Man who dared to pursue his dreams

July 31, 2020

Summer vacations during his childhood years meant a visit to his maternal grandmother in Dumraon, where the two spent their time indulging in their love for cinema. Those were princely times in which, his grandmother wielded her regality by booking the entire theatre hall for a private screening of two....

A peep into the kesariya kaleidoscope

July 24, 2020

During their stint at one of India’s topmost design studios, classmates Divya Shekhawat and Shivangani Singh were exposed to the standard norm of factory-made fashion that catered to garish tastes on a mass scale. Their mutual dislike visà-vis this norm was further exacerbated when the duo began to take notice...

Into Shambhavi Singh’s rich and diverse culinary world

July 17, 2020

At 25, Shambhavi Singh is a fresh graduate from Bangalore’s Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry arts. The younger princess of Gamph has followed her father’s footsteps in delivering world-class hospitality in their family-run haveli in Jaipur. The father-daughter duo reclaimed the erstwhile garage space of the property and...

Rajputs are most misrepresented and misunderstood communities

July 10, 2020

It was the monsoon of 2016. The social media was abuzz with an uninformed and inane piece of writing that aimed at stereotyping contemporary Rajput customs and tropes. The post’s sensational undertone circulated its way onto several Facebook news feeds, mine included. Coming from a Rajput family, I was mildly...

Tapped enthusiasm in the time of a pandemic

July 8, 2020

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 25 March 2020 announced a nationwide lockdown, not only did I receive his official directives with civil obedience, but with all the willingness that my privileged self could muster rather than afford. The hotelier in me was affected by the disruption of Manali’s peak...

Manali has never been so quiet in summer season

June 30, 2020

Manali sees an influx of tourists in the peak tourist season of summer which lasts about 90 days. The number of tourists exceeds the capacity of the town by about 27 times. However, in this summer of 2020 the streets of this Himalayan town are silent and devoid of any...

‘Dear June’: A Letter For Pride Month

June 10, 2020

Dear June, As a kid, I remember being labelled as a tomboy for preferring jeans over skirts, Lego over Barbie, sports over makeup and Eminem over Spice Girls. My teenage gait didn’t have the girly hip swing, and my pubescent self began to slouch due to being conscious of my...