Poulomi Deb

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.

Delhi's calendar this week can't decide if it wants to gaze mournfully at history or heckle it, so it's doing both. Two galleries are in their feelings: LATITUDE 28's Overland treats migration like a permanent hangover, while DAG dusts off Emily Eden's 1830s royal portraits and lets colonial Britain and Indian royalty side-eye each other across two centuries. Pulp Society's back with round four of its zine bazaar, for anyone who'd rather flip through paper. Onstage, Ghalib in New Delhi drags the city's longest-running play out of a nap yet again, remarkably still standing after three decades. And Aashish Solanki holds up comedy with an hours-long thesis on his own life: former maths teacher, current stand-up, spending an hour methodically working out exactly where some things went wrong. You know, like we all do.

The particular fluorescent exhaustion of a Saturday evening in Select Citywalk or DLF Avenue isn’t the end of Saket, though that has its occasional delights. This neighbourhood’s charm also exists in a fashion that I’d call the stuff of side-questers’ and souvenir-grabbers’ dreams.  A bunch of abandoned poultry sheds-turned-cafes that became South Delhi’s favourite budget film indie setting, a sixty-year-old ceramics market that’s become responsible for much of my kitchen’s contents, and arts initiatives in the most unassuming of corners… in the same neighbourhood where post-post-modern sports are kicking off, and lowkey bars compete head-to-head with hundreds of Delhi’s best in-big-building dining spots. Several of my Saket favourites are near a metro station, making most of them reachable in a single visit. But no one visits Saket just once if they live in Delhi. As these picks will likely indicate, bringing friends here is great, but it’s rewarding to give some of these spots some time alone as well.

Sure, you could do the Qutub Minar dash in twenty minutes, land at Ambawatta One to tick the box of watching the sunset spill over the monuments with a picante, and move on. Spend some more time on Mehrauli’s expanses, though, and your curiosity is rarely not rewarded. This is one of Delhi's oldest neighbourhoods, home to over 50 monuments spanning multiple dynasties – dotted with rose kulfis and steaming chai to boot.  Every year, between September and November, Phool Walon ki Sair takes place. It’s a qawwali-led festival with origins in the 19th century. For three days, Delhiites converge to offer ceremonial floral fans and tributes at two sacred sites: the dargah of 13th-century Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and the ancient Yogmaya Temple. Then… there’s a contemporary art centre and boutiques with some of India’s most bougie names in design and fusion restaurants. A rather stale phrase, that of the old and new coming together,  comes to the mind of many Delhi residents when describing the city, its gallis and buildings alike. Mehrauli is one of the few areas, personally, where you can get away with saying that and not sounding generic.  You get it. This guide, really, is just asking you to give Mehrauli the kind of time that a Delhi University south campus student would.

For all of Delhi’s weather this month of the year, the city’s queer community never fails to pack in a calendar that, at the very least, makes up for the fact that it’s too hot to hold parades in June. You’ve got your shimmer and nightlife, but you’ve also got workshops, screenings, and some brilliant creative work all month-round. These are some of the best, tried and tested. Bring your friends – or even come alone and make some. Happy Pride!

Beware, and check in on your family and friends. Statistically, one in five people in Delhi is a big old snob who will talk you through the difference between a washed and natural process Ethiopian coffee. We're well past India's third wave of coffee, of course – it's no longer something that snuck up on us, nor is it an afterthought to chai. Today, we've split in every direction: specialty brews, coffee experience centres, protein coffee, decaf, coffee with a shot of whiskey, coffee matcha – name it or don't, you'll find it. Every month brings a new trend. Delhi is the last city to shy away from anything that’s, well, strong. Whether coffee for you is a morning non-negotiable, a reluctant catch-up-with-friends vehicle, or a flavour and cream experiment, this guide runs on one very simple principle, for your sake and mine. And that is: is the coffee good?

It’s no secret that Indians who travel overseas are – much like our foreign policy in the 90s – increasingly looking east. With centuries of cultural exchange in the region, similar biomes, and shared colonial experiences, finding common threads in lifestyle and food isn’t difficult. That said, until a few years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find flavours you’d enjoyed on vacation when back home, at best trying to scratch the itch by dining at ‘pan-Asian’ restaurants with their too-similar menus and flavour profiles.  Delhi, though, can never be too far behind when it comes to perfecting food from across the world. It’s not just a post-Partition hub for dozens of folks across India, but also an expat magnet that’s carved out neighbourhoods for specific communities. Take Humayunpur, for instance – it’s the hottest place to eat and shop in the city right now, thanks to the communities from north-eastern India, Tibet, and Myanmar residing there. And it’s not just Humayunpur – true-blue Asian restaurants have blossomed across Delhi, and most are almost always full.  The key’s authenticity, after all, and sometimes, you’ve got to ditch the desi-Asian flavours to get it right. Our picks should help you navigate the bustle and find your next favourites, but remember – some of these restaurants may go small on size, but never on flavour. 

For decades, the city’s queer community navigated underground parties and whispered word-of-mouth locations. Today, the capital’s LGBTQIA+ nightlife scene is starting to boom, far beyond the confines of prioritising a safe space or someone’s parents’ house (though those never get old). You’ve got the trailblazing dance floors of Connaught Place. The free-spirited rooftops of Hauz Khas, the sophisticated mixology-forward bars of Greater Kailash, their nearby chilled-out older sibling dive bars, and those two Aurobindo Market icons that feel like they’re caught in an enemies-to-lovers trope. Delhi’s queer nightlife is more diverse than meets the eye at first. This city hosts spectacular high-decibel drag, sultry corners for dates, and spots for a cold beer, and none of them wave a rainbow flag during Pride month just for the sake of publicity. Some do lovely LGBTQ+-specific programming, while others are local haunts where inclusivity to the queer community is woven into the very fabric of their hospitality. Whether in glitter or a T-shirt, run! Crowds fill in faster on certain nights than others.

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. 

It’s an exceptionally rare day when a film isn’t being screened somewhere in Delhi out of someone’s good will. Tickets to screenings at many of these beloved spots are free or nominal; often, even in the city’s busiest or oddest hours, they draw seriously dedicated viewers and intense conversations. You really don’t have to wait for a classic old film to be digitised online or prove yourself as a buff to be let into some exclusive club. Chances are what you want to watch – and what you didn’t know you wanted to watch – are being screened, like, yesterday, with friendly people at their helm. For years now, we’ve been staying till credits roll in spots and clubs across the capital. This guide rounds up some of the best.

Despite myself, I’ve always loved Delhi. But even I can admit that when the summer inevitably drills into your skin, love can threaten to flush itself out faster than you to a cold shower. Which is enough to tell you: that weekend escape to the hills you’re planning? Everyone else is planning it too, and no, nobody listens to the itinerary recommendation of visiting between October-March instead. Luckily for you, the places on this list aren’t the ones that stick out on your feed like a sore selfie stick. These are the villages where the forest still belongs mostly to animals. Ridge-top hamlets where breakfast comes from the garden orchards, and the night sky’s actually dark enough to see stars. Some of them barely have a phone signal, but hey – you deserve to plug city life on charging mode.

Delhi’s got a little bit of everything when it comes to music – qawwalis, the ever-becoming raga, an emerging underground hip hop scene, vinyl bars, a few really cool karaoke spots. It’s slightly unfortunate then that so many recent conversations about music have strangely become limited to who the next new it-performer’s going to be and which stadium gig recently got sold out.  Let me tell you: there’s a lot more to consuming music in this city beyond fighting for an overpriced ticket on booking platforms that gleefully glitch when you think you’ve finally nabbed one. Some great opportunities to listen to stuff you like and discover new tunes often lurk in WhatsApp forwards, word of mouth, listening club sessions in basements, casual acts on bars’ spare stages, and venues for whom music isn’t even their biggest sell. This guide is a set of entry points into that city. You’ll have to work slightly harder than clicking a genre. You’ll have to watch for announcements, show up somewhere unfamiliar, trust that something worth a shot is about to begin, and even – gasp – be ready to not love every track. The best music has always required a little courage. Delhi asks for no more than that.

Centuries of astonishing history in Delhi, and a large part of how we've responded is by building a bougie sandwich shop next to a 12th-century mosque. It’s almost merciful that 1AQ is one of Mehrauli’s modern outposts, a walk away from the Qutub site and the archaeological park. It’s perhaps best known for housing the Ojas Art gallery, which leans towards contemporary, Indian and tribal-inspired art – a brief, welcome departure from ancient history. 1AQ extends into a distinctive 3,000 square feet space that also hosts a book and design shop with a shopkeeper who’ll take you up on a conversation on what you should read. My friend fondly recalls, upon jokingly saying that they were broke, that they were told the plots and authors of cheaper selections. There is also a large manicured garden with neat little statues. This space was conceptualised by Anubhav Nath and designed by Ranjit Sabhikhi. People say it’s easy to miss on the road, but that’s rubbish. All you have to do is keep your eyes peeled for the brightest primary-coloured gallery you’ll see in a city obsessed with greying out its museums. It offers more than fine arts, too; one weekend you’ll spot a saree fair on its grounds, the next there’s a concert under the enormous Banyan tree (or, if you ask a patron or employee, The Banyan) that lords over the garden. Hottest off the press at 1AQ as I write this is Zetu, Delhi’s first Sri Lankan restaurant, which I must say, makes much better use of the elegance of this spac

Monkeys clamber across 700-year-old arches at dusk. With a little less of a disturbance, parakeets streak between the trees. Wild boar have been known to trot across the path just as you're trying to photograph a tomb. Two hundred acres of history, sitting right behind one of Delhi's most visited monuments, the Qutub Minar… and visited by maybe a fraction of the crowds that pour into the complex next door.  Delhi is famously a city of cities, seven of them stacked atop each other across millennia. Mehrauli has been continuously inhabited since at least the 10th century (before the Sultanate, before the Mughals, before the British) and the park holds over a hundred monuments, spanning more than a thousand years of that story. Sultanate tombs, Mughal mosques, Lodi stepwells, a British colonial folly-turned-cafe, and the ruins of Delhi's oldest fort are all within walking distance of each other, connected by dusty forest trails and sandstone markers.  You could spend an afternoon here and feel like you've walked through several centuries. Or you could just picnic, photo-op, stare at the woods around you, spend hours talking, read. You do you. What to find and learn more about Balban’s Tomb: The first thing you encounter after entering the park: a ruined square structure with arched openings on all four sides, half-swallowed by creepers. This is the first place in India where a true stone arch and a true dome were used in construction. Rajon ki Baoli: Built in 1506 during the Lod

Finding Jugmug Thela is the sort of mini-puzzle usually reserved for good small bites found in North Delhi. A saving grace – though perhaps it slightly takes away from the charm – is that it’s easily walkable from the Saket metro station’s Gate 2. You follow hand-painted signs down a lane in Saket’s Saidulajab instead that feels one wrong turn away from someone's aunt's backyard, until fairy lights appear in the dark. And then comes that age-old massive sign. The café occupies a spot in Champa Gali, a beloved little cluster of eateries that many of us who went to college in Delhi decided was a budget indie film setting. Jugmug Thela, which often partners with sustainability NGOs, predates much of the precious-courtyard-café template. The recycled wood, the mismatched bulbs, the shelf of dusty paperbacks, the potted plants; no attempt to try too hard to be hipster, believe it or not. In fact, it could probably scoot by on vibes alone; it sometimes does. You might wonder if it’s worth delving into the fancy fusion dishes. But the food, more than being a special detour in flavour or range, is soothing, which explains why Jugmug is so popular as a last pit-stop. This is particularly true of their pastas, sandwiches, and the Jugmug Specials – their takes on street food. Pair with their masala kadak chai or hot chocolate if you want a hot drink, or a shake if cold. Service is warm, occasionally distracted on weekends when the place fills up, but that’s only to be expected. The best

Pour Over Coffee Roasters, so far, has got three distinct characters – and in concept, they nail the respective feels of their distinct surroundings. One is a suave Khan Market eatery which turns into a bar at night; one’s the earlier-to-close Santushti Complex cafe which gears more towards breakfast and a crowd of all ages, and one’s a small kiosk, perfect for to-gos, operating out of a corporate office in Noida. That’s almost like the ideal kiss-marry-kill of coffee brand outlets. As it turns out, this flexibility extends to the menu. You can sit all day and debate what constitutes a good dining spot in India’s most expensive market or a high-end shopping complex, but to be frank, as pretty as they are, it’s easy to forget once you realise how well-curated the menu is. Food, drinks (coffee and not), hard drinks: a crisply uniform 5 pages each, but a fresh mix of the old and new. Bean history flash cards and palette cleanser soda, here, do more for the experience than you think. The coffee we tried Skip your usual here and go straight for the PO Specials section of the menu, though I suppose there’s no preventing you from the manual brews if you’re that person. The Australian Mocha hits a balance between chocolate and sweetness without thickening itself into a glorified melted pudding. Still thinner is the Vanilla Cold Brew, which, no matter how many times you whisk that spoon and watch it become whiter, packs coffee so strong it could be a premature cocktail. Then rolls in

I can’t count the times that I’ve passed Seven Seeds in a summer evening auto, been caught by the glowy ochre light out of its glass-protected interiors and sentence-case tiled name, and bided my time for an occasion to visit. As it turns out, this coffee shop fits many, and by now, I’ve enjoyed them all. You could be here for a solo cappuccino and a book, a snob taste test, or post a loud-mouthed Humayunpur restro-bar hang at 3 in the morning. Being open till 4am is easily one of the best things about this place, rivalled by the fact that they do specialty coffees as well as their classics, and their surprise espresso martinis later in the night. Even when the wind slaps tissues out of your hands in the outer dining area, and chatter gets loud between not-so-far-from-each-other tables, there’s something very calm about these sky-blue walls, amusing caricatures, and road safety mirrors for decor. Not to mention music at an ideal volume – and they’ve got good taste in jazz. The coffee Many successful small coffee shops in Delhi are so because of one or two consistent picks on the menu that you can sip on while you work. You’ve got your usual choices, like the manual brew, which my friend orders. He’s the type to obsessively stalk coffee beans and their origins online before he buys roasts. And he’s quick to remark that he’s not sure if the beans are roasted fresh in-house. Whether he’s right, he appreciates that it’s smooth without the bitterness, holds its ground even as it c

Zetu’s to be found in an unobtrusive corner on the premises of one of the city’s brightest-hued art galleries, sharing candle-lit headquarters with 1AQ’s good old banyan tree. Yet, unlike so much of its surroundings in the historically wanderable Mehrauli, this restaurant isn’t something you spot by lucky chance at all. It’s Delhi’s first permanent spot for Sri Lankan food, and it was generating laborious strings of chatter long before it even opened in the neighbourhood… which just so happens to house some of the city’s fanciest eats.  You’re led inside with coconut water in hand atop a golf cart, if you so choose. I found myself straightening my back.  Sitting inside, amid cream-coloured and nicked-texture walls with a few stunning paintings (of course), strangely, I zoned out at ease. I walked around the outer dining area, where I’d recommend you take your seat, without feeling like I was inconveniencing fellow diners. As it turns out, this was built into the architecture (by co-founder Anurag Dania), what with the palm trees, ample space between tables, and music a touch too faint. It’s vaguely tropical and the light from indoors ensures you can actually enjoy candle-powered squints at the menu – but make time to see their rotating mini-exhibition inside. Sarah Nikahetiya, a co-founder here and former British diplomat to India, nods vigorously when I ask her about this. ‘I’m from a small village in Britain, and we wanted to retain a sense of community and homeliness,’ she

It’s almost bastardising to review Big Banana, simply because of the chokehold it has as one of Delhi’s absolute best dive bars. I haven’t managed to articulate this in the times I’ve been there, which were mostly spent on ordering the same things and leaving in roughly the same state of happiness, but the grandest thing I have to say is that I love it. It’s a crime that it’s often overshadowed by the biggest daddy of Delhi dive bars – 4S – but that means you can still perhaps find a table here without being jostled too much. The familiar noise of cheer around you is perfectly tempered by the sensible design of the spot: one section’s for slightly calmer catch-ups, where it’s easier to hear, and the other runs into big, grinning, sometimes messy groups of people where recognitions are common. Staff are also incredibly understanding, but firm on noise control, which is perfect. Right opposite of the larger section is a smoking room, for which cigarettes are easily picked up from thekas outside if you’ve forgotten yours. (Though you may get away with being a bum.) I’m not about to tell you what alcohol to order at a neighbourhood bar. But if you want to try out a cocktail here, by all means, do. They’re a Russian roulette in terms of stiffness (this is where it becomes even more lovely that the staff field all sorts of questions, despite how busy they are). Flavours, though, have always found their rightfully-tasted taker. The menu sticks to their names, many of which were prob

Sidecar has consistently made it to best bars of Asia lists, and there are several reasons why. We’re not gonna stick to those. Instead, bear with the ragged synapses of my brain that have been built up over my several good times here, because there’s much more to this M Block royalty than technical craft. The music I'm not being hyperbolic when I say they play better music than most bars in Delhi. And I know that sounds like a thing one says, but stay with me. Most bars treat music like a texture, something filling the silence. Some places get too precious about it, going full coffee-shop jazz. But at Sidecar, they’re doing something right.  Show up at 5.30, and you're in slow jazz territory. Not dirge-y, more like patient, setting you up. As the evening pulls in, the pace picks up, and you don't notice it happening. By 11, they have raging blues going, but it never overpowers conversation. Usually American blues and jazz from until the 90s… I don't think I've ever heard anything beyond that. They've got this absurdly extensive playlist, so repeat visits don't mean repeat songs.  The cocktails The menu keeps changing (barring some classics), mind you, but it's always done with a (not overdone) concept in mind. I tried rifling through Google to jog my memory about their latest ones, but I think it’s best I left it to the honest bits. There was this Authors menu early on: drinks supposedly favored by Philip Larkin, Tolstoy, Mark Twain, that sort of thing. (The Mark Twain drink

A love letter and a provocation. Daryaganj Gold is propped up to be an elevated offshoot of the city’s well-bitten butter chicken dynasty, dating back to the Partition. Daryaganj the chain mops rotis and hauls up malls across Delhi, and as you settle into your seat at this Aerocity outlet, you could be forgiven for thinking the kitchen’s crossed a line with overly simmering ambition. After all, Daryaganj had first brought the Gold concept to Bangkok. Pretty-to-look-at montages of history on small TV screens, and illustrated trails of the namesake neighbourhood in almost block-print style, are gorgeous decor, but also a potential reinforcement of the feeling.  It was, then, particularly striking to see what I liked the most. Not the staple mains and breads that I’m bound to expect some quality from, but the bits that I imagined I would write off as shingling. Including, believe it or not, the Gold cocktails. The Gold menu special to this outlet is – in the restaurant's own telling – a reimagination. Namely, of 1947 classics colliding with global ingredients and techniques. This framework is for a menu of pleasures and ribbons that spell ‘fusion’, rather than arguments for what’s good. But delicious pleasures are no small matter, especially not when they’re rigorously stirred nearby in huge pots – visible through a large glass window that permits, briefly, the feel of a loud, friendly North Indian kitchen. This menu has, mostly, perfected fusion to the extent that it’s irritati

When’s the last time you shook a tambourine in one hand and poked a spoon into your drink just to desperately scoop a damn good jamun sorbet out? In my defence, you could be next. A faint, circular light in the distance is what first identifies Mido Social House to me, steps away from Kailash Colony’s shockingly underrated food market. By underrated, I mean not crowded – often – sometimes even on weekends. I’m immediately skeptical. For an establishment that self-proclaimably wants to make a shareable, boisterous, almost neighbourly experience out of European dining, the décor doesn’t screech at you in the way a friendly neighbourhood bar with maximalist walls would. Like, say, Nukkad would.  Incidentally, Nukkad was founded by the same person as Mido Social House: Kanishk Tuteja. But no, Mido Social House compellingly sticks to some amount of NCR European restaurant principle. A spiral staircase and a tiny lift, that one theatrical shade of dark, sultry green pouring over both the first floor and terrace seating. Low lamp-forward lighting, crystal ashtrays, temperature-controlled water. Some amount of global posturing on the menu – pan-Asian and kebab picks, for example.  The grins and boisterousness, instead, sneak up on you. Most likely after you’ve downed a few. A DJ, popping out of nowhere late in the night, with bass-heavy hits. Tambourines, of all things, dished out like they’re hot sauce.  Do you dance?  Or do you feel a sense of loyalty to eating the pasta before it

I had a vague idea of Nadoo’s premise when I walked in for dinner: that their philosophy is an open defiance of Delhi's usual fare of South Indian food, one which typically lets dosas, idlis, and uttapams take over all tables and social media feeds – admittedly with the result of good business.  That philosophy is clearly gleaned from the formidably long menu alone, spanning multiple states of the South and some clever twists and homages, like the moniker of ‘Dunken Doughnuts’ for vadai.  But then, you look thoroughly away from the table. (There’s no situation in which you don’t.) The meditatively terracotta brown and caved interiors, a copper-encased fountain and perfectly volumed jazz that ran gentle on the ears, sectioned eating areas and two actual separate bars for their kaapi and cocktail offerings. Does this place deserve even more than being defined as a mere subversion of stereotypes? It takes not a long while to find out. Chef Shri Bala’s inventiveness is everywhere from the several chutneys and rasam offerings that taste like they could constitute entire gravies, the soft crunch of the amusing caviar idli, egg puff and fried-parotta nachos with in-house hummus repurposed from Tamil Nadu's sundal, to dishes like the green chilli chicken, which she tells me is a recipe from the hands of cooks who take leftover ingredients from the houses they work in. It’s a delicious Andhra dish – pachi mirapayakaya – but at Nadoo, it comes with fluffy baos and a slice of coconut th

Classical music is breaking out of the dark auditorium where you walk in alone, watch artists from a distance often without a word, applaud at prescribed moments, and leave. Which instrument is following the other’s tune? Is knowing what a raga is enough to talk to the person next to you?  It’s questions like these that led Sukanya Banerjee and Tejas Jaishankar to start Upstairs. The two, now partners, met in college, and Sukanya recalls a conversation where Tejas asked her, ‘Why doesn’t classical music have group meets and fan merch?’ It’s this sort of curiosity that they now seek to stamp under the tabla with their series of baithaks. At Upstairs, in living rooms lit up by lamps, the musician speaks to you. Hell, they might even get coffee with you. Stupid questions and asides to other audience members are encouraged. They swap elaborate musician bios and theoretical tid-bits for a simple explanation of what you’re about to hear, guiding you towards having that discerning ear. You will catch the smallest details in how faces change, how someone will start tapping their lap. The easy chemistry that the founders have with their audiences and performers is commendable. The music itself is best left for you to discover, and in Sukanya’s words, form your own vocabulary for.  Upstairs began in the third floor of their DDA Flats apartment in Vasant Kunj, and as they expand slowly to other venues, they’re successfully maintaining a good balance of intensity and accessibility, which

In an exhibit for kids in an urban city, you expect to be barraged by colour. But no neons or shiny plastic assault me as I walk into LOAM’s Holiday Homework. What does catch on is a sense of play, of easy joy felt in a length of time usually only accorded to kids on long summer vacation evenings at a grandparent’s house (if you’re asking pop culture, at least). This captures you in much more of a gentle beckoning than a screamy advertisement that’s meant to distract young 'uns while the adults get to business. You’re still surrounded, of course. Toys meant to be pulled and hugged and made fun of, a massive wall and upper floor of paintings, clothes the hues of which rather remind me of The Magic School Bus, mini ecosystems, rugs, kaleidoscopes that are almost missable if you’re rushing around, books to push through on beanbags. Mugs and kites and board games. Soft music that might be jazz but also might be pop.  There is a slant angled double-mirror-sided pipe that requires one kid on each end for it for the magic – or a physics lesson – to make sense. There are objects that I can’t exactly define, too, like a dollhouse made out of a vaguer version of building blocks. Harman Taneja’s got childhood objects stuck in popsicle-like blocks, described as frozen memories.  This show is entirely meant to transfix the senses – and that’s the business here. In an experimental, contemporary gallery like Method, it’s very fitting, even if you won’t find the usual caustic bite to their e

The date’s in. Saket’s new IKEA city store, housed over two floors in DLF Avenue, is set to open to the public on July 30, 2026. This is India’s fourth and Delhi’s second city-format store, with larger-scale marketplaces expected to pop up in Noida and Gurgaon in around two years. For now, we got a peek – here’s what we tried and found out about the DLF outlet.  The products IKEA India Country Commercial Manager Adosh Sharma notes that the brand is determined to grow in Delhi on priority, and he lays out how they studied South Delhi: as a neighbourhood of cafe culture and multiple shopping cultures, but also as a mini city of migrants, and one that loves its balconies and hosting gatherings and house parties. This apparently translates to what’s available. Spread over 30,000 sq. ft. of two floors, the Saket store will physically house just over 3,000 home furnishing products, with complete room sets besides furniture pieces. Currently, over 7,000 products can be purchased online from IKEA Delhi. The pieces and sets we saw stick very much to the usual IKEA fare, which is a relief, if you ask me. It’s what would keep people coming. We don’t need more international brands attempting the Chandni Chowk floral spread. The ground level will have cookware, tableware, home textiles, rugs, bed and bathshop stuff, lighting and home organisation, and small furniture, besides the billing area. The level above, accessible by escalator, has sets and pieces for living rooms, storage rooms, w

Nothing lasts forever, not even the store where you bought that leather passport holder you've never actually used for international travel. Nappa Dori's flagship warehouse store at Dhan Mill in Chhatarpur is shutting its doors by the end of July. Some context for anyone who's only ever known Dhan Mill as a place you go to for coffee and other questionable financial decisions: Nappa Dori's Dhan Mill store opened on October 14, 2017 as one of the brand's biggest outlets, conceived as part fashion-and-lifestyle store, part concept space.  Founder Gautam Sinha, who started Nappa Dori in 2010, called it the first genuine ‘concept store’ in Delhi; it came with a retail floor, a customisation centre, a library, an events space, and Cafe Dori, all inside what used to be an abandoned warehouse. The detailing extended to hand-painted signage, antiques in treasure cabinets, and Harry Potter audiobooks in the restrooms. Cafe Dori itself has pan-European, egg-and-meat-heavy brunch fare. Nine years and a lot of pretty stationery later, that chapter's closing. If you've ever used a Nappa Dori browsing session as a socially acceptable excuse to loiter around Dhan Mill before brunch, you'll know exactly what's ending here. To be clear: this is specifically the Dhan Mill location shutting down. Nappa Dori isn't disappearing from Delhi or India altogether, with other stores still running across the city and country, along with a few international locations. But Dhan Mill was the original big D

An experiment on head lice… modifying your very genes… and in the process… tinkering around with humanity. Slimy pests roped up in sci-fi nets, baited by hope. Beyond this description? You're on your own. This upcoming play in Delhi is ‘hard to capture in writing’, as writer and director Alia Sinha tells me, fully aware that it would’ve only helped her case. Before you walk in, while you’re at it, chuck every single preconception you have about puppetry out the window. Screw entertainment and puppy dog tales, at least for one evening. Clinical Trial No. 0001 is a shadow-puppetry performance that carries fever-dream promise.  When and where July 31, 6pm at The Bookshop Inc, Lodhi Colony. Book here. August 2, 4pm and 7pm at Lilanoor Center for Voice and Music, South Extension II. Book here. More about the play ‘We definitely hope to make this a recurring show and do future runs of it,’ Alia writes to me. ‘The show came about through a highly intensive and beautifully facilitated Puppetry Incubation Lab, run by Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust… The aim of the lab was to train and support the growth of new puppeteers in India, and create a network of independent puppet and material theatre makers.’ ‘I was also fortunate to be one of four grantees from the lab who received production grants to develop our shows towards a public performance. That happened in the Katkatha Puppet Fringe Festival in April this year,’ she adds. That’s around when this play screened in Delhi for the first tim

Gujarat’s Ahmedabad has two major art dates on its calendar later this year, at a time that just happens to be ripe to escape the heat and immerse yourself in broody rumination. Both these events are, notably, second attempts at a first impression. Here's what we know so far.  September: India Art Fair EDI+IONS Fresh off its Hyderabad debut, IAF EDI+IONS is India Art Fair's travelling satellite venture. It’s setting up shop in Ahmedabad on September 19 and 20. The venue, in Ahmedabad this time is a 20th-century Indo-Gothic and Renaissance style mansion which will trade its identity for a fortnight of contemporary art and design. IAF’s just announced the gallery lineup for this, and many on the list are art fair veterans. Fifteen galleries are making the trip, five of them homegrown Ahmedabad names, alongside two design participants.  Who’s exhibiting? This is still only the second edition of the experiment in taking IAF's curatorial instincts on the road, and the lineup still makes a considerable grab across the national gallery circuit: Delhi regulars Nature Morte, Vadehra Art Gallery, Shrine Empire, Threshold Art Gallery, Latitude 28 and PHOTOINK will all be present, as will Mumbai's Chatterjee & Lal and Studio Renn, and Kolkata/Mumbai's Experimenter. Akar Prakar shows up from a New Delhi/Kolkata double address, Ashvita's brings a bit of Chennai into the mix. Mumbai-based designer Ashiesh Shah is also showing. Locally, Ahmedabad's own 079 | Stories Art Gallery, Archer Art G

A couple of weeks ago, something blue and yellow crawled up along the opposite side of Select Citywalk’s main entrance in Saket, resting on a smidge of DLF Avenue’s walls. I’ll be honest, it’s easy to zone out and fiddle with your phone when you’re walking anywhere in this stretch. So it helps that IKEA is one of the most famous furniture brands in the world. The font and colours announcing its impending arrival to South Delhi are instantly recognisable. Rumours are now swirling that the store is set to open by the end of July. But IKEA’s first store in Delhi, actually, had opened in Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden, almost a year ago. It’s going to be amusing to see how the girlies of South Delhi take this one. What is IKEA? It’s known primarily for its meatballs, put-it-together-yourself kits, and being a niche date place (seriously, try out a supermarket or store date). The whole thing traces back to a small Swedish town in the 1940s with then 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad. In a plot twist every other South Delhi parent will find deeply relatable, it was funded by money his father gave him as a reward for doing well in school. He started off selling pens and wallets before pivoting to furniture in 1948, which is when the brand as we now know it properly began. The name, incidentally, isn't some Scandinavian design term you've been mispronouncing this whole time. IKEA is simply an acronym: Ingvar Kamprad's initials, followed by Elmtaryd, the farm he grew up on, and Agunnaryd, his h

Kolkata's Sick Tour, one of the outfits responsible in good will for keeping heavier music alive in the day-to-day lives of cities, is back in Delhi, as part of an ongoing run across India. Delhi Underground Fest 2 lands at Siyah Arthouse in Saket on July 11. But we’re talking about a collective that's already clocked five editions and 30-odd acts across the country. No bloated lineup here: you’ve got four underground bands in and out by the time your Uber surge pricing kicks in. (Well, no metal gig worth its screams lets you leave bloated anyway.) This show is part of Sick Tour and Kolkata Metalheads’ initiative to bring a rotating, accessible metal tour across India. That simply is not the sort of thing you see often in a scene that’s dominated by locals pouring in money who negotiate with bars to fly artists in… aside from, of course, formidable full-fledged concerts across the country, like Bangalore Open Air. This year, Sick Tour’s been primarily active in Kolkata (in, you guessed it, TopCCU) so far; they were also just in Delhi last month. For this ongoing tour, they’re curating two more shows in North Bengal’s Siliguri on July 12, which focuses artists from across Bengal, and Bengaluru on July 17… as if those folks weren’t spoiled enough with one of the country’s best metal scenes already.  Who’s performing in Delhi? Ragnhild of Pune lead with Viking/melodic death metal… folk melodies and Scandinavian influences wrapped around what the band calls stories of ancient war

Even if Delhi’s galleries are thriving right now, art openings can sometimes mean wine you don't finish and wall text you don't read. Enter a furniture design brand that probably knows you can’t sell based on a curator’s note. Objectry's ‘Body of Evidence’ is going for a first weekend where the exhibiting artists are around to explain themselves, and they’re combining it with a DJ set, drinks, and coffee.  A bit ambitious, still, to make it a full weekend evening affair, but perhaps that’s expected from Objectry. Their flagship store opened on Delhi’s MG Road earlier this year after over some 10 years in the business of furniture design, with a sleekness that brings just enough of an interesting character to a largely minimalist brand look. Now, it seems they’re bringing that care to curating events.  Curated by Shreya Josh, Body of Evidence brings together 11 artists who work with a variety of materials, and this curation’s centred on the idea of preserving memory and the acts of care in doing so. Objectry hasn’t tried to oversell what you’re going to see. The itinerary Saturday, July 12, starts with a walkthrough led by the curator around 4pm, with several of the artists in tow to talk through the materials and thinking behind their own work. And later, because why the hell not, they’re closing out with a DJ set from Direct Drive, starting 5.30pm. Presumably for anyone who's done enough looking for one day. The more sedentary half is Sunday, July 12: two panels, one with th

Bengal Biennale is back, and this time it's stretching itself across two Bengals worth of venues for over a month straight. The second edition kicks off in Santiniketan on November 25, 2026, running through January 2 2027. Kolkata joins the party on 28 November and closes out the same date.  They debuted in 2024 to a huge reception, bringing in names like Louiz Banks, Amitav Ghosh and Jogen Chowdhury and crowds across Santiniketan and Kolkata, covering literally everything from Trincas to Academy of Fine Arts. This edition is expected to again spread across roughly 20 institutional venues in the two cities, bringing together over 100 artists, performers, scholars and curators. Visva-Bharati's old modernist ties to Santiniketan meets Kolkata's gallery circuit, head-on. The full artist list, venue map and programming are yet to be announced. But if you live in or are visiting Bengal, chances are you’re landing up in either Kolkata or Santiniketan anyway, especially from around October to January. Anyone from Bengal will tell you there’s a deep appetite for para clubs, pujas and local handicraft spreads. It’s a pilgrimage that eats away at many Bengali winters until it’s done. There’s no doubt in my mind this will only add to the experience. Who’s curating the Bengal Biennale 2026-27? Chander Haat works on community-based art projects and research, rooted in collaborations in Sarsuna, South Kolkata, with residents and migrated people from Bangladesh, Bihar and Sunderbans. They r

Kaagazz_Raat has been running for seven to eight months and is already very sure of what it is… not. A couple of bold strikes: not Bollywood, not EDM, not ‘clubby’. Edition 007 lands this Saturday at Delhi’s Chica. Nida headlines, and by the way, she’s a Mumbai-born DJ quite literally on a tour across India right now. Siiry, who comes in from Hyderabad, is on support. Earthika opens. Given they’re all genre-fluid, you could expect a sick mix of house, acid phonk, techno, disco… all probably melting into each other by the time you’re out (and I don’t mean out of the bar). The timings, if you're the kind of person who plans: Earthika from 10.30pm, Siiry from 11.30pm to 12:30am, and Nida from 12:30am to close.  Kaagazz_Raat also describes itself as the bridge between India's underground and mainstream nightlife. The blue-ink florals and intricate Mughal-adjacent poster design for this edition make it clear someone thought hard about what a club in India after dark could look like without giving way to techno-industrial edge. A few cocktails on offer: filter coffee martini, mango chuski whiskey, gulab imli gin, and tequila chillum limoncello... talk about a promising ode. Speaking of techno energy, though: on the floor, we’ve got a photo booth, a permanent bracelet booth, and a claw machine.  ‘A modern Indian story told in smoke, design, and sound,’ as they put it. Difficult to fact-check… but even more difficult to argue with for a Saturday night out. And well, seven editions in

It began with the cryptic Indian newspaper ads. Then, a casual reel of Bengaluru’s Indiranagar from his account. Finally, some concert uncertainty of the fun, tizzy kind... but now we know, for sure, that British producer-songwriter-feelings machine Fred again.. is doing a debut India tour! He'll play for Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. These are also his first live shows since Italy in September 2025 and his only tour dates this year – and a full catalogue arc is expected. Tickets'll go on sale just as July rolls in on BookMyShow. Who’s Fred again..? Fred again.. (born Frederick Gibson, if you want to be formal about it) is a British producer and songwriter who has spent the better part of the last five years making electronic music that makes people cry AND dance in the club. He started out as a teenager in Brian Eno's orbit, went on to write and produce for Ed Sheeran, BTS, and Stormzy (to name a few) and then, as the creatively restless tend to do, decided the most interesting thing he could make was something of his own. The result was the Actual Life series, three albums built around voice notes, sampled conversations, and fragments of real life stitched into tracks. When: Starts 3pm. December 5 (Delhi NCR), December 9 (Mumbai), December 13 (Bengaluru) Where: Leisure Valley Ground, Delhi NCR; Mahalaxmi Race Course, Mumbai; NICE Grounds, Bengaluru Tickets: For RuPay credit card holders, sale starts July 1. General sale starts on July 5. You can pre-register for these o

For five years straight, the Rainbow Literature Festival has had a spot on December calendars for combining Delhi’s queer indie arts and craft – a force to reckon with – with serious literary programming and discussion around what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. Now, they’ve announced their sixth edition on February 6-7, keeping the weather in mind.  The rest is the drill as we know it: two days of conversations, film screenings, live music, art, a bookstore, a queer haat, food and drink. Writers, artists, activists, performers, filmmakers, and readers, all in the same place. One hundred percent of the time, you’ll end up going for a specific talk or stall and stay for much longer. The whole thing is programmed by Dwijen Dinanath Arts Foundation. And by the way… if you're looking to speak, perform, screen a film, or come on board as a sponsor or partner, the festival is accepting proposals at festivaldirector@rainbowliteraturefestival.com. Kunzum’s on board already as Bookstore Partner while Excurators is handling production. When: February 6-7, 2027 Where: Gulmohar Club, Block C, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi, Delhi 110049