A refuge for rejects. The most liberating space for Delhi’s social rejects lies in the heart of the capital. The park above Palika Bazaar parking in the colonial-era Connaught Place is one of those rare public places in the city where the jobless, the homosexuals, the eunuchs,...
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Believe it or not. A ball floating in air with no regard for gravity; a seat of nails actually comfortable to sit on. Discovering science at the National Science Center is fun. The learning is incidental and the exploration unending. Staircases lead up to more exhibition halls....
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Delhi’s biggest book market. There are two kinds of muggles in Delhi. Those who have been to the weekly book bazaar at Daryaganj and those who haven’t. The first group doesn’t want the others to know that each Sunday, the mile-long footpath between Delite cinema and the...
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Into the wild. Situated between Purana Qila and Mathura Road, National Zoological Park has 75 species of animals, birds and reptiles. The area is wooded. Squirrels hop across trees with slanting branches. Tired visitors lounge on the grass. Each tree is marked by a steel plate bearing...
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Cramped and cool. At an altitude of 239 metres, Everest Café cannot fit more than a dozen people at any given time. Tucked in a shaded lane, it is off the main street in Paharganj Main Bazaar, a central Delhi market favoured by foreign backpackers for its...
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Everything and more. Think of Sarojini Nagar, or SN, as the setting of a trashy fairy tale. It is fit for a beautiful princess, robbed off her principality and left with little to buy a dress for the evening ball where she is to meet her dream...
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The poet’s ghetto. Khwaja Mir Dard Basti, or Shakur ki Dandi, is crude and poorly constructed. Yet it has poetry, music and handmade art. It is sandwiched between the city’s tallest high-rise and a college that traces its origins to the 17th century. The basti is a...
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Once it was happening. Dry fountain, broken benches, shoe shine boys, doped beggars, stray cows, and palmists making suspicious predictions. Don’t judge Basant Lok Market by its rundown look. In the heart of south Delhi’s Vasant Vihar – home to foreign diplomats – this shopping plaza has...
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Lovely and sad. Two blackened kettles, two ceiling fans, some wooden benches, a few plastic chairs and a roughly carved pillar makes it one of Old Delhi’s most charming chaikhanas, or tea houses. The air of Maulana Aagan Chaikhana in Mohalla Kabristran neighbourhood, Turkman Gate, is saturated...
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Kafka with kebabs. Those who love their mutton rolls and masala milk may like Spell & Bound at the SDA Market in south Delhi. Opened in May 2011, the bookshop and café has 17,000 books — it also has kathi kebabs and flavoured milkshakes. The ground level...
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