during my visit to chettinad, i went to a tile factory at athangudi, close to kannadukathan village.. its a common enough thing to do. and there are sufficient of them, and all tourist-friendly. that’s not a compliment. but in a village known for tiles and their aesthetics, they charge to watch them at their art! but, anyway i was there. and people had told me about it. and i had to do it.
it had been a long journey. it had been difficult to sleep all night on that tiny seat of a mini-van with loud music, only on to keep the driver awake. but, given that our train tickets didn’t get confirmed, we were forced to make do with a last-minute haphazard plan which involved two buses and two car rides to get ketti (near ooty) to trichy! and given that it eid, and thus a long weekend. there was a never-ending stream of traveling who all seemed to be better prepared than us or rather better equipped to handle uncomfortable rides!
lesson: always book in advance when there is a long weekend in india. everyone is on the road! Continue reading “driving from trichy to karaikudi”
had heard so much about chettinad cuisine over the years, but being vegetarian it never really excited me. but, then my husband and i saw pictures of some old mansions in chettinad and knew we had to visit… the old mansions looked beautiful, and there seemed to be way more to chettinad than food and saris!
first steps we had to find a nice place to stay. we chanced upon Visalam managed by CGH Earth. it seemed to have captured that old-world charm without going over-board! none of the places in karaikudi or nearby seemed nearly as good! when we reached at an early 8am, we were awed by the beauty of the house. how they had managed to renovate it! Continue reading “chettinad – love at first ‘site’!!”
it was a road trip. and like all road trips begin… this one started late. we were to leave a good 2 hours before we finally left. we were to leave earlier so that we avoided traffic on the way out of bombay, which we didn’t! so… well… its ok! we were driving to goa. had a friend’s wedding and decided to make it into … Continue reading the woman with the funny nostrils…
he was standing there in the corner. suspicious. wondering why i was peeping into his private space. his 2 ft by 2 ft home. in the morning time, while he say brushing his teeth in the corner. i had looked in from the window in the wall. in an otherwise quite space, in the middle of an orchard of trees, no one came sauntering in. his … Continue reading the man from beyond
an angry rivulet rushes down the calm valley announcing its presence at every curve and every bend with a loud gush colliding with another river at dev prayag, to become the mighty, revered and feared river of india continues coursing through settlements and cities almost dismissive of their large presence and almost dawdling like a large pregnant woman at varanasi but still seething below then … Continue reading meeting the lifeline of india…
i was commissioned (for a lack of any other word) to write audio tours for a company based in europe! at first i was worried. yes, of course i know my city – bombay, mumbai and all of it in between. but do i know it well enough to tell others about it? so i walked, talked, photographed and re-discovered my city!
in this series, i want to document all the little tit-bits that made me get awed, charmed, amazed, angry, delighted and interested in bombay & mumbai!
we begin at watson’s hotel!
i decided to travel into interior maharashtra, accompanying my husband (who was traveling on work), more out of curiosity than with any agenda. i have grown up in pune, but never really gone around maharashtra, except for a couple of visits to nasik, nagpur, mahableshwar and of course mumbai… he needed to go to beed, latur and parbhani, all small towns in the interiors of … Continue reading kankaleshwar temple at beed…
it was my first time in rajasthan. the december of 2008. we were going to spend christmas and new years in this glorious desert state of india. i was excited. and a little cold when i landed in jaipur, a little delayed on my flight and drowsy from my long night at work – trying to wrap up everything before i escaped away for 10 days. i … Continue reading rushing into rajasthan…
merry to go around 