Back in 2017, over a glass of delicious home-brewed rice wine in Nagaland a friend had thrown the words ‘Dambuk Orange Festival’ at me. I was intrigued; Dambuk sounded exotic and the fact that it was an adventure and music festival held in the midst of orange orchards felt too good to be true! About…
Category: Festivals
Tribes of Nagaland – Hornbill Festival
As briefly mentioned in the earlier photo story; the Hornbill Festival near Kohima in Nagaland is a great place to have a glimpse of the different tribes of Nagaland in their traditional attire. Names of the various tribes of Nagaland are : Ao, Angami, Chakhesang, Chang, Kachari, Khiamniungan, Lotha, Konyak, Kuki, Phom, Rengma, Sangtam, Sumi, Pochury,…
Photo Stories from Hornbill Festival, Nagaland
I’d sipped a glass of delicious rice wine in someone’s home in Guwahati and had instantly made up my mind to go and attend Hornbill Festival. You see; the wine had been procured in Hornbill Festival near Kohima in Nagaland. That was the tipping point. I am rarely excited by the idea of bucket lists…
Pang Lhabsol Festival in Gangtok, Sikkim
The rapturous crowd had just been silenced. The warrior looked fierce and scary in the red mask ringed by five human skulls; he twisted and twirled as he danced. My hair stood on end in anticipation; there was pin drop silence even amid the chaos around. I instantly knew I was witnessing something special while…
Photo Story : Snapshots from Tawang Festival
An icy breeze blew as we reached Sela Pass (Se La) and the words ‘Welcome to Tawang’ dangled on the signboard. The prayer flags made a vociferous sound with the dramatic landscapes and little snowflakes fell from the clouds as we wandered around Sela lake. The lake was a sizeable waterbody just after crossing the…
Celebrating a Traditional Festival in a village in Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh
After years of travelling through my favourite state in India, Himachal Pradesh – and witnessing many festivals in different seasons; I finally got lucky to attend a traditional village festival in Kullu Valley. I had reached a small village in Sainj Valley after changing a few bus rides and special buses had been started to…
A Quick Travel Guide to ‘Pink City’ in Jaipur
Rajasthan’s capital, Jaipur is no stranger to tourists. It is most preferred destination on the popular Golden Triangle Circuit (Delhi-Jaipur-Agra). Jaipur has the distinction of being North India’s first planned city; but it was not always the burgeoning metropolis that it is quickly transforming into. Even in the present day, the original ‘walled city’ of…
Attending a Kumaoni Wedding in Kumaon
After a monumental day that began in Kasar Devi, with not-so-pleasant visits to Nainital & Haldwani that somehow ended in Bageshwar, things could only get better from here. After all, when you are down in the dumps the only way is up! And I was going to get lucky in the end; there was a…
Leh-Ladakh : Amalgamation of Cultures
Strategically located on the Old Silk Route, the caravan town of Leh has over the centuries developed into a major entrepôt giving it a very cosmopolitan air. A walk through Leh almost feels like arriving back in time to a Central Asian capital, with a mixed racial composition of its inhabitants providing a cultural experience…
2016 : A Year of Consolidation, Fulfilment and Paving the Way for a Lifetime of Travel
Last rays of the sun illuminate the snowy Himalaya, notice the moon rising through the narrow gap.Clicked in Khajjiar.#TravelTuesday pic.twitter.com/B4vAGDxv9R — Shubham Mansingka (@travelshoebum) October 4, 2016 Saying goodbye to 2015 in style! After the epic wanderings of 2015, when more than 250 days were spent on the road; this was a year in which…
Diwali Celebrations in Jaipur, in Pictures
Diwali – A word that conjures up so many memories; when I let my mind wander. That last line also reminds me what a precious commodity time has become. In the quest of trying to do everything, humans seem to have lost the fine art of whiling away time. Oh, lest I digress – Diwali,…
A Winter in Ladakh : Masked dances at Spituk Monastery
Spituk has been a place of historical importance for centuries in Ladakh; it was the transit point for the lucrative pashm (wool of Pashmina goats) trade from Tibet to Kashmir. It is also religiously significant – (a) The lama of Spituk Monastery is the Gelugpa head for all of Ladakh and (b) Kicking off the masked…