The marketing of brand Anna Hazare. In an apartment in Ghaziabad, Delhi’s satellite town, lives a family that regularly watches Zee TV’s Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L’il Champs, a singing talent show for children. On 12 August 2011, the mother, father and their 12-year-old daughter were...
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We’re not Anna. If what we’re watching on TV is indeed a revolution, then it has to be one of the more embarrassing and unintelligible ones of recent times. For now, whatever questions you may have about the Jan Lokpal Bill, here are the answers you’re likely to get:...
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This is injustice. One cold afternoon, The Delhi Walla went to Jantar Mantar after receiving a chain text message the day before on the cell phone: Join citizens’ protest against the conviction of Dr Binayak Sen at 2.30 pm on December 27, Jantar Mantar. Famous for its...
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The world of the hijras. In November 2010, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi extended its pension scheme for deprived sections to the city’s eunuchs. They will now get a monthly pension of Rs 1,000. A few evenings later in the courtyard of Hazrat Nizamuddin’s sufi shrine, The...
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Reporting from the backpackers’ ghetto. How is Paharganj, Delhi’s backpackers’ ghetto, doing? Popular among budget tourists for its low-price hotels and cafes, the area’s Main Market underwent renovation in the run up to the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. The road was widened, the encroaching shops were demolished...
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Delhi is getting optimistic. The mood about the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth games is changing. The media stories about missed deadlines, bad hygiene, shoddy renovation is growing paler. In the backdrop of a dazzling inaugural ceremony, Delhi is becoming optimistic. On the noon of October 5 The Delhi...
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Delhi is too hard on itself. Stop beating your chest. “Delhi is not filthy,” said Jenny Stevenson, an Australian visitor to the city. The Delhi Walla met Ms Stevenson at the ticket counter of Humayun’s Tomb on September 30, 2010. “I’m having a great time,” she said....
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Anatomy of an attack and its aftermath. On the late Sunday morning of September 19, Haji Mian Faiyaz Uddin was watching the rain on Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid when two Taiwanese tourists coming out of the Mughal-era monument were shot at by unidentified gunmen. The attackers escaped....
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Reporting from Delhi’s backpackers’ district. Forget the deluxe hotels, Delhi University’s makeshift tourist hostelries and the city’s Bed & Breakfast lodges. The chief lodging destination for many visitors of Commonwealth Games (CWG), being hosted by Delhi in October 2010, may still be the guesthouses of Paharganj, traditionally...
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Khan Market to become more democratic. The citadel of south Delhi snobbery is about to fall. Khan Market, where the city’s rich go to see and be seen, is getting a metro station. “The Humayun Road metro stop is opening in September (2010),” says Anuj Dayal, spokesperson,...
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