Author: bhavani

A traveller by choice, photographer by interest and writer by desire, I have meandered my way around 15 countries and over 200 cities worldwide. Crafted over 20 heritage walking tours for Audio Compass, a mobile app that 'is shaking up India's travel scene' as per Condé Nast Traveller. I have articles published in magazines and websites – National Geographic Traveller, Jet Wings Intl, Mint, New Indian Express, Lonely Planet, India Today's Travel Plus, Mint, The Alternative and Unboxed Writers. Editor for two issues of the online magazine for a travel start-up Happy-Tripping.com. My fiction pieces have been published at Women's Web and have even won me two prizes. I am a HuffPost India Blogger. In a dedicated relationship with chocolate, books, my husband and lower case, though not sure about the order of preference. I blog at merrytogoaround.com & tweet @bhavan1.

culture, everywhereBUTindia, travel

how the holocaust museum changed history for me…

the holocaust was a part of this huge war that happened years ago. history, books, stories, movies had built what it was in my head. it was huge. it was drastic. it was despicable. but it was very distant. as an indian, it wasn’t my fight. it had never been. my people at that time were waging another war – on the british raj, for our independence!

on that day, in berlin. it became very real. Continue reading “how the holocaust museum changed history for me…”

bhavaniNovember 14, 2012July 24, 20143 Comments

everywhereBUTindia, merrytoEAT

do you have any vegetarian food on your menu?

i have always been a vegetarian. my parents are vegetarian. thus, in a way, i was born vegetarian! as i grew up, and i got out on my own (read, could go to restaurants without their supervision) and saw people raving about food that my parents did not eat, i knew i liked animals. too much to eat them. and the concept of eating something so similar to me in form and structure, was gory!

and then i fell in love with traveling. moving out of my house and out of my kitchen. and the fear of finding food i could eat, set in… would there be anything for me? or would i live on biscuits and bread?

Continue reading “do you have any vegetarian food on your menu?”

bhavaniNovember 13, 2012March 10, 20142 Comments

culture

traveling on my own…

there is a sense of freedom, independence and managing all your issues on your own. plus i realise i am more open to the outside world, given that i am not self-sufficient – i seek more, i listen more (eavesdrop more!). i want to form other connections, higher levels of curiosity… more sponge-like,
and at the other end, i can easily retreat into my own world… to music, books, day dreaming… with no one asking me why i am doing that? whether i am bugged, peeved etc? (given that i am a chatter-box!)

Continue reading “traveling on my own…”

bhavaniNovember 12, 2012November 12, 20122 Comments

india, travel

lighting up a palace or homes?

i visited the mysore palace many years ago. and everyone tells you ‘come back at night, it looks gorgeous.’ it does. the entire palace gets lit up with a series of lights on every sunday night for around 45 minutes! you can see every bend, every curve and every edge. the palace shimmers in front of you. every inch defined. i loved it. and i … Continue reading lighting up a palace or homes?

bhavaniNovember 11, 2012March 10, 20142 Comments

travel

all the things i do between trips….

sort out photographs? plan the next trip? gnaw through google in the hunt for a next destination? eat your finger nails at plans that just don’t materialise? fight with husband over what you want to do vs. what he wants to do? comb through your bank balance? update your blog that lagging behind? work? wish for that trip that you know you cannot afford? bite … Continue reading all the things i do between trips….

bhavaniNovember 11, 2012November 15, 2012Leave a comment

travel

reminiscing the past…my first holiday…

i think it was at 11. can’t remember anything before that. and this was the BIG trip! for 10 or 15 days we were out of our city. that was huge. i think we did go to nearby places, and every summer to chennai to stay with grandparents… but in those days middle class indians didn’t waste money on ‘site-seeing’ at non-native places. we plonked ourselves at our grandmothers, as all our other cousins did and it was this huge melee of people. of course that’s another story, for anything time and another place… and, middle class tams, definitely did not ‘travel’ and importantly, stay at a hotel!! there were other more ‘educational’ things to be done! right?

Continue reading “reminiscing the past…my first holiday…”

bhavaniNovember 9, 2012November 15, 2012Leave a comment

culture

the exotic familiar?

preference for the known non-indian exotic? but not excited by unknown indian exotic? even at the same cost?

Continue reading “the exotic familiar?”

bhavaniNovember 8, 2012November 15, 20121 Comment

travel

if wishes were horses…

I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Elmore Leonard interesting thought.. and don’t i wish i could? learning for the day – being interesting is not a rambling ramayanan… Continue reading if wishes were horses…

bhavaniNovember 8, 2012November 15, 2012Leave a comment

culture

visiting ‘recommended’ artisans in a city, town, village?

should you even bother? this is a situation i have been faced with often… a couple of year ago, i visited the river nila project. set in kerala. this is the efforts of one person to make people respect and care for the river that runs through the north – the malabar region of kerala. over years, there has been much abuse in terms of … Continue reading visiting ‘recommended’ artisans in a city, town, village?

bhavaniNovember 8, 2012May 31, 2013Leave a comment

photography

traveling with….

traveling with someone, is always tough. in a new city, you want to own the discovery, set your own pace and find your route! when you are with someone, there is discussion, consensus and ‘common ground’ that is sought. always a killer of the travel buzz.

Continue reading “traveling with….”