Bombay wasn’t my favourite city when I lived there. But it grew on me. And now I miss the city so much so that I find reasons to go back and spend some days with my friends and family there. When I first arrived in Bombay, my friends often directed my attention towards the awesome…
Category: Maharashtra
Pandal Hopping, feasting on Bhog & dancing with Dhunuchi & Dhak: a soulful, extraordinary experience of Durga Pujo in Bombay 2019
I was in Bombay during Durga Pujo celebrations a few years back. Great company, great timing and with the support of my super awesome sister, I shushed my lazy self. Luckily, it’s the time of weekend and I could shift my focus from conversations, negotiations, deliverables to decking up, getting excited and hopping Pujo Pandals….
Cave 16, 30 and 34: a grand tour of Ellora Caves, Aurangabad
In the last five-seven years, I have seen more of Netflix, Amazon Prime and other OTT than sunrises and sunsets. No no, I am not complaining. After a long day of work that ends pretty late at night, one needs to unwind with some more content. But then, on vacations, whenever I do end up…
Another token of eternal love, Bibi ka Maqbara of Aurangabad
Shahjahan made Taj Mahal in the memory of his wife, Mumtaz. Five centuries later, the Taj is still a wonder to behold. Magic in marble, as they say.Rumour has it that there were plans to build another Taj right opposite to this one. Before he could do that, Aurangzeb captured his father & Shahjahan spent…
My first Mumbai rains & the onslaught thereafter!
There are two things that Mumbaikars love to talk about – evening party scenes & Mumbai rains. The first time I experienced Bombay rains was the first of that season. In May 2019. I was returning home from Phoenix mall, Kurla. I was just 5 mins away from my place when all of a sudden,…
Igatpuri, in the Western Ghats: found on maps but not by cabs
Like a coin, every tourist place has two sides. There’s often a known side that’s exaggerated in blogs & glorified by travellers. It’s usually the good stuff that someone would tell you about after having spent their hard-earned money on a trip to that place. And then there’s an unknown side that everybody knows but…
An evening in the Wine Capital of the Country, to SULA Vineyards, Nashik
“Either give me more wine or leave me alone.” ― Rumi When you arrive at Sula Vineyards, it feels as if you have arrived at Cyber Hub in Gurgaon. You see the same glitz & glamour, people dressed up in fashionable clothes & a melange of smells wafting your way. Then, you look at the…
Where Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj defeated Afzal Khan: the Pratapgarh fort
Things that have to happen find a way to happen like our trip to Pratapgarh fort. When we went to Mahabaleshwar, I told my sister that we should go to Pratapgarh but she won’t listen. She wanted to go for star gazing & an early sunrise. Not only because my sister is as quirky as…
I am out of Bombay & Bombay is out of me. But there’s more.
One fine day in the January of 2019, I decided to move my base from Ghaziabad. I badly needed a change of scene. So, I started exploring my options which (I realised after a while) didn’t exist. In times like these, I turn to wiser people for advice. Even then, I turned to one of the…
Away from the noise, the life in Manoribel, Mumbai
Every Monday, I drag my body with half a soul to work & begin running, only to take a pause on Friday night because the next morning won’t come with alarms and reminders. Sleeping like no one is watching on Saturdays & Sundays often help me find the rest of my missing soul, only to…
The city that’s called Mumbai & known by many names!
It’s the city of dreams. It’s the city of dreams; it’s the city that never sleeps; it’s a mahanagri where people come to realise their dreams, struggle day in, day out, travel in local trains, go without food for days, travel on foot, risk dehydration, and wake up every day to do what they got…
The Leopold’s from Mumbai |Straight from the pages of Shantaram
I always consider myself a less of a reader. Because I don’t read as much as I would want to. However, whatever little I read, it leaves an impact on me. I can’t keep a book down unless I have read it. I don’t leave books mid-way & I certainly don’t skim or scan. I…
Chasing Strawberries in Mapro Garden, Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar
Some of the best memories of my life somehow have food in it. These memories – of a great conversation over holidays, gorging ourselves with rum & raisin cakes, a late night party with pizzas and drinks, a trip to some place remote with nothing in tummy but Maggi & Chai & the best –…
A walk through the bakeries of Pune
I started off as a traveller who would shop a lot before any trip and focus on getting clicked as much as the photographer can whenever I went to any place. 😉 After 15+ states in India, I feel I have matured and like to breathe in the place before infinite selfies and checking off…
Of the love that refused to die: Mastani Mahal, Pune
Close your eyes, fall in love. Stay there. – Rumi Love touches everyone. We all experience love & all that it brings with itself: excitement, change and pain. And even after all the pain and change, we don’t bat an eyelid before falling in love again. They say that love knows nothing. It’s blind. And…
The burnt & broken: Shaniwarwada, Pune
Bajirao-Mastani hit the Cinema Halls in 2016 and took us on a visual treat. The movie got me thinking about many things & I resolved to read the translated copy of the famous Marathi novel ‘Rau’ & pay a visit to the much decorated (going by what the movie showed) Shaniwarwada in Pune. I could…
A little place of books: Waari Book Cafe, Pune
“Reading gives us a place to go when we have to stay where we are.” A book comes with no reservations. You can safekeep a book, begin it at your own pace, go back, flip forward or close it and take a nap. The book doesn’t mind & the book never moves. You will always…
Life on weekends- Home 