Everyone moving to New Delhi warned Jamal Shaikh he'd hate it. Pretentious, showy, fake — that was the reputation that greeted the Mumbai native when he arrived in 2006. Two decades later, he's still there, having watched the city reinvent itself as an editor and COO for titles like Men's Health and Esquire. His take on the place now: diverse, rich in history, chaotic — but with a rhythm that works.

That rhythm is easier to find once you understand what Delhi actually is. It's the political heart of a country of 1.4 billion people, and with at least 22 million residents it ranks among the most populous cities on earth. Locals also talk about the wider National Capital Region, or NCR, which pulls in the satellite cities of Gurgaon and Noida and swells the total population to well over 45 million. Grasping that scale is the first step to not feeling overwhelmed: Delhi isn't one place you walk across, it's a series of distinct districts, each with its own character.

The Mumbai-versus-Delhi rivalry shapes how locals see their own city. Shaikh compares it to New York and Washington DC, or Sydney and Melbourne. Mumbai runs India's film and creative industries; Delhi is where politics, power and government gather. For a traveller, that translates into a capital full of grand institutions, old monuments and diplomatic quarters, rather than a beach-and-Bollywood city.

As for the infamous Delhi belly in the article's title — the underlying advice is not to let fear of it keep you from eating your way through the capital. Street food is central to Delhi's appeal, and the city's food scene is one of the main reasons to come: from Old Delhi's centuries-old kebab and paratha lanes to the restaurant boom in Gurgaon's gleaming new districts. Going with busy stalls, favouring freshly cooked items, and easing in gently are the usual common-sense moves.

Why does this matter for travellers? Because Delhi still carries a reputation that puts some people off — crowded, overwhelming, stomach-troubling — while people who actually live there describe a city that has grown, rejuvenated and found its groove over the past twenty years. If you've been hesitating over whether to add a few Delhi days before a trip to Rajasthan or Agra, the local verdict is encouraging: the chaos is real, but so is the rhythm underneath it, and it's learnable within a day or two.

Delhi suits travellers who like their cities layered — Mughal-era forts next to colonial boulevards, government bungalows next to buzzing markets — and who don't mind trading polish for energy. Come for the food and history, use it as the natural gateway to northern India, and give yourself time to adjust rather than rushing through in a day.