There are many ways of changing the world. Revolution is one. War is another. Elections occasionally manage it. The United Nations has now discovered a considerably less dangerous method: change the map. On September 4, the UN General Assembly voted 164 to 1 to encourage the world to move away from the familiar Mercator projection towardsContinue reading “What’s in a Map?”
Tag Archives: travel
When the Monsoon Changed
India’s ancient rhythm in an age of extreme weather A Monsoon Out of Step The Himalayas have provided the latest and most unsettling images of India’s monsoon. In Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, intense rain has triggered landslides, flash floods and the collapse of roads and bridges. Mountain slopes have given way, sometimes carrying away everythingContinue reading “When the Monsoon Changed”
When God Comes Out to Meet Man
A Reflection on the Jagannath Rath Yatra There are festivals that delight the senses. There are festivals that preserve tradition. And then there are festivals that quietly transform the human spirit. The Jagannath Rath Yatra of Puri belongs to this rarest category. Every year, amid the roar of conch shells, the chanting of countless voices,Continue reading “When God Comes Out to Meet Man”
What Draws Millions to Vrindavan?
The queue moved so slowly that it seemed hardly to move at all. The summer sun beat down relentlessly upon Vrindavan. Faces glistened with perspiration. Elderly pilgrims leaned against railings for support, a few of them confined to wheelchairs, with sons or relatives standing patiently behind them. Women from every background chatted ceaselessly to passContinue reading “What Draws Millions to Vrindavan?”
When Paradise becomes A Parking Lot
In the past few weeks, several friends have returned from summer visits to India’s celebrated hill stations. Their stories were remarkably similar. Not one began by describing pine forests, mountain sunsets, misty mornings or cool evenings. Instead, they spoke of traffic jams stretching for kilometres, vehicles crawling for hours along mountain roads, overflowing hotels, litteredContinue reading “When Paradise becomes A Parking Lot”
Manikarnika: Where Fire Becomes Eternity
I arrived at Manikarnika as the sun was preparing to leave the sky. The evening light had begun to soften the hard outlines of Varanasi. As I walked through the city’s labyrinthine lanes, Kashi displayed all its familiar contradictions at once—pilgrims and shopkeepers, temple bells and motorcycle horns, saffron-clad ascetics and foreign visitors, all sharingContinue reading “Manikarnika: Where Fire Becomes Eternity”
Leaving Bengaluru
I shall be leaving Bengaluru in a day or two, after having lived here during two distinct periods: first between September 2024 and July 2025, and then again during these recent months from March to May 2026. Between them, I have seen the city through almost all its seasons—under monsoon skies, amid flowering summers, in koel-filled mornings,Continue reading “Leaving Bengaluru”
Bengaluru Is Changing Its Mood
Some weeks ago, after an evening shower briefly interrupted the tyranny of April heat, I had written a piece titled “Rain, Briefly!” The rain that evening had felt less like a seasonal turning and more like a passing gesture—welcome, restorative, but uncertain of itself. By the next morning, the roads had dried, the heat hadContinue reading “Bengaluru Is Changing Its Mood”
Bengaluru in April
I have come back to Bengaluru for a while—long enough, hopefully, to continue understanding something of its temperament. It is a city that both fascinates and unsettles me: in the feel and fragrance of its air, in the interplay of its sounds and silences, and above all, in the restless energy of its people. ToContinue reading “Bengaluru in April”
A Star on The plate-Part IV
Beyond the Star — India, a Culinary Continent, and the Limits of Measuring Taste If the Michelin star began as an act of classification, and matured into a global language of culinary excellence, its encounter with India feels less like an arrival and more like a reckoning. India is often described as a country, sometimesContinue reading “A Star on The plate-Part IV”
