My 8-year-old thinks I have no chill. Her friends go to South Korea and come back with those plastic anime toys. They go to Paris and eat croissants at a café that is famous on Instagram. They go to a Scandinavian country for a white Christmas. And here I am, telling her that our next […]

Aged soy sauce can have terroir, techniques and flavour notes, just as wine or whisky. On the Japanese island of Shodo, umami-rich soy sauce is fermented in centuries-old wooden barrels, that gives it a nuanced rich flavour. On August 22 and 24, Oberoi Hotels in Bengaluru and Mumbai are hosting a dinner that pairs these […]

Hailing from the South of the country, I believed my sole encounter with Jammu and Kashmir would be through Hindi films. Actors romancing in the backdrop of snowcapped mountains and gun encounters, lingered in my mind, as I saw my flight slowly land on the runway at Srinagar International Airport. However, that did not stop […]

illustration: Satheesh Vellinezhi Preetha Cheerambathel, 56, wore the look of quiet contentment that comes from fulfilling a long-cherished wish as she stepped out after partaking in the famed Vallasadya — the grand ritual feast associated with Onam — at the Aranmula Sree Parthasarathy Temple in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala. The feast was part of a budget […]

Zai Whitaker distinctly remembers Madras Crocodile Bank Trust’s (MCBT) first-ever gharial. As incredulous as it sounds, it arrived in a box. The small zoo dedicated to reptiles on what was once a desolate East Coast Road in Tamil Nadu had been up and running since 1976 when among the rarest crocodilians on Earth, made its […]

In 2021, I started cycling across India with a Nikon D850 camera and a loose plan to photograph whatever I found along the way — people, places, small routines of everyday life. I wanted to step away from a fixed routine and spend more time on the road, and cycling, with its slower pace, seemed […]

Indian bullfrog | Photo Credit: Special arrangement The first signs of the monsoon are not always found in the sky. They may hang from the tapered end of a half-built baya-weaver’s nest, pulse from the blue vocal sacs of a breeding Indian bullfrog or appear overnight on a rain-darkened log. The monsoon is not a […]

T.J. Marce during his Mount Elbrus expedition in August 2026. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT For T.J. Marce, ageing has been less about slowing down and more about reaching new heights. The septuagenarian from Wayanad in Keralam has scaled two of the peaks in the Seven Summits in less than a year, adding a new […]

A view of the twin rock peaks at Puligundu in Penumur mandal near Chittoor. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement A three-phase action plan is being developed to transform the small village of Puligundu in Penumur mandal near Chittoor district, into a destination for adventure, spiritual and eco-tourism. The two imposing 1,000-foot rock peaks, natural geological […]

Tourists entering the Lighthouse on Dolphin Hill in Visakhapatnam on Friday, August 21, 20266. The Lighthouse operated by Directorate of Lighthouses and Lightships of Ministry of Shipping is open to public between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. | Photo Credit: KR DEEPAK The road to Dolphin Hill changes the character of Visakhapatnam in a way. […]