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North East India Food in Mumbai : Finally

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Naga Belly

Often called the ‘melting pot’ of Indian cultures and cuisines, Mumbai never really had a North East India food scene. Until now. The North East of India has a super vibrant culture, languages, textiles, art and a food scene. Now we can explore a part of the food scene, with some amazing north east dishes, … Read more

Road Trip : The Aesthetics of Route Planning

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Sunflower fields

Road tripping? How shall we plan the route? And out comes a favourite maps app, and we blindly take whatever route planning the app suggests. But the app has zero feelings and the routes suggested are just part of a larger “algorithm”, which probably consists of how many people use that route to get somewhere. … Read more

A Charming Cottage Getaway in Goa

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Vivenda Dos Palhacos, Goa

As we stay locked at home due to the CoronaVirus pandemic, rekindling memories through old photos is the only way we can travel. And thanks to the many photos we have, plenty of old experiences are revisited.

One such trip was work related, to Goa. After much searching (we wanted to avoid the crowded pubs, disco and party zones, yet stay close to place of work), we chose the Vivenda Dos Palhacos, Goa. Built as an old Portuguese style Bungalow in 1929, this lovely house is renovated with great care, and is now amongst the best of Goa hotels. The moment we stepped inside we were bowled over by the vintage charm, the beautiful warm colours and the wooden furniture.

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Be A Sensitive Traveller

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Man Smoking

I was standing in the lobby of an upmarket jungle camp in a tiger national park in India, and a fellow traveller was yelling at the top of his lungs with choicest of abuses about how he was being taken for a ride, because he hadn’t been able to spot a tiger. The entire hotel … Read more

Sariska National Park : The Oft Overlooked Forest

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Sariska National Park

We were on a long research trip, driving through many small cities of Rajasthan, including Alwar. Known for its delicious milk based desserts (mithais), Alwar is also right next to Sariska National Park, a fact that we of course, could not overlook. So obviously, a quick plan was made to visit Sariska and go for … Read more

A ‘Western’ Surprise!

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Film History Museum, Lone Pine, California.

Westerns – we all know of them as movies of the American Old West with all that swag! But driving cross country on a trip to see the Californian National Parks, a Western was the last thing on our minds. 

It was just after dusk when we entered the small town of Lone Pine, 3.5 hours drove from LA and 93 miles from America’s beautiful Death Valley National Park. We were shaken with the cold weather and stirred by the joy of being so close to a destination that topped our bucket list, and were gearing to visit it first thing the next morning. Knowing little that there was a charming little museum of Western Film History right in our backyard. As the server in the diner mentioned the museum, we could suddenly hear Ennio Morricone’s everlasting theme of The Good, Bad and Ugly ring in our ears, remembering Heston’s sassy one liners, the cowboy hats and the whistles. Now our hearts were pounding with excitement as though we discovered a little gem. Well, what do you expect from filmmakers anyway ? 

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Hampi : What To Do Apart From The Monuments

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Tungabhadra River

Somewhere around the 14th Century AD, a major city arose on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in Karnataka. Pampa Kshetra, Kinshkinda Kshetra or Bhaskara Kshetra, this city is also known as Hampi. Spread over some 16 square miles, Hampi has some excellent ancient monuments, as we experienced. However, apart from the monuments, Hampi has … Read more

Hampi : The Third Day

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Entering Vittala Temple

On the third day at Hampi, after having explored the heritage Vijayanagar Empire Hampi monuments here and some more amazing Hampi monuments, we went towards the Vitthala Temple. It is the largest of the Hampi monuments, but unclear who built it. Inscriptions has multiple male and female names. The large Ranga Mandapa of the Vitthala … Read more

Hampi : Exploring More Monuments

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There is so much to see and absorb in Hampi, one definitely needs about 4 days here. Spread over a 16 square miles, this UNESCO World Heritage site has “forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, mandapas, memorial structures, water structures and others” (from Wikipedia), and is one of the largest … Read more

Hampi : Glory Of The Vijayayanagar Empire

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Lakshmi Narasimha temple Hampi

I never thought there could be an archaeological site as vast and neat/clean as Hampi. From most of our travels, such sites are limited to tiny areas in congested villages or towns. Hampi is anything but that. The name Hampi comes from Pampa, another name for Goddess Parvati. Hampi is also known as Pampa Kshetra, … Read more