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Kinnaur: A Road Trip 1 (Sarahan)
View from Jalori PassKatra katra milti hain Katra katra jeene doZindagi haiBehne DoPyasi hoon mai pyasi rehne do…(I get it in drops/ Let me live it in drops/ It’s life/ Let it flow/ I’m thirsty, let me...
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Kinnaur: A Road Trip 2 (Kalpa)
The majestic Kinner Kailash peaks on way to Kalpa Sarahan to Kalpa (90km/5hours with a 2-hour break at Karchham Wangtoo HEPS)The road from Sarahan to Kalpa is one of the most beautiful Himalayan roads...
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Kinnaur: A Road Trip 3 (Chitkul)
 The Baspa in ChitkulKalpa to Chitkul (61km/2 hours)The road to Chitkul is one of the most treacherous in the world. It's also one of the most beautiful and adventurousTo go to Chitkul from Kalpa, one...
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Kinnaur: A Road Trip 4 (Rakcham)
RakchamRakcham is only about 10km from Chitkul and just about the same distance from Sangla. The best part about Rakcham is that despite its proximity to the two well-known tourist destinations, it’s...
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Eating Chinese in China
Fishy businessOur table, as usual, was brimming with food. Before the waitress could put the umpteenth dish down on the table, she had to first make space for it — picking up some of the leftovers and...
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Kahwa, and a dash of Kashmiriyat, on a 'hidden' Dal Lake
The beauty called Dal Lake It’s 7.30 in the morning, but Dal Lake — like the rest of Srinagar — is yet to fully wake from its slumber. The emerald-green lake and the surrounding mountains are awash in...
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Hour of the Goddess: The phenomenal festival called Durga Puja
The Rio and Venice carnivals, La Tomatina, Chinese New Year… I see very few Indian names — with the exception of Holi — on the list of the most colourful or amazing festivals across the world. I can’t...
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Life in Srinagar: Fishing rods, 'murderous' drivers and an old-world charm
Srinagar city from view point on way to Shankaracharya templeAgar firdaus bar rue zameen ast, hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast(If there is a paradise on Earth, it is here, it is here, it is here)...
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What three years of Himalayan trekking have taught me
Travel, they say, teaches more than you could ever learn in school. I would say trekking — especially of the multi-day Himalayan kind — teaches you more than you could ever learn from ‘ordinary’...
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The Mughal Gardens of Srinagar
Look at any list of must-visits in Srinagar and the Mughal Gardens will be right on top. Four gardens in various locations and altitudes around Dal Lake are together called the Mughal Gardens because...
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Things to see in Srinagar (Part I)
I got effectively only two days for sightseeing in Srinagar — an afternoon, an entire day and a morning. So it was one hectic affair and I missed some spots like Verinag, which I had wanted to visit....
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Things to see in Srinagar (Part II)
In the last post I covered three attractions of Srinagar — Jama Masjid, Shankaracharya Temple and Badam Vaer (Almond Garden). This post is about three other noteworthy sites that I visited during my...
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Glimpses of Durga Puja 2015, Kolkata (Part I)
And it's that time of the year again for us Bengalis. Durga Puja, our biggest festival — and one of the grandest in the world — is here. (Don't know much about it? Read my post here to know what Durga...
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Glimpses of Durga Puja 2015, Kolkata (Part II)
Madness, thy name is Kolkata Durga Puja. I have already posted several photographs of this madness. Here are some more pictures of famous community celebrations in south Kolkata. Officially, Durga Puja...
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Glimpses of Durga Puja 2015, Kolkata (Part III)
After extensively covering south Kolkata, I move to the north. Here are some famous community celebrations in north Kolkata. Unlike in the south, I did not find a single traditional idol in the...
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Durga Puja at the heritage houses of Kolkata
Durga Puja is not only about the community celebrations. In fact, the community celebrations started only around a century ago. Before that, it was more of a religious festival, arranged with pomp by...
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The Paradise Trek (Part I): Aru
Aru campsiteIt was pitch-dark outside the tent — except for those occasional flashes of lightning. The roar of rain and thunder had drowned the song of the Lidder, which flowed a few metres past our...
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The Paradise Trek (Part 2): Meadow of the Lidder
LidderwatContinued from previous post…Day 2: Aru (8000 feet) to Lidderwat (9,100 feet): 10kmIt was nearly 2pm and the Lidderwat campsite was nowhere in sight. Darshan, a young fellow trekker, and I...
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The Paradise Trek Part 3: The Valley of Flowers
Shekhwas campsiteContinued from previous post…Day 3: Lidderwat (9,100 feet) to Shekhwas (10,700 feet): 5.6 kmSo near, yet so far. I had had few occasions in my life when I had felt so close to this...
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The Paradise Trek Part 4: The Blue Lake of Kashmir
TarsarContinued from previous post…Day 4: Shekhwas (10,700 feet) to Tarsar (12,400 feet): 5 kmAlmost all the way to Tarsar from Shekhwas, the landscape hardly changes—boulders of varying sizes dot the...
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