The guild mark in Taj Mahal
I have walked down the pathway to Taj Mahal so many times. This time I found hundreds of marks made...
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Soya Qeema with bhindi
Ingredients : 1 cup soya qeema : soaked and drained 1/2 cup chopped bhindi 1 tsp each of ginger garlic...
Mutton Stew – Khada Masaale ka Gosht
Ingredients : Mutton 1/2 kg 2 large onions sliced 1/2 tsp each diced garlic and ginger Whole red Chilli to...
How I rediscovered India’s unity in diversity at Bhopal’s Museum of Man
If there was a common refrain in our textbooks while we were growing up it was "unity in diversity". So...
If Mughals did not loot India, what exactly was their contribution to India?
India gained Independence in 1947 after a long struggle for freedom from British imperialism. Perhaps because of this, and the...
Mughal women were no damsels in distress — a tale from the palace kitchens
One of my favourite PG Wodehouse novels is Damsel in Distress. Wodehouse's heroines were usually grande dames who could evoke fear...
On a famous son of Kasganj: Hazrat Amir Khusrau
"Mir Khusrau, the king of the kingdom of words (poetry), the ocean of accomplishment and sea of perfection; His prose...
I’m an Indian Muslim. Why must I suffer the acid test and prove my patriotism?
We watch TV debates with hashtags that are openly anti-Muslim; we see ordinary Indian citizens with Muslim names being dubbed...
How tawaifs fell from grace and came to be known as prostitutes
If you were old enough to watch movies in 1981 and were fond of Hindi cinema, there’s every bit of...
I’m a Muslim woman and this triple talaq bill is not what I fought for
On December 28, a bill criminalising triple talaq was rushed through the lower house of Parliament and passed without much...
What I discovered about weaving saris on a Pochampally Ikat trail
More often than not, one would associate the word "resist" with a form of protest, but on a recent trip to...
In search of haleem in Hyderabad and finding Yemen
When my friend and travel companion Alka Kaushik, a travel writer, and I decided to visit Hyderabad, we both did...
Rekhta, Rekhti and how women found their voice in Urdu poetry
The beloved of the Urdu ghazal is a cold-hearted, indifferent being who has no time for the overtures of the...
Why I’m getting condolence messages over news of Shashi Kapoor’s death
Harleen Vij (@VeiledDesires_ on Twitter) is a crazy fan of Irfan Pathan and sends him messages everyday. I once remember...
Revealing Delhi’s most-loved poet Mirza Ghalib’s fondness for meat and mangoes
We owe much to Altaf Husain Hali for writing a beautiful biography of the famous poet Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib....
The great injustice Bollywood has done to ‘Rajput queen’
Jodha Bai, the queen who wasn't Depending on your age, you would associate Jodha Bai with Durga Khote or Aishwarya...
What history can and can’t tell you about Alauddin Khilji and legend of Padmavati
The recent controversy about Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati led to me read up on the Padmavat or Padumavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi....
Descendants of Last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, are still alive
Last year, a kind of morbid curiosity drew me to Malcha Mahal, the 14th century shikargah or hunting palace of...
Behind eating vadas during festivals lies the story of India’s rich culture
A few years ago I had read an essay titled "Composite Culture, Community and Identity: Interface with Social Change in...
The real story of how Taj Mahal was built
In the 17th century, the Mughals and their grandeur had seized European imagination, with many travellers coming to visit India....
Taj Mahal: What we stand to lose
"Ye main nahi nigaah e tawaareekh keh rahi Pathhar ka ik bahisht yaheen Aagra mein hai. It's not me but...
In the Mughal era, Diwali stood for Hindu-Muslim solidarity
Once upon a time, Dilli as Delhi was called was the most sought after city in the world and attracted...
Credit for letting women travel alone for haj goes to Saudi Arabia, not India
A few days ago Indian media reported that women over 45 years of age maybe allowed to go on haj...
Of Ramlila, Mughals and kullas: Into Shahjahanabad’s wondrous alleys
Shahjahanabad — the walled city — has always fascinated me and I love spending time there, trying to recreate its...
The original tomb of Ghalib with a chronogram by Mir Mahdi Majruh his friend and shagird
( from ASI archive) The inscription on Ghalib’s tomb-stone in Arabic and Persian followed by translation: a hai’yii ya qaiyuum...
Cenotaph of Orchha
I sat by these cenotaphs on the banks of the Betwa river and watched the sun go down. They are...
Muharram’s Hidden Hero: Zainab, a Feminist Icon for All Time
In the context of Muharram, almost everyone knows who Husain is, but not many know the name of Zainab, or...
Raan Musallam
This is a family recipe from Jaunpur Musallam: this is an Urdu word which means whole. The masalas for this...
Malvani Fish Curry
On 1March Sajid Bhombhal a Twitter friend from Konkan sent me this recioe I never did get round to cooking...
Why Mughal-e-Azam’s legacy remains evergreen in the age of shunning Nehru, Akbar and Urdu
Today, when India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s legacy is under attack, history is sought to be re-written and there are suggestions...
Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi
I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.