High-range telescopes, guitars, bonfires, sightings of the deep sky and luminous alpine meadows, which locals call bugyals—India’s first-ever astronomical village, Benital, in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand is a palimpsest of your childhood dreams stretched across blue nights. After local authorities zeroed in on this village to curate a stargazing experience for proper enthusiasts in early 2021, astronomy outfit Starscapes Experiences, founded by Ramashish Ray and Paul Savio, eventually came aboard to develop Benital as India’s first astro-village. “The choice of Benital is apt because i ..read more

In the Guntur chilli yard, trading, packaging, and exporting this lucrative produce is a century-old tradition, fuelled with pride and passion for the land and its culture. Chilli is dried in the hours just before sunset, while the skin is still fresh from plucking; this makes the product easier to store. Later, on the same day, based on the Scoville level—the measurement for heat and pungency—different varieties are separated and labelled for export all over the world. In the evening, in the kitchens that constitute the local gastronomy, the bright red skins of these peppers are crafted into ..read more

The prayer hall at Thiksey Monastery in Ladakh reverberates with a rhythmic chanting by monks. The mise-en-scène is meditative. A narrow pathway—flanked by monks aged between six and 80—leads straight to a Buddhist shrine with a life-size cut-out of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I’m among a handful of masked visitors seated at the entrance, watching the spectacle unfold before me on a July morning. Half-past six casts an unusually early start to my day, but not for the monastery’s residents—approximately 80 of them—some of whom rise even before the sun does, at 4 a.m. I notice a senior monk eng ..read more

There’s no dearth of viewpoints at Six Senses Fort Barwara. The Shikar Burj overlooks a lush expanse of the Aravallis that stretch into the stark immensity of Rajasthan. The foyer stands right across the Kharbuja Mahal and Zenana Bagh courtyard stares like a precipice over the patchwork settlement of Barwara. The east end of their all-day diner extends into the belly of a watchtower whose three diaphanous jharokhas proudly frame windswept grass stalks on a nippy evening. The Viewing Gallery is a proud pavilion whose understated magnificence flourishes under the propitious watch of its silent g ..read more

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The earliest memories of 27-year-old Sarath K.R. are that of being enchanted by a neighbour’s rendition of nadan paattu (folk songs in Malayalam). He was all of two but remembers what he’d felt that day—the folk song imprinted on his infant mind and conjured a euphoric emotion in him. Across Kerala, nadan paattu are sung by fishermen while rowing their boats, in the kitchen while chopping vegetables, or by the solitary traveller traversing the mighty rivers of this South Indian state. Two decades since that day, Sarath now finds himself part of a handful of young ecowarriors selected by the In ..read more

Soaked in South Bombay In my first year of college, I travelled to Bombay, and by the end of our second year, COVID-19 had entered our lives. It was raining the day we took a cab to South Bombay to see Marine Drive. We got to the place around 6 p.m. and decided to enjoy the view from the promenade. As soon as I crossed my legs and sat down, a huge wave of water swept over me and left me drenched. I needed an immediate change of clothes so we walked over to the nearby street market to buy some. I left my phone with my friends while I changed into new clothes in a street market bathroom I found ..read more

Suyash Keshari is not answering the where-do-you-see-yourself-in-five-years question anymore. About five years ago, at a crucial crossroads in his life, his response to that question—his desire to be successful in front of or behind the camera in the world of wildlife—would face dissuasion from all quarters. This was despite his status as the youngest winner of the Nature’s Best Photography Asia award. He followed that accolade up with an award by the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (top 10 finalists for wildlife and sustainability tourism), but doubt trickled deeper in his mind, as Keshari ..read more

‘Everyone should sit by a stream and listen’ Maurice Sendak’s utterly simple yet poignant words from one of my favourite childhood books, Open House For Butterflies, rang in my head as I boarded the flight to Leh. After months of being locked up within the concrete walls of my city abode, my weary mind needed a pause, some chicken soup to reignite my soul–one I hoped the journey to Zanskar in Ladakh would bring me. Fast forward to four days later, after a back-breaking ride through the high passes and gravel roads of Zanskar Valley, my fellow travellers and I paused for a quick cup of chai at ..read more

Amchong Dorje is my father’s age and flutters with the same second wind that makes the sixties swing. He wears a baseball hat just like I do, and is a terrific road-trip DJ. “Do you know what Taglang-la means? Tag (pronounced stakh) means tiger and lang means this,” Mr Dorje imitates the striped cat midway through a leap. Much like Aunt Jennifer’s tigers, these big cats enjoy an unparalleled primacy in Tibetan iconography. La, as any self-respecting traveller to Ladakh knows, means pass. We just passed this hallowed milestone—a crucial passage for traders and travellers on the Silk Route—and i ..read more