Sometimes a city becomes bearable because of a few places.
For me, that place has always been Mandi House. I have been visiting the area for the past six or seven years. It has slowly become my go-to place in Delhi. Whenever life feels a little too loud, I somehow find myself there. Sometimes for a play. Sometimes for food. Sometimes just to walk around without having any fixed plan.
I think good theatre has always helped me cope with bad days. There is something comforting about sitting inside a dark auditorium and watching somebody else's story unfold for two hours.
This picture was taken sometime towards the end of May 2025. I was starving, which is honestly how most of my food stories begin.
I went to Triveni Kala Sangam, one of my favourite and most peaceful places in Delhi. Triveni has a strange calmness to it. You enter from the road and suddenly the noise feels far away. There are trees, art, people sitting quietly, and that old Delhi cultural-space feeling which is difficult to explain but very easy to love.
We ordered chicken, rajma chawal, parathas and a few drinks. Nothing unnecessarily fancy. Just the kind of food you want after a long day. The chicken was warm and comforting. The rajma chawal tasted like the kind of meal you have eaten many times before but still look forward to.
After eating, we drove around Mandi House and the Lutyens part of Delhi. The roads were calm, the trees covered parts of the sky, and Delhi looked unusually kind that evening.
A play. A familiar road. Rajma chawal. Some chicken. And a quiet table inside Triveni Kala Sangam. Sometimes that is enough.