MAJNU A TILLA: Mini Tibet in Dehli

This was my first visit to majnu ka tilla. This is not a place that is extraordinarily popular as some markets of Delhi. My experience of this place was surreal if i can say so without exaggerating.

The entrance is a through a gateway which leads to a thin lane which further divides in lanes.

The monestry is like the centre of the area and is one big courtyard which you will find with people selling tea and La phing; this is a dish made of starch, the vendors take one sheet of this puts salt, oil, garlic chutney which is a huge part of tibetian food as can be found in all the restaurants here, soybean granules a bowl of this just for 30 rupees . After having one bite of it you realize that this must be an absolute soul food in Tibet.

Then we headed to the monastery and which was  a calming and my not so often encounter with religious place. the monastery has a huge prayer wheel around 10 feet tall.

lamps at the entrance of monastery 

Then we headed further with our expedition and with every step in the lanes I felt more and more like a tourist in my own city.

There are so many charismatic places in Delhi one of the most diverse city of India currently the 9th civilization of its own. With every street having its own story and offering different experiences I had never felt like a tourist before in my own city.

I roamed about the streets ike a curious child with something new a every turn.The lanes are filled with shops selling incense sticks, teas, traditional clothes along with imported shoes, knock offs of various brands, shops selling gems and stones, silver jewelry, more shops selling la phing, momos stall, shops selling mantra streamers, true Tibetan ingredients.

Shop selling tibetan ingredient.

We sat down at Tee Dee which was suggested to us by the la phing lady. the place is a small eatery with tibetan and chinese food. The chair seats were covered with handloom fabrics giving it a rustic look. We ordered shablays that is a deep fried stuffed patty like samosa but filled with vegetables which is wonderfully flavoured with ginger.

The next thing we ordered was Devil's Momos these were steamed momos sauteed in chili garlic sauce the heat does justice to the name.

Tingmo is a steamed bread which has a texture as if a kulcha and bun had a baby. According to wikipedia stuffed tingmo is called momo so it's mother of momo??? (brain fart moment)
Chinar apple beer as easily found, this is a kashmiri frizzy apple juice totally refreshing and soothing along with the spice.

Tee Dee has an amazing over all vibe when you look down the window you see the tiny lanes and the place has soft music playing.The ambience is normal and the rates absolutely nominal. The service staff is friendly and they leave you alone with the menu and a notepad to write down your order. My friend bought it in my notice that it seems like a perfect date location with good food,good soft music over which making a conversation is not like yelling which happens in most of the place playing edm.


Majnu ka tilla will make you feel alienated from the hustle and bustle of Delhi despite being in the very centre. If the weather is pleasant or it just rained the place can be considered a hill station, apparently tibet is a hilly place and it's not just the tradition, culture or food that has tibetness in it but the entire area is so that is gives a different type of euphoria.

This is definitely a mini getaway place for me!

Camp Song Brook

In the arms of the himalayas, a camp in a valley near dehradun lays camp song brook. The name is appropriate the campsite is near the river.

Living in tents surrounded by nature can be absolutely amazing when you live in a concrete jungle.

With a few adventure sports and a natural lagoon to kill time.
Walks to the river in the afternoon and going to washrooms in groups because you are surrounded by dense forest. Going to the camp in a truck and having no cellular network and no electricity for hours.  These kind of experience are new for our generation for whom wifi is most important thing. 

With a trek to see calciamite cave to spending nights under the stars with your friends.
When we have no technology we talk to people around us and realise that there  are a lot of different people worth knowing and you come closer to people who you already knew. We discover that people can survive without knowing uno. In stormy nights we found out who actually cared and that the best way of not getting scared of ghost stories is listen music on the loudest.
We gain new acquaintance. We know how trippy dj lights can be and we discover another genre of music altogether. We discover tthat sleeping for 2 hours a day is enough to function normally and how good it is to breath non pollutant air.

In places like these we discover ourselves we have all the time in the world to introspect and we return happy to our concrete jungle.

QUDSIA BAGH

(Pronounced qdeshiya) 
Hidden in the lanes of calm Civil Lines of Delhi. Extremely hard to notices.I had drived cross the beautiful ruins of qudsia bagh but never notice the piece of history lay there.
The 18th century establishment was a walled garden that sheltered a palace and yamuna river flowed besides this structure. The yamuna is now nowhere near and its place is taken by the Ring Road.

The enormously spread garden palace was built in 1748 by Qudsia Begum, one of the wives of Muhammed Shah Rangila,a Mughal emperor. Qudsia seduced the emperor when she was a dancer in the court and was then known as Udhman Bai.She later gave the mughals their last emperor.

 It is said that the garden had three storied fort-like walls all around it, with massive gateways on all four sides, but during the 1857 revolt, this garden was used by the British troops as their camp and most of the walls and gateways were destroyed. 

Later, it was restored by the British in their own style, and the entrance to the garden was restricted to locals, who were allowed to enter only at certain times during the day. What remains today is one gateway, one colonial-looking building which might have been the palace, and a mosque. The gateway is called Hathi or Elephant gate, and even in its ruined state, it looks majestic. 
The mosque is simple, with three domes, and is still a functioning mosque, and the colonial building standing in the middle of the garden looks like it may have been built on top of an existing building. Both mosque and building have recently been restored.
The garden was built in the traditional Persian char bagh (four garden) style, and was originally divided into four parts by the flowing water bodies and walkaways. There was also a raised pavilion to sit and admire the garden, and the four parts had various flower beds and fruit trees.
Today this garden is well maintained and a lot of birds, particularly peacocks, can be seen there. It is ideal for a peaceful walk, but also to sit back on a bench and admire the traces that history has left behind and imagine its lost grandeur.

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