“When I was a child, my parents took care of me. Now it’s my turn for they are old and need care,” says Muhamamd Aslam, a 32-year-old beggar. The Delhi Walla found him on a street in Nizamuddin Basti, a 14th century village whose principal attraction is the sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Read more

The UK-based Independent’s Asia Correspondent Andrew Buncombe wrote about the Mission Delhi project of The Delhi Walla on the newspaper’s website. Go where it was originally published or read here:

So many people in this vast, sprawling, awful, remarkable city. So many crowds, so much pushing. You can never find any space, any quiet. Who are all these people, these housewives, these labourers, these office workers, these shop-owners. Where do they all come from? What’s their story? Read more

When London-based writer Peter Mayle rented a cottage in the south of France, he came out with a passionate memoir full of wine, cheese, truffles and the mistral. In October, 2007, two Delhi-based writers rented a house in the north of Pakistan. They have come out with a passionate blogsite that is… not full of Kashmir, Taliban, Zardari or anything else that you read on Pakistan in most websites and blogs. Read more

It’s a Dickensian sight. The driveway through the entrance gate is rutty. The clock on the clock tower doesn’t work. Men pee on the boundary wall. Mechanics drill holes into steel. Laborers haul cargoes in hand-pulled carts. All around are arranged thousands of air coolers, electric geysers, washing machines, water pumps, sandwich toasters and steel trunks, sometimes packed in colorful cardboard boxes. Read more

“Where’s the doorman?” Outside the entrance of Sidewok, a dimly lit Chinese eatery in Delhi’s upscale Khan Market, Sumanta Roy refuses to go in till the guard appears and opens the door for him. A man of style, he is a brand-sensitive consumer of classy dressing and fine taste who expects good service when paying for it. Read more

The Delhi Walla has got the Nobel Prize for literature. Well, almost. A picture taken by me has been put up in the official web site of the Nobel Foundation, Nobelprize.org. Read more

The arched entrance of the modestly built gateway opens into a grassy expanse. Unknown tombs and domed chhatris lie on the garden. Read more

In the fifth Jaipur Literature Festival, young Pakistani novelist Ali Sethi proved to be a sensation. But The Delhi Walla had caught up with Mr Sethi before he became this famous. As it happens, when people are not that famous, they talk more candidly. Last year in July I met Mr Sethi in the lawn of Delhi’s Ambassador Hotel when he was visiting India for a book tour of his first novel The Wish Maker. Here are my questions and Mr Sethi’s answers. Read more