What do you expect when you order a chicken kali mirch? Something biting and spicy, no? What if it is mild, borderline sweet and the pepper is only a gentle, mischievous hint? This dish at Al Jawahar is one of my most favourite chicken dishes ever. It has tender meat, white gravy and none of the generic arrogance of a butter chicken. This dish is like that star performer who silently goes back to crease after scoring a century.
Now, this is an urgent post. Because, they will stop selling Khajla after Eid. I don’t like it with milk the way people from Old Delhi do. This is no cereal. The khajla from here are made in desi ghee, smell brilliant and are slightly expensive at 480 rupees per kilo. You can buy whole round disc ones or these chips type broken fragments. But you will have to hurry.
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”
Bottled water may seem like a new idea, but it has been around for nearly 400 years. It is only more prevalent today. So, what did people do in old days when they became thirsty in the middle of the road and didn’t want to spend a nickel? At least in Old Delhi, they went to a pyau. They were opened by generous private individuals, were free and were, generally, operated from a window in the house. There was a depression in the ground to…Continue Reading “Pyau in Old Delhi”
You see naan khatai carts at every turn in Old Delhi. Most of them are not worth a stop. But on a morning walk, we came across this particular guy at Dariba who demands a mention. While all of us pointed our cameras at this and that, someone stopped at this cart and moaned a little too loudly. The whole group descended on the nameless guy. The khatais were freshly baked under coal, thick, crumbling and so good that many bought extra for home.
There are many monuments in Delhi. This one is one of a kind too. There was a time when lots of single screen theaters did good business in Delhi. Many reason that the multiplexes edged the single screens out. But that is highly illogical and just does not happen. At worst, both may end up catering to different spectrum of the audience and still do good business. It’s seriously expensive to watch a movie in the multiplexes. I refuse to believethat the single screen’s audience…Continue Reading “Cinema Excelsior, Old Delhi”
Old Delhi is filled with innumerable little gems. Probably why, no matter how much you want, as a food writer you can’t escape this part of the city. Now, Durga Sweets Corner is such outlet. It has all the qualities one looks for in a classic food outlet: age, quality and character. The outlet is actually two. Two stores on opposite sides of the road in Suiwallan, in Old Delhi. Literally, Suiwallan means the needle maker. The market, today, is choc-a-bloc with clothes stores and…Continue Reading “Durga Sweets Corner, Daryaganj, Old Delhi”
Much has been written about Kabootarbazi. And, that is an utterly idiotic thing to do. Kabootarbazi of Chandni Chowk should be seen, standing from the top of a five storeyed building, against the background of Jama Masjid. Anything else is a shamless counterfeit. But, given that you were not there, here is an improvisation. The following video was made on 26th January. The D day for Kabootarbazi, same as 15th August is the day for patangbazi. Getting to see it live is not an easy…Continue Reading “Kabootarbazi seen up close in Jama Masjid area, Old Delhi”
When I wrote about Moti Mahal, I knew there is just one other restaurant in Delhi that could exceed it in fame, fan following and legend. There is no foodie in Delhi who has not been there, taken photos to prove his credibility or written about it. The restaurant is an icon and I have been going there since the days I used to be a vegetarian. Yes, that is the amount of craze that the place has. Two vegetarians can make the hard trip,…Continue Reading “Karim’s Hotel – Jama Masjid”
There are only a few times when the colourful Old Delhi becomes even more colourful. This is partly the reason why Eid is the one of the most represented festivals in the media. The morning namaz is the most important prayer of the year. Supplicants fill the mosques and flow out into the streets. Morning after, the papers are filled will pictures of Jama Masjid. One would think all the streets would lead to this mosque on the morning of Eid. As it happens,…Continue Reading “Eid in Old Delhi”
I am close to a hundred posts on my blog. By now, I have made it pretty evident that when it comes to photography, I have hands of steel. So, rather than torturing you with my lens work, I bring to you my friend Siddhartha Kumar. A pilot by profession (and a Captain at that!) and photographer by obsession, Sid has won many national contests and we have been lunching on his prize moneys since we were in college. Now that the sweet part is…Continue Reading “Kabootarbazi In Purani Dilli & Launching Captain’s Clicks”
If you travel to a place which is less than 30 minutes from your home and write about it afterward, will that be called a travelogue? No idea. I went to Old Delhi on a photography trip for my wife’s doctoral thesis. We had the cheapest Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera and I am as good a photographer as the rickshaw puller who took us around. So, here it goes: This is Turkman Gate, the southern entrance to Old Delhi. Being on the other…Continue Reading “Old Delhi – Chronicles of a near-resident”