Storytellers of Wonder

Category: Travel

  • Bridging the Old and New Worlds: Vintage Textile Collector Mr. A. A. Wazir

    The room is layered with brightly colored phulkaris, rabari embroidered cloths and cowry shell tassels. Among them is seated a man who has spent more than forty years painstakingly building what can easily become a museum collection. At his home in Bhuj in the Kutch region of Gujarat, the septuagenarian Mr. A.A. Wazir has passionately…

  • Magical Mawlynnong

    Ever heard of a village where the locals are worshippers of nature, where tourists are greeted with Dos and Don’ts on how to keep the village clean, where dustbins made out of bamboo dot the entire village-scape, where waste from the dustbins is stored in pits to be later used as organic manure, where villagers…

  • Pichwais of Nathdwara

    Legend has it that in 1409 AD, near Govardhan hill in Mathura an image of Lord Shrinathji, the mountain lifting form of Lord Krishna, was discovered while a cow worshiped the lord with offerings of milk. A temple was promptly established at this site and was held in high reverence. In the 17th century, during…

  • Treasured Travelogues: India through the eyes of Artists Thomas and Willam Daniell

    India has bewitched many an artist who has found such beauty in the landscape and its people that it has prompted them to translate some of the experienced charm onto the canvas. The late 18th century saw an English uncle-nephew duo, Thomas and William Daniell, setting sail to India, arriving in Calcutta in 1786. Upon…

  • Shadow and Light.. a little black a little white..

      I see a rustic courtyard in dappled light,      with thatched roofs, and ageing terracotta figurines…      I see a woman in white cottons,      with dark eyes      and quaint silver rings… I see an old tree dancing,      to the tranquil notes of an iktara playing in the background…   I see old clay pots, dark with…

  • Tale Trails: Go barefoot in Sri Lanka…

    A little off-track for a series on bookstores for this one’s about books, handmade textiles, apparel, art exhibits, food and Jazz on Sundays! But then that’s what makes it so special! A beautifully laid out place, the Barefoot Café, Colombo, is a must visit for anyone who’s visiting this not-so-little island country. Founded by artist…

  • Tale Trails: Street-side Sunday Surprise at Daryaganj, Delhi

    When Edward Spenser wrote his epic poem The Faerie Queene celebrating the Tudor Dynasty and Elizabeth I, little could he have imagined that more than 400 years later the monetary worth of his words would be tested by a weighing contraption installed in Delhi. At 0.82 kgs, Spenser’s allegorical masterpiece exchanges hands at Rs. 180.…

  • Tale Trails: A Must Visit Literary Icon in San Francisco

    San Francisco, the undeniable global capital of liberalization and the birthplace of the hippie revolution and the gay rights movement, has for centuries been associated with culture, arts and creativity.  And yet, little is known about how this liberalization came about. The end of World War II saw the emergence of a new genre of…

  • Tale Trails – A hidden haven for booklovers in Ahmedabad

    I had read about it. Adjectives like rare, tucked away, quaint, hidden gem etc. can make me visit anything, even a postbox, and this was a full-fledged bookstore. And so it was to be, in the summer of 2013 when I found myself in Ahmedabad, yet again. (It is quickly becoming one of my favourite…

  • Tale Trails – Treasures Waiting Around the Bend

    We all travel for different reasons. To experience a place far removed from our own, savor delectable treats, soak in the city life and the unmatched scent of hidden streets. But mostly what tugs at wanderlust-struck heartstrings is the desire to discover something hidden behind the bend, a little gem that we can carry with us…