One of the many gods worshipped in Delhi is Guru Ravidas. The Delhi Walla spotted him near American Center on Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Read more

For the last 10 minutes, his grey eyes haven’t blinked; his posture on the brown plastic chair hasn’t changed. Vijay Kumar, 56, is selling second-hand books in Paharganj, central Delhi, for 30 years. Read more

One afternoon The Delhi Walla went knocking around houses in Old Delhi’s Matia Mahal asking the residents, “May I please climb to your rooftop?” I was refused. People thought I was crazy. But I only wanted to see how Jama Masjid looks from the roof of a Walled City house. Read more

In a neighbourhood where most houses are small and over-crowded, Satnam Singh Juneja is the master of an eight-room address. All his walls are painted blue. But the home is unkempt. The bed sheet is crumpled. The dining table is dusty. Read more

Not all are in love with the Sunday book bazaar in Daryaganj. On June 22nd, 2009, while the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Daryaganj police station was on leave, additional SHO Madan Lal ordered the weekly book bazaar to be closed. The reason: the huge book-buying crowd is said to cause traffic congestion, pick pocketing and eveteasing. It doesn’t help that Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD) has been saying since past few years that the bazaar’s present location is an outright encroaching of the public land. Read more

The other day while walking around in the Daryaganj’s Sunday book bazaar, I came across a wrinkled man. He was wearing nothing though an old Shobha De was wrapped around his you-know-what. On further enquiries, I discovered that after dedicating 30 years of his life in the service of Delhi Public Library (Uttam Nagar branch), this gentleman has now taken over the task of addressing the sexual disorders among the city’s bookworms. I took down some suggestions that he offered to a few of his patients.

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Qasim Ali, a resident of Daryaganj in Old Delhi, a trainee journalist with Hindustan Times, an occasional photographer and my friend died on March 29, 2009, aged 25. Early this month he was diagnosed with leukaemia. Thereafter he was admitted in Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute, Rohini, from where he was not able to return home. Read more

It’s such happiness when good people get together — and they always should. Everyone — young and not-so-young, straight and not-so-straight, single and not-so-single — should be invited to join the Jane Austen Society club. The only condition being that you must have read all six of Austen novels at least six times each. Read more