Joshna Chongtham, wife of Chongtham Vikram Singh, at Manipur Bhawan on Tuesday. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)
5 min readSep 10, 2026 01:18 PM IST First published on: Sep 10, 2026 at 01:18 PM IST
Who, after all, is a Dilliwallah? For decades, Delhi has resisted answering this question. Instead, it has let its residents stitch something of themselves into an ever-expanding, ever-evolving patchwork of belonging. Its many-splendoured character refuses the easy definitions that questions of identity so often demand.
But cities change. Their doors may open wide for some, even as the meaning of belonging grows more uncertain for others. Has the Delhi of today begun to draw lines around who gets to call it home?