Mom grew up in Delhi and used to plead with my grandmom to not pack her lunch-box with idlis, because her classmates used to call her a Madrasi, even though she had never once visited Madras. Even as recently as 87-88, I used to get bullied at in a (now ‘prestigious’) primary school if I spoke any language other than Hindi; having grown up in multiple cities, I could already speak three languages other than Hindi. That bullying was my first true taste of this whole ethnicity question; my cousins spoke Kannada and I used to speak Malayalam with friends, English in school and Telugu at home, so I was quite new to the whole language-as-an-identity thing.

While it is perhaps true that outright discrimination against Dravidian speakers has gone down, it is nevertheless still visceral and quite biting; in fact, I would say that, outside specific ethnic conclaves such as Chittaranjan Park or RK Puram, upper-middle Delhi has become even rougher for anyone outside the Punjabi-Hindu mould. I never once got stared at for speaking in Telugu or Malayalam in Bombay or Calcutta, but it’s quite common in a Delhi mall.

I love Delhi; grew up a little there, and used to visit grandparents during holidays. Love its Mughal heritage, its wide, chilly roads and consider its infrastructure to be among the best in urban India. That said, it also has had a very violent recent history; it’s all still fresh in collective memory, it’s always there, simmering just below the surface. You can never ignore it completely.

Any suggestions on what to visit in Delhi itself? Any shopping suggestions for Indian clothes: male/female/kids and especially custom tailors. We are also on the lookout for live music/vocal venues at restaurants and bars in the SouthEx/Gurgaon areas.

oh my god, this is my favorite topic on earth. definitely lodhi gardens on a winter afternoon; combine with a concert at india habitat/ india int’l center, or national gallery of modern art/humayun’s tomb/dargah at nizam-ud-din crafts museum (bhairon marg, near pragati maidan)+purana qila..make your way to ferozeshah kotla, old delhi, jama masjid and environs or go to connaught place and explore; the whole central delhi area is full of interesting buildings, definitely drive through the core of lutyens delhi; i don’t know how close you can get to the president’s house and the administrative buildings these days clothing stores i like: khan market is pricey boutiques; W [sic] is a nice store for very different western-wear friendly kurtas, sarojini nagar is cheap and fun (you’ll like it if you like a forever 21 kind of shopping experience, minus the concealed evangelism); people tell me the select city mall is good for your branded shopping needs (also south ex; i don’t know if you want saris, but nalli is supposed to be a classic; also, i know nothing about shopping for saris; i just know which kinds of weaves and designs i like). bird watching: okhla or sultanpur; you could go to bharatpur but it is a bit of a trip check out monkeys at tughlaqabad, and check out the ruins as well as the stores in hauz khas village (close-ish to citywalk) priya cinema and the area around it is teenybopper and people-watching central lotus temple used to be nice, but it’s kinda out of the way from the areas i mention oh, and the “pretty” campuses of delhi: IIT (near city walk, hauz khas) and JNU

it’s best to get a custom tailor near where you live (if you live with family and they have ones they know well). you’ll have an idea of what they really charge. plus, in my experience, even the best delhi tailors can be tardy (but they’re super talented so they’re allowed their idiosycrasies, i guess). you’ll want to remind them about your particular piece, and you might want to get a fitting in, or two if it’s something special. tell them you need your stuff at least a week before you really do.

enjoy delhi! have lots of fun! watch ‘oye lucky, lucky oye.’

Merry Christmas, everyone who celebrates!

(blockquote)Are the claimed Indraprastha and like (pre-Muslim) connections from memory or only from excavations? Are they meaningful to the city’s current culture, or only of historical note?(/blockquote)

Jef, I suspect that after 700 odd years, people stop talking about what went before, and it seems the population has always been volatile there, so that traditions of oral history would be compromised. It’s a strategic spot, though, so it must have been fortified much earlier, and it was Prithviraj Chauhan’s capital before it/he was conquered by Mohammed Gauri. Apparently, there have been excavations earlier at Purana Qila.

Dalrymple has Desi Muslim ancestors himself, so he is understandably focused on late Muslim history in Delhi, and does wonderful work, but that focus is rather narrow in terms of what you are asking on the scale of Indian history.

Here are examples of what rhymes: East, West, North, South, Shocking words come from your mouth! South, North, West, East, My hathi-cousin is a beast. West, East, South, North, Please always use Vet Vipes henceforth

Check out the museum and art gallery around india gate. this is a full day for you. you can also trundle up janpath and check out various emporia. the traffic is horrible though. even to go 400 meters one recommends a vehicle though thankfully the immediate vicinity of india gate can only be accessed on foot. see also this for red fort, jantar mantar, the delhi forest, hotels, a disco etc.
there are some watering holes in gurgaon like bangalore but access is a big problem. by the time one gets anywhere one is too pooped to enjoy anything. but then again, if you’re with some moneyed folks, they’ll probably have some flunky chauffeur you around so your mileage may vary.
if you want the ‘requisite’ marble inlay work, and you are willing to pay a little extra – your best bet is to go to handicrafts emporium on janpath – i believe that’s fairtrade and authentic ishtuff. enjoy agra and watch out for the touts.

In Agra, does anyone have recommendations for stores for the requisite marble inlay crafts? On our last visit to Agra (10+ years ago) we saw a disturbing scene: a painfully muzzled black bear being forced to dance for tourists. This poor beast subsisted on a milk diet according to the handler.

Lahore city in 1947 had a slim non-Muslim majority, but unfortunately the Lahore district as a whole had a Muslim majority and thus went to Pakistan.

As for Amritsar, it probably does have a Hindu majority; urban Indian Punjab in general is majority Hindu whereas rural Indian Punjab is overwhelmingly Sikh majority.