City News – Arundhati Roy’s New Novel After 20 years is… ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ General by The Delhi Walla - October 3, 2016October 3, 20160 After 'The God of Small Things'. [Photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] Arundhati Roy, the novelist, is a distinguished Delhiwalla and The Delhi Walla is happy to read the news just tweeted by Simon Prosser of Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Books--"Announcing big news this morning! We will publish ARUNDHATI ROY's new novel THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS in June"! Full press release here: Hamish Hamilton UK and Penguin India are proud to announce that they will publish THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS by Arundhati Roy in June 2017. It is her first work of fiction since THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS, which won the Booker prize nineteen years ago in 1997. ARUNDHATI ROY: ‘I am glad to report that the mad souls (even the wicked
Netherfield Ball – The Golden Era’s Last Generation Throws a Biryani Bash, Anglo-Arabic School & Delhi College City Parties by The Delhi Walla - October 3, 2016October 3, 201611 The party secrets. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is such happiness when old friends meet over chicken biryani, especially when the friends are very, very, very old. One afternoon The Delhi Walla gatecrashes into a get-together of the Old Boys' Association of Anglo-Arabic School & Delhi College. The capital’s oldest educational institution is just a short walk from the capital’s red light district—but we shall not dwell on this point. The historic school building is like just another grand Delhi monument with its mosque, domes, and a great number of tombs but the old boys of the school look more monumental. Almost every second guest has a long white beard and each face is like a history book where one may
City Moment – Dark Fantasy of the Midnight Metropolis, Lodhi Road Moments by The Delhi Walla - October 2, 2016October 2, 20164 The memorable instant. [Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is close to midnight. No stars to be seen in the cloudless sky. The warm air smells of diesel. The Delhi Walla is walking on Lodhi Road, so close and yet so far from all the famous and wealthy people living here. Four or five men are sleeping on the pavement. The headlights of passing cars and auto rickshaws momentarily lift their faces out of the darkness. The cars go away, the faces again sink into oblivion. One of the men has a white beard. Another suddenly turns and then goes still. Just a few steps ahead, a bus stop. A few people are sleeping here, too. This is probably their home for
Atget’s Corner – 961-965, Delhi Photos Delhi Pics by The Delhi Walla - October 1, 20160 The visible city. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Delhi is a voyeur’s paradise and The Delhi Walla also makes pictures. I take photos of people, streets, flowers, eateries, drawing rooms, tombs, landscapes, buses, colleges, Sufi shrines, trees, animals, autos, libraries, birds, courtyards, kitchens and old buildings. My archive of more than 1,00,000 photos showcases Delhi’s ongoing evolution. Five randomly picked pictures from this collection are regularly put up on the pages of this website. The series is named in the memory of French artist Eugène Atget (1857-1927), who, in the words of a biographer, was an “obsessed photographer determined to document every corner of Paris before it disappeared under the assault of modern improvements.” Here are Delhi photos numbered 961 to 965. 961. Mehrauli 962. Place Forgotten 963. Connaught