Nobel Prize for Economics & the Santiniketan connection

"This urge to reduce the poor to a set of clichés has been with us for as long as there has been poverty. The poor appear, in social theory, as much as much in literature, by turns lazy or enterprising, noble or thievish, angry or passive, helpless or self-sufficient," Mr Banerjee and Ms Duflo wrote...

Amar Kutir: revolutionaries, Batik & local culinary delight!

Amar Kutir Society for Rural Development near Santiniketan, West Bengal, is a registered cooperative society since 1978. Susen Mukhopadhyay started it in 1923 as a safe haven for the young revolutionaries fighting for Indian’s freedom. He was greatly concerned for the daily livelihood of these young people who had left home and were mostly hiding...

Sundar Nagar Nursery: lose yourself there :)

One extremely sultry Sunday morning, I visited the Sundar Nagar Nursery. It reopened to the public in February 2018 after a restoration project by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), in partnership with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). What an absolute beauty!!! It is a great...

Meet my family: Chitku’s story :)

Hi, I'm Chitku 🙂 we've met before. This is my brother Kaachbo. We have been brought into this world by Priyanka Tolia. She is an Exhibition Designer from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and had studied History (Honours) from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) before that. Priyanka often heard from the elders in...

Mystery object

    I had asked on social media after these objects I had seen a couple carry on their bike on a highway in Andhra Pradesh. Seeing my curiosity and desperateness to photograph them, the biker had slowed down and the lady giggled and let me take a few quick shots. Nobody was harmed in...

Tighten your seat belts for some time travel!

Welcome aboard! You are on a time travel device. And, are advised to hold tight, keep your jaws from dropping and eyes from popping out as Aparna Andhare, the maverick pilot, swooshes you through the lanes and by-lanes of Shekhawati in north east of Rangeelo Rajasthan. The region of Shekhawati is probably one of the...

The Look Book: when they saw us, and how!

My first review as the Mumbai correspondent for Art Fact, the newsletter for ArtsAcre Foundation, Kolkata I could stare at that Persian couple the rest of my life – really! Her hairstyle, their fashionable garments and footwear, his headgear, her direct gaze and his almond dreamy eyes – together they were celebs of their day...

Have you visited your local Museum yet? We have :)

March is here, everyone will get busy with their financial work in India as this month ends the financial year here. It’s a stressful time when you realise that most of your investments have gone wrong and the essential papers are missing! For a de-stressful time, visit the local museum in your city to marvel...

Spring is in the air ❤️ Really!

Breaking news from Nature: Spring has arrived! If you've not been aware, Spring slowly peeped in through the especially cold Winter of 2019 in a riot of colours... Well, Spring has always been around, about to jump on Winter and whisk her away 🙂 like those streaks of mischievousness in most of us which we...

Forest Research Institute: pride of Dehradun

The Forest Research Institute, began in a small forest school at Dehradun in 1878 to impart training to forest rangers. In 1906 it became known as the Imperial Forest Research Institute located in Chand Bagh Estate. The objective was to “organize and lead forestry research in the country”. It also trained forest officers and rangers...