Writing about Ambience Mall the other day, I mentioned that this place—what with restaurants like Yauatcha, Indigo Deli, etc—was swiftly becoming a good place to eat out. This weekend, again in the mall to do some shopping, my husband and … Continue reading
In a scene in Ánimas Trujano, the protagonist—the eponymous Ánimas, an inveterate gambler, drunk, and believer in every charm or superstition floating around—has just lost a lot of money on a cockfight. Ánimas, before the fight, had been certain he would win, because a fortune teller’s little bird had ‘told’ Ánimas’s fortune by picking out a card on which were written words to the effect that Ánimas’s luck would shine on this day.
But the bird has proved wrong, and Ánimas has lost all his money. In a fit of anger, he goes back to the fortune teller, takes the bird from him, and goes off into a deserted ruin by himself, where he raves and rants at the bird, clutching it in his fist and cursing it for not predicting his fortune correctly.
MonkeyBar opened around the same time as The Hungry Monkey, and we’d had this on our list of places to eat at ever since. Then, what with the sudden flurry of other restaurants that opened, Monkey Bar got pushed to … Continue reading
A couple of weeks back, I’d written a post here on a little-known but lovely little medieval tomb in Delhi: that of Atgah Khan, foster-father of Akbar. This tomb—Chaunsath Khamba (literally, ‘sixty-four pillars’)—is not just in close proximity to Atgah Khan’s Tomb, but also has a connection to Atgah Khan’s Tomb: Chaunsath Khamba is the tomb of Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, the son of Atgah Khan. (Incidentally, also the man who built Atgah Khan’s Tomb).
Chaunsath Khamba – a view of the tomb.
Those who frequent this blog have probably figured out by now that I have a soft spot (a very soft spot) for Muslim socials. So much so that I will watch just about any Muslim social out there, even if it features people who aren’t among my favourites. Even if it has a fairly regressive theme, and even if I end up not agreeing with half the things in the film. So, when I come across a Muslim social that stars some of my favourite actors (Sunil Dutt? Meena Kumari? Rehman? Prithviraj Kapoor? Rajendra Nath? Check, check, check), has lyrics by my favourite lyricist (Sahir Ludhianvi), and had its songs composed by one of my favourite music directors (Madan Mohan—and how appropriate, too, for a film called Ghazal to be scored by the Ghazalon ka Shahzaada): to not watch this would be a crime, I thought.
One of Mumbai’s best-known and best-loved restaurants is Indigo. I’ve been to Mumbai only a couple of times, but on my last visit to the city, two friends took me out to dinner to Indigo. The food was fabulous, and … Continue reading
There is no paucity of restaurants that serve South Indian food in Delhi, ranging from top-end (and often expensive) restaurants like Dakshin, which offers probably some of the most authentic cuisines from the Deccan; to the numerous Udupi restaurants which … Continue reading
By some odd coincidence, this is the third consecutive week that I’ve had a weekend lunch at a restaurant that had first started off in Hauz Khas Village. Yeti proved that a change in location could actually work for the … Continue reading
A couple of months back, amidst a discussion on one of my posts, fellow writer (and fellow Sahir Ludhianvi fan) Karthika Nair and I got involved—as we are apt to do—in talking about Sunil Dutt (who, coincidentally, has appeared in a number of songs written by Sahir). I realized then that I’d never compiled a list of my favourite Sunil Dutt songs. This, despite the fact that he is one of my favourite actors.
I’ve recently concluded a series of occasional mini-articles on little-known secular historical monuments in Delhi. Looking around for ideas for another series, I realized that some of my favourite historical monuments in Delhi are tombs. Yes, that might sound slightly … Continue reading
Dustedoff 