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 dirty old man.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Author Khushwant Singh is a typical Delhiwalla. “I have a dirty mind,” he declared one winter evening at a rare public appearance in the Capital. “Each time I see a woman I have dirty thoughts about what she would be like in bed,” the 94-year-old novelist confessed during a conversation in a television show at Hotel Le Meridian. Facing a select audience that included Gursharan Kaur, the prime minister’s wife, the old man brought the hall roaring down with repartees

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 new morning at a new address.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]6.23am: Waking up in Hauz Khas Village, my new address. Looking out the window into the 13th century ruins. Ferozeshah’s tomb, the madrasa, the lake. Beyond - Deer Park. The trees laced with the morning mist. The rest of Delhi invisible.6.45am: Sitting with EM Forster’s A Room With A View.7.47am: The back terrace lit up with natural light. On the ledge, a bird’s nest (There’s an egg!).8.15am: The village lane. A schoolboy on his bike. Boutique stores, still

The American memoirist was seen with wife. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]] One evening Ved Mehta, the Lahore-born American memoirist and former staff writer of the venerable New Yorker magazine, was seen in south Delhi's quiet Meharchand market, at the bookstore, CMYK. Opened in September, 2009, the store specializes in coffee table volumes. A little irony here since Mr Mehta could not be expected to enjoy their visual extravaganza. He is blind. But who had the mood for books when there was wine, cheese, and a famous New Yorker? A protégé of the late William Shawn, The New Yorker’s legendary editor, Mr Mehta had come to sign copies of Mamaji and Daddyji, just two of his 25 books. He was with wife,

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.On her own in Old Delhi.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Is Phebe Bay, a 20-year-old girl from Singapore, unusually adventurous? This management intern in Gurgaon does what most girls of this city rarely dare: walking in Old Delhi bylanes, alone.Just four months in the Capital and Ms Bay has seen more of Shahjahanabad – another name for the Walled City – than most English-speaking, jeans-wearing Delhi girls of her age. Eating shami kebabs in Matia Mahal bazaar and jalebis in Chandni Chowk, sight-seeing in Jama Masjid, buying books

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 several colours.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Each year as the winter sets in, the east Indian state of Bihar gets down to worship the sun. The festival is called Chhath Pooja. Since a large number of Delhiwallas happen to be Biharis, this is the Capital’s carnival, too. On the penultimate day of the four-day-long festivities, the devotees wade into a water body (it could be a river, stream, canal, or even a puddle), fold their hands into a namaste, and pray to Surya Devta as he sinks into

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 existential question.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]The old quarters of any ‘World Class City’, say, like Madrid, are always beautiful and clean. Then why is the touristy Old Delhi, also called Delhi-6 due to its pin code, so chaotic and dirty?The Delhi Walla is at Chitli Qabar chowk, the heart of the walled city, the one-time Capital of the Mughal Empire. From this intersection, one lane leads to Matia Mahal bazaar, another to Daryaganj, the third to Turkman Gate.Instead of a cop, there is a fishmonger at the

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 Capital's red light district.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Gastion Bastion Road, Delhi’s red-light district, has many aspects - colonial-era corridors, old havelis, and even an ATM, tucked right next to a Madame's establishment, kotha, in local slang. GB Road houses a temple, a mosque, a school. It is said to be India's biggest market for bathroom fittings. It even has its own ruin – the Ajmeri Gate. GB Road is merely a ten-minutes walk from Connaught Place. But these are not the images evoked by the words ‘The

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 most famous expat author.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]When The Delhi Walla met the Delhi-based British author at his Mira Singh farmhouse off the Mehrauli-Gurgaon highway, he was lounging on a wicker chair in his garden. Looking like a white nabab, Mr Dalrymple is as popular. India International Center fills up each time he speaks. His articles are published in literary journals such as The New Yorker. Mr Dalrymple’s bitch, Aishwarya, was barking; his bird Albinia was kissing him on the lips; his children were playing with