i have to admit it, i cannot lie. i visited chennai every summer when i was in school and recently lived there for two whole years but i didn’t know all these things about chennai. when i visited last week, i decided to act like a tourist and comb the streets for facts, fiction and stories that quenched my thirst. and wow, what a find! i dare you, … Continue reading 6 things YOU didn’t know about Chennai & Madras
i’m off to chennai… the land of my forefathers and the land of my parents. i never grew up there but in pune. i recently read degree coffee by the yard and you might have read my review here. it got me thinking that i didn’t know the history of chennai. so while this trip is a family reunion, it is also about me rediscovering, … Continue reading chennai “rediscovered” (coming up soon)
First published on the AudioCompass Blog, written by moi 🙂 This is the link to the piece there: Five Best Places to Celebrate Holi Holi, the wildest Hindu Festival is loud, chaotic, lively and colourful. And, of course, you want to celebrate it. This festival is not celebrated in the South of India, so we focus our lens to the cities and towns in the rest … Continue reading five best places to celebrate holi
holi is not one of my favourite festivals. i know its got tomatina festival like status amongst tourists, but growing up in india i did not like it. playing as a child 0f 7 and then later as an adolescent of 15, this festival takes on different colours! i did not like the free license it gave boys to touch girls, anywhere. it was like during … Continue reading the non-religious origins of the festival of HOLI
The ghats of Varanasi are a fantastic interaction with India in all shapes, sizes, forms and volume levels! Like a densely packed Gujarati thaali, there is always something new and lots of choice to find your favourite! Cows jostling along with the faithful, and then street dogs chasing each other. In the water, the fervent believer dipping his head in the water, making his offerings to … Continue reading the ghats of varanasi
graffiti has always meant rebellion for me! mumbai proved me wrong. walls were covered with the permission of the residents of that house / building. read more about my discovery of graffiti in bandra. but still, graffiti didn’t become ‘acceptable’. it has always had that streak of mischief embedded. so, varanasi and graffiti” in the same breath, didn’t seem possible to me. afterall, varanasi is … Continue reading graffiti in varanasi
there are many buildings in india that could do with a little more attention, a little more investment and a little more love! one startling example is right here in mumbai. this was a glorious hotel in the heydays of the british empire here in bombay. it was the tallest building and it overlooked the beautiful bombay harbour. it was said that a ship coming … Continue reading abandoned
you are at hauz khas, new delhi. There is the glitzy glamour of the designer boutiques on the main road… with their brightly lit front glass shop fronts, the slim mannequins that make everything look runway fresh and their dangerous promises to transform an average Jane into a Kate Moss. The halo of consumerism is alive here, tempting even the most inept window browser and pushing … Continue reading the two sides of hauz khas, new delhi
The Hauz Khas I was told to visit was all shops, designer outlets and eclectic array of restaurants, cafes and bars. That’s why I went there, for tea and then to meet a friend for dinner. The sheer density of shops startled me – neither did it have the cramped quirkiness of an actual bazaar, nor did it have the feel of a nice up-market mall. … Continue reading hauz khas – heritage for you and me
Gaiety has got to be one of the complicated words in English, or at least for me. I always mess up the ‘e’, then need to lean backwards and stare at the word till it says I’m missing an ‘e’ or its ‘i’ before ‘e’… The actual Gaiety Theatre in Shimla is not missing anything, and if you haven’t been there then you’ve bypassed a charming … Continue reading the gaiety theatre at shimla
merry to go around 