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I'm just back from another trip to Rajasthan, and I've brought back some keepsakes - silver toe rings and a chunky silver anklet. I bought them from the airport shop in Jodhpur. Stupid, I know, because everyone knows an airport shop is overpriced. But they were irresistible, you know?You see, .. read full article »

The Shri Ram College of commerce is one of the most respected and reputed colleges in the country. Situated in Delhi and affiliated with the Delhi University it offers courses in commerce and economics for students who wish to make it big in life. It boasts of the best infrastructure and .. read full article »

College years are easily the best years of one’s life. It is that time of your life when you realise that the world is your playground and that you are capable of achieving absolutely anything that you want. That’s why it is essential that you choose a college that helps you hone your skills .. read full article »

College life in Delhi can be a lot of fun and educational at the same time if you pick the right college. Colleges that are affiliated with the Delhi University are very tough to get into and only students that have the correct attitude can win a seat at colleges that form a part of this .. read full article »

Every time I drive past the shady avenues of Lutyens Delhi, I look at the trees lining the roads, and wonder what they are.Are they local trees, native to Delhi, planted in straight lines along the avenues when Imperial Delhi was created? Or have they been imported from elsewhere? When do they .. read full article »

School can prepare you for college and college prepares you for the real world. The decisions you make when you leave school to pursue higher studies play a very important role in shaping a future for you. Daulat Ram College for women in Delhi is one of the best colleges in the country. It .. read full article »

This all girl’s college has a reputation of being one of the most prestigious colleges in Delhi University. Located in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, it is easily accessible and makes studying and enjoying the best years of your life memorable. The Jesus and Mary college has a number of courses to .. read full article »

Every time I drive around Delhi, the one thing that strikes me is sheer number of old tombs. Reminders of Delhi's Muslim elite - men and women, now long dead - appear around every corner of the road.Some of Delhi's dead lie in grand edifices commissioned by wives or sons or faithful .. read full article »

What is it with men and sports? :) My life is an unending set of matches these days.Here I am, watching Vijay Amritraj spouting sage advice on Wimbledon. A little earlier we were watching football. In between there's cricket. It's no exaggeration to say that I'm going completely insane, .. read full article »

Kirori Mal College is one of the better known colleges that are a part of Delhi University, located in the North Campus location of Delhi University. The college offers a host of under-graduate courses in the area of science, arts, liberal arts, and also has a reputation for being one of the .. read full article »

Recently I saw this poster of a tiger for the Incredible India tourism campaign:(Not all Indians are polite, hospitable and vegetarian)I burst out laughing, thinking of all the *very* polite, *very* vegetarian Indian IT professionals I know. If you're working in financial services, or .. read full article »

The Hindustan Times Brunch on Sunday had an interesting theme:Is Delhi the Indian city of the 21st century?The article argues that Calcutta - which for 300 years was the business and cultural capital of India - went from "can do" to "hobey na" between 1940-60. Staggering under the onslaught of .. read full article »

We are just back from a 3 day trip to Kanha Tiger Reserve. We flew into Nagpur, and drove 5 hours through the countryside, to a pretty lodge called Camp Dev Vilas. We did four safaris into the jungle - two in the morning, and two in the evening. By the time I came back home, I was exhausted.But .. read full article »

This morning I listened to Suprabhatam - the Dawn Prayer - as sung in the Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh.There's always been something mesmerising and calming about the sound of this morning chant. Perhaps the sound of Sanskrit appeals to me; or perhaps it is the cadence itself, or perhaps it .. read full article »

Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (CBS) is a premiere college in the area of management studies, one of the few that are imparting management studies at the Under Graduate level. The college is named after Sukhdev Thapar, a prominent freedom fighter during the pre-independence era. .. read full article »

Every now and then, I keep hearing cries from activists to stop the elephant rides in Amer Fort. These are ten minute rides, from the bottom of the hill to the fort, with a maximum of two riders to an elephant. The rides start around 8:00 a.m. and end by about 11:00 a.m.Those who call for .. read full article »

For a city with more than 10 million people which is also the capital of the country, the number of top ranked management colleges that the city has is very small indeed. Delhi has just one top 10 ranked college in India, which is a college affiliated to Delhi University, called Faculty of .. read full article »

Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) is one of the more famous colleges of Delhi, located inside the North Campus area, and is famous for its courses in the area of commerce and economics (with admission to both these courses being hotly sought after). The college was started by famous .. read full article »

Have you seen wheat being harvested anywhere in India?I hadn't seen wheat farming up close, until I walked into a golden-yellow wheat field in Rajasthan last week.I was on a trip to Agra and Bharatpur, with my friend Stephane. Everywhere along the highway we saw big overloaded tractors, looking .. read full article »

Am I the only one who finds matrimonial adverts fascinating? Here are four ads from the Hindustan Times.The first two are from Indian boys living abroad who want to marry girls from India. This of course, is a common phenomenon - taking a 'family-oriented' and 'cultured' bride from India is the .. read full article »

On a travel forum recently, a young Polish woman asked: "I am planning to go to India and would be grateful if you could tell me whether it is safe for me to go there alone. If someone has any experience in travelling on his/her own, please post your comments"Lots of people offered her advice; .. read full article »

Hansraj College is one of the better known colleges of Delhi University, although not as famous or sought after as the trio of Hindu, St. Stephens, and SRCC. Having said this, the college is pretty famous, and has a number of courses in the different streams - Arts, Commerce, and Science.Hans .. read full article »

St. Stephens college in North Delhi, in the Delhi University campus, is one of the most famous colleges in India, reputed for many of its courses, including Economics. The college has a variety of courses for both under-graduates and post-graduates, famous for arts and science courses as well. .. read full article »

It's the same old story - tigers come into conflict with humans, livestock is killed, and tigers are poisoned in response. The latest to die are two young males who went into the Keladevi Sanctuary, perhaps looking for new territory..The Keladevi Sanctuary is the buffer zone for the Ranthambhore .. read full article »

Delhi has a premiere engineering college known as the Indian Institute of Technology; however, way back in 1940, before the formation of the IIT's, Delhi had also got its own engineering college called 'Delhi College of Engineering'. It was originally known as Delhi Polytechnic, and was .. read full article »

Among the more interesting sights you will see in Agra these days is a hoarding for men's underwear: Spotted in Agra: O-bamaa underwear. With sales of $200 million, Rupa & Co is the single largest branded underwear company India. They have different brands for different market segments, endorsed .. read full article »

January was cold and foggy, with people huddled over coal fires, swathed in thick blankets. But now that February is here, the days are warmer, and the smiles brighter.People still find comfort in the coal embers, but everyone knows the winter is going away soon, and spring is on its way. .. read full article »

Modern cameras are getting more complicated, and with this increasing complexity, the number of circuits and usage of firmware / software is also increasing. When you see cameras with a higher number of Mega-pixels, or more features, and yet the size of the cameras also keep on reducing. This is .. read full article »

This morning on television, I saw the Border Security Force camel contingent practising for the Republic Day Parade on January 26. Ha, ha, I said to myself, look, camels. How quaint.The TV camera went behind the scenes, and showed little snippets of the camels stirring at dawn, and interviewed .. read full article »

For this people living in East Delhi, the nearby accessible places for pizza are Dominos, Pizza Hut, Niruals, and a few others. However, if you want to have a slightly different pizza or are looking for some variety, go in for a square pizza; that's right, a pizza that is not round, but .. read full article »

A large number of my friends and family live abroad. In the Brahmin community that I come from, this is quite common. In the 80's many went abroad to study engineering or computer science, or to do research. Most found jobs and stayed back, returning briefly to India to marry and take wives back .. read full article »

It started, as many trips do, with chaos.We were taking the 6:15 express train from Delhi to Agra. We got to the New Delhi Railway Station in time, but were met by a crazy mess of cycle-rickshaws and cars and autos and buses, all trying to get to the same place, and weaving in and out of the .. read full article »

Delhi University has a number of colleges offering courses in many different areas, and one of the most popular such colleges is Hindu College. Hindu College did not start off from the current campus, but instead started from a much more humble building in Kinari Bazar in Chandni Chowk (now more .. read full article »

As I write this, I keep glancing outside at the verandah. About 20 minutes ago, I discovered amongst my innocuous garden plants, a giant mantid.Can you spot him? He's good at hiding, you know?He is all of 6-inches long, and he's at least an inch wide. This is the biggest insect I have ever seen .. read full article »

If you are into doing a lot of shopping at Shipra Mall (it is after one of the better malls in the entire east NCR region), then you should consider the food court of Shipra Mall, called Bite Inn. The food court is of a fairly large capacity, enough that we could get seating comfortably on a .. read full article »

People are always asking me about Paranthewali Galli. What's it like? What do they serve? Is it really as tasty as they say it is? .So here's an inside look at paratha making in Paranthewali Galli - you decide if it tempts you enough to go there!.. . Step 1 - Pre-preparation - grated vegetables .. read full article »

Regular readers of the blog would know that in my quest to help out with the wedding shopping of some family members, I have gone to different parts of Delhi and learnt about the shops all over. A lot of this has been the shopping for clothes, especially the fancy types that are normally part of .. read full article »

There are times when you need to dress real well, typically if it is the wedding of a close relative, or of yourself. At such times, the trend is more towards going in for traditional stuff, or semi-traditional stuff rather than the older fashion of wearing men's western suits. Now, when you go .. read full article »

What people will do for getting some good designer sarees and suits. I have this close relative, living in South Delhi, and she wanted some good designer sarees for her brother's wedding. After some asking around, she was told of this smallish place inside a newly constructed mall in North .. read full article »

I have shifted to my new blog and hope to see all my old readers there. Do visit, stay on, say Hello, comment, criticise and be with me in this new journey. However, this blog will remain in the web, albeit silent. read full article »

Website of the hospital (link)Noida Medicare Centre (NMC) Ltd. was born on 27 April 1990 with the setting up of a 68 bedded first multi-specialty Corporate Hospital in U. P., having the only whole body CT Scan in NOIDA at that time. It has grown to be a 120 bedded centrally air-conditioned .. read full article »

Have you ever seen a Kavad? I saw one in Udaipur, and I was fascinated by it..A Kavad is an amazing wooden painted temple, with lots of panels and secret compartments that fold out to tell a story..The Kavadiya Bhats, the Priests of the Kavad, take these around from village to village.The really .. read full article »

Paras Hospital is one of the superior hospitals (a private sector hospital) located in Gurgaon. They also do the preventive full medical checkups that are now a part of modern preventive processes (find problems before the problem hits you).Some of the specialties are:Neuro SciencesJoint .. read full article »

It was a relatively free Saturday today, after few last weekends, when we decided to have breakfast outside. We have thought about having breakfast out of home earlier as well but there were not enough (read good) options for that in Noida. In Dehli, there are better breakfast and brunch options .. read full article »

Some months ago, in the heat of Delhi's summers, I was in the CP and surrounding area and was looking for some good place to eat. Due to vegetarian people in company, we wanted to go to a place having good enough vegetarian options. Initially thought about going to TGIF but then figured out that .. read full article »

I have always been fond of Tex-Mex cuisine mostly due to lots of cheese in it:). I liked going to Ruby Tuesdays earlier but they just got their menu all wrong and when I saw that they have removed Chimichanga from their menu, I stopped going there. I recent times, TGIF Noida has been my favorite .. read full article »

Shopping for ladies sarees or lehangas for the purpose of bridal wear can be difficult; you need to balance the need to wear something different from the common while ensuring that you do not pay the heaven for this; you need to have a dress that looks exclusive and incredibly beautiful while .. read full article »

When you try to define the essence of a big, ancient city like Delhi, it's hard to stick to 10 specific things. .My friend Sanjaya writes quite evocatively: "(Delhi is) many other things for me... Parathewali Gali in Chandni Chowk (a drunk Sadat Hasan Manto on a tanga near where Ghalib might .. read full article »

Sometimes, the quest for getting some fancy suits and dresses strikes a lady. Typically known as party wear type of suits, these are fancy salwar-kameez, or they may kameez with a churidar / pants. The embroidery is far more fancy than normal day to day, and they can look quite beautiful. One .. read full article »

.Shahjahanabad - yeh dilli hai mere yaar....If you open any Delhi Guide Book, you'll see the city divided into two parts - New Delhi and Old Delhi. .By Old Delhi, they mean Mughal Delhi, Shahjahanabad, the city that Shahjahan founded in the mid-1600's. It was the new capital of the Mughals, a .. read full article »