Poulomi Deb

The Croffle Guys are launching in the capital tomorrow, February 28, which means Delhi’s about to find out what happens when buttery, laminated croissant dough meets the hot grid of a waffle iron. Do we need another fusion snack? Will it solve your current crisis or file your taxes? No, but this brand’s croffles typically come in flavours that swing from chocolate-sweet to – yes – ghee podi idli to – yep – margarita-savoury, and you can be insufferable about it. The gist: Four friends went to Thailand, spotted a croissant dough pressed into a waffle iron, took one bite, and, essentially, never recovered. The result was a Mumbai-homed croissant-waffle hybrid brand that had all five Shark Tank India Season 5 sharks fighting over them (they walked away with ₹2.5 crore, since you asked). Now, Delhi, it's your turn. Whether you’ve had a fling with croffles at Lollapalooza or found one in a bakery 20 km away from you, now is not the time to be flaky. Chances are you’ll also be able to get your caffeine fix at the same time. Stay tuned for the address drop.

For nearly 40 years, a comedy about college students, their fancies, their dreams – a perpetually ticking and dipping genre – survived merely through YouTube and Reddit uploads, Instagram clips and stills, bundles of poetic waxed.  Arundhati Roy’s writing and acting before The God of Small Things. A flash of Shah Rukh Khan before his official debut. The directing of Pradip Krishen, known also for Electric Moon and Massey Sahib. In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, Krishen has revealed, is premiering in several Indian cities this March, for the first time since it aired on Doordarshan in 1989. I’m not wasting your time with a synopsis. Find the whimsy. Booking begins on March 8 on BookMyShow for dates of March 13-15, depending where you are. Here are the dates Krishen has confirmed via his Instagram so far: Mumbai INOX Nariman Point (Screen 5) – Mar 13: 6.30pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm INOX Metro – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm PVR Dynamix Juhu – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm INOX Inorbit Mall Malad – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm INOX Maison BKC (Screen 6) – Mar 13: 3pm Cinepolis Fun Andheri West (Audi 2) – Mar 14: 6.10pm Delhi PVR Plaza Connaught Place – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 6.30pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm PVR DLF Promenade Vasant Kunj – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm Noida PVR Superplex Logix – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm Gurgaon PVR Superplex Ambience – Mar 13: 7pm, Mar 14: 7pm, Mar 15: 4pm & 7pm Chandig

I never really knew she could dance like this. Hold your hips: Shakira is coming to India in two months’ time. The Feeding India Concert – a charity-driven live music event that has brought other global icons to Indian stages – has been teasing its 2026 headliner for a while in both Delhi and Mumbai. The District app slyly announced upcoming tickets for her dates in April, a full 9 days ahead of when they go live. Why these tickets can’t remember to forget you If you play your cards right, you’ll get an earlier shot at getting a ticket. We all know how prized those are here.  There will be an exclusive pre-sale for HSBC credit cardholders in both cities, running from February 27 at noon through March 1 at noon. They’ll get 10% off, up to ₹1,000, on checkout. General sales otherwise open on March 1 at noon. Whenever, wherever? Forget that. Given the velocity at which recent India concerts have evaporated, having a plan in place before the general sale opens is strongly advised. These are available exclusively on the District app.  By the way, when you click on to buy, the app will have an option for you to directly go to HSBC’s site to apply for a credit card. When are the gigs? Delhi: April 15, starting 4pm Mumbai: April 10, starting 4pm Where the venues are and how to get there Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Nearest metro: JLN Stadium station  Mumbai: Mahalaxmi Race Course. Nearest local train: Mahalaxmi station Whether you became a fan through the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the

Scottish artist Olivia Fraser’s solo exhibition The Journey Within is opening at Delhi's British Council on February 26, for a month. Along with her fare of using Indian miniature iconography to explore the universalist appeal of motifs like the lotus and Hindu gods, there’s more to expect. Namely, a performance that sits at the intersection of movement, soundscape, and Dhrupad-inspired live music. First and most importantly: RSVP is mandatory for the preview, so don't leave it to the last minute. Register via the link in Nature Morte's Instagram bio. The British Council's safeguarding standards are in effect throughout, and given that New Delhi's legal drinking age sits at 25, hospitality will be managed accordingly. The 7pm performance on the preview day will bring together poet-dancer Tishani Doshi, sound artist Jason Singh, visual designer Samuel T Sawain, violinist Sharat Chandra Srivastava, tabla player Gyan Singh, and lighting designer Deepa D. It's the kind of interdisciplinary collision that sounds like it could easily tip into chaos, but with this lineup, the odds are very much in the audience's favour. Since the exhibit is open till March 25, there'll be plenty of time to return for a more contemplative look. Fraser moved to India in 1989 to be with her then fiancé William Dalrymple, partly tracing the footsteps of her kinsman James Baillie Fraser, who painted Delhi's monuments and landscapes in the early 1800s. Her early work was deeply influenced by a hybrid trad

Murdoc Niccals – the animated, leather-jacketed bassist of Gorillaz – sitting cross-legged on the ghats of Varanasi at dawn, listening to the Ganga, isn’t the band’s usual image. But it captures the spirit of The Mountain, their ninth studio album, out February 27 – a record shaped in part by the fact that it was recorded partially in Mumbai, New Delhi, Jaipur, Rishikesh and Varanasi. Ahead of the album's release, Gorillaz are hosting free listening parties in five Indian cities – Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad and Mumbai – among other international locations. Entry is free, but three of these cities are already sold out. Here’s the remaining dates: Idoru in Mumbai: February 24 at 5.30 pm Rams Musique Experience in Bengaluru: February 25 at 3 pm Visit the Skillbox website to RSVP. The Indian roots While the India sessions were added after fans made a stir at the original list of locations, The Mountain’s Indian connection itself is far from an afterthought. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett both made extended trips to India during the album's creation. Albarn scattered some of his late father's ashes in the Ganga at Varanasi; Hewlett rushed to Jaipur after a family emergency.  Collaborations with other artists are regularly in the mix for Gorillaz, given their concept. This album shines a spotlight on India like no other of theirs. Like, say, the legendary Asha Bhosle on The Shadowy Light. Sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar weaves her way through multiple tracks, including the eu

For Delhi fans who've spent years watching Ye perform in Tokyo, Seoul, or Amsterdam via grainy Instagram livestreams, the wait is over. Kanye West, now known as Ye, will perform in India for the first time with a one-night stadium concert. Tickets went on sale on Wednesday via the District app, and if you were stuck in an endless queue or held back by the price tag, there's a way to lock in your spot without paying in full right now. It's called 'Pay 50% and reserve'. Wait, we’ll catch you up Tickets went on sale on February 18 at 4 pm, exclusively through the District app. Prices start at ₹6,000, ₹7,500, and ₹9,500 for the Gold category, followed by ₹10,000, ₹12,500, and ₹14,500 for Gold Premium. Platinum tickets are priced at ₹20,000, the Super Fan Zone at ₹25,000, and the top-tier Lounge category at ₹30,000 (exclusive of taxes). You can open the app, tap on the Book Tickets section, and once the sale begins, it will give you an overview of the concert venue layout, and you can select the section you need to book your tickets and proceed as instructed by the app. So what’s this ‘pay and reserve’ business? District is offering a split-payment option that lets you reserve your tickets by paying just half the total cost at checkout. The remaining 50% is due by 11.59pm on March 8 – giving you roughly three weeks to sort out the rest of the money. Instead of fronting the full amount in a panicked four-minute checkout window, you can secure your spot now and breathe a little. Whe

Hours of hard rock, blues-rock, folk and rap by musicians who have been doing this for decades, winning ears across the country. Food stalls true to the Northeast and experiences for you to power up between sets. Entry… free? The only way this is possible is a collaboration that exists precisely because of what the North East Music Festival in Delhi stands for, as they put it: sound without conflict. Its premise is positioned almost like a cultural exchange in music, sans the diplomatic niceties: you’re not being a patron of the arts and culture by joining in. Really, it seems to say that you’re missing out on some of the country’s biggest names in alternative music if you don’t go. Gates open at 2:30 pm, with what the organisers call a community-curated space of food and shared experience, before the music takes over. Here's the excellent lineup: Rewben Mashangva at 4.30pm : A Padma Shri-awarded folk artist from Manipur Borkung Hrangkhawl at 5.10pm: Rap-rock heat from Agartala in Tripura The Tetseo Sisters at 5.50pm: Mütsevelü (Mercy), Azine (Azi), Kuvelü (Kuku) and Alüne (Lulu) are a quartet from Nagaland who do something marvellous: pop-punk harmonies wrapped in folk tradition Taba Chake at 6.30pm: Will keep the folk-rock pulse alive into the early evening from Arunachal Pradesh By the time 7pm rolls around, and artists are trading stories, you'll likely realise you've been leaning forward for hours. Interactive segments with the artists: At 7pm. Reble at 7.45pm: Well, if

For three days starting today, Bengaluru’s Chamara Vajra at Jayamahal transforms into the most caffeinated patch of real estate in the subcontinent. The India International Coffee Festival 2026 – IICF, to the initiated – is more packed than ever, and it has brought with it barista finalists, roasting throwdowns, and a live band to close the whole thing out on Valentine's Day. Whether you're a specialty coffee obsessive who can talk for twenty minutes about post-harvest processing, or simply someone who'd like to see an aerial silk performance and drink something good, this festival has thought of you. We’ve seen coffee evolve into all sorts of trends – machinery evolution, protein layers, coffee raves, fruit in your cold brew, late night cuppas – and this is a good way to make sense of them. Bengaluru, of course, is the only city that could host this without it feeling like a novelty. It’s arguably the capital of India's specialty coffee scene – home to the roasters, the cafés, the obsessives, and the growers-turned-entrepreneurs. Why you should go Now in its latest edition, the IICF, helmed by the Specialty Coffee Association of India (SCAI) and supported by the Coffee Board of India, has grown into something very promising for a country where chai once reigned supreme. What makes this worth your weekend beyond the obvious pull of world-class brewing competition is the way it insists on being for everyone. The Brew Bar's walk-in hourly slots mean casual visitors can partici

A confession: I’m biased towards the smaller gallery experience. But I’ve got to say this year’s India Art Fair has, as it does every year, outdone itself. It’s a delightfully curated mix of creativity, people, and experiences, with a number of exhibits that can tire you out if you’re not careful (guilty). We’re helping you plan your day better – here are five unskippable features of the fair to pace yourself for. 1. Jayasri Burman’s I, Dharitri Photo by Poulomi DebJayasri Burman’s I, Dharitri This contemporary artist is known for still paintings of gods and goddesses, looking after you, comforting you. Now, a memory of a six-hour surgery, and seeing her severed legs, have provoked an exploration of the myth of Sati.In a multi-panel painting, seething hues of red and brown overtake a depiction of a white cotton sari. The other side of this bears the reverse imprints but in colours of the earth. I’m usually suspicious of works that try to universalise the experience of women across society. But here, attention is taken away from the very cycles of life and regeneration itself and given instead to a sacrifice. I couldn’t look away for several minutes. Equally jarring is the accompanying small set of pleasant grey-washed watercolour paintings that veer towards diary entries and poems – you’re suddenly brought back to the hyperpersonal. It’s quite the experience. Be sure to read the note with them. Where: The Art Alive gallery booth   2. The Sensory Pit by KNMA Photo by Poulom

It’s Thursday, the opening day of the India Art Fair in Delhi, blisteringly hot in the afternoon, and I’m watching a woman attack a fridge with the dedication of someone who just found out it ate her leftovers. Except the Japanese performer, Yuko Kaseki, isn’t in a revenge movie. She’s serving what the description for this performance series calls ‘conceptual cooking’.  With an open-air kitchen made by an actual Indian architect that had rather reminded me of a canteen, I’m not sure what to make of what I’m seeing yet – just agog. This is Breakfast in a Blizzard by HH Art Spaces. But don’t take that literally. Breakfast is the last thing on my mind. Kaseki – yellow-haired, face caked up in white, in a metallic dress and heels – bangs a pot. Hard. Against everything. Someone in the crowd shouts 'ME!', garnering a few chuckles. She assaults the tap, flips the dustbin lid, climbs into the oven, her heels up in the air. Somehow, this doesn’t feel like the chaos of being stuck in a calamity either. It’s all with a blank expression.  Here’s the thing: this is, of course, made for your watching, but I can’t help asking myself if I’m a spectator or voyeur. The performer even responds to birdsong in the air and escapes the kitchen, trying to grab nothing. Beside the intent viewers, other fairgoers are eating lunch, scrolling their phones, living their best lives. 'ZOMBIE MOVIEEE!' one exclaims. Reactions range as far from nervous laughter to complete ignoring. It feels even worse, yet

One day in 2008, when most Indian artists were skeptical of the format, the India Art Fair was conceptualised as a trade platform in Delhi, and though it was rooted in commerce (by galleries for collectors), it’s since blossomed into one of the most head-turning, headline-churning art galas in the country.  IAF courts modern and contemporary artists across India and South Asia, and sometimes even beyond. You’ve got cutting-edge artwork, of course, but more than that, it’s grown into a space that encourages active discussion on what art is. This time, panels on the theme ‘What Makes Art Happen’ are lined up for the weekend, as well as out-of-the-box workshops and in-person performances.  Last year saw a supremely successful show. MF Husain, SH Raza and Raja Ravi Varma were the biggest crowd pullers, but it was the textile exhibits that – quite surreptitiously – grabbed eyeballs, the most notable being Rekha Rodwittiya’s embroidery exploring gender politics. Well, the fair’s entering its seventeenth season – here’s some stuff to keep in mind.  When and where is IAF happening? When: The fair is open on February 7-8 for general entries, with the last entry time being 5pm. On Saturday, you can be there from 10am to 7pm; if you’re on a student ticket, your entry time would be 1pm. The next day holds the same time for entry, but the fair will wrap up by 6pm. Where: It’s at the Okhla NSIC Exhibition Grounds in South Delhi, where you can enter from Gate 6. That’s walking distance from

Fear not if you immediately tuned out of the union government’s Budget for the year after hearing the phrase ‘tax slabs’. It wasn’t all about big numbers – Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chalked out a plan on a fresh push for tourism in the country, and if you’ve been nursing a bucket list of places to visit, this might be the news you were waiting to hear. India's never really lacked tourists – both domestic and foreign – but the experience can, admittedly, vary widely from place to place. With domestic tourism surging since the pandemic and international arrivals steadily returning, the question of how visitors experience the country is back in focus. The Budget’s tourism proposals are framed as an attempt to fix exactly that. Here are three ways they could shape how – and where – people travel across India. Fifteen heritage sites to be revamped The Budget proposed that 15 archaeological sites be reimagined as ‘experiential cultural destinations’ for visitors, with curated walkways, interpretation centres, and immersive technology-aided storytelling. The Finance Minister named seven of these sites, across Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Ladakh. Harappan civilisation sites from the Bronze Age: The largest known settlement from the Indus Valley happens to be on this list: Rakhigarhi in Haryana. There’s also Gujarat’s Lothal, which is an old port town known for its dockyard, and Dholavira, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage city for its sophistication.S