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

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.A PhD scholar at Stanford gives his take on this blogsite.[Text by Gaurav Sood; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]The Delhi Walla is a journalist's blog, albeit without the drama and urgency with which journalism and journalists are often associated with today. The writing on the blog represents that prior tradition among journalists which was about subtle observation, gentle humor, as evinced in journalists' travelogues, and in shows like BBC's 'From our own correspondent'. The blog is a significant achievement. More so because reporting on cities is generally skillfully and

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 English is a very funny language.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Delhi was once the capital of British India. Maybe that’s why we Delhiwallas can walk English, talk English and live English. Go to the backside of any building and you would find some signboard or the other – in English, of course. And mind you, our English is always funnier than the English people’s English. Here is a sample. (Don't mind the proofing errors.)Above Palika Bazar ParkingAt Daryaganj's Sunday Book BazaarAt Nizamuddin BastiAt PaharganjAt Hazrat Nizamuddin DargahAt a

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.A case for complex identities sans politics.[Text by Lahore-based Raza Rumi; picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Lahore, December 31, 2008: As clouds of war hover in the skies of Lahore, I am missing Delhi and lamenting the relatively difficult venture to visit the city.The December of 2008 was a month of promise. I was meant to visit the Jawaharlal Nehru University, read a paper, participate in a conference and enjoy the environs of the campus that would have glowed in December sunshine. Not to forget that I was meant to pick

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.Starting the New Year with a Delhi cliché.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]If the going gets tougher in 2009, there’s always grass, ruins, birds, trees and air. Lodhi Garden, I mean. Of course, this place is no city secret. Everybody knows it. Expats swear by it. VIPs want to be seen in it. Lovers find it safe from the watchful eyes of their parents. But perhaps Lodhi Garden's true companions are those city souls who fancy there are better things than Beings – like the stroll of a koyal,