We make our first stop before reaching Gushaini in Tirthan Valley at a dhaba and have food. It is still raining continuously on the Gushaini-Bathad road and someone tells us at the dhaba that even worse weather has been forecast for the entire week. We are excited, snow is exactly what we have come for!…
Category: Nature Stays
A Snowy Sojourn : Shangarh in January
The first snows in the mid-reaches of Kullu Valley were forecast around 15-18 January. I, along-with 3 of my friends had made a flexible plan to explore some villages and enjoy the fresh snow as we did so and Shangarh had turned out to be first on our wish-list of places to see shrouded in…
Memories of a Utopia : Munlom Nature Resort in Dzongu, Sikkim
On my first visit to the tiny erstwhile Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, back in the early 2010s – I had stumbled upon this word called ‘Dzongu’. It sounded very mysterious and romantic. This first Sikkim trip was with the family and we had a sort-of fixed program for 10 days where we were going around…
Dukpa Tseshi Festival of Dokpas – The High Altitude Nomads of Sikkim
The air is thin as we drive farther away from Thangu on the popular road from Lachen to Gurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim. The journey from Delhi has already taken over two days. Time is irrelevant here; and it shouldn’t matter too; for we are documenting Dukpa Tseshi – festival of the Dokpa tribe that…
The Goodness of Strangers : Travails & Joy in Gada Gushaini
Names of some places strike the mind as mirages. Not because they might be difficult to reach physically, but rather due to the fact that hardly anyone from the mortal world has been there. And hence when unplanned wanderers like me happen to inadvertently land in obscure and little known hamlets like Gada Gushaini, it…
Himachal’s Newest Offbeat Secret : Thachi Valley
It must have been 2 years ago, in 2016 when I had first heard (or read) the word Thachi. I’d reached Balichowki on my way to Gushaini and was having paranthas at a small eatery when I saw a bus with Thachi written on it. I asked the dhaba uncle and he said the road…
Slow Travel in Corbett, with V Resorts Kotabagh
The map showed it would take around 6 hours to cover the 300 km distance to reach Kotabagh from Delhi. It was a forgettable drive through dusty and lawless Uttar Pradesh, which made me reiterate in my mind that if Uttarakhand has to really progress – they must have a different road to themselves that…
Orange Festival of Adventure & Music in Dambuk, Arunachal Pradesh
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…
Alternative Living in Kasar Devi, Almora
In hindsight, I can say it must have been a fortuitous moment when I revisited Kasar Devi near Almora. It was the long Holi weekend in March 2018 and the trip had began with great difficulty from Delhi. It is a well known fact that migrating workers from across India go back home for celebrating…
Must Have Experiences in India : Loktak Lake
Manipur was turning out to be a destination that would change my perception of the North-East. Exploring Imphal was a breeze; also because the weather was perfect after a downpour. I had a day and a half to spend at Loktak Lake and was totally clueless about it. As the shared taxi rolled into Moirang,…
Life on Loktak Lake, Manipur : A Photo Story
If I ever made a list : Top 10 Experiences in India; it would have to include Loktak Lake in it. It is a unique eco-system with floating phumdis (land mass) on the lake housing moving homes. I know it sounds superficial or too good to be true; but thats exactly what this jewel in…
Mateura Jari : Timeless Village in Parvati Valley
It had been a strange sort of a day in Parvati Valley. After having enjoyed solitude in Grahan, we had made our way to far away Kutla. The descent from Kutla and the subsequent arrival in Tosh, waiting in the rain in Barshaini and then wasting time in Kasol (in the dust and diesel fumes) had left…