It’s mid-morning but it doesn’t matter to her. “Time doesn’t exist in my life,” says painter Usha Hooda as she dabs her brush in a heap of burnt sienna. Read more

The Delhi Walla was climbing the stairs of an apartment complex in Hauz Khas Village when he approached a boy. Read more

The water in the bucket is as freezing as the 4.30 am air. But the stairs in this four-floor apartment complex have to be washed daily at this hour. “It’s a job and it has to be done,” says Changa Kumar, 20.

In a contrast to his jet black skin, his yellow teeth give a whitish glare every time he talks. A resident of Delhi for two years, Mr Kumar is an errand boy in an apartment complex in Hauz Khas Village, Delhi’s artsy neighbourhood consisting of ruins, art galleries, restaurants and flats. Read more

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. Read more

Delhi is India’s capital but it may as well be a separate planet. Even as the country’s urban-rural divide gets wider, the city’s urban sprawl is appearing to mix seamlessly with its rural backyard.

Err, backyard is not the right term. Most villages of Delhi, there are 275 ‘revenue villages’ in all, do not lie at its periphery. They are right there in the Capital’s heart. Read more