Nitya Choubey

Busy week. Dress for all of it. The Caspian is having a moment at K3, where a five-day pop-up is putting Georgian and Azerbaijani cooking on a Delhi menu for once. Badminton fans get a rare treat with the BWF World Championships landing at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium all week, the first time India's hosted since 2009 (yes, that's a decade-plus wait for a decent excuse to yell at a shuttlecock). Imtiaz Ali holds court at the Jagran Film Festival on the 20th and 23rd, Rashmeet Kaur brings her folk-meets-everything setlist to Bharat Mandapam on the 22nd, and LOAM's Holiday Homework is still the move for anyone with a small human in tow, open right up to the 23rd. Candlelight Concert closes out the week on the 22nd, because someone you know always wants Arijit Singh by flickering candlelight.

Through the humidity and the half-hearted rain, Delhi's at it with the overcommitting again. Jokes and laughter carry our city through a lot. Kunal Kamra's touring his newest set through two cities back to back, still mining current affairs for punchlines nobody else will touch, while Brocode is betting six straight hours of stand-up can hold a room's attention – ambitious, though not unheard of for this city's appetite. Varun Grover's take on mortality and a hypothetical ketchup apocalypse might be the odder pitch of the two, but it's the kind of odd that tends to be exactly what makes this city so endearing. Of course, there’s no Delhi without its soft spots. Punjabi folk kneels into something more electronic, four languages flutter in through one musical evening, jazz keeps a steady beat going… a beat that only grows louder when you bring devotion into the mix, with Bollywood, a live band, and bhajans packed into another night. The BWF World Championships return to Delhi for the first time since 2009. Dastkar's monsoon mela is also reopening its tents as a Turkish food fest and a Korean pop-up compete for your dinner plans. Here's everything happening in Delhi this August. We suppose it won’t slip away. The best of August in Delhi at a glance:   Best music show by an emerging artist: Rashmeet Kaur’s Punjabi folk Best for shopping: Dastkar Monsoon Mela Best comedy show: Standing Up by Kunal Kamra Best sporting event: BWF World Championships | Badminton Best for bites:

Editor's note: This guide, compiled in 2026, lists the best comedy venues in Delhi, Noida and Gurugram, including stand-up comedy clubs, performance spaces, intimate studios and smaller underground venues. The list is curated by Time Out editors based on the quality and variety of comedy on offer, with a focus on venues that regularly host stand-up shows and emerging and established comedians. Delhi may arguably be the king of comedy in India. It’s got the makings of exactly THAT kind of city: brash humour, quick-as-you-please insults, a tangle of communities from across the country that just can’t stop poking fun at each other. It makes for a vaguely delightful kind of inelegance that’s played a big role in churning out some of the topic comics in India today.  Once upon a time, there were only two or three clubs that’d host standup night. Now, Delhi’s crawling with them – so are Gurugram and Noida – and not all are created equal. This guide sorts the sorted from the sordid, from underground rooms to tiny studios. Take a look, book a ticket, and laugh your head off.  Also, it's worth checking out Time Out's weekly events calendar to see which comedian's swinging with a special this week.   

According to Anurag Minus Verma, the way to Delhi's heart passes straight through a plate of seekh kebab. The man wears many hats – filmmaker, podcast host and author being just some of them – but the man’s keen on food. His whacky restaurant reviews are testament to the fact, but what he’s especially fond of is kebab-hunting. Having grown up in Jaipur, he’d had a taste of all the delightful food the Pink City’s known for and more, but not kebabs. That story only began in his college days at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Sprinting from one dhaba to another was a crash course in all of Delhi’s culinary delights. And while the capital city’s undoubtedly a melting pot, it is known for a bunch of things done exceptionally well.  Delhi’s kebabs are distinct, as Anurag puts it. For a city that sits pompously over an entire lineage of Mughlai food, they have to be. He’s sampled almost every vendor in the city, but these are the ones he goes back to over and over again.  For a complete guide to the best kebabs in Delhi, here’s Time Out’s list, curated by a local expert.

Connaught Place, locally referred to as 'CP', is perhaps the only place in Delhi to boast crowds, colonial-style buildings, five-star-hotels and good dirt-cheap food all at once.  Featuring several two-storied Georgian-style structures, Connaught Place is made up of two concentric circles: the Inner Circle and the Outer Circle, around a central park (bearing the tallest tricolour flag in the capital). Radial roads bind the two circles tightly. This is fitting, given that CP’s pretty much the epicentre of Delhi’s cuisine and shopping experience. Connaught Place was designed by Robert Tor Russell in the 1950s. Its location gives it an edge: right at the heart of the capital, close to Janpath Market, Jantar Mantar, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, and Mandi House. There’s also a high chance you might stumble upon some cute pop-up performances: a guitar solo, or a living statue.  What does it take to explore Connaught Place at its most beautiful, though? A late evening or midnight walk with friends, I'd say, coupled with this list. 

Delhi in July is no joke (except for the literal onslaught of format-pushing comedy shows across the city). There’s a glimmer of hope for patches of rain, but you wouldn’t tell it’s just a glimmer from everything that’s going on across the city this month.  Theatre and art are holding their own. Rajat Kapoor's darkly comic Macbeth – Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey, and enough meta-theatricality to give a literature professor a headache. Taj Mahal Ka Tender and Krishna Katha are doing their own interesting things a few doors down. Art that wants you to stay for hours, talk without filling your mouth with too much theory, and patiently flip through pages. Music fills in almost everything else. Jasmin Sandlas for the chaos. The Nizami Brothers for their devotion. Abish Mathew for the people who need their comedy to occasionally break into song. And you’ve got a few interesting organic markets and festivals too. But yes – the comedy scene is this month's real story. The familiar names are back – Abhishek Upmanyu, Urooj Ashfaq, Manik Mahna – but so is something harder to name: a restlessness with the standard one-person-microphone setup. This month has dating shows that pull strangers from the crowd, breakup comedy built on audience participation, and a two-hander from Delhi's own open-mic alumni.  Here's everything happening in Delhi this July.

Only in Goa could a trek end with a glass of Urrak (a cashew feni local to the region), crowned, fabulously, with a split green chilli. The ultimate reward for hacking through the protected evergreen jungles of Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in the throes of a wild, wild monsoon.  And no, I’m not even getting tipsy at an adjoining bar (there are barely any). I get to claim my reward right here, inside the sanctuary. While the monsoon isn't exactly Goa's poster season for travellers, it's when Mhadei truly shines. The Western Ghats, inside which the sanctuary sits, show me that green can also be a colour that glows. The waterfalls come alive, evenings hover around a pleasant 22°C, and the air smells of wet earth.  Events and other goings-on across Goa might slacken, but the forest is anything but slow. Whitewater rafting, waterfall bathing, adventure treks, and wildlife sightings – and that’s just some of the stuff on the table. Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary’s absolutely worth a trip to Goa in the monsoon, and hey, don’t you want to take advantage of the cheap flights?

The never-ending ruckus around chai tapris, a steady drift of classical music, natak companies running lines like opening night is today, and skateboarders slicing through the air: these sounds sum up Mandi House on any given day. This classy-yet-affordable neighbourhood in central Delhi is the closest the city gets to Broadway. But long before Mandi House became Delhi's cultural command centre, it was the private estate of Raja Sir Joginder Sen Bahadur of the former Mandi State in Himachal Pradesh – hence the name. By the 1970s, the king's grand palace had been auctioned off, making way for Doordarshan Bhawan (the OG state-run television broadcaster of newly independent India) and Himachal Bhawan. Around the same time, the area's cultural icons assembled: Lalit Kala Akademi, National School of Drama, Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, and Triveni Kala Sangam. They, along with a dozen other institutions, helped transform Mandi House from a royal address into the beating heart of Delhi's arts scene. On the other side of the loved Bengali Market is a slew of more auditoriums and performance centres: Kamani, Little Theatre Group (LTG) and Bharatiya Kala Kendra. And that's why Mandi House is the city's easiest plan: for an evening, a morning, an afternoon, or whenever you're in the mood to accidentally stumble into a play, an exhibition, a poetry reading, or a handicraft sale. If nothing else, come here for a stroll through its surprisingly quiet backlanes, lined with gorgeous

I’d say there’s a sprawling sense of wonder when it comes to Delhi’s green spaces. With any urban city, it's inevitable that the landscape will eventually, increasingly fall prey to mass concretisation and towering buildings. But in Delhi, the parks and gardens fight back. You'd be hard pressed to find the kind of green we have here: manicured and wild, punctuated by bursts of springtime flowers, or let be.  A lot of this stems from Delhi's own history: the Mughals, and their undying love for planned gardens. It's a marvel that they've endured over so many centuries, enjoying the same kind of fierce loyalty they would've back then – from emperors wandering their lawns in the sixteenth century to locals enjoying afternoon picnics today. Weekends are often planned around Sunder Nursery. Joggers will go out of their way to make sure they catch the morning light in Lodhi Garden. Only a handful of gatekeepers know about the ducks that glide over the lake in Sanjay Van. Every single garden or park is profoundly different from the other. Hell – let me put it this way: parks are an intrinsic part of Delhi life. Where else are you going to be able to pass a honking great mausoleum or stepwell in the middle of your morning walk? Here's my guide to the very best ones.

'Before you can spot a tiger in the Sundarbans, it spots you.'With that, our tour guide from the state's forest department brushes away any and every unrealistic expectation tourists (myself included) had of spotting the elusive Royal Bengal tiger here in the delta. The area's home to one of the largest populations of these tigers – some 200 or so—but they're camouflaged in the wilderness so perfectly that they're almost impossible to spot.The Sundarbans is a curious place to visit, in any case. The world's largest continuous mangrove forest, the area spans over a thousand square kilometres of coastline across the Bay of Bengal delta, shared between India and Bangladesh. Most reckon that the unique tidal system, estuarine fauna, and of course, the Royal Bengal tiger absolutely deserve its UNESCO World Heritage Site status.But I'd say there's more to it than that. There's a timelessness about the place. Every couple of years, the forest – and the sparse human settlements around it – get washed away by chaotic cyclones. Huts, animals, even coast guard posts, all swept away in the blink of an eye. Yet the forest, its animals, and its people rebuild themselves each time, again and anew. Photograph by Nitya ChoubeyA checkpost at the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve The best time to visit the mangroves, I'd say, is between November and February, when the weather isn't wringing bucketloads of sweat out of you. A two-day trip is what most people settle for, but if you want a full feel of t

From the moment I sat down with Batool for our first heart-to-heart, I felt like hours had passed. In reality, it had only been a few minutes. She’s a fluent talker – something I truthfully wasn’t too surprised by. Batool, you see, was born in Old Delhi, where people love trading in mostly two things: spices, or stories. She picked the latter.  Today, the trans-feminine public historian and conservationist loves nothing more than wandering the bylanes of all of Delhi, sniffing out the best, most delicious stories behind Delhi’s ample heritage.  Her love for history began in the eighth grade. It was the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, actually, who drew her in. That fascination eventually led her, in 2015 to land a job as a heritage and culture guide with the High Commission of Canada in India. From there, the city stopped being just a backdrop. ‘Delhi doesn't give you time before falling in love with its culture and heritage,’ she says. And it’s the public oral history of the capital, much against its written academic avatar, that flaunts greater inclusivity and nuance. Yet, it was hard for Batool to pick up authentic queer stories across Delhi. Mainstream heritage walks have a habit of brushing off queer history, while academic record-keeping’s contested and jumbled. But the sheer number of stories that lurked below the horizon kept Batool’s interest piqued, and in March 2021, she led her first-ever queer heritage trail in Delhi.  For this guide with Time Out Delhi, Batool pulled

Delhi in June is an endurance sport. The mercury has already kissed 45 degrees, and there's no relief in sight until the rains decide to show up. Has the city slowed down? Kind of. No major gigs this month, barely any outdoor festivals, and certainly no park-coded events or picnics.  That doesn’t necessarily mean June’s dull. Sure, you’ve got to shift everything back indoors and time it closer to dusk, but I see it as a chance to check out the quieter stuff the city has to offer in a month where loads of folks pack up and leave for Europe or the hills. Art, comedy, underground listening events. And this month, there are plenty of those.  Take the comedy scene: an impressive lineup of comics is descending on Delhi this month: Biswa Kalyan Rath, Manik Mahana, Gursimran Khamba, Raghuram. Also – theatre! So yeah, bust out the sunscreen, slap on your sunglasses, and make your plans. Here are some event picks worth stepping out into the heat for. 

Founded in 1972 and going strong, Akshara Theatre’s evolved in identity multiple times over. Originally a traditional theatre space, it now hosts all kinds of performances: standup shows, classical dance, workshops, television interviews, you name it. Their billboard’s always chockablock with posters telling you exactly what’s happening that week.  The space includes a modest indoor theatre, a decent-sized amphitheatre, and two other indoor performance spaces, as well as a library, a shooting and editing room for television, and a classroom that hosts theatre classes and workshops, all in a single acre of land. Don’t go by size: Akshara’s a behemoth on the Delhi performance scene. It’s a beautiful space too, with vaguely brutalist metal and stonework that makes the venue feel cool and airy even on the hottest summer day. Time Out tip: You’ll find loads of tea and snack stalls right outside the theatre – especially handy since there’s no food or drink served inside.

The Laugh Store comedy club’s a giant of the Delhi comedy scene. The ‘Hall of Fame’ right outside the club displays the pictures of A-listers who performed over the last decade: Kenny Sebastian, Akash Gupta, Manik Mahna, and many many more.  The 100-seater venue’s got a superb sound system, theatrical lighting, and a stage best suited to open mics. It’s got two outlets: one in Dwarka, and the other in Gurugram, but I’d say the latter’s more happening. Food and drink are available at affordable prices, and they’ve got a good happy hour menu too.

Sanjay Van is one of Delhi’s largest green spaces – a sprawling, almost hulkish forest that straddles Vasant Kunj and Mehrauli – two neighbourhoods that are constantly abuzz. The forest, then, is a lovely contradiction, because it’s one of the least crowded spaces in Delhi.  The area – a protected forest, by the way – actually forms part of the residual Aravalli ranges, and the terrain reflects that lineage. No two trails look alike. Some stretches are flat and easy while others will slope sharply uphill, dip into uneven paths, or wind around water bodies. Giant rocks left behind by the Aravallis jut out of the earth in several places, and loads of natural water drains zig-zag through the forest. You can imagine the wildlife here, then –  silverbills, flycatchers, parakeets, cuckoos, egrets and sparrowhawks. The massive acreage allows you to shape a nice day out of it – a picnic in one of the clearings or by Neela Hauz lake (with some duck watching to go with!), cycling through the winding trails, a bit of a hike, even.  Time Out tip: Remain watchful of monkeys and stray dogs, even though guards patrol the area. They’re usually harmless if left undisturbed, but carrying a wooden stick can help keep them at bay when needed. Rough walking shoes advised.  Entry The main entry point is near the Qutab Institutional Area in Mehrauli. 

Sunder Nursery's arguably the most popular outdoor space in all of Delhi. A 90-acre heritage park located adjacent to Humayun's Tomb and across the Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti, the nursery's served a bunch of different purposes over the centuries. What began as a garden – Azim Bagh – built by the Mughals in the 16th century was transformed into a nursery by the British during colonial-era India in their attempt to cultivate a range of different species of plants. It was finally opened to the public in 2018 after extensive renovations in its current, full glory. You'll find traces of every bit of this history in the park today: all of the 15 monuments inside date back to the Mughal era, of which six are UNESCO heritage monuments. All of them – including the Sunder Burj, Sunderwala Mahal, Lakkarwala Burj and the tomb of Mirza Muzaffar Hussain – sit comfortably within the landscaped sections of the park, instead of being cordoned off. Some are large, central, and lit up at night. Others are tucked into the woodsier corners of the park. The entire space, in fact, harkens back to the Mughal pleasure garden: central fountains, paved walkways, symmetrical lawns, shaded paths. The site, by virtue of it sitting inside the larger Humayun's Tomb complex, is incidentally a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  You'll find traces of the nursery too: the entire left wall of the space has thousands of plants on offer, with some bulbs and seed varieties starting at a throwaway ₹15. There's some sort of r

One of the more well-known parks of Delhi, Deer Park is a hotspot for two reasons: because it forms a natural, wooded outcrop of the intensely popular Hauz Khas Village, and because it’s home to several absurdly adorable deer. Because it’s so large, it’s got something for everyone: a manicured bit with lawns and flowerbeds perfect for picnicking; a densely wooded section with trails that are preferred by walkers and joggers; a rose garden; several tiny Sultanate- and Mughal-era monuments (Bagh-i-Gumbad, Kufhe Walla Gumbad, Kali Gomti); a tiny water body section shared by rabbits and ducks; and, of course, the aforementioned deer enclosure.  The park touches three neighbourhoods: Hauz Khas, Safdarjung Enclave, and Green Park. On the Hauz Khas side, the park’s connected to the Hauz Khas District Park from the inside, which features a massive lake, a view of the Hauz Khas Fort, and a little alleyway leading to countless restaurants, bars, and cafes.  Time Out tip: Avoid bringing your vehicle if you’re entering from the Hauz Khas side. It’s a pain to navigate the tourist spot, especially in the evenings.         

Jahanpanah is equal parts forest and park, spanning 435 acres of lush woods. It’s a jogger’s paradise, honestly: no screechy children, no picnicking adults, and a veil of silence interspersed sporadically with the sound of nature. The forest’s been a bit of a local secret, partly because it straddles a bunch of residential neighbourhoods, including Greater Kailash II and II, Alaknanda, Masjid Moth, Chirag Delhi, Govindpuri, and a little bit of Saket. Most entrances are unobtrusive and not too easy to locate. For this reason, the forest has a slightly mysterious, dark charm. It’s very densely forested in a way that, say, Sanjay Van perhaps isn’t – it feels much more like a wood than a jungle, if you know what I mean. The temperature drops by a couple degrees once you’re inside, and many of the paths aren’t paved. Vast sections of the forest also remain unlit at night.  Much of this is to protect the wildlife: birds including kingfishers, parakeets, hornbill, mynah, indian tree pies, babblers, bulbuls and sunbirds, and animals like the nilgai and jackal. It’s a rare treat to sometimes find a nilgai peeking out at you from behind some thick foliage. Because of the rich biodiversity, you’ll find that the park is shut during afternoon hours to give the animals a break.  Time Out tip: The tracks are winding and it’s not terribly hard to lose your way here, so keep your wits about you and perhaps don’t venture here alone after dark. Also keep in mind that this isn’t a touristy park;

Exactly when you thought Ladakh couldn't get any more adventurous, the Himalayan region is adding another cool thing to its calendar: the Suru Outdoor Fest! The event brings longboarding, rock climbing, camping, bouldering, highlining, mountain biking, music and more to Suru Valley in Kargil this September! The festival will be held over two weeks, from September 10 to 25. This is the tenth edition of the event, with over a thousand attendees expected from across 25 countries. What’s the Suru Outdoor Fest? The Suru Outdoor Fest began in 2016 with a group of friends and their crash pads. Over the past decade, the festival grew into a major multi-sport outdoor gathering in South Asia. The ten-day event takes place at Kargil's permanent outdoor bouldering area, where some of the boulders are believed to date back centuries. Throughout the festival, you can try seven adventure activities: bouldering, highlining, mountain biking, kayaking, flow arts, yoga and martial arts. Alongside these, there will be music and film screenings, which are just as much a part of the festival experience. Suru Outdoor Fest won the prestigious UIAA Rock Climbing Festival Award in 2019, and subsequent media coverage helped put Suru Valley on the global adventure map, making the festival bigger and better each year. What else to expect at Suru? Ten days is a long time to take off work, but the festival has a Wi-Fi-enabled basecamp area where you can get some work done before noon and head out to a boul

India’s last week of August 2026 is practically laser-marked for Onam, and Delhi-NCR is getting in on the celebrations with a spread of Onam sadhyas. The ten-day Hindu festival, celebrated with particular fervour in Kerala, comes to a close on 28 August, but the feasting starts well before that. Across Delhi and NCR, restaurants and hotels are laying out banana leaves, putting together elaborate sadhya menus and grooming up their spaces with flowers because, really, is there an Indian festival without a feast attached to it? And while some meals are open to interpretation, sadhya is not one of them. There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over the table just before it begins. The banana leaf laid out, waiting, the first pickle making its way onto the plate, and then, slowly, the feast taking shape dish by dish. Before you know it, that bright green leaf is covered with little mounds of rice, pickles, vegetables, curries and everything in between. In the truest sense, it's the sadhya that brings Onam its much-deserved conclusion, even when you’re celebrating far away from Kerala. For anyone looking for where to celebrate Onam in Delhi, these sadhya menus are a pretty good place to start. So, once the morning Onam pooja is done, here’s where to find Onam sadhya in Delhi and NCR for the feast. Mahabelly | Saket, Westend Marg, and more At Mahabelly, the sadhya arrives as a 23-dish spread, artfully arranged on a banana leaf before the serious business of eating begins. T

For a few, ‘working remotely’ is a full-time lifestyle. You’ve seen them: backpackers hunched over laptops while everyone else is out ticking off tourist hotspots. Millions of working professionals are ditching the 9-to-5 office grind for a more relaxed weekday. And no, it’s not a post-pandemic hangover. Instead, we've officially entered the digital nomad visa era of work. It’s basically a legal pass to swap your office cubicle for a beachside cafe, mountain valley or fancy European city square while still clocking into work. What’s a Digital Nomad Visa? Think of it as a temporary residence permit for living in one country while working remotely for a company based in another country. Digital nomad visas are valid for anything over an year.  How is it different from a tourist visa? A tourist visa usually gives you a shorter stay (typically up to 90 days). And you're technically not allowed to work on a tourist visa. Digital nomad visas, on the other hand, are designed for longer stays and let you work remotely from the host country. Some countries even throw in perks such as tax exemptions. Who’s eligible? The golden rule is that your pay check needs to come from a different country. So – working professionals, freelancers and business owners qualify. It’s just that their business should be registered outside the country where they want to live. You generally can’t use a digital nomad visa to go job-hunting locally. You’ll also need to prove you have enough money to support y

A total solar eclipse is set to light up (or rather, darken) the skies on August 12. It’s already drawing a lot of attention from stargazers and astronomers around the world, but unfortunately, India won’t be able to see the spectacle. What happens during a total solar eclipse? A total solar eclipse happens when the Moon passes directly between Earth and the Sun, completely blocking the Sun’s view. Without any sunlight, the sky darkens dramatically, almost feeling like dawn or dusk. On top of this, temperatures drop, and stars or planets might briefly pop into view in the middle of the day. Where will the eclipse be visible? According to NASA, this total solar eclipse will sweep across Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, the Atlantic Ocean and Spain. A small part of Portugal will also get a glimpse. Many other places in the Northern Hemisphere will experience a partial solar eclipse that day, including parts of the northern US, from Alaska to North Carolina, parts of Canada and Europe, and northwestern Africa. Why is it not visible in India? The main reason India is missing out comes down to one very simple thing: timing. In Indian Standard Time (IST), the eclipse window runs approximately from 9.45pm on August 12 to 2.15am on August 13. So, it’s happening at night, when the Sun will be well below the horizon. That is why you won't be able to see the eclipse. Hold the grief, because major space organisations such as NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will broadcast hig

One can see two kinds of Delhi people on August 15: those making their way to the Red Fort to participate in Independence Day celebrations, and those doing everything possible to stay away from it. Whichever camp you belong to, expect the city's roads and Metro services to operate a little differently than usual. With Independence Day celebrations returning to Old Delhi, the city is preparing for heightened security, early-morning metro services, road closures and major traffic diversions. None of this is exactly surprising, and is an annual affair.Here's everything you need to know before stepping out.  Is the Delhi Metro running on Independence Day? Yes, and earlier than usual. To help special guests and invitees reach the venue, Delhi Metro services will begin at 4am, instead of the usual 6am. According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), trains will operate at 30-minute intervals from 4am until regular services resume. If you're heading towards the Red Fort, the closest Metro stations are Lal Qila, Jama Masjid and Indraprastha. Which roads will remain closed? Several roads around the Red Fort will remain closed to the general public between 4am and 10am on August 15. Only vehicles carrying valid labels will be permitted in the area. The affected roads include Netaji Subhash Marg between Delhi Gate and Chatta Rail Chowk Lothian Road between GPO Delhi and Chatta Rail Chowk SP Mukherjee Marg between HC Sen Marg and Yamuna Bazar Chowk Chandni Chowk Road between Fount

Abstract art so often gets filed under ‘incomprehensible’. Plenty of people can’t stand subjective art, the kind that refuses to hand you a manual on what to feel. These are the gallery-goers who walk in asking: Why are there random lines on that paper? Why is this giant piece of cloth hanging from the ceiling? And the classic: What exactly am I supposed to see here? Fair enough. Not every exhibition speaks to everyone. Sometimes, subjectivity can take viewers so far from the work that the actual theme gets lost. Mool at Bikaner House, Delhi, sits somewhere between the abstract and the accessible. You may understand it. You may not. But above all, it asks you to feel. Why go? Photograph by Nitya ChoubeyPersonal objects on display The exhibition’s biggest draw is its sheer range of media. Personal objects, indigenous textiles, mud, wood, charcoal and alloy work sit alongside ink sketches, archival photographs, watercolours, sculpture, ceramics, 3D printing and assemblages. Spread across two floors, Mool rewards wandering rather than speedrunning. Give it 1-2 hours, and leave behind the urge to immediately decode what you’re seeing. What’s the Mool exhibition about? The exhibition’s most powerful summation comes on the second floor: a huge wall mapping different national borders. On paper, these are just lines. But for families, they can mean generations spent negotiating where, and what, home is. Photograph by Nitya ChoubeyFabric exhibits At its heart, Mool (meaning 'root

There’s good news for travellers looking to fly out of the country this August! Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched a 10-day Japan itinerary that checks all the travel-worthy spots: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Mount Fuji and Nara. And, obviously, there’s no skipping a ride on Japan’s iconic Shinkansen bullet train. Expect 4-star stays, meals, visa charges, local transport, sightseeing and local guides. The curated Japan tour with IRCTC comes courtesy of the excellent tourism connect between the two countries. What are the dates for travel? Travellers are to board an All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND). The flight will take off on September 6 at around 6pm, landing in Tokyo at 5am the next day. A similar seven-hour flight will get you back from Tokyo to Delhi: it departs Tokyo (HND) at 11am on September 15 and arrives in Delhi at 4:30pm. However, IRCTC says the itinerary might get updated a bit later on. What’s the itinerary? The ten-day itinerary will cover: Tokyo: Asakusa Temple, Nakamise Dori, Imperial Palace, Tokyo Tower, Ueno Park, Odaiba, TeamLab Planets and Tokyo Skytree (350m). Hakone and Mt Fuji: Mt Fuji 5th Station, Owakudani Valley, Hakone Ropeway and Hakone Pirate Ship. Nagoya: Toyota Museum and SCMAGLEV Railway Park. Kyoto: Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Kinkaku-ji Temple and Fushimi Inari Taisha. Nara: Nara Deer Park and Todai-ji Temple. Osaka: Osak

India's next blockbuster audience won't necessarily be in the metro cities! Movie nights in smaller Indian towns will get more frequent, as PVR INOX rolls out Smart Cinemas. This is a new cinema format designed for Tier III cities with budget-friendly screens. Tickets will cost around ₹150-175, roughly 30-35 per cent cheaper than those in bigger cities. And, over the next five years, PVR INOX plans to add 1,000 such screens across India. What’s a Smart Cinema? India's largest multiplex chain is looking beyond the metros, where cinephiles are already spoilt for choice with formats like IMAX and P[XL]. Meanwhile, the rest of the country has to make do with just seven cinema screens per million people (compared to nearly 100 in the US and over 40 in China). That's a pretty small number for a country that very much breathes Bollywood and even international cinema. So, PVR INOX’s simple thought was: why not bring more movie time to smaller towns? Smart Cinemas will have budget-friendly screens that cost around ₹1.9 crore each, compared to ₹3-4 crore for a conventional multiplex. Still, you can expect 2K laser projection and Dolby 7.1 surround sound inside an asset-light, franchise-led cinema complex. Where are Smart Cinemas? PVR INOX has identified nearly 300 cities where the format could roll out over the next five years! The first Smart Cinema is set to open in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, just ahead of the Independence Day weekend, with another six to seven locations expected to launch

Daman & Diu, Delhi's closest bet for beaches, Portuguese forts and a relaxed coastal evening, has surprisingly been awkward to reach from the capital. Until now, getting there usually meant enduring a 15-hour train journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin or flying to Surat before hopping on a lengthy road or rail transfer. Thankfully, that's history. Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) has launched direct scheduled flights to NAMO Airport (Daman Airport) in Daman with Alliance Air, making spontaneous beach weekends a lot more realistic for Delhiites. How expensive is the flight? According to MakeMyTrip, the limited direct flights between Daman and Delhi currently run twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays), in the morning, with a total duration of approximately three hours. You can secure a ticket for around ₹7,000. The flight, even if booked a month prior, will be slightly more expensive than a train journey. But at the fare it is currently operating at, the air journey is a significant value addition. While a train from Delhi to Daman or Surat station will cost anything between ₹800 and ₹3,500 for a day long travel before you can reach your accommodation, the flight will land you directly in central Daman, saving nothing less than 10 hours. Why Daman & Diu deserve a spot on your travel list Its Portuguese-era churches and forts, quiet palm-lined beaches, seafood and slower pace of life make Daman the perfect breather. While travellers from Gujarat and Maharashtra have l

Everyone deserves a cheap international vacation. Especially after waiting the whole year. With airlines expanding international routes from Indian cities, travelling abroad is becoming easier. And if you’re looking for a bargain, August and September are often the sweet spots: summer holiday crowds have eased, the festive-season rush is yet to begin, and flight prices tend to dip. From Southeast Asian escapes and European city breaks to offbeat destinations in Central Asia and Africa, here are some destinations where flights from India are currently among the cheapest. Thailand gets cheaper in August Bangkok’s nightlife and Phuket’s beaches have long been favourites among Indian travellers. August is one of the cheapest months to fly there, with return fares sometimes dropping to around ₹10,000–₹15,000 (depending on availability and departure city). However, Indian travellers do note: Thailand’s visa-free entry rules have changed. Those travelling under Visa Waiver or Visa on Arrival arrangements may need to carry proof of sufficient funds, including 20,000 Thai baht (approximately ₹57,000) per passenger in cash. China becomes more affordable in September China may not be the first destination that comes to mind for Indian travellers, but its cities are becoming easier to reach. September is among the cheapest months to fly to destinations such as Shanghai and Beijing, with round-trip tickets sometimes available under ₹45,000. Fares can drop further for cities like Guangzhou

What if we tell you that the biggest drop of August isn't on screens, in shops, or at shows? It's right overhead! The gorgeous Perseid meteor shower is clocking in between August 11 and 13, with its headline act scheduled for the night of August 12. That night, shooting stars are expected to streak across the sky, almost like a sci-fi film (minus the fiction, except for you dreamy folk). Since it'll be a new moon, even the faintest meteors will be easier to spot. Wait, though, before you jump for joy. There's also a villain in the story: the monsoon. Meaning much of India could be clouded over. So your best bet is the high-altitude mountains of Ladakh and Spiti Valley. Second, the rain-shadow regions of Western Rajasthan (precisely the Rann of Kutch).  For a guaranteed view of the meteor showers, head to Hanle Hanle's high altitude, exceptionally dark skies and almost non-existent light pollution make it one of India's finest places to witness the Perseid meteor shower. The village sits within the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, where local-led stargazing experiences and observatories offer visitors an immersive way to explore the night sky. If you're inspired to return, Hanle's annual Star Party in September also brings together astronomers, astrophotographers and skywatchers from across the country for several nights of telescope observations, workshops and celestial viewing under some of India's clearest skies. Will I need a telescope? Nope! The showers will be visible to the nak

After a short summer break, one of Delhi's most-loved craft bazaars is back. Dastkar's Monsoon Mela returns to Nature Bazaar in Chhatarpur with over 90 artisans and craft collectives from across India. Whether you're hunting for a statement pashmina shawl or just planning a leisurely browse, this shopping stop is worth penciling into your calendar. And here's a bonus! Your pet companion's welcome too, provided they're on a leash. What to expect? The monsoon edition will showcase traditional and contemporary crafts from across the whole country: khadi and handloom textiles, intricate embroidery, crochet, ceramics, paintings, upcycled creations, brassware, tribal copper jewellery, lac bangles and bamboo furnishings. The list is literally inextinguishable. You might even walk away with a Yak wool sweater imported from Ladakh. But the mela isn't just about shopping. A food court serving authentic regional dishes and traditional beverages from across India will keep you fueled while browsing. There will also be cultural performances, including a Gotipua dance performance from Odisha by the Kailash Gotipua Odishi Nritya Parishad. What’s Dastkar? Founded in 1981, Dastkar is a private, not-for-profit organization working with traditional craftspeople, many of whom are women and village-based artisans. Its bazaars are designed to give makers a direct platform to sell their work to customers, helping them bypass middlemen.  Beyond its exhibitions, the organisation also conducts worksho