The first time I laid eyes on Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpar, it was through a pair of powerful binoculars. Fixed atop a viewing platform
The first time I laid eyes on Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpar, it was through a pair of powerful binoculars. Fixed atop a viewing platform
A complete waiver of visas for Indians last year made travel to this Balkan beauty that much easier. With ski resorts and spas, river cruises and cycling holidays, history and heritage, Serbia is an all-season, any-reason destination.
Where the Indus Is Young chronicles the hair-raising exploits of the intrepid, beer-loving travel legend Dervla Murphy, often described as the first lady of Irish cycling. It tells of a mid-1970s winter spent–by choice, no less–in Baltistan, a perilous terrain harsh and inhospitable, by far, even in summer. Keeping her company is her garrulous six-year-old daughter, Rachel, given to scientific query at moments most inopportune, and a sure-footed, even-tempered Balti mule christened Hallam.
It’s out. Actually it’s been out for nearly a month, just didn’t get around to gloating about it. The launch of the Times Food Guide for Chandigarh (Mohali & Panchkula included as separate sections) took place at The Lalit on 29th March at the high decibel Times Food & Nightlife Awards ceremony.
It was with some trepidation I accepted an invite to experience a newly-minted wellness resort in Vishakhapatnam. The hour it took to get from the airport to Rushikonda where it is located was probably the longest, my mind playing over and over again an earlier encounter, elsewhere. Though many moons ago, it had left me a tad disenchanted with the space. Partly, I gather, from not knowing all it entailed, partly from a definite lack of finesse (not to be confused with luxury) of approach. Privacy, I recalled, was another casualty. Most vivid of memories was the discomfort persistent hunger pangs invited. Yet here I was, ushering myself into the yawning vestibule at BayPark for another spell of naturopathy. Some of us just never learn.
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In the 1972 travelogue Kulu: The End of the Habitable World, Penelope Chetwode recounts her mule trek from Shimla to Rohtang (13,050 feet) over the Jalori Pass (10,300 feet), a detour to Khir Ganga in the Parvati Valley, and eventual return to Shimla across Bashleo Pass (10,800 feet). This chronicle of an arduous albeit adventurous journey, undertaken in 1963, unveiled for curious travellers the less explored regions of the Inner and Outer Seraj Valley. Today, the valley’s Great Himalayan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a huge draw.
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‘On their honeymoon, they seemed a perfect match: a dazzlingly handsome couple despite the twenty-four-year age difference; witty, intelligent and fashionable. Jinnah was tall and thin with sharply chiselled features; Ruttie was dainty, warm, spontaneous, with a look of sparkling mischief that made her irresistible.’
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Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh is no stranger to art. In fact, it even lends its name to a mid-18th century school of miniature painting. In the mid-1800s, the British added to the charms of the valley by cultivating Chinese tea. In 1924, Irishwoman Norah Richards made Andretta, 12km from Palampur, her home, and urged other Lahore luminaries to follow suit. An actor and playwright, she was indulgently referred to as the “Nani of Punjabi Theatre”.
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