Where do stories come from? Mostly from the places babies come from. Birds, bees and angels. But far too much credit is given to alternate/inebriated states of mind, solitude and staring at mountains; far too less to people around us. Sometimes, people are tools that you open cans of stories with. Sometimes, people are the cans of stories. We put the people we meet through the steps to see how much they hold, turn them sideways, upside down, claw at the corners to get every…Continue Reading “Where do stories come from?”
In Agra for a marriage,I got to sample this dish. It was good to attend a marriage in a different city and walk the frustratingly narrow and aggressive streets of Phawaara. Anyway, this particular morning, I walked around the Sindhi Bazar and stumbled on this one among the numerous chole bhature shops. He was deep frying papad like discs and serving it with a very spicy chane Ki dal. I had a couple right there and a got a few packed for the relatives who…Continue Reading “Dal Pakwan & Papad, Sindhi Bazar, Agra”
Over the last year, sometimes, the best part of the meal has been desserts. But somehow, I have come to talk more about the food and less about the sweets that follow. So, here is the make up post for the must have desserts in Delhi. Let me start with the most recent one. The Chocolate banana manoushe at Zizo Lebanese restaurant in Connaught place. The nuts are toasted hazelnuts. A dessert roll was something new to me and I was curious. The bread of…Continue Reading “Where do you get the best desserts in Delhi – I”
This is not a thought. This is a question. After being called a foodie at family gatherings over the weekend, I have come to resent the term. But what choice do we have? Let me outline a few and try to define: Foodie: this term is too generic. Usually, used for anyone who loves food and may be, takes photos. Given the rampant usage, it has also come to refer to someone with a mucked up cerebrum and eats compulsively. This guy does not necessarily…Continue Reading “Foodie Vs. Food Reviewer vs. Food Critic vs. Food Writer”
Writing about food is tough and complicated, especially when you have bad experience. If the place is small, you are a bully. If the place is popular, you are an attention seeker or a pest. Anyway, I will take the risk. Last evening, we had to take an old friend from US for dinner. The friend is not new to India but wanted Indian food. I was confused between Kathputli and Lahori Gate, both being very close to where I live. Eventually, we discussed all…Continue Reading “Shiv Sagar, Janpath”
Most of us look at wine as an intimidation. We don’t understand it. We feel compelled to appreciate it. The ones that are known to be really good, most of us can’t afford it. The wine consumers are worried about how much to age a wine, the cork and how much is ideal to pay for a wine. Unlike the west, in India, wine remains strictly in the connoisseur’s domain. And, everyone wants that to change. So far, I had stayed clear of the wine…Continue Reading “Jacob’s Creek Reserve table, Delhi edition”
Do din se shehar ka yeh haal hai Ki jaise Dilli ke chacha Ki shaadi ho… Delhi’s finest turned up in their finest. Beautiful overdressed women, painfully and appropriately dressed men, lots of running around (from the lawns to the auditorium to the hall), everyone smiling at everyone else and enough euphoria in the air to intoxicate a mob. India International Center felt like marriage mandap. Sanjiv Saraf, the founder of Rekhta, walked around like the father of the bride. Shoulders drooping, head down, a…Continue Reading “Jashn-e-Rekhta – A celebration of Urdu in Delhi”
You don’t fall in love with hotels. They are not homes. You stay for a night and move on. Thankfully, Jaipur Inn is an inn. And, I love it. It was love at first sight. On the way back from a trip to Ajmer and Pushkar, we were tired, broken and sad. We were looking for hotels in Central Jaipur but could not make up our minds. A dear friend recommended Jaipur Inn, the same guy who had suggested Sunset Point. So, we were looking…Continue Reading “Jaipur Inn – Bani Park, Jaipur”
Life, as much as carefree living, is also a constant process of setting priorities. When you are a child, it could be between watching the cartoon show or going out to play. When you grow up, the parameters change and multiply a little. Friends vis a vis family, people you want to know vis a vis people who know you, career with money or passion with a little less of it, love of one vs. affections of many, life with a partner and kids vs….Continue Reading “The better man”
Malcha Marg is a location that raises a lot of expectations. The restaurants that have been and that are there have all set the bar a little high. Schengen which is a deli, bistro and pub in one does nothing to minimize those standards. You enter the restaurant and immediately notice the tastefully done interiors. The first floor is a deli, the second floor is a bistro and the third floor is a pub. They all share the same design aesthetics – minimalist white interiors…Continue Reading “Schengen Deli, Malcha Marg, Chanakyapuri”
To be able to write one often needs to amplify things up, see them from up close, step back to see the context and change perspectives just to be sure that you have not got it all wrong. The constant to and fro does a little something inside your head. Nothing is pure, nothing is sacrosanct. Everything close looks dispensable from a distance and everything far seems a little more desirable. Anyway, the point being that in one’s constant attempts to gain perspective, one forever…Continue Reading “Sense and sanity”
It’s been more than a decade since passing out. But one still remembers the holis celebrated in hostels. In Delhi University north campus, there were a few traditions that were repeated, year after year. The hostelers would dig up a man sized hole and water the mud to prepare it for the “holy dip” on the day of the holi. On the morning of the holi, each of us had to march out of the rooms and walk to the front yard of the hostel,…Continue Reading “Holi in Delhi University hostels”
Writing about food, despite all the fun, is a very stressful task. What if your taste buds are born askew, what if you sound biased or uninitiated, what if your reader arrives on the restaurant’s bad day, what if your writing is uninteresting, what about the typos, what if you lack the palate or the knowledge, what if you have no influence, what if you really gain influence and can’t do justice…. Most days are about one or the other above. Then there are days…Continue Reading “Neung Roi – Radisson Blu Plaza, Mahipalpur, Delhi”
DND is the place where all our manners come to die. No one maintains a queue, everyone honks and if carrying guns were allowed, a murder a day would have taken place. I can proudly say that I am rather well behaved, in public places, at least. I never jump the line; give others way and almost always get angry about ending up last. Anyway, a few evenings back I had obediently queued up. Just when my turn to enter the card lane came, a…Continue Reading “A victim of Gandhigiri”
The dynamics of travel affect your experiences at the most basic level. Most of our countrymen know nothing of Odisha. Of the few who know know little more than Puri and Konark Sun temple. But it is not just about outsiders, many of us inside the state have not done justice to the state’s beauty too. Anyway, this preamble was needed to justify my reaction at finding this amazing place in a far off tourist destination in Odisha – Pantha Nivas at Chilika Lake. We…Continue Reading “Pantha Nivas, Rambha, Chilika Lake”
Some may think it’s too late but thirties are the best times to approach the concept of love with at least a small amount of sanity. Between the platonic, transcendental idea of love in the twenties and the predominantly sexual one (or, so I assume) of the forties, thirties are the times when you can think of love as both physical and spiritual without being torn apart. It’s the thirties when stop deifying the idea and begin to understand it in all its complexity –…Continue Reading “Thirties’ love”
BJP’s loss in Delhi was massive. Not in terms of seat count or vote share. It was massive because BJP suddenly went from usurper to establishment, from one who overthrew the regime to becoming the regime. A year back Modi was seen as the new force that overthrew the century old structure. By the time Delhi elections were over, Kejriwal was being seen as the new force that stopped the Modi juggernaut. So, the biggest loss of BJP was in terms of losing mind space…Continue Reading “What BJP really lost in Delhi”
A 120 seater restaurant in Noida Sector 63. If that continues to remain open for more than a year, they must be doing something right. And, they have been around for a year. The first time I got their invitation was almost six months back. But I have been to other restaurants which have the same format – impressive range of grilled starters, a more extensive range of main course and desserts. The started are served on the table, with a live grill at the…Continue Reading “The Ancient Barbeque, Sector 63, Noida”
There is nothing romantic about a few ideas. But selecting reading at an impressionable age can set you rolling fast on the wrong path. Let me not pluck names from the universe but name ones I grew up with. Oscar Wilde was jailed and died at 46. Not quite young. Rimbaud died at 37, after his leg was amputated and suffering great pain. Our very own Vivekananda, whom most of us have read while growing up, died at 39. Sylvia Plath struggled with depression and…Continue Reading “On Untimely Death”
I love and absolutely detest Old Delhi. There is no balanced emotion for the place. There is so much happening at all times that you eventually give in or give up. Old Delhi is like an aggressive, stubborn man that does not court you with poetry or subtlety; it forcefully demands your attention. You either love the directness and fall into his arms or you are disgusted with the rustic brutishness and reject him altogether. Two evenings back, when I was there, I ran…Continue Reading “Love and hate Old Delhi”