There is a night each year when the oldest living city in the world seems to leave the earth and join the sky. On Kartik Poornima, the full moon of the sacred month of Kartik, Varanasi becomes Dev Deepawali, the … Read More
Culture
Where Stories Come Alive
The Koshala Literature Festival, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Duration 4 days, 3 nights (festival days with arrival day flexibility) Dates 27 to 30 November 2026 Destination Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Festival 5th edition of the Koshala Literature Festival, presented by the Perspective … Read More
Himalayan Wellness Festival
Healing in the Land of Gods The Himalayan Wellness Festival, Dehradun, Uttarakhand Duration 3 days, 2 nights Dates 23 to 25 October 2026 Destination Dehradun, Uttarakhand Stay The Punarnava Wellness Resort, Dehradun (residential retreat) Festival hosts PHD Chamber of Commerce … Read More
The Story of Mysore Silk
What is the story of Mysore silk? The story of Mysore silk begins in the 1780s, when Tipu Sultan brought silkworm rearing to his kingdom, and reaches its royal peak in 1912, when Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV opened a silk … Read More
Varahamihira: Ancient Astronomer Who Mapped the Comets & Predicted Earthquakes
Who was Varahamihira?Varahamihira was a 6th-century Indian astronomer, mathematician and polymath who lived and worked in Ujjain in present-day Madhya Pradesh from approximately 505 to 587 CE. He was one of the nine gems of Emperor Vikramaditya’s court and authored … Read More
Pune Ganesh Festival: The Five Pandals That Helped Birth a Nation
In 1893, the British colonial administration was watching Pune carefully. Large public gatherings were viewed with suspicion. Political meetings were monitored. Any organised assembly that could give voice to the growing feeling of nationalism was a threat to the colonial … Read More
Sushruta: The World’s First Plastic Surgeon
Modern medicine credits plastic surgery to 20th-century European surgeons. There is a Varanasi physician who performed it in 600 BCE. His name was Sushruta. He lived and taught on the banks of the Ganges in the city now known as … Read More
Malpe Fishing Community: What It Actually Takes to Bring Fish
The boats leave before you are awake. By the time visitors arrive at Malpe harbour in the morning, the day’s work has already been underway for hours. The fishing families of Malpe do not operate on tourist time. They operate … Read More
Shankarapura Mallige: The Jasmine That Wakes Before Dawn
The flowers have to come off the plants before the heat of the day. This is not a preference. It is biology. Jasmine blossoms at its most fragrant in the cool hours before sunrise, and a flower left unpicked past … Read More
Udupi Cotton Weavers: The Last Families Keeping a 200-Year-Old Craft Alive
The cotton arrives as a simple cone of white thread. By the time it leaves the workshop at Talipady as a finished Udupi saree, it has passed through hands that know exactly how much tension a warp thread can bear … Read More