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.Malling in the time of slump. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]"Happiness can be now bought – on purchases of Rs 10,000." This announcement on a giant hoarding outside Saket's Select Citywalk mall may not cheer Delhi shoppers much. "I don't have spare cash for hardcore shopping," says Mr Amit Chandan, 24, a software engineer who was 'malling' one Monday with his girlfriend. "People in my office are being fired – who knows what may happen to me?" It was a very different world when this mall was thrown

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.Chasing the pink rupee.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; picture by Gigi Elmes; this is a visual representation of Polka Club where photography is not permitted]The place: Polka Club, Kailash Colony, South Delhi. The time: Saturday, 12.36am. Section 377, which criminalizes gay sex, may be well and alive in Indian society, but that doesn't stop gay men in the Indian capital from putting on their dancing shoes. I'm in Delhi's sole Saturday night gay spot to check out the scene. Previously boys-who-like-boys were restricted to Pegs ‘n’ Pints' legendary Tuesday night.

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 city’s Hindu youth have all but forgotten the 2002 anti-Muslim progroms.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]The young tattoo artist in Ahmedabad’s Dev-Arc’s mall started laughing when told that many Indians outside Gujarat think of Mr Narendra Modi as a communal politician who looked the other way as over 1,200 Muslims were killed in 2002 riots. “Modi is a real mard. He has so much power in him that he can change the world in a single day,” said 19-year-old artist Mr Pancal Sureshbhai. After a pause, he added,

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.Six un-Dilli experiences.[Text by Mayank Austen Soofi; picture by Unknown]In March, 2009, I traveled to six places and did six things which I had never done in Delhi.No book browsing in SuratI was in this pretty Gujarati city for three days and did not browse in any bookshop. I had no choice. There is no Khan Market in Surat. A fellow booklover who spent his childhood there told me that he had left the town as soon as he turned 18 because... there were no bookshops. Perhaps he was exaggerating.

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.An afternoon with a Sainik Farms-based artist.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]Keywan, a Tehran-born artist whose moody oil paintings of nature often strike a guftagu with the soul, invited me for lunch at her bungalow in Sanik Farms during the first week of March, 2009. She has been living in Delhi for the past 15 years.The lady who would not tell me her age had just finished holding her second exhibition, New Beginning, in an art gallery in Gurgaon. She wished me to take a look at them privately.We

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 fisher boy with river secrets.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]He is the Narmada's child. Villagers say that Sunil Shankar, the fisher boy, was born on a boat around 20 years ago. They also say he is half-mad. That can be true. But it is not stopping me from taking a ride on Sunil's boat this afternoon. I met him a few minutes ago when I asked the cab driver to park the car next to Narmada river. We are driving on Gujarat's National Highway-8, traveling from Surat 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.Kudi Gujarat ki.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]She is known as Surat's Phoolan Devi, that gutsy bandit queen who carried guns in her hands and gaalis in her mouth in the jungles of central India during the 80s. Ms Asmita Dinesh Bhai Makwana deserves that kind of reputation. Her back is straight, her head unbowed, her eyes fiery. In a conservative town like Surat where most women sport bangles and managalsutras, her accessories include a long, sharp butcher's knife. Ms Makwana is no Surati shareef-zaadi. She beats people, swear

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.Jai Ho to the Surati rickshaws.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]I thought Delhi's autos are the most fun. But I'm visiting Surat, the diamond hub of Gujarat, and here the autos, locally called as rickshaws, may perhaps be India’s Auto No. 1. They are more spacious, more airy and the drivers are kinder. Besides, unlike Delhi's auto-drivers, they don't use their arm to indicate the side they are about to turn. Instead, they use their right leg(!) Also, unlike in Delhi, the autos here actually happen to have 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 beautiful but divided city.[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]Delhi is like The Complete Works of Shakespeare. You may read just that book and nothing else in your whole life and you would still be wiser. But if go to other cities, walk in their alleys, talk to their dwellers, you would realize that how enlightening it is to read other books. In other words: Shakespeare is great but not everything; Delhi is great but not everything.I'm in Surat. I had come here with much reluctance. I mean why

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.She wants other people to bow before her.[Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi]When she was in the 10th standard, she wanted to be an air hostess. Now she is in the 12th, and wants to be an IAS officer."Air hostesses have to bend their back for other people," says Ms Neeta Vaid, a 18-year-old school girl who lives in Delhi's Valmiki Sadan, popularly known as Dalit Colony. (This story is the second of a five-part series – The New Dalit, The Changing World of Delhi's 'Untouchables'.) "But district magistrates