About Me
I’m a writer and editor based in New Delhi. Read more about me and my work here.
The new photojournalism ♦
In 1972, after a run of 36 years and more than 1,800 issues, Life magazine published its final weekly copy. The issue was a year-in-review, …
Originally published as part of Khabar Lahariya’s long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦
June 18 was a typically busy day in India. In the …
West Delhi Special ♦
A Time Out Delhi cover story from March 2012 featuring a collection of stories from West Delhi neighbourhoods. Read the full story …
Subodh Gupta greets New Yorkers with A Glass of Water ♦
Subodh Gupta’s stainless steel glass, filled to the brim with water, created quite a …
Alka Pande has a finger in many artistic pies. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
The Cosmopolitans ♦Anjum HasanPenguin India, 309 pages, Rs 499.
“Being a modern Indian is hard work,” a former king tells Qayanaat, the protagonist of Anjum Hasan’s The …
An interview with Vikram Seth ♦
A version of this interview was originally published in India Today.
After the buzz around BBC’s adaptation of A Suitable …
Mekhala Bahl at Galerie Romain Rolland. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Three transport museums light up the road ahead ♦
This article is part of a longer story on Delhi’s museums.
The words “Guggenheim”and “Gurgaon” have rarely, if ever, …
Accidental Magic, Keshava Guha’s debut novel, ponders Harry Potter fandom but is light on geeky delights. ♦
Originally published in India Today.
Since Harry Potter debuted …
2010 was a red letter year for Delhi transport. The airport’s T3 was inaugurated in time to welcome athletes arriving for the Commonwealth Games; the …
In Indranee Ghosh’s memoir, food becomes a metaphor for inclusion ♦
This story was originally published in India Today.
In the introduction to her food memoir “placed in …
The old coffee store now makes drinks, because Devan is a place on earth. ♦
Stopping by recently for our go-to bag of beans (shoppers often have …
Cozy up for a friend-date ♦
Chez Nini’s decor suggests a nest, with twinkling lights, glossy tree trunk tables, branches and quite a few finely feathered …
Siddartha Deb finds life less than shiny in the new India ♦
In The Beautiful and Damned, F Scott Fitzgerald’s profligate main characters embody the two adjectives …
Help yourself to a slice of Delhi food history ♦
On a walk through Khan Market’s intestinal middle lane the other day, we came upon a …
The Turquoise Cottage veteran describes his job. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi’s “Night City” cover story.
Author Samit Basu lays out Delhi’s best-case scenario in his sci-fi novel, and it is horrific. ♦
Originally published in India Today.
Dystopia is pornographic,” says …
An interview with Alia Syed ♦
Experimental filmmaker Alia Syed was born in Swansea, Wales, to Indian and Welsh parents. Over the last thirteen years, Syed’s …
Zarina Hashmi at Gallery Espace ♦
New York-based Zarina Hashmi has lived in homes all over the world and it is fitting that her retrospective is titled …
Capital canines unleashed ♦
Dogs are both Delhi’s most maligned and best-loved creatures. From strays who know our city’s tough streets better than most people, to …
The Time Out Guide to salads in the city. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
A chef spills the beans about serving beef in India. ♦
Welcome back to Restaurant Confessionals , where we talk to the unheard voices of the restaurant industry …
A Conversation With: Literary Critic and Novelist Shamsur Rahman Faruqi ♦
India’s literary establishment is abuzz about the recently published novel “The Mirror of Beauty,” a …
Behind the scenes at Marjorie Eliot’s Parlor Entertainment jazz sessions, an uptown institution. ♦
Over the years, Count Basie, Paul Robeson and other prominent Harlem musicians and …
A midnight takeaway delivers food that would be ambitious for a sit-down restaurant. ♦
The midnight burger has become an heir of sorts to the 24/7 hot dog, …
Farewell to winter ♦
Winter ends as it began, its first and last trace a lingering scent, like the whiff of tobacco on a smoker’s shawl. …
To market, to market ♦
The Defence Colony sabzi and phalwalas are a sonorous lot, with strength in numbers and vocal prowess. Mornings sound like an …
The universe of Indian comics collectors and geeks is expanding ♦
This article is part of a cover package on new directions in Indian comics
“I had about …
Time Out Delhi’s 5th anniversary issue ♦
“For over five years, Time Out Delhi has brought you the best of what’s happening in town each fortnight, …
A group of restaurants in New York caters to Indian palates ♦
If a visitor from the USA came to India looking for kudal varuval …
Delhi artists show us their homes ♦
Time Out gets an all-access pass into the homes of some of Delhi’s best, and best-loved artists, who graciously …
In-fighting, bureaucracy and what it all means for spring gin-drinking. ♦
It’s that time of the year when rum gives way to gin, and Delhi’s …
Book Review: Killing Time in Delhi ♦By Ravi Shankar Etteth
A certain kind of book predictably gets described as a “heady cocktail” of sex, drugs, …
The new Ethiopian Cultural Centre ♦
Set in a couple of low-lying whitewashed buildings with red tiled roofs clustered around a courtyard, the unpresuming new Ethiopian …
Unpacking literary baggage ♦
The first library I fell in love with was my great-grandfather’s study in Shimla. An angular room with thick glass windows, dark …
An Odiya cook brings authentic Bengali food to Delhi, via Mumbai. ♦
We’ve had our share of fish fry, mochar chop, and radha-ballabhi at CR …
Are green buildings just ivory towers in disguise? ♦
As a changing climate and growing population stretch Delhi’s reserves of energy and water, the importance of …
Amitabha Bagchi’s second novel focuses on corruption in Delhi ♦
Naresh Kumar, the householder of the title, is having a little trouble holding his home together. …
Sacrebleu, it’s pink! ♦
This story was originally published in Conde Nast Traveller India.
Last summer, many of Khan Market’s restaurants closed during the first lockdown. …
Let’s not beat about the bush. It’s amore. ♦
Every food review has its moment of truth. Sometimes, it is a prompt lightning bolt, as blatant …
A visually impaired activist and stand-up comedian, Nidhi Goyal took up the mic to talk about the way people perceive her. ♦
Nidhi Goyal in Malad. …
Akhil Katyal chronicles Delhi’s many moods in his new poetry collection ♦
Originally published in India Today.
The
last line of Agha Shahid Ali’s poem “Chandni Chowk, …
“The Combat of Rama and Ravana”, 18th century, Coromandel Coast. Image: Met Museum
An ongoing exhibition of miniatures inspired by the Ramayana, at the Met in …
Khau gali ♦
New Delhi gives way to the old city as you cross the railway line northeast of Connaught Place. A little before Shahjahanabad proper, …
Why taking the air is a bad idea ♦
A cover story on air pollution in Delhi, from Time Out Delhi, March 2009. Read an excerpt …
Originally published as part of Khabar Lahariya’s long-form series “Sound Fury & 4G” ♦
https://youtu.be/auJn7bXcBnA
On Ram Navami, it rains flowers in Banda, in the hilly Bundelkhand …
The case for Paharganj ♦
For years, there’s been no stemming the southbound, outward drift of Delhi nightlife. The mega-clubs of Noida and Gurgaon first lured …
Artists engage with a land rights movement that touches down in Delhi this October ♦
What do a Delhi painter, an English photographer, a Swiss multimedia artist, …
Winter may well be gone, but our ashen city’s pall of pollution lingers on. A close look at Delhi’s visible air ♦
This article anchors a …
Group Show at the Visual Arts Gallery. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Learning Urdu in Delhi ♦
Growing up mostly in the US, my Hindi instruction was limited to brief bouts of Sunday school and reading that ubiquitous …
One Lajpat banker sends you chakhna and cocktail mixes; the other will rent sheesha. Compounding interest? ♦
Whether the weather, the political climate, or the deep freeze …
Fabric of our lives ♦
To get to this Hauz Khas Village eatery, you first descend a cramped alley hung with fabric, reminiscent of the Katra …
In the neighbourhood ♦
I have never found Buddhist kitsch a particularly comforting form of interior decoration. But about two weeks ago, I found myself sitting …
Theatrically sanitised restaurant meals, untouched by human hands and wrapped in meters of plastic are our new food fetish. ♦
This story was originally published …
A private detective and head of her own agency, Bhavna Paliwal is intimately familiar with Delhi’s darker side. ♦
Bhavna Paliwal in her office. Image: Abhinandita …
Rahul Dua and Kainaz Contractor’s Bhawan finally makes its brick-and-mortar debut in Gurgaon ♦
This story was originally published in Conde Nast Traveller India.
In March …
All the essentials in Paharganj ♦
Strip a bar down to its basics, and all you really need is an accommodating room, some seating, an efficient …
An interview with Sunjeev Sahota ♦
A version of this interview was originally published in India Today.
By his own admission, British writer Sunjeev Sahota’s novels …
Exploring Delhi’s burial grounds. ♦
Delhi War Cemetery
Part of a few stories for a Time Out Delhi’s “Ten spiritual trails” cover. Click to read with pictures.
Headstones …
Anuja Chauhan takes a stab at the murder mystery genre and skewers elitism in the process ♦
This story was originally published in India Today.
It’s …
The silly building name epidemic ♦
A man’s home may be his castle. But is it absolutely necessary to call it King’s Court? Absurd, westernised residential …
Seasonal rituals ♦
In the narrow confines of Eve’s tailoring shop in Greater Kailash, bunched up between the brocade-covered, sequin-strewn counters and the walls plastered with …
Street music ♦
Concerts go down in history for attracting record crowds, for the debut of a groundbreaking work, or the return of a long-absent musician …
Delhi: Unknown Tales of a City
By RV Smith
(Roli, ₹295)
Among the contemporary crop of Delhi’s flâneurs and society chroniclers, Ronald Vivian Smith is a tall figure. …
Uday Prakash’s stories bring downtrodden characters to life ♦
“I bet you’re thinking that I’m taking advantage of the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary of …
Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity ♦
Journalist Sam Miller’s new book Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity describes the British expat’s walks around town, which followed the …
Two VICE editors visit a bhang shop before Holi. ♦
With Vivek Gopal
Much like a hugely gentler version of the Purge, Holi is the one day of …
Quick bite ♦
Did someone say cheese?
Cheese Chaplin, tucked into the air-conditioned, office-like basement of a tiny building draped with bougainvillea in Lado Sarai, is primarily …
In Deepa Anappara’s Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, dangers lurk in the long shadows of Nithari and Nirbhaya ♦
Originally published in India Today.
Smog
meanders …
India’s goat farmers aren’t kidding around when they say they’re having a bad year. The months leading up to Bakr-Eid are typically the most hectic …
William Dalrymple discusses his new book on the rise of the East India Company ♦
Originally published in Mumbai Mirror.
“At the dawn of the
nineteenth century …
The civilised life in Delhi. ♦
When I came to Delhi for an exchange semester at St Stephens College, I was housed with several …
Street the heat ♦
Feeling a bit parched in puraani Dilli? Quench your thirst at these local institutions. Read the Time Out Delhi (July 2009) story as a …
The repetitiveness in Jogen Chowdhury’s works is deceptive. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Lizzie Collingham traces the journey of the biscuit from sustenance to sweet treats ♦
This story was originally published in India Today.
This summer, when migrant …
How pastoral potboilers shot to fame. ♦
YouTube star Masthanamma has garnered fans worldwide on a channel started by her grandson and his friend. Her favourite …
Performance art: History, highlights and what to see at the India Art Fair 2012 ♦
Time Out Delhi’s timeline of performance art from India and elsewhere, …
Book Review ♦ The Assassination of Indira Gandhi: The Collected Stories of Upamanyu Chatterjee, Volume I
Originally published in India Today.
From the ‘hazaar fucked’ slang …
Five Yamuna walks ♦
Cities usually consider a river to be a blessing, but us Dilliwalas tend to turn our backs to ours. We hold our …
Paramjit and Arpita Singh line their sunny nest with warm reds and leafy greens ♦
This article is part of a series on artists’ homes.
When artists Arpita …
Serving up a capital thali. ♦
Mumbai’s legendary Gujarati thali establishment opened recently in the NCR with two outlets, one in CP and one …
“Castle,” but in the cricketing sense. ♦
At first sight, Chateau seems to descend from that lineage of brunch specialists best exemplified by Olive Bar & …
Delhi’s culinary melange ♦
Part of a Time Out Delhi food cover story, this is a short history of Delhi food, plus a guide to eating in the …
A Delhi classic gets a (lagan) nu lease of life. ♦
The Zoroastrian fire temple on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg has nourished the souls of the …
“The Trip That Changed the Way I Travel” for National Geographic Traveller India. ♦
Washington DC, USA
“Welcome to the Valley of Death,” said my dance classmate …
Roadside rendezvous ♦
From its Toile de Jouy wallpaper with dancing French country couples to its aqua wrought-iron chairs and mixed-up crockery, this bakery is a …
Sampan in the way she moves. ♦
This writer is a fan of Andaz hotel’s stereotype-busting AnnaMaya restaurant, with its locally sourced vegetables and wall of …
The Modern Architecture of New Delhi ♦
Rahul Khanna, owner of Below8 bar, and Manav Parhawk, a fashion photographer, teamed up to explore Delhi’s modern architecture. …
Authentic, not atmospheric ♦
It’s been 11 years since Sakura first opened in Delhi. Since then, the city’s self-proclaimed “first Japanese restaurant” has opened a branch …
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Marking an anniversary and the National Museum of Natural History ♦
I believe it was for Time Out Delhi’s first “Beat the …
Design-makers at the British Council. ♦
This story was originally published in Time Out Delhi.
Khan Market’s sweet spot for comfort food. ♦
With two branches in Khan Market, The Big Chill is Delhi’s favourite comfort food hang-out for …
Bandage dresses, duck sausage, and Naga fireballs. Oh Mehrauli. ♦
To be seated at the bar at Bo-Tai, restaurateur Zorawar Kalra’s newest establishment, is to …
Gourmet ingredient delivery around India ♦
Originally published in India Today.
Burrata from Flanders Dairy, greens and fruit from Krishi Cress.
Not too long ago, “gourmet” was …
Rich flavours on pretty plates ♦
Delhi’s largest multilevel parking lot on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, which opened to much fanfare last year, is a desolate, glittering …
A budget weekend in purani Dilli ♦
The most difficult decision I had to make while packing for a weekend in Old Delhi, was what sort of …
Book Review ♦ New Kings of the World: The Rise and Rise of Eastern Pop Culture, By Fatima Bhutto
Originally published in Open.
As 2014’s feeble monsoon …
Suñatā Samantā: Emptiness Equality invites you to look beyond the obvious in art to see discontent and dissent ♦
Originally published in India Today.
Shades of …