This is hearty food, different from the subtle confections of traditional Mughlai cuisine, like koftas and pulaos. Read more

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It was the first time in the living memory of middle-aged Delhiites that rain fell on Eid-ul-Fitr, the Muslim festival that marks the end of Ramzan, the month of praying, fasting and cleansing the soul. The Delhi Walla attended the morning namaaz at Shahi Idgah, the 17th century mosque built specifically to perform Eid prayers. 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

Matia Mahal Bazaar. Midnight. Shutters down. Looking up at the delicate latticework of Old Delhi balconies, he suddenly turns back and stands facing the Jama Masjid. Read more

Each morning my news-obsessed papa says this country is going to dogs. I say this city is going to dogs. It’s a hot November afternoon and I’m in Chandni Chowk. Gurdwara Seesganj Sahib is in front of me; Jain Mandir is close by, and Jama Masjid not far. So holy a place and yet no peace. Read more

Is there a greater delight than being referred to in a book on Jane Austen? The Delhi Walla can no longer defer his raptures. In April, 2009, UK’s Canongate Books published Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World. Written by Jane Austen scholar Ms Claire Harman, this is a “history of Jane Austen’s fame, the changing status of her work and what it has stood for, or been made to stand for, in English culture in the two hundred years since her death.” 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 sufi shrine of Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed in Old Delhi, shaded by a large Neem tree and lying opposite the eastern gate of Jama Masjid, is a bubble of serenity in the otherwise chaotic district. The noisy biryani sellers and quarrelsome Bangladeshi beggars in the alley outside are unable to disturb the quiet that lurks inside the shrine. Read more