India

Whether it is star gazing through the skylight over your bed in the town of Sholtu or the heartbreakingly picturesque location of the hundred-year-old property in Sangla, the 300-odd colonial-era forest rest houses of Himachal Pradesh are…
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Varun Grover dons many hats—satirist, writer, lyricist, comedian—but through all of it, one thing is assured, his mastery of language. His stories have enthralled in Masaan and Sacred Games, lyrics have resonated in Dum Laga Ke Haisha and …
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From Mumbai Satara, Maharashtra Go for: Idyllic explorations of the hinterland Post monsoon, travellers make a beeline for the Kaas Plateau to see the valley of flowers, and move onwards, missing out on the diversity of Satara. At the foot…
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Nako, Himachal Pradesh Instead of Chitkul The village of Nako lies 150 kilometres from Chitkul in Himachal Pradesh, a rather steep drive up the switchbacks of Kahzigs connecting Kinnaur to Spiti. If Chitkul has somewhat suffered the perils…
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Baghrol Basa, West Bengal Go for: Fishing cats, on-site freshwater ponds, a garden full of flowers and butterflies. Village life in Kalbansh, in West Bengal’s Howrah district, is shaped by the waters of the Damodar floodplains. The…
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Munroe Island, Kerala Instead of Alleppey Drifting down the backwaters of Alleppey, on a charming, often luxurious, houseboat, remains the quintessential Kerala experience. But if you are looking for something more offbeat, more Indiana…
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In Calcutta, where I grew up, one often hears the phrase ‘baro mash-e tero parbon’, which roughly translates to ‘thirteen festivals in twelve months’. So as a child, I grew up watching a lot of festivities around me, Diwali being one such.…
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Cazulo Feni Distillery Go for: History, feni cocktails and Goan desserts Trips to Goa are usually filled with beaches and fuelled by beer. To go deeper into the sunshine state the next time round, turn to its local beverage, feni, which…
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Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh Instead of Varanasi In both look and feel, Maheshwar, a tiny town to Indore’s south, evokes Varanasi vibes. Some even call it the “Varanasi of Central India”—a grand comparison it shoulders rather well. Ghats here…
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Bengaluru, Karnataka Even as Bengaluru loses its acres to unchecked real estate development, several green oases in the technopolis house a stunning avian population. Though the city’s major oxygen suppliers Lalbagh and Cubbon Park host a…
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With December upon us, the time is right to take a breather and reflect upon the year that has gone by amidst paradigm shifts in our understanding at the cellular level and new ground gained in the daunting domain of space exploration, the…
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70s and the 80s kids will remember the iconic watch brand ‘HMT’ that was known for decades as the country’s best premier wrist watch maker, and which shut shop in 2016.  While the gates of the company have all but closed, its legacy is…
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It was the roaring twenties and Mumbai was Bombay. Art Deco buildings went up one by one until Bombay would soon have the world’s second largest collection of these streamlined but ornate structures. Towards the end of that decade, Bombay…
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Wellness, technically, means the same for everyone. You need to be calm, content and happy: physically & emotionally. It’s the approach that people take to be well that makes it feel different, which means that the destination is the…
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