Portraits of Delhiwallas. Photographing a person’s face is like stealing his or her life – a moment of it. Walking through the city, The Delhi Walla makes face portraits daily. These are long journeys, for each face is a different world. One face, one world
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A quintessential Delhi sight. Aak thoo. This, too, is art. It is always the men who spit their saliva in the streets of Delhi. The spit-forms are enchanting to look at. Some shine like a white pearl. Some resemble enormous silver-coloured worms. Some are translucent. Some seem...
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The city softened. When the sun is going down, you must leave the company of other people to be with yourself. Go and stand under the Barakhamba traffic light in Connaught Place. Look towards N-Block. The sky is streaked with shades of orange. The white corridors and...
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Our fundamental right. In February 2012, the Supreme Court of India declared that a citizen has a right to sound sleep because it is fundamental to life and falls within the purview of Article 21 of the Indian constitution. “Sleep is essential for a human being to...
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Life of street vendors. Everyday in the summer, sugar cane juice sellers Harsh and Ishwar can be seen walking through the back-lanes of Shahjahanabad. The Delhi Walla met them behind the building of now-defunct Jagat cinema, close to Jama Masjid. Harsh was carrying peeled sugar canes on...
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The holy land of sufis. The final days of 2011 have ended on a happy note. The Delhi Walla was in the sufi pilgrim town of Ajmer. 400km west of Delhi, it is home to the shrine of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty, a 13th century saint....
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They exist. The Delhi government works hard to make the city’s homeless invisible. In the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the wretched of the roadsides were pushed behind giant hoardings so that foreign athletes could not get a wrong impression of our World Class City. But the homeless continue...
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Threatened by Foreign Direct Investment. ‘Every Little Helps,’ Tesco tells us. ‘Save money. Live better,’ promises Walmart. So, the Indian government has announced foreign direct investment in the multi-brand retail sector. Will Khari Baoli spice bazaar in the Walled City relocate to a purpose-built commercial zone in...
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The black & white Delhi. A city is built of dreamed memories. More than three centuries have elapsed since the founding of Shahjahanabad on the banks of the Yamuna. Shahjahanabad today is a different country. The river’s course has drifted further east. The dynasty that established the Walled City...
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The noble entrances. The entrance doors of a few houses and mosques and monuments in old parts of Delhi such as Mehrauli, Nizamuddin Basti and Matia Mahal have an artistic character. They add dignity to the sad streets that are filthy, congested and full of stench. There...
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