Winter Getaways from Kolkata

With the arrival of October, most residents of Kolkata start planning their winter holiday. After Durga Puja, Christmas holidays are the most cherished events in every Bengali traveller’s household. Here are some recommendations for idyllic escapes from the city of joy Tagore’s Shantiniketan Only 212 kms away from Kolkata, lies the scenic village of Shantiniketan….

Read More

A Guide to Bodhgaya, Bihar

About 110 kilometres away from the state capital, Patna, Bodhgaya is a popular pilgrimage destination for Buddhists. The first time I visited this dusty town in 2013, I didn’t know I would return thrice over and it was deepen my inclination for Buddhism manifold. As I concluded my fourth travel to Bodhgaya, I knew I…

Read More

Photo Story: Could Winter be the Most Beautiful Season?

Many versus in poetry and references in literature had led me to believe that winter is probably the most desolate and monochromatic season. Between Virginia Woolf’s ‘Melancholy were the sounds on a winter’s night’ and PB Shelley’s ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’ I was convinced that winter was made of sorrow and…

Read More

The Purpose of Art in Madhubani, Bihar

Through Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, the #DoorsofIndia journey took me to a destination I have always wanted to explore—Madhubani. We drove 175 kilometres from Patna before sunrise to make it on time to the Mithila Art Institute in Madhubani town. Mithila art, popularly known as Madhubani painting, is an art form that the women of Madhubani…

Read More

#DoorsofIndia— Building Perspective and Glorifying India’s History

Why do we travel? Primarily I travel to add perspective. Perhaps this is why every time I repeat a destination, each experience is different from the other. The #DoorsofIndia campaign, by Tata Pravesh, multiplied my perspective to very many things. Architecture has always been a defining subject in all my travels. But narrowing it down to doors was…

Read More

My Travels in 2013

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh January and December 2013 I’m completing a full circle as I return to Hyderabad to bring in 2014. When I travelled to Hyderabad earlier this year, I didn’t know I was going to return soon. It seems to be the base-camp of my reunions. My life would have been incomplete without trying…

Read More