Posts by Sambrita

Leaving Footprints in the Salt: A Visit to the Rann of Kutch

Posted by on Apr 8, 2014 in Travel Tales | 16 comments

Leaving Footprints in the Salt: A Visit to the Rann of Kutch

There we were…a little apprehensive, a little unsure and a little paranoid, considering we were driving off track. On the second day of our tour, we were driving towards a spot that wasn’t part of our packaged itinerary. Taking a turn from the smooth highway into a rough patch of cracked mud and dried grass , we followed a track left dented by camel pugs, perhaps bullock carts and sometimes wheel tracks of an 4-axle vehicle. But something kept us re-assured that this experience would be somewhat worth it. We were promised migratory birds, flamencos and hundred of camels in herds, that...

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An Indulgence With Royalty: Adaab,Hyderabad!

Posted by on Feb 20, 2014 in Reviews & Recommendations, Travel Tales | 9 comments

An Indulgence With Royalty: Adaab,Hyderabad!

As I stood on the ornate balcony of the palace, drowning in a sea of rooftops and minarets below me, balmed in the hue of the pink twilight, hearing a myriad voices chanting the ‘Adhaan’, my eyes closed in reverence and my lips curved into a reflex smile. I have never heard the ‘Adhaan’, with an intent of listening to it. If I have, it has been always while passing by a way side mosque, or over hearing it from a friend’s room, while trying to catch up on tales friends share. This was a new experience. It is said that for every three minutes you walk in the old...

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You Don’t Need a Clock, at Havelock!

Posted by on Jan 9, 2014 in Travel Tales | 35 comments

You Don’t Need a Clock, at Havelock!

My first pre-encounter with the islands was in the form of a celestial intervention, cutting across the skies, in layers and hues of gold, violet, tangerine and red. Arriving like a majestic king with pomp and show would. Providing an apparition, letting the audience heave in anticipation, building up to a climax of expectation and then…rising above the skies of the dawn! The sunrise, witnessed through the glass panes of the flight to the islands was a visual treat that will never leave my memory. And truly so, it was the most welcoming sign foraying us into the “Island of...

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Book Review & A Quick Weekend Lunch: Easy Indian Cooking- By Hari Nayak

Posted by on Jan 26, 2013 in Culinary Journeys, Reviews & Recommendations | Comments Off on Book Review & A Quick Weekend Lunch: Easy Indian Cooking- By Hari Nayak

Book Review & A Quick Weekend Lunch: Easy Indian Cooking- By Hari Nayak

Sometimes I cook, without any available story for it. It is just a resultant of a gut feeling that creeps in all through my system for a consistent number of hours. I slowly sense “things” about the dish I want to make, trying to fill in little vacuum places within my cells,muscles and brain. The look, the taste, the smell…its a unavoidable package. And almost in an animated form my eyes dilate, and I spring up from whatever I have been doing, perked with an irresistible rush of energy, and make a dash towards the kitchen, as if it is the last opportunity in my life to...

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A Sweet Winter Reverie in Delhi

Posted by on Dec 30, 2012 in Travel Tales | 6 comments

A Sweet Winter Reverie in Delhi

” Aap Kalkatta se ho? “- Are you from Kolkata? Asked a tall athletic man, muffled up in a colorful Himachali shawl, a biscuit brown full sleeve sweater, from which waist below hung the remaining edges of a sky blue shirt, loose pajamas below that, and black boots further near the winter ground on which he stood. He had a pleasantness about him, the kind you feel comfortable with, even if it was a first encounter. D and me were talking in Bengali; actually deciding from the extensive menu in front of us, what we would ideally like to have for breakfast.  Around us sat several...

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