Welcome to The Delhi Walla

You can change this text in the options panel in the admin

Member Login
Lost your password?
Not a member yet? Sign Up!

Life

City Life – Home Sweet Home, Lodhi Road

December 4, 2012
a2

Inside the walls. One cold evening The Delhi Walla entered the home of a person who appeared to be living alone in this city. The house looked to Lodhi Road. It had no walls. The person was sleeping on a mattress spread under the shade of a...
Read More »

City Life – Street Vendors, Around Town

November 20, 2012
vendorpic

The god of small sellers. For this hawker of mouth fresheners, her world is a tiny portion of the pavement in the capital’s Prabhu Market near central Delhi’s Sewa Nagar railway crossing. The property was passed down to 62-year-old Shanti from her husband, a vegetable vendor, who...
Read More »

City Life – The Wedding Reception, Daryaganj

November 17, 2012
a12

The Old Delhi society. The guests arrived at the Mahavir Vatika ground in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj in cabs, in auto-rickshaws, and in buses. Some came from a distance of ten miles, from Gaffar Manzil, from Seelampur, and from Ghaziabad. All the relatives of both families had been...
Read More »

City Life – Last Surviving Homes, Khan Market

October 18, 2012
8096641046_d797d4bdb4_b

Home is where the mart is. For some affluent Delhiites, posh Khan Market is like a second home. For a very, very few, Khan Market is home. But this will soon end. Consider Ravi Gulati. In his 40s, he was born in Khan Market. His first-floor house...
Read More »

City Life – Dangerous Bedroom, School Lane Flyover

October 3, 2012
a2

Sleeping with the traffic. About midnight. A few men and a few dogs are sleeping on the concrete divider. “The (traffic) fumes prevent the insects from coming on to the middle of the road,” says Javed Khan. The Delhi Walla meets him on the School Lane flyover...
Read More »

City Life – Seeking Solitude, Around Town

June 30, 2012
6057898191_33412331b4_b

Find it in the city. One exceptionally hot afternoon, The Delhi Walla was walking down an empty street in Lajpat Nagar. No one dared venture into the heat. The sweat formed on my head, trickled down under my T-shirt, and soaked my jeans. I walked and walked...
Read More »

City Living – Stray Dogs Feeding Sites, Around Town

February 3, 2012
a11

Feeding the soul. Nosering, Sweety, Kaajal and Sudama are sitting close to a Mother Dairy booth in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. It’s 3pm, and Sonya Ghosh is expected. An associate professor of English at the University of Delhi, Ms Ghosh arrives daily in a Maruti van carrying...
Read More »

City Life – Home Sweet Home, Mathura Road

January 18, 2012
home

Inside the walls. One cold evening The Delhi Walla met the 80-year-old Manikchand, a retired rag-picker. He stays alone. The entrance of his one-room shelter faces the busy Mathura Road. In a pinkish-red dressing-gown, Mr Manikchand was lying on the floor. His bed was made up of...
Read More »

Hauz Khas Series – A House in the Village, Chapter 4

November 11, 2011
a2

Life in Delhi’s prettiest neighborhood. Hauz Khas Village has become a ‘hang out’. Artist types still come but the ageless rich have infiltrated in large numbers. These people look successful, cocky and aggressively happy. They have great bodies and they are plushly underdressed; they speak accented English...
Read More »

City Life – Diving & Swimming, Nizamuddin Baoli

November 1, 2011
z1

The spring of life. He raises his arms, lowers his head, stays still, takes a deep breathe and jumps from the roof and… SPLASH! He crash lands into the cold dark brown water. Before he can resurface, another boy dives in, followed by another and another and...
Read More »

Sideshow

The Guardian

"The Delhi Walla is a celebration of the food, culture and books of India's capital."

Lonely Planet Discover India

"The Delhi Walla shows an offbeat view of Delhi."

CNNGo

"The Delhi Walla spends his time in Delhi’s most obscure streets looking for endangered chaiwallahs making tea or other cultural touchstones."

The Caravan

"The Delhi Walla is one of the city’s best-known flâneurs."

Time Out Delhi

"The Delhi Walla is a one-man encyclopedia of the city."

Author Khushwant Singh

"The Delhi Walla has the knack of bringing out the unusual from the usual, and presenting the city in a different light."

The Rough Guide to Rajasthan, Delhi and Agra

"The Delhi Walla is an excellent Delhi website with news and views about the city."

The Independent

"The Delhi Walla is the most compelling guide to India’s capital."

DK Eyewitness Travel Top 10 Delhi

"The Delhi Walla is a great website for offbeat views of the city."

The Wall Street Journal

"The Delhi Walla is one of the most insightful guides on life — and food — in India’s capital."

Historian William Dalrymple

"The Delhi Walla is Delhi's most idiosyncratic and eccentric website, and reflects a real love of this great but under-loved and underrated city."

Mail Today

"Perhaps the most compelling and attractive Indian blog is The Delhi Walla blog run by Mayank Austen Soofi."

Write to thedelhiwalla@gmail.com



Monuments

Ad Enquiries

Contact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.

Switch to our mobile site