The Delhi Walla Books – Enjoying a Long Life
More considered reviews and recognition.
[By Mayank Austen Soofi]
A cat has nine lives. The Delhi Walla books – all four of them – are enjoying the same fate.
Published by HarperCollins India in 2010, the books were widely considered to be mere guidebooks. Most Indian newspapers found them too insignificant to feature in their review sections. Delhi-centric magazines like Time Out Delhi and First City ignored the books. Hindustan Times was kind to take note of them, but the daily disposed off the four books in four brief sentences.
It is 2012. The books are still selling well. And they are popping up in more thoughtful journals. The January issue of The Book Review, India’s most prestigious literary journal, devoted an impressive portion of its precious real estate on The Delhi Walla books.
In March 2012, a US-based author informed me that she has included one of the books in her writing class (more on it later).
In case if you live outside India, two of the books are available on amazon.com.
The Delhi Walla – Food + Drink
If you are in India and you don’t find the copies in your neighbourhood bookstore, you can order them from flipkart.com.
Being the author and photographer of The Delhi Walla books, I cannot comment on them as an impartial critic. But sometimes when I imagine myself as a person who is curious about the dynamics of a big city (any big city), I think, I would like to make these four books a part of my library.
Spot The Delhi Walla
Beware of The Delhi Walla (photo by Marina Bang)
Hmm, interesting
Food or drink?
Amid beautiful women
Now selling in Daryaganj’s Sunday Book Bazaar
Now selling on amazon.com
The elements of style
Flick it
The world’s best book
Definitive Delhi
I wanted to buy these in India Times’ Sabse Sasta Book Challenge, but during the Challenge, they were so-called “Out of Stock.” Lo and behold, after the Challenge, they are back in stock.
Its just the beginning bhai. Abhi toh tujhey bahut ucchaiyan chooni hai.. Success is built brick by brick. Teri shuruat ho chuki. Ab sab accha hoga.
PS: Add an option to order books via your website and it must be at the end of every article you write. Site is already advert free… Humble shumble bann na chodd, your loyal fans come to get their daily fix of MSA, so think of your book promotions as a service to them 😀
Yours and Marcel Proust’s.
@Matka
MSA and Marcel Proust are a study in contrast, one writes in bite sized chunks and other one is a marathoner.