhi!
Thank you, Marina!
Marina, Sheema, Me
Rohan (left), Aakriti, me, Neha, Aditi, Navdeep, Namya, Himadaree
Arundhati Roy!
The two women in my life
Signing session(!)
It was worth it
Sonam (left), me, Manika
Banjeet
My day
It was fun
Mayank, you have set an example that one needs to have junoon to achieve anything. I have gone through the books. How beautifully you’ve shown India’s capital. You very well said that this generation is forgetting India’s real drinks & foods and are running more towards Mc Donald’s etc. The way you have presented Delhi…..Waaooo!!
Khushwant Singh has very well said that you have the knack of bringing out the unusual from the usual.
I planned to be there but after reading/watching this I think I have not missed anything.
wow! wonderful, congratulations. Well deserved, first of many more to all over the world. Proud of ya dude.
Wow! Arundhati showed up? That makes the event even more special for you!
(I finally have copies of the books after calling on my contacts on campus via Chennai).
Congratulations!
Wow! How great was that?! And Arundhati Roy no less. This was a red-letter day. Congratulations.
In the old Delhi felicitation: Mubarak ho, Mayank Miyan!
Hey congrats! I wish I could have been there. Awesome moments captured above. All the best!
Congratulations! You look so proud & happy in the photos — and rightly so! With such a fantastic blog, it was only a matter of time before you became a published author. Keep up the good work.
Any idea if these books will be available to buy in the UK / order online in the UK?
Perhaps you may order it online from HarperCollins India’s website.
What a wonderful party. I wish I could have been there. Congrats, my friend.
I am so sorry to have missed the event. More power to Mayank’s pen (or keyboard).
Many Many congratulations on your success 🙂
Ahh what a night!! You were as real as your words and as real as I’ve always known.
Maano, I am so proud of you! Three years ago, you had a vision to write a book — today, you have four in the market! Hurrah! Apart from writing, I totally relish your photography skills and what a great essay collection you have.
Alas, I could not be with you in Delhi on this auspicious moment, nevertheless, after seeing this link, I feel that I was there.
I agree with Mr.Banjeet’s comment (above), you are! Keep treating us with your visual essays and books.
Congrats, dost!
Congratulations for the grand launch. Wish you all the success!!!
In fact, its just a beginning. Given your dedication, passion and self-belief, lot more to come. 🙂
(“The secret to a successful life is to have more beginnings than endings.”)
Congratulations Mayank! I’m so happy for you.
Just remember, (As Arundhati once said), not to let yourself turn into a silver figurine with the success and glitter!
Where do I get hold of that night’s speech?
It somehow manages to evade me
I pray the next book is called “People in Delhi”
It has taken its own time. But The Delhi Walla has become an institution. Congrats. You are always referred by one or the other guys in our media, for good. Best Wishes | Neeraj