Delhi Screenplay Contest
Top Tables – New Delhi, Delhi, India
Literature Writers who were Great
When it comes to India’s cuisine, you’ll find many of New Delhi’s long-reigning favorites housed in its finest hotels. The ITC Maurya Sheraton boasts two: Dumpukht and Bukhara. Dumpukht is an airy and elegant dining room that serves refined court food with roots that go back to the 18th century: Slow steam-cooking produces meat and vegetables tender enough to melt in your mouth. Bukhara is radically different, offering robust northwestern cuisine in a hunting-camp-like space of stone walls, wooden tables, and a glassed-in kitchen that’s always good for a show. It is acclaimed for its perfectly prepared tandoori that’s fit for a king (or a former president—Bill Clinton is known to dine here when he’s in town).
There are also a number of small and innovative restaurants bringing a whiff of change to the dining scene in the city, including Indian Accent, in the newly refurbished Manor Hotel. Although Chef Manish Mehrotra’s stellar reputation in both India and London is long established, there’s nothing “establishment” about this award-winning restaurant’s inventive Indian cuisine, deft pairings of global favorites, and regional specialties.
A classic landmark and the city’s most impressive heritage hotel, the Imperial is famous for its Raj-era, Art Deco interiors, cool, lush green gardens, and an excellent contemporary restaurant, the Spice Route. Painters from Kerala took 7 years to complete the murals depicting the famed passage for which the restaurant is named, and the cuisine is a mélange inspired by that journey: stir-fried Kerala-style prawns, classic Thai soups, and distinctive Sri Lankan curries.
ITC Maurya Sheraton: Tel 91/11-2611-2233; http://www.starwoodhotels.com. Cost: dinner at Dumpukht $65, at Bukhara $70. Indian Accent: Tel 91/11-2692-5151; http://www.themanordelhi.com. Cost: dinner $50. The Imperial: Tel 91/11-2334-1234; http://www.theimperialindia.com. Cost: dinner at the Spice Route $60.
Delhi Screenplay Contest
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Red Fort and Chandni Chowks
Old Delhi, Delhi, India
The Indian flag flies above the three-story Lahore Gate, the main entrance to Lal Quila, the Red Fort.
A city teeming with close to 17 million people, Delhi is the capital of a rapidly changing India and can seem utterly daunting to the casual visitor. To get your bearings and reinvigorate your senses, find your way to its beating heart, Shahjahanabad, the ancient walled city of Shah Jahan (builder of Agra’s Taj Mahal, see here), also known as Old Delhi.
The Mughal emperor moved the capital from Agra to Delhi in the mid-17th century, creating the same magnificent architecture in the latter as he had in the former. Masterworks include the tomb of the 16th-century Mughal emperor Humayun and the Jama Masjid, the country’s largest mosque. Perhaps the most visited site is the hulking Lal Quila, the Red Fort, named for the color of its 1.5 miles of turreted sandstone walls and the former seat of Mughal power. Armies, servants, and ladies of the court once filled the various mosques, lush gardens, royal quarters, richly decorated halls, and marble-floored hammams or bath chambers. That all ended with the Mutiny of 1857, when the British expelled the last Mughal ruler. For close to one hundred years they used it as barracks, until Jawaharlal Nehru first unfurled the flag of newly independent India from this very spot on August 15, 1947. On Independence Day, the prime minister traditionally hoists the flag and delivers his nationally televised speech here.
But there’s more to see here than the fort. Branching off of the half-mile-long Chandni Chowk (Moonlight Alley) is a network of ancient lanes and timeless bazaars selling everything imaginable, in chaotic operation since the 17th century. Flag down a cycle-rickshaw at Lahore Gate, the entrance to the Red Fort, negotiate fiercely, then let your wallah (driver) navigate the winding backstreets teeming with traffic and people. Pop into a hole-in-the-wall food stall for savory samosas, or stop at a halwai, or candy store, sampling sweets made from recipes that have been passed down over generations. Pick up a Kashmiri carpet or a stack of skinny bangles. The smells of dust and incense mingle with the headier ones that emanate from Khari Bioli, one of Asia’s largest spice markets. In nearby Kinari Bazaar, watch local Hindu families shopping for wedding festivities that usually go on for days.
No one with an appetite leaves this part of town without searching out Karim’s, an unassuming landmark restaurant in an alleyway not far from the Jama Masjid. Packing them in for a hundred years is the authentic Mughlai cuisine: Karim’s fourth-generation owner traces his heritage to the chefs who once prepared these royal recipes for Mughal emperors.
Karim’s: Tel 91/11-2326-4981; http://www.karimhoteldelhi.com. Cost: lunch $13. Best times: Feb–Apr and Aug–Nov for nicest weather; Aug 15 for National Independence Day.
Delhi Screenplay Contest
Delhi Screenplay Contest
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The Beaches of Goa
Goa, India
North Goa’s bohemian feel and Catholic influences mix at Arambol Beach.
Nowhere else in India will you find the laid-back atmosphere of the tiny, Portuguese-influenced state of Goa, known to many as “India lite.” Transformed from the hippie nirvana of yesteryear, Goa is now the place where young Indian urbanites and well-traveled Europeans come to shed their inhibitions and enjoy the languid pace. That’s thanks in part to the stylish upscale hotels and beachside villas that have recently popped up and sit cheek-by-jowl with modest hostelries on the Arabian Sea coast, with its 66-mile strip of palm-fringed beaches.
Goa was the first state of India colonized by Europeans and the last to be liberated (after a protracted battle with the Portuguese, who had ruled since 1510 and didn’t leave until 1961). Portuguese influence is everywhere, including in the architecture and religion: Goa is 30 percent Catholic and contains a cluster of magnificent cathedrals, monasteries, and convents. The centerpiece of the former capital of the Portuguese Indies is the huge Baroque basilica of Bom Jesus, which houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier, cofounder of the Jesuit order and Goa’s patron saint.
South Goa’s peace and quiet make it a lovely oasis, but North Goa is where the buzz is. You’ll find lively towns lining its pristine beaches, as well as weekly markets that let you shop for both food and information about where to find the week’s best trance music and full moon parties. Wednesday’s sprawling flea market is in the popular beach town of Anjuna (a throwback to hippie days), whereas Mapusa’s colorful showcase is the Friday farmers market, where vendors hawk fresh-cooked local food. Saturday it’s over to Baga for its nighttime market, which brims with stalls selling Goan cuisine, a unique, spicy mix of southern Indian and Portuguese influences. (Sample the curry-charged pork vin-daloo, which originated here.)
Check in at the chic, Portuguese-inspired Pousada Tauma in North Goa. It is within walking distance of the popular 4-mile-long Calangute beach and a leafy and secluded home from which to explore Old Goa and Panaji, the capital city. Enjoy a glass of the local feni, the double-distilled spirit made from coconut or cashew nuts, followed by a dinner of lobster masala in the open-air poolside restaurant, one of the best in the area. There’s more of a house-party ambience at the seven-suite Vivenda dos Palhacos, an old Portuguese mansion in South Goa impeccably restored and run by the charming India-born brother-and-sister team of the Haywards. Or stay at the secluded Elsewhere, a coconut plantation that has been in the owner’s family since 1886. Four colorful colonial-era beach houses afford front-row views of multihued sunsets over the Arabian Sea and three candy-colored tents sit at the wooded edge of a narrow, saltwater creek.
So where have all the hippies gone? About 150 miles south to Om Beach, in Karnataka, every bit as beautiful as the shores of Goa.
Delhi Screenplay Contest
Where: 360 miles/582 km south of Mumbai. Pousada Tauma: Tel 91/832-227-9061; http://www.pousada-tauma.com. Cost: from $255 (off-peak), from $395 (peak), inclusive. Vivenda dos Palhacos: Tel 91/832-322-1119; http://www.vivendagoa.com. Cost: from $100 (off-peak), from $180 (peak). Elsewhere: Tel 91/98-2003-7387; http://www.aseascape.com. Cost: 2- and 3-bedroom houses from $1,920 per week (off-peak), from $5,350 (peak); tents from $560 per week (off-peak), from $1,440 (peak). When: Nov–Apr. Best times: Oct–Mar for nicest weather; Feb or Mar in Panaji for Carnival; Dec 3 for feast of St. Francis Xavier and the Old Goa Fair; Dec–Jan 6 for Christmas decorations and festivities.
Delhi Screenplays Contest 
