The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The Bombay star was in Connaught Place.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Kareena, my kudi, my karisma, my chameli. She was plain Geet in Jab We Met, Pooh in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham but in my Dilli she was just Bebo. Aaj first time itne near se dekha. Film shoot was on. Spotted on the front seat of a red car at Connaught Place's F-Block, opposite Qba, she looked just as she looks on screen – sexy. That didn't stop one powdered lady from sneering, "Kareena has put on so

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Allah is closer to Old Delhi rooftops.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]One afternoon I went knocking around houses at Matia Mahal in Old Delhi asking the residents, "May I please climb to your rooftop?" I was refused. Folks thought I was crazy. But I had my reason. I wanted to see how Jama Masjid looks from rooftops. While thak-thaking around, I met a paan-walla who claimed that his terrace faced Jama Masjid's Gate no. 1. Bingo. We became fast friends and after discussing girls, sex and politics, I asked

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The changing world of Delhi’s 'untouchables'.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]A churning is taking place in Delhi's Valmiki Sadan, a landmark of India's freedom struggle. Home to a Valmiki temple, it is an 'untouchable' Dalit settlement where Mahatma Gandhi had stayed from March, 1946 to June, 1947.Valmiki Sadan is also known as Dalit Colony or just the Basti. It lies on Mandir Marg, near Gole Market, a very appropriately named avenue. The stretch here is lined with several houses of worship - Birla Mandir, Kali Mandir, Arya Samaj Mandir,

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Hanging out in Lodhi Garden.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]It's cool to buy a farm in the south of France and write a book or two. But in the south of Punjab? Pakistani Punjab? Say salam alaikum to Daniyal Mueenuddin. The new star of Pakistan's literal scene came visiting the Indian capital early in 2008. He was pampered big time by Random House India, his publishers. And why not? The guy's fiction has been published not once, not twice, but thrice in The New Yorker magazine. I got to

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.Delhi's own 'slumdog millionaire'. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi; black and white pictures by Vicky Roy]Born in a godforsaken village in Bihar, he stole his dad's money, fled home, boarded a train to Delhi, lived the hard street life, stole some more (like sneaking lunch packets from Shatabti Express trains), and is now flying to New York City. Some significant things happened between the theft and the flight. Former ragpicker Vicky Roy, now 21, was just another street kid growing up in a Salaam Baalak Trust shelter in

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.This institution's snob value is worth it.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]One morning, tired of wandering in tombs, forts, bookshops, malls, I went to a college campus instead. Not just to any college. St Stephen's, in north Delhi, is a glass bubble fantasy. It's the south Delhi of Delhi University. Snobbish.Here's no noise, no dust. Just trees, hedged pathways, redbrick structures and English-speaking kids, rumored to be some of the country's brightest. (Wikipedia has a list of 'distinguished' Stephanians.)Here you may think you are in a century-old English garrison.

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.The many faces of Delhi's red light district.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Early in 2009 I Googled GB Road, Delhi's red light district, and got a shock of my life. The search page showed me sitting between two prostitutes!What if Mummy Papa see this picture? They're a god-fearing couple living in a grey-coloured trans-Yamuna apartment. How would they understand that I had visited the kothas, a few months ago, just for the sake of reporting? That I had simply done a story, clicked a few pictures and it's that

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.In love with the deceitful season.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]There are a few things which are definitely not Delhi. Like a blue sky. However, each year just when the winter is dying and the summer is about to take over the city, there is a short spell of forgery. The sky turns to a shade of blue that’s a tad first-world-ish. It was during such a season that I was walking in Sardar Patel Marg when I suddenly looked up at the sky. The earth shook. Delhi disappeared.

Asking for Obama in Delhi's Dalit Colony. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] On the day Barack Obama took oath as the first black President of USA, The Delhi Walla went to the city's Valmiki Colony, at Mandir Marg, to ask ambitious Dalit boys living there what does Obama mean to them. Valmiki Colony is a special place. It was here that Mahatma Gandhi had resided from March, 1946 to June, 1947 to show solidarity with its Dalit inhabitants. The Dalits, of course, were the untouchables of our society. Though now the constitution no longer recognises such a category, the discrimination still exists. Making up 15 per cent of India's population, they usually end up with low-rank jobs. In other words, they

The Delhi walla's pretension in writing makes me want to lodge a bullet in his balls - Blogger Nimpipi, the woodchuck chucks GO STRAIGHT TO MORE STORIESContact mayankaustensoofi@gmail.com for ad enquiries.They're lovable and beautiful.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Event: a beauty contest. Time: Morning. Place: FICCI House, Mandi House. They all were beautiful. They all wanted to win the crown. They came in cars, autos, DTC buses. They were from Delhi, from small towns near Delhi. A few came from as far as Benares. The first round was a catwalk followed by a short introduction to the judges. The Delhi Walla got their stories there. In their own words (and grammar).What will happen to me?"I'm pursuing my graduation from