Mumbai 0, Delhi 2

Mumbai's swish set may disdain the ways of Dilli-wallahs all it likes, but there's no denying that the capital's bookshops are in an altogether different league in comparison. As one is in the city on a short trip, one briefly visited Khan Market this afternoon, dropping in to Bahri Sons and Full Circle (The Bookshop unfortunately having to close its Khan Market outlet), and acquired David Mitchell's Black Swan Green, Harry Frankfurt's On Bullshit and Camille Paglia's Break, Blow, Burn -- titles that the stores in Mumbai are simply clueless about. Not to mention other titles on display such as the Tocquevillian American Vertigo by Bernard Henri-Levi and the impassioned You Must Set Forth At Dawn, a memoir by Wole Soyinka. (In contrast, the leading chain in Mumbai seems grimly intent on flogging copies of How Opal Mehra Got Her Groove Back, or whatever the blessed thing is called.)

After such musings, one turned to another pleasure available only in Delhi: a portion of squidgy chocolate mousse cake from Big Chill, where this post was composed -- not on a spiffy laptop, alas, but on a crumpled yellow napkin.

Update: There is room for hope, however. One has heard that Chennai's Landmark (earlier written about here) has just opened an 18,000+ sq ft bookstore in Infiniti Mall, Lokhandwala. One trusts that it's going to be worth the visit. Another update: It's actually opening on the 26th. One looks forward.