tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435016509800495612026-04-11T16:42:43.526+05:30A personalized Delhi city guide around Delhi with information and insider tips on what to see, how to travel, best shopping places, art of bargaining, what to eat, what stands out, festivals, fairs....and moreChitra Balasubramaniamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01591845643857213422noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-443501650980049561.post-20986941514886770672026-01-28T16:30:00.003+05:302026-01-28T16:30:37.277+05:30

Tillonia Bazaar or exhibition at Triveni is a regular event held each year before Diwali. The first going back to 1975. I though, visited it for the first time, this year..sounds rather silly for someone who has been living in Delhi for so long and has written so much about crafts. Actually, Diwali is such a busy time and so much happens that it is very difficult to catch it all. Nevertheless,

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My first blogpost from Gurgaon – and why not? Gurgaon is a part of NCR and all of us keep going there, as if it were our backyard! This post is also special as it was my first visit to Pehla Akshar, a teaching centre run for children of construction workers by my dear friend and batchmate Vikas Bagga and his team of like minded committed individuals. How committed Bagga is? Try this, well, he

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 The power of five continues and we look at five places where the chole Bhature is awesome. Some of these have been mentioned individually in this blog itself and there are links to it.  1.     Sita Ram Diwan Chand – My absolute favourite and they do serve the best Chole Bhature which one feels like eating all the time. Though the distance of going to Daryaganj

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I know, the title sounds more like the essay’s we were made to write in school. Now, I am told, essays, letters and precis are no longer a part of language exam repertoire. Anyways, it was a trip to a Government Office in Civil Lines, we were exhausted the distance, the attitude and at our wits end! Food or lunch was top priority and there are a plethora of options available but we headed out to

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Kamani Auditorium was where our school annual day used to be held initially. It used to be a huge space. Seeing it after years (and no I am not counting!!), the feeling was different. It is still cosy and nice. The audi which had seemed huge to a 5 year old didn’t seem that huge. A 632 seater auditorium with good acoustic, is reminiscent of what Delhi once was! Our Rendevous – It was my dear

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This was “the” place for all craft lovers. The Bankura which has been the trade mark of cottage for a long time, is iconic and reminder of the development of craft over time. It was first located at Janpath behind the shops next to the Indian Oil Building. It then moved to its own location across the road to Janpath, next to the STC Building. At the corner of Tolstoy Marg. It is one of the nicest

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There is a very old post of mine on Crafts Muesum, (you can read it here...) Crafts Museum when it was simply that. It was laid back with plenty of open spaces and no crowds. The parking was free and plentiful. The craftspersons would stay for a month and things went that way. All that has changed and the Crafts Museum in its new avatar is buzzing. There are a lot of events being held.

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Fair Trade which in its simplest sense means the trade is fair to the producer groups. Fair Trade cottons is what is relevant. Fair Trade cotton products covers the entire spectrum of home furnishings, men’s wear, women’s wear, chidren’s clothes, toys…..With cotton being emphasized the world over, for the textile sector, using Fair Trade cotton in production of garments or being certified as

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If you are in Delhi on 7th of August look out for the National Handloom celebration. The celebration start in real earnest a week or to be particular 1st of August onward. What is exciting is that the officials pull out all stops to put out a great show. In this process one witnesses handlooms of the country at its best. There are also live demonstrations of weaving taking place. One gets access

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Philately in Delhi Philately – yes the hobby of collecting stamps. There was a time when all kids worth their time would have a stamp collection. They would trade, bicker, argue, fight over the value of stamps. The stamp would be valued as per their wish. The stamps of course came from letters received from abroad from friends, relatives and more.   The million dollar question is does it

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Have you ever entered an Alladin’s cave where cashmere / pashmina shawls – new, vintage and antique, pieces of vintage textiles and row upon rolls upon rolls of new carpets and antique ones, belonging to Maharajas, made during the British Raj, made in Persia, Kashmir in wool, silk and its numerous combination are arranged in perfect synchrony? There are tribal rugs, kilms, durries, Mughal Jail

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India is a country where the language changes every kos or mile and so does the food. Therefore in a cosmopolitan city like Delhi, there are people from across the country. And to cater to this population are specific stores which sell groceries and other items from that particular state. I share below 5 stores where you can pick up South Indian grocery and odds and ends. Sree Rama Stores –

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Delhi has always been a Chai or Tea drinker's paradise. We are trying to track some coffee drinking culture across Delhi, more so on places to pick up beans, brews, percolators and more....All writings on coffee makes me remember this incident of having coffee late in the evening at a roadside dhabha in Gurgaon. Not wanting the over boiled tea, a friend produced instant coffee and gave it to the

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Summer may spell heat and dust for many, but it is production in full swing at the Kumharon ki basti. It is during the summer months that a majority of the wares that is sold during the rest of the year is made. In winter, it becomes too cold and the clay being colder makes it difficult to work. Also drying of the objects in the sun is difficult. During summers, the clay is cool to work with, it

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Alaknanda grew into a little place in its own right in the late 80s. From a market built by DDA and buildings sold by private parties, the market developed. It was a wonderful little market with shoppers from far off coming to shop there. It had an excellent shoe shop called Lucky shoes which had the best of designs. There was a nice saree shop called Neera’s sarees. There was Bhatia who had the

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It must probably be inertia or the lack of finding something exciting to write about, that the blog has languished for so long…. It is not as if I am not travelling or seeing but in this world of home deliveries and online sales, the discovery of something rare and new has taken a back seat…so what I write of newer trends, newer places and hopefully the spark will come back. Yes, it is coming

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Textiles are my biggest weakness and I have a remarkable collection of them. Some of which have been featured on the website of Long thread Media – Piecework Magazine.Piecework MagazineThe power of 5 in ancient wisdom stands for the hand with its five fingers, the range of spices in the combination of fives – panch phoren, Chinese 5 spice powders…So here comes 5 Excellent places to see Indian

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I know, all of us love shopping markets. These days, one would root for the malls and their airconditioned confines.  But there are lot of these neighbourhood markets where things are still old fashioned. Several long forgotten things are available off the shelf. They are affordable, offer you fresh products and the variety is mind boggling. It does remind you of what Delhi once was, with

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Tea Tourism is “the” thing in the tea gardens of Assam, Ooty, Kerala, Kangra….. Tea tourism or tea shopping / hopping in Delhi offers a vignette of another kind. Not only does one get to taste tea from across the country and abroad but also interact with connoisseurs who run the tea shop, who are gold mine of information. Several of them also offer infused teas, variations additions…. Have

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We reached a milestone with 100 posts, yes after years…regular writing makes achieving these milestones easier!!! In this little piece, I take a look at the humble Rafoogars that can be seen in most markets. They were a regular sight once upon a time. Today, they can be seen though in not so much quantity. Rafoogars can be called darners, who repair good clothes which has worn out or tore out.

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I am a sucker for offbeat shopping places. These hidden nooks have some excellent items and very affordable prices. Tribes Mahadev Road is one of them.  I had visited their outlet to do a story on organic products which was just becoming popular everywhere. Khadi had launched Desi Aahar and Tribes had brought out a range of organic delicious honey, organic rajma and a host of other things.

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 This is a generic piece which talks about shopping experience all over Delhi. If Delhites love one thing, it is shopping, shopping and more. And yes, my blog has paid ode to that by writing quite a few pieces on it. Every colony has its particular shopping arcade, known for atleast a couple of wonderful things. Like markets of Chittaranjan Park which stock excellent Bengali cottons,

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Sai Baba’s dictat, “I draw a man like a sparrow tied to a thread” and only a person who is meant to be his devotee is pulled into the loving fold of Sai Samarth. Despite being blessed to have Sai Nath in my life and being devoted to him, I have never attempted to write about the mandir at Lodhi Road which draws thousands of devotees. I have been there a number of times on Thursdays to offer my

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Tank Road initially was a place where export rejects in hosiery especially T-shirts could be found. Most of the dealers in Tank Road would buy consignment of stock from Tirupur or Panipat and sell it in Delhi. The buyers would be exporters looking at cheaper exports, domestic sellers of apparel, traders from Janpath and the like. Overtime, it has metamorphosised into the one stop shop for jeans

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This is the lesser known place when it comes to textile. The Weavers Service Centre has over the years done remarkable work in development of handloom textiles and its revival. A lot of revival of textiles under the venerable Martand Singh was carried out at several of the Weavers Service Centres. There is a legacy of work done under the doyens of Indian handlooms – Late Ms. Kamala Devi

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