Hill That Looks Like A Horse
As if arriving alone at his doorstep without notice wasn’t preposterous enough, a request to help me in climbing the mountain the next day only added to the incredulity. Of course, my embarrassingly poor Kannada skills didn’t help the convincing. Rajappa looked at me – verified in broken Hindi if he had heard me correctly […]
Knocking On Heaven’s Door
This happened ten years ago, when I used to travel ‘mapless and ungoogled’! My first significant solo trip off Bangalore. The thrill of discovering a place through a chat with a local or getting willingly conned into an extra long auto ride was how I started. Throwing caution to the wind and clueless that I […]
More Than Just Beaches
I was the youngest of six playmates in a large house with two sprawling gardens, a busy mango, plum and guava orchard and a sticky floored cowshed. A large patch of veggies was covered with grape vines for the much needed shady breaks in the bright Dehradun summer sun. There was always a large bushy […]
Secrets Of The City
The people of Varanasi don’t wear their city too lightly on their sleeves. They live with intense devotion to its narrow network of streets, crumbling forts drooping over the stepped ghats, the ruddy flush of lamps in dark sanctums of temples, full throated laughter and arguments surrounding tea shops and ofcourse, its lifeline, the Ganges. […]
French Benefits
The name Pondicherry conjures up an image of a laid back breezy coastal town, with French and vernacular Tamil architecture juxtaposed in the ‘White’ and ‘Black’ towns respectively. It offers an experience of India’s colonial past still embedded in Tamil roots. The striking European flair of the cobble stoned streets, criss-crossing through the French quarter, […]
Beyong Tipu’s Legacy
A city of palatial buildings, decided vintage vibe and serene tree-lined boulevards, Mysore constitutes as the rite of passage for many new Bangaloreans, for a daylong getaway. Afterall, the erstwhile capital of the Wadiyar Rajas of Karnataka is steeped in history and brings one up to speed with the background of the state. It was […]
All Hands On Deck
The sight of bright white yachts bobbing off the fringes of Mumbai’s Gateway of India area is a relief from its urban sprawl. I too have stood on the pavement along the sea on many evenings and watched the white spread of marine toys, imagining myself sailing into high seas with fortitude. But you need […]
Hoppy Times
There might be little chance of one feeling beat or overworked in Copengahen. After all, it is the capital of one of the happiest nations of the world – Denmark. But if you were to feel drained at some point of time, a shot of Hoptomist cheer is all you need. A round happy face […]
Ancient Treasures
It’s hard to digest the sight of a Nagamese Morung replica on a warm balmy Fort Kochi afternoon. I remember the wide-eyed moment when I first saw this large wooden erstwhile dormitory in Mopongchuket village in the North Eastern state a few years ago. This instance is not too different – but for a perplexing […]
Bedtime Stories
As I plonk on the yellow couch at Stops Hostel in Delhi, I am immediately joined by Jenny, Ginger and Pepper and together we sink in further into the large soft cushion. The blast of cool drift from the air conditioner nudges us to a comatosed half an hour snooze in the middle of a […]
Country Roads
Sitting crouched on Dharam Singh’s musty folded mattress and bouncing up each time that the truck hit a rain battered pot hole, I couldn’t have imagined that the very next year I would be cruising along the same highway, only this time with wheels designed for luxury. The trips were starkly contrasting: one a backpacking […]
Chronicles In Stone
My guide ignores the silenced awe that has rendered me immovable, gazing wide-eyed at the detailed carvings of a set of grinning teeth of a monkey, rotating bangles and see-through printed clothing on a voluptuous celestial nymph – all in stone. He is far too familiar with the look of disbelief amongst visitors, and continues […]