A divine deluge, a 11-day free festival of classical music of the compositions by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, called Swathi Sangeetotsavam, held on beautiful grounds of a palce in Thiruvanthapuram, Kerala, India.
Gandhiji lives on
Gandhi was born 150 years ago this month. As we travelled the country, we found that Gandhi lives on. An anecdote from two weeks ago: We were coming home in a cab from the airport, close to midnight. A woman in traditional garb was walking down a quiet and otherwise empty residential street, a cloth
The boy that could sew
We share the story of a brilliant boy that had to stop his studies because his parents were poor. This is the story of the transformation of that boy’s story from a poor tailor’s son to the founder of an NGO nonprofit that pays it forward to thousands of children.
A dream come true: Our Himalayan village home
Our Himalayan village home: a longtime dream come true🙏 It has been a dream of ours to live in a small village in the Himalayas. So grateful that we are now living it 🙏🙏🙏 [Yes, this is only temporary, but so is everything else in life, right?]Our comfortable little home here is airy, cheerful and
‘Where everybody knows your name…”
There was this old TV show called Cheers, whose premise was that people loved to hang out at a place where everyone knew you by name and cared about you. Their theme song went: “where everybody knows your name… “. Although such a place on the show was a pub / bar with the same
An Apple a Day
From Vizag, we flew into Delhi. [More on the relaxation and the people that we met in Vizag and learnings in Cheepurupalli, in a few days]. Traveling from the airport to the Inter-state Bus Terminal (ISBT), we got a chance to experience the traffic and smog in the capital city. Driving along Sardar Patel Marg
Opulence… and re-connection
A dazzling chandelier made up of a thousand bright LED lamps hangs in the center of this huge hall, hanging from the ceiling by fine fiber optics. On the sound system, the final crescendo of Vatapi by a fusion band. The percussion (mridangam, ghatam, is that a cymbal from a bandset? Is that a snare
Drinking from under a waterfall
Imagine yourself standing under a waterfall. Think of how much water you can really drink while standing under this waterfall – not much, right? You are probably limited to what you can drink while you stick your tongue out or maybe from your folded palms. While you take these small sips, tons of water falls
Happy Birthday, Ganesha!
All countries have days of celebration, feasts and festivals. In India, the calendar appears to be full of festivals. Many are celebrated with varying degrees of fervor in different parts of the country. A major festival is the celebration of the birthday (or homecoming) of the deity, Ganesha. The belief of the devout is that
A tale of two cities
We happened to meet two teenage girls this week. This is a tale of two cities: one where the future is blindingly bright, the other… well, the other’s future could’ve been dark and murky. Spoiler alert: The second story is also turning out OK, thanks to the love and care of a compassionate person. So,