Culture Gully at The Kingdom of Dreams- A kaleidoscope of colours, food, fun and so much more

Culture Gully at the Kingdom of Dreams

A few years back I visited the Ibn Batuta Mall in Dubai and was struck by the architecture and beauty through the length and breadth of the mall. While primarily designed as a mall, it is much more than that. With courts named after different countries of the world and the architecture and ambience to match. eg. the Egyptian, Indian,  Chinese, Persian, Tunisian courts etc. it was an absolute pleasure to walk through and take pictures of the designs and elaborate styles displayed. The Ibn Batuta Mall certainly stayed  in my memory and every now and then I looked up the pics and found myself back there. 

Then one day last week, when I went to The Kingdom of Dreams for the launch of the Asus ZenFone 2, I came upon the Culture Gully at lunch time and was struck with almost the same sense of wonder and delight, albiet in a very Indian way.'Culture Gully', the first of its kind “Indoor Street of India” is a  beautifully designed and lit 10,000 square feet air-conditioned space. Built under an artificial sky, the gully showcases a rich diversity of Indian culture, from food and clothes to fabulous dance performances. The grand entrance of the Kingdom resembles a film set and everything is larger than life, reminding one of the bygone era. Or if you could actually close your eyes and imagine it well enough then you could really find yourself transported into any one of the pavilions that  you are standing in looks remarkably like a film set. 

I particularly loved this piece from Rajasthan

The entrance to the Culture Gully is shaped like lotus petals, fringed by giant rose stems and mirrored walls. Stalls from various states, e.g UP (Lucknow) Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Goa, Mumbai, Rajasthan  and Delhi are selling a wide range of interesting food from the states, e.g the Rajasthani stall serves its meals on the traditional chowki  ( short stools) and ethnic thaals (Plates). What makes it even more interesting is that puppet shows are conducted outside the stall. 

A beautifully designed 'jharokha' 


The Mumbai shop,  which is shaped like a train sells a wide variety of goods which include items from Fashion Street. Look closely and you may actually find movie posters as well as old portraits as well, really couldn't get any better now could it? 

And now for the pricing which has been worked out very strategically . On weekdays -1 pm to 7 pm- the tickets for Culture Gully cost Rs 500 rupees. The next segment is at Rs  750 from 7 pm to 11 pm. On weekends, the tickets cost Rs 750 rupees in total but  one can spend Rs 600 rupees of  this amount on food or shopping. 

Looks even better as day turns to night

On my first visit -launch of the Asus ZenFone 2

I had a great time but must confess it wasn't enough as I had just about 20 minutes after the super lunch that we were all treated to. But I guess that first short and sweet visit has whetted my appetite for the next time when I plan to check it out in more detail. In particular, the first floor where there seemed to be a whole lot of action. 

But in the meantime you can explore to your heart's content. 

All you need to do is to check out the website -http://www.kingdomofdreams.in/nautankimahal.html