Bombay Boy

To find/ contact people in Mumbai

2008-11-27T02:48:00.001+05:30

Pls see http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/2008/11/can-we-help.html

Udupi like you’ve never seen before

2008-10-29T13:42:00.007+05:30

Of the four southern states, perhaps the one whose cuisine is least represented in Madras, is Karnataka’s, the dozens of Udupi hotels across town notwithstanding. A majority of them serve the generic tiffin of the South and call it Udupi, just as these days every second place calls its food Chettinad. Despite this, Madras does offer the best Udupi home food you will not find even in Udupi,

Mad about kappa

2008-10-24T15:19:00.005+05:30

Velachery is Chennai's Gurgaon. Every big restaurant chain in the city has to have a branch here. Driving down its arterial 100 Feet Bypass Road, past glitzy malls, you will spot a Kumarakom, a Vasantha Bhavan, a Murugan Idly Kadai and a Triplicane Ratna Cafe. But you aren't driving all this way to find what you get back home. You come here for a homegrown Velachery-only joint which is one of the

Baksheesh Bhai

2008-09-10T19:44:00.003+05:30

He's been with me when I carried my friend's ashes home from Allahabad in May 2004. He was there on my first date with my girlfriend in July 2006, and there two years later when we went to the airport, from where she left to begin a 2-year MFA at the University of Notre Dame. For me, Baksheesh is the best taxi driver in Delhi. I wonder what he makes of me, for we couldn't be more different. He is

Can't he read it over first?

2008-08-22T11:34:00.006+05:30

It's not often that Amod K. Kanth, perpetually oiling his well-crafted public image, let's his mask slip. A mask that displays the ignorance of an arrogant man whose greatest impact during his policing tenure in the capital was on the third page of its newspaper supplements rather than on crime figures. Kanth's op-ed comments in today's Hindustan Times (Let's talk it over) suggesting that the

Bhopal kya badiya

2008-08-21T23:03:00.004+05:30

An extract from a story I wrote for Outlook Traveller in Bhopal, March, 2008 I knew I would like Bhopal when the first thing I heard on its streets was the mobile ringtone ‘Tum aa gaye ho, noor aa gaya hai’. I was sold. My first impressions? This old Nawabi jewel, today capital of Madhya Pradesh, brought to mind the capital of Andhra Pradesh. Nizami Hyderabad was the only Muslim state that

Queer Azaadi Mumbai 2008

2008-08-08T16:22:00.003+05:30

Taking the Rajdhani to Bombay with my other mumbaikarindelhi queer friends on August 14 to land up in my mother city in time for the pre-pride party, the greatest Queer Pride Parade ever and of course, the post-Pride party. I had a fantastic march in Delhi. But it's just a different feeling to march on the streets you grew up on, where you fought your first gender wars and got succour from your

Candle for Tibet

2008-08-08T15:30:00.007+05:30

These candles were lit last night as part of a coordinated global effort to light candles for Tibet. Candles were lit by Lisa, Andi, Monica, Nadine, Gita, Sonja, Shalini, Anu, Lesley and others, in Anne's garden in Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. While you enjoy the coverage of the Olympics that will unfold in Beijing starting tonight, spare a thought for the thousands of Tibetans abducted, raped,

Nigah Queer Fest 2008, New Delhi

2008-08-08T15:17:00.003+05:30

A film festival, an exhibition of queer family portraits, memorials, parties... It's all happening again this August. Nigah brings a much-needed splash of vibrant queer colour to a very grey Delhi unsure what to make of the munificent monsoon. Don't miss it. All you need to know is at thequeerfest.com.

Mylai Kavalar

2008-07-23T15:19:00.003+05:30

Mylai, or Mylapore, is a sacred, heritage precinct bounded by the Cooum and Adyar rivers on the central coast of Madras City, one of three old villages around which the colonial city would later be founded.Not often can one find so much to speak of in such a few acres. For Mylai is the birthplace of one of Tamil's greatest poets, Thiruvalluvar, and the burial site of St Thomas, Apostle of Christ

To a Goa that was

2008-07-22T18:52:00.000+05:30

This spring, a bowl of prawn curry served to me on a quiet beach in far south Goa brought tears to eyes. Not because the curry was magnificent, which it was, but because I had made friends with a man I much admired over just such a bowl of prawns, some years ago in rural Salcette.Fernando da Costa chatted with everybody who came to his restaurant. But he made friends with me that first time we

Delhi Queer Pride '08

2008-06-18T13:39:00.002+05:30

This June, for the first time, Queer Pride celebrations will erupt on the streets of Delhi, alongside simultaneous marches in Kolkata and Bangalore! Queer Pride is a celebration. It is about loving who we are, whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, hijra or straight, and affirming everyone's right to be respected for their own sexual choices.This year, queer people, friends, and allies take

Happy winter holidays

2007-12-07T18:22:00.000+05:30

To all my friends, acquaintances and barely-know-yous busy planning your winter holidays, you should know that just as it's rude to ask doctors and lawyers in social spaces for professional advice, it's irritating for travel journalists to be asked by all who know them for advice on 'where to go' and for help in making bookings. I am not a travel agent but a travel journalist. I comb the country

The Delhi Walla

2007-10-05T17:21:00.000+05:30

Mayank Austen Soofi creates some of the best coverage of lesser-known and better-known Delhi on his The Delhi Walla blog. Click that link to learn much about the secret aspects of the many Delhis, about food and shopping in this city, and view his superb photos. Genius stuff. He writes about theatre in DU, Ramzan in the Old City, the grave of Quratul-Ain Hyder in Jamia Nagar, the new foot

Chak De India fever

2007-10-01T14:25:00.000+05:30

Bali, Monica and I woke at the ungodly hour of 7 am on Sunday and ran to Ansal Plaza to get a glimpse of our heroine Komal Chautala (Uttarakhand hockey player Chitrashi Rawat), the sweet but boring Preeti Sabharwal (actress Sagarika Ghatge) and the very hot Bindiya Naik (actress Shilpa Shukla). Thousands of people, mostly kids, crowded the mall's amphitheatre to see the Chak de India stars. I'm

Late September weekend

2007-09-26T00:52:00.000+05:30

Images from a very busy weekend:Friday 9 am: Jangpura's newest residents: eight tiny pups, just a few days old, their eyes as yet unopened. Ours is one of four homes that feeds their ma, who seems quite fed up of the whole business alreadyFriday 1.30 pm: A delicious pork saltimbocca stuffed with ham and served with the creamiest mashed potatoes, at le cafe in gk i n blockSaturday 8.30 am: This

2008 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize.

2007-09-21T12:03:00.000+05:30

-- D(["mb","\u003cspan class\u003dq\>\u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\nSeptember 27 would have been the\nwriter and editor Shakti Bhatt's 27th birthday. To celebrate the\noccasion, her friends will read from her work and remember her with\npoetry, short fiction, and music. \u003cbr\>\n\u003cbr\>\u003c/span\>",1] ); D(["mb","\nThe Shakti Bhatt Foundation will announce the inaugural 2008 Shakti Bhatt First

Aditi Mangaldas snubs Narendra Modi

2007-09-20T14:17:00.000+05:30

Today renowned danseuse Aditi Mangaldas added her voice to a chorus of dissent that is growing against the odds in Gujarat. Her letter (see below), rejecting a Gujarat State Sangeet Natak Academy award, is a perfectly-delivered snub to Narendra Modi and his criminal cohorts that rule the state. What a moment of catharsis for all who have suffered violence at the hands of these men, and for all

Random lovely lunch

2007-09-19T19:03:00.000+05:30

The first of a food diary I'm beginning on random meals I've enjoyed. Today I ate a tart feta cheese and leaf salad with raspberry vinaigrette (top image) and prawns perfectly cooked with tomatoes and red wine (lower image), at Basil and Thyme. My friend Vikram had nice quiche rich with bacon.Basil and ThymeSantushti Shopping ComplexOpposite Samrat Hotel, ChanakyapuriNew DelhiTel 011-24673322,

Among the things I never want to eat...

2007-09-17T17:51:00.000+05:30

...is a chicken cock roll, even if it is made in my favourite Amritsar hotel, the lovely Astoria

Prayers in Mehrauli

2007-09-16T22:58:00.000+05:30

The monsoon hit Delhi on June 15th this year. I remember the day very well, because the rain this city had been thirsting for came down with a vengeance, at a moment most inconvenient for me.It was the day before my girlfriend was to leave for a month of study and holiday in the US. It would be the longest time we would spend apart. I went that day to the Dargah

I watched Jashn-e-Azadi

2007-09-14T14:28:00.000+05:30

A bunch of us in Delhi just had the good fortune to watch Sanjay Kak's astonishing documentary on the Kashmir conflict, Jashn-e-Azadi [How we celebrate freedom]. Screenings of his film have been disrupted in Delhi and Mumbai by police under the ruse that it does not have a censor certificate. I am proud of independent Indian film-makers who refuse to buy into this 'democracy's' attempts at

Why I love my job

2007-09-05T14:54:00.000+05:30

Doing research for a new project in South India, a writer tells me about a place called Timbuktu. Isn't that somewhere in North Africa? Yes, but it's also a place in Chennakotapalli Village, Ananthapur District, Andhra Pradesh. Timbaktu is 'Sarihaddu Rekha' in Telugu, which means where the earth meets the sky, and it is a collective that works for environmental protection. It has created a

10 most memorable meals

2007-08-31T15:31:00.000+05:30

This was a response to this post on Ritu's blog.Hmmmm, that's a very difficult list to draw up. Only 10? Oof. Well here's mine, in no particular order.1. Nameless taverna (two tables under a coconut tree), in a friend of a friend's house in Candolim, Goa: The first time I ate xinanios, lightly breaded and shallow fried fresh oysters. Also remember a very juicy steak from that night2. Velu

Mumbai riot victims: The Hari Masjid Murders

2007-08-31T00:58:00.000+05:30

This incident of cold-blooded murder of innocent, unarmed Muslims and one Hindu by police firing led by Sub Inspector Kapse took place on 10 January, 1993 within the RAK Marg Police Station jurisdiction, which is at Wadala. This case also printed verbatim from Volume II, Evidence Section of the Justice BN Srikrishna Commission's report. HARI MASJID INCIDENT24.17 There was a serious incident at

Aftab is in BIG trouble

2007-08-26T14:51:00.000+05:30

That's my boy dog, in his amma's cupboard. Let's hope for your sake she doesn't surf this way for a while, son.

Mumbai riot victims: Suleman Bakery

2007-08-13T20:20:00.000+05:30

Mumbai riots: December 1992-January 1993Today, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that his government will set up special courts to prosecute 'select serious' riot cases and rexamine some of the 539 acquittals. Whereas all cases of crimes committed during the riots should be probed, it's an opportune moment to remind him of one of the most shocking incidents that took place at

Mumbai riot victims: Zulekha Hassan Sheikh, Nazneen Zhakowala and Salma Aziz Merchant

2007-08-06T13:08:00.000+05:30

Mumbai riots, December 1992-January 1993This is the first post of a series that will print cases of rape, murder and violence inflicted on Mumbai's Muslim community by Hindu rioters and police, which have gone unpunished despite being recorded and highlighted by the Justice BN Srikrishna Commission. The cases are printed verbatim from Volume II, Evidence Section of the commission's report.The

Punish the Guilty of the Anti Muslim Pogrom of 1992-1993 in Mumbai

2007-08-04T10:52:00.000+05:30

Open letter to citizens of Mumbai, India and the world Justice for All The convictions of the accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts case are intended to be a form of redress for the 250 families who lost dear ones in the serial blasts and aim to send the message that the Indian system delivers justice for all crimes, especially mass crimes of unspeakable brutality. But the bomb blasts of March 12

Read the Srikrishna Report

2007-07-31T13:04:00.000+05:30

The entire report by Justic BN Srikrishna on the riots that affected Mumbai between December 92 and January 93 is available online here.Read it to understand why Mumbaikars are upset that only the Muslim bombers, who set off retaliatory serial blasts across the city in March 93, have been punished for their crimes, while the rioters have been let off the hook. More later...

How you get here, part II

2007-07-03T20:38:00.000+05:30

You entered these terms in Google search, and were led to me:dtc bus delhi rapeindian bombay females park cafe hidden cambombay matrimonialnon-veg sex smsmallu hot sexmasala sexbandar andargoa sausage companymonkey man mumbaihow to haleemstory behind south indian meen moileemallu masala blogskonju currymumbai criminal maya dolaslebanese grilled chickendelhi gay boy addressindian young gay boys

The Wonder Years

2007-07-01T15:12:00.001+05:30

November 16, 1991 was my 16th birthday. That morning my journalist mother’s colleague called our Andheri residence. ‘Have you heard anything about the big shootout in your area?’, he asked urgently. Shootout? This happens in Bombay? I had to go and see. My mother, who mistakenly thought the shootout was already over, let me go.I walked 10 minutes from my building on Lokhandwala Complex’s second

Searching for a cuppa in Upper Kangra

2007-06-28T19:08:00.000+05:30

I haven’t yet been fortunate enough to visit Lhasa, though I would give anything to go. My images of Tibet were formed by the wonders described by Heinrich Harrer in his first book, Seven Years in Tibet, not the post-Chinese invasion horrors Harrer speaks of in Return to Tibet. What land could be more enticing than one that is forbidden? Recent travellers say a much-scarred Lhasa may no longer be

How you get here, part I

2007-06-26T19:19:00.000+05:30

Of the many, many Google search terms that hit my blog…Some are basic, like-mumbaikarindelhi-bombay boy leslie-gay delhiI understand why some get here, like-bombay boy movie wall picture-bombay sex-Jangpura Delhi blog-mallu masalaSome ain’t so obvious, but unobjectionable, like -indian young gay boys seeking gay boy friends in bombay-non veg ringtone-Walkins at Mumbai between 25 to 30 june

Jehangir Eslah dies on World Refugee Day

2007-06-20T17:47:00.000+05:30

Officials of the UNHCR, the United Nation’s Refugee Agency, here in New Delhi, have been making pious speeches this morning to mark World Refugee Day. What their audience won’t hear about is the criminal negligence of UNHCR Delhi staff that has led to the death, this morning, of Iranian refugee Jehangir Eslah.Jahangir Eslah died at 6.30 am today. My friend called from the hospital to inform me.

And now… The Pentagon’s “gay bomb”

2007-06-13T15:14:00.000+05:30

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the “gay bomb”, stupid.American neo-cons just got even dumber. I know… that’s hard to believe. But check out their latest boy-toy fantasy here.The Pentagon explored plans for a chemical spray that would turn enemies gay. Cretinous homophobia quite apart, a spray that will make people change their sexual behaviour?! We all knew there are some pretty sick

Queer like us

2007-06-04T16:31:00.000+05:30

Just out in Delhi City LimitsBy the time you read this, the two events we’re talking about here will have passed. Both PSBT’s International Festival on Gender and Sexuality and Nigah’s Queer Fest were film festivals on sexuality, brought by two very different sets of organisers. Both radically expanded the way sexuality is talked about in Delhi’s mainstream cultural venues. I say mainstream,

Best grilled chicken in Delhi

2007-06-02T14:19:00.000+05:30

The menu couldn’t be simpler — roll a slice of Lebanese Point grilled chicken and a thick piece of pickled cucumber in an ample strip of khubboos. Dip this parcel generously into garlic cream, and munch. We promise, the crisp skin encasing salty, tender flesh, the tang of garlic in the cream, the crunch of the pickled cucumber and the chewy khubboos will come together in a crescendo of utter

Bundu Khan’s haleem: like porridge for carnivores

2007-05-31T15:44:00.000+05:30

Get to Jama Masjid’s Gate No. 1, which faces the entrance to Matia Mahal. Walk in and, just past the guys who offer you and your photographer a room for an hour, past Haji’s Khajoor Shakes, turn left towards Karim Hotel. This is Gali Kebabiyan, and just beyond Karim you will see an Islamic bookstore, beyond which the gali curves to the right. If it’s noon when you follow the curve, you will see a

Diva is my Goddess

2007-05-29T14:21:00.001+05:30

Every three months comes a moment I’ve been waiting for the previous three months, when Ritu changes the menu at Diva. Not that I look at the new menu placed before me. I am content to be fed whatever the chef thinks fit. Content to let her choose the wine. It works every time. I have yet to end a Diva evening not dazed with food and drink and without needing some support to reach my car.Last

nigah queer fest

2007-05-18T17:54:00.000+05:30

This May, Delhi hosts the coolest art event of this summer — The Nigah Queer Fest, organised by my buddies, the brilliant people of Nigah to celebrate queerness. If you challenge dominant, established norms of gender, sexuality, or just about any mainstream norms, the spaces created by this festival are your home spaces. May 25 Nigah’s Film Festival opens (6-8pm), and runs till May 27 at the

this aint funny anymore

2007-05-12T21:02:00.000+05:30

Warning This post has some very disturbing images. Proceed at your own risk.My work has been interrupted all evening by a very impudent chooha who has no business to be in my cabin. It has been running around and under my papers, between my two computers, twitching its minuscule nose at my cigarettes, calculator and whatnot, and pissing me off no end. It spent the first hour repeatedly sneaking

Ek bandar office ke andar

2007-05-02T20:16:00.000+05:30

The handsome monkey in this rather blurred photo, taken with my phone camera this morning, has been hanging about Safdarjung’s Kamal Cinema Market for years now. Outlook and Rajinder da Dhaba both colonise this market. As Outlook grows with each new publication, we occupy another office here. Our various publications and admin offices now sprawl across four buildings. Rajinder, whose mutton curry

Weekend in Corbett

2007-04-24T22:26:00.000+05:30

A short while back I emerged from a horrendous production cycle, and just hours after signing off the last few pages, escaped with Jaya to my friend Minakshi's lovely camp in Corbett. All who love the colours of autumn should visit the jungles of the Terai in spring. The new sal leaves range from light green to scarlet. New mango leaves are a bright maroon. Their colours burst out of the low

remembering shakti

2007-04-06T02:19:00.000+05:30

Sometimes at daybreak you sing a Gujarati garba.At night you open your hair in Malayalam.... - from a ghazal by Jeet Thayilshare your thoughts and memories of shakti and words for jeet here

good bye, sweet friend

2007-04-02T19:35:00.000+05:30

shakti. our excitable, beautiful, always hungry, never-to-be-forgotten friend. this is how i'll remember you — laughing under the himalayan sun. goa sausage will never taste the same again. miss you

My favourite animal

2007-03-13T18:14:00.000+05:30

From another Traveller story, don't remember whenThe June rains mean that fishing boats spend the next three months decorating deserted beaches as swimmers and boatmen alike avoid angry monsoon currents. Go to Goa in the monsoon and all you’ll get by way of fish is pickled prawn balchao and dried Bombay duck. But being here in the monsoon makes you privy to lesser-known gems of Goan kitchens.

Living in Jangpura

2007-03-09T11:29:00.001+05:30

Untrimmed version of story to be published in the Outlook City Limits March issue, out this MondayLast year in August I moved to Jangpura Extension. So many people I know, like the editor of this magazine, love Jangpura Extension. I wanted to love it too. So what if the legendary Om Hotel serves awful oily glop. And so what if the equally legendary ham sandwich of Novelty Stores is of a type that

Kochi-Ernakulam Restaurant Reviews

2007-03-07T13:45:00.000+05:30

IN FORT KOCHIMalabar House 1/268, 1/269 Parade Road, Fort Kochi Tel 2216666; malabarhouse.com; 7-10am, 12.30-2.30pm, 7-10.30pmEuro-Mallu fusion seafood is the speciality at this restaurant which offers seasonal menus. Their current winter menu, on through December, offers Kerala seafood thalis at lunch time (Rs 350), gingery red snapper with crab masala (240), seer fish, rice fish and tiger

Military meat in Chennai

2007-03-06T16:32:00.000+05:30

An extract from a story I wrote for Outlook Traveller in June 2003, in ChennaiWalk west along Luz Church Road, then turn left onto TTK Road and take a right under the flyover onto Eldham’s Road. Head in the direction of Pondy Bazaar and take the first street on the right. A marble staircase that’s none too clean leads up into dim light. This is Velu Military Hotel. If there was ever a restaurant

Stupefied in Kochi

2007-03-06T16:01:00.000+05:30

An extract from a story I wrote for Outlook Traveller in Kochi, October, 2006Walking further into Fort Kochi, towards the Bishop’s Palace, I hear the sound of drums and loud groans emerging from yet another gracefully ageing mansion and as I stop to peer inside, this time the head of the household is waiting for nosy strangers with a loud ‘Welcome’! I step in to Trevor D’Cruz’ house to find it