Evenings Filled with Food, Music, Shopping, and Laughter

Last week, we went on a short trip to Delhi and Agra. This was one helluva action-packed trip which could easily provide fodder for half a dozen blog posts at least. However, I take pity on you readers and try to concise it as much as possible without leaving out all the fun.

Delhi has roughly three to four months of decent weather each year. Last week, when we visited it was emerging out of the frigid cold of winter and the mercury had not yet started spiralling upwards uncontrollably, so it was a pretty good time for outdoor activities and general frivolity.

In addition, there was a series of “Celebrate Delhi” kind of events going on so we were really in the thick of things :).

One of the most amazing experiences we had was in DilliHaat. Everybody I spoke to mentioned that it was a place worth visiting for the amazing ethnic goods and cuisines available from all parts of India. Apart from that, I didn’t know anything else about the place. What a wonderful surprise to see that it was like a mela (fair) filled with musical performances, tattoo artists (oh, how the snubnose loved the tattoos!), and tons, and I mean tons of stuff to see and eat.

We started off wandering rather randomly sampling all the various goods on offer before getting seriously into shopping.

I saw the most amazing jewellery box made of porcelain, and it was really on my must-buy list. I just loved it soo much. Unfortunately, the practical side of me no-no’ed it. It would just take 2 mins for the snubnose to break it and with it my heart into a million pieces, sigh :(.

With my mind firmly controlled on practicality, I let loose in the dhurries shop. All wonderful, colorful, (and most important! xcellent quality) stuff before Mr. K reminded me that we would also need to buy another bag to lug the stuff home.

So, basically after running around like a mad chicken without a head, I settled for buying some colorful bangles, a shawl, and some cushion covers.

All the goodies we got
All the goodies we got
Pic of the shawl I got from Dillihaat
Close up showing the detail on the shawl and the bangles

While I was at it spending money, the snubnose indulged herself with a couple of tattoos, chocolates, and some cotton candy. Here is a pic of her showing off her tats 🙂

A Glum looking Mickey Mouse and a Jaundiced Butterfly
A Glum looking Mickey Mouse and a Jaundiced Butterfly

After shopping, we retreated into the various food stalls to get something to eat. We bought some dosas and vadas for the snubnose from the Tamil Nadu stall (yeah, not very adventurous, we know), but it sucked big-time, so I did not bother too much with food. The others went for the Maharashtra stall and found it very good.

While eating, we heard some melodious Sufi music and we went to get a closer look. This is what we saw…

Aman ki Asha performance by Kavita Seth
Aman ki Asha performance by Kavita Seth

A Sufi performance by Kavita Seth organized by the Times of India folks as part of the Aman ki Asha celebrations. With it, there was also an Indo-Pak food festival yumm! However, the food was still being prepared, so we just settled in to enjoy the wonderful music before heading back home.

What an absolutely awesome evening!

Second amazing evening filled with music, shopping, song, and food:

This was Valentine’s Day and we just happened to see in the newspaper that Shreya Ghoshal was performing in the Great India Place mall in Noida!! After hyper-ventilating a bit, we decided to head out there do some shopping, eat some dinner, and attend her show.

I knew this was supposed to be a big mall; what I was not prepared for was how huge and crowded and hot it would be inside. After barely 15 mins in the mall, I was fed up and dying to just chill out somewhere quietly. We had a short snack (mostly just for an opportunity to rest our legs and plan what to do next). The employees at the mall seemed to have no idea about the Shreya Ghoshal show, and we ended up running around in circles for some time until we figured out that the show was not in the mall, but in a ground outside the mall. Hurry, hurry, hurry, rush, rush, rush, and we manage to enter the show just in time to hear Shreya Ghoshal crooning some of our favorite numbers:

  • Pal Pal (Lage raho Munnabhai)
  • Jadoo Hai Nasha Hai (Jism)
  • Piyu Bole (Parineeta)
  • Barso Re (Guru)
  • Teri Ore (Singh Is Kinng)

Unfortunately, we were a little late and we missed one of my personal favorites – Bairi piya from Devdas.

Her voice is so heavenly, it is very difficult to explain how wonderful it was hanging around in the open-air, just chilling out, and listening to these songs. What a perfect choice of singer and songs for a Valentine’s evening!

Two very different but equally perfect evenings!

Huge thanks to the folks at Times of India for making our Delhi holiday so memorable!!

15 comments

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  1. Violet

    Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I love Shreya Ghosal and I’m so jealous you got to hear her live 🙂

    I went to Delhi a few years back and it was the peak of summer season, all I remember is the heat 🙂

    • Nish

      Yes, Violet…it was such an unexpected pleasure. And I am glad to say that she sang even better live 🙂

  2. Jenny

    Aw, sounds like a great time. I love those bangles! And my little sister, who is twenty and addicted to fake tattoos, would be jealous of those ones. 🙂

  3. sumanam

    You guys had loads of fun 🙂 I miss these melas and the shopping….

  4. megzone

    aawwww….. looks like u had loads of fun Nish 🙂
    and maaann.. i must say lovely accessories… loved the bangles mainly 😀
    jaundiced butterfly
    OMG 😯

    slurrpyy ur makin me hungry nish 😀
    good goin 🙂

  5. dmanji

    That was indeed what they say here ‘Suppppppperrrrrra’ trip really…. also will visit Delhi only around Feb …must… that was some cute shopping too….

  6. Kals

    Glad you had so much fun! I’ll be going to Delhi in May and I’m looking forward to it 😀

    Piyu Bole is one of my most favourite songs 🙂 Shreya is an excellent singer!

  7. Shweta

    Glad to know you had so much fun in Delhi. Looks like Snubnose enjoyed a lot.
    Didn’t I tell you DilliHaat is the place to be. I wish you were more adventurous with food there. You could have tried some more ethnic delicacies.. 🙂

    • Nish

      @Shweta: yes, I really need to thank you for the recommendations 🙂

      I would have actually tried more types of food there, but I had had a heavy lunch and wasn’t hungry at all…

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