It's not over till it's over!

Yes, half the year has crept by stealthily, rejoicing in keeping us miles away from productivity.
Yes, another season of Game of Thrones done and dusted.
And yes, they say Jon Snow is gone for good.

And yet I say all is not lost. There may be no Jon Snow on the watch and no more January. But there are Khasi tribes putting up a show in the rolling hills of Nagaland this December! And there are scores of Mallu (and non mallu) men heaving and rowing mighty snake boats this August! And camels and their owners will come down for some fun in Pushkar in November!

More often than not, we overlook or worse still, are not even aware of the jewels of our own culture stretching across kilometers. Below is a very teeny snap shot of some of the amazing festivals and events to be held in the next couple of months, and it is a wonderful opportunity to attend a few, learn about our own country, learn about our culture and learn a little about our own selves.

August

What: Nehru Boat Trophy Race
When: 8th August 2015
Where: Allepey, Kerala

Come second Saturday of August every year and the peaceful Punnamada Lake becomes a fiery race track as hundreds of synchronized oars move towards the coveted trophy. The race is to commemorate the visit of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru to the district. Apart from the boat race, let the lazy days in a houseboat, amazing Malabari cuisine and some of the most breathtaking landscapes form the rest of the itinerary to Allepey!

Nehru Boat Trophy Race. Image Source Nehru Boat Races

What: Jhapan Mela

When: 18th August 2015

Where: Bishnupur, West Bengal

In what seems like the middle of nowhere, every August lives focus on snakes and the serpent deity Manasa Devi. Bishnupur is over 100km from kolkata and mostly known for its brilliant terracota temples. Post monsoons, members of the Rajbongshi tribe get together with their precious' and show tricks with pythons and cobras and pray to the Goddess for fertility and prosperity.

Jhapan Mela. Image Source Jon Hurd

September

What: Ziro Festival

When: 24th-27th September 2015

Where: Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh

One of the most picturesque locations. Check.

Amazing music in the wilderness. Check.

Smaller but WAY prettier Glastonbury. Check.

22 shades of green, 35 acts, food drinks and much merry. Check.

IS there absolutely ANY reason why we would n't want to check out this music festival, set in the hillocks of Arunachal Pradesh?

Ziro Festival. Image Source Outlook Traveller

What: Ladakh Festival

When: 20th-26th September 2015

Where: Leh, Ladakh

Nestled in snow clad lofty mountains, Leh; once the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, celebrates with a final party to enjoy the all too brief summer with the Ladakh Festival. Seven days of lion and yak dances, locally brewed beer, fabulous delicacies, craft stalls, archery competitions and the stiff Himalayan air. Perfecto.

Ladakh Festival. Image Source Tour My India

October

What : NH7 Weekender

When: 23-24th October, 31st Oct- 1st Nov, 28-29th Nov, 28-29th Nov, 4-6th December

Where: Shillong, Kolkata, Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru

The big daddy of the Indian music festival scene, NH7 Weekender is adding Shillong, the fast east mystic town to its list of happy places. With a mix of alternative and mainstream music artists, lots of stalls and swelling crowds every year, it's one of the go-to events at least once!

NH7 Weekender. Image Source Timescity

What: Rajasthan International folk Festival

When: 23-27th October 2015

Where: Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Set in the premises of the stately Mehrangarh Fort, the festival aims at celebrating musical heritages from across the world. With over 200 artists collaborating to produce sizzling performances, full moon nights and the settings of the Best Fort in Asia, this beckons to be a weekend well entertained.

Jodhpur RIFF. Image Source Journeymart.com

What: Mysore Dussara

When: 14-23rd October 2015

Where: Mysore, Karnataka

Celebrated each year with fancy tableau's, processions, food stalls and of course the breathtaking Mysore Palace being lit up in all it's glory, the Mysore Dusshera is the state festival of Karnataka celebrating the victory of good over evil.

Mysore Palace

November

What: Pushkar Camel Fair

When: 19-25th November 2015

Where: Pushkar, Rajasthan

Thoroughbred Mewari horses, groups of camels, herders and traders, tented bazaars, deals and negotiations, sometimes even marriage proposals, camel rides, hot air balloons, and endless food. 'Nuff said. 

Pushkar Fair. Image Source Hdimagegallery.net

What: International Yoga and Music Festival

When: 5-14th November 2015

Where: Rishikesh, Uttarakhand

With the Ganga gurgling down, mystic charms around and now with Yoga having it's own official international day of celebration, this 10-day event is perfect for a holistic mind and body cleansing vacation.

Yoga Fest

December

What: Hornbill Festival

When: 1-10th December 2015

Where: Kohima, Nagaland

I would bet this by far is one of the most photogenic festivals one can ever be able to attend. Set in Nagaland, the Switzerland of the East, with one of the most humble and welcoming population (who can cook pork in the most unimaginable delicious ways!), rugged hills and emerald valleys, the festivals portrays the rich tribal culture of the region.

Hornbill Festival. Image Source Indiasnortheast.com

What: Rann Utsav

When: December - March

Where: Kutchh, Gujarat

Salt marshland stretching for miles, the clear white moon adorning the night sky as you sit on the pristine white stretch, and local dancers enthrall  you with their performances, there are very few places that would come close to this when thinking about how to spend a Saturday night. The Government of Gujarat organizes the Rann Utsav every year with very attractive and convenient packages, for you to be able to get a taste of culture, cuisine, hospitality and beauty of the Rann.

Rann of Kutchh

What : Sunburn Festival

When: 27-30th December

Where: Vagator, Goa

Yep, how could any December in India feel complete without the obligatory party scene in Goa? And it gets even better if you manage to get the tickets (and reasonable flight tickets and accommodation without selling an organ) to the Sunburn Festival! In it's 9th year now, the festival brings some of the most well known names in electronic music to beach city.

Sunburn

What: Magnetic Fields Festival

When: 18-20th December

Where: Alsisar Mahal, Rajasthan

From the nomadic Bedouins theme last year to inter galactic travel in 2015, set in the charming Alsisar Mahal, showcasing some of the finest underground artists to a limited audience, the magnetic Fields is one of the most forward thinking amalgamation of India's creative space.

Magnetic Fields Festival. Image Source Youngisthan.in

And if you have read till here, then move over to Skyscanner and start booking tickets to one of the many locations that our wonderful country has and get set to enthrall your minds and souls!

Yes, THAT much to cover in 6 months!!!

Bombay; My Surrogate Lover

The effortless seductress

Yet another Sunday, yet another week and soon yet another month.
I feel like the shy boy-next-door in love with the girl he watches from afar every day, the girl whose routine is embedded in his being, the girl whose idea he loves and the girl, who in spite of this intimacy he knows nothing about.
Bombay is my idea of that unrequited love.

It has been a little over three months since I moved in to this city. And it has been a love-hate relationship since then.
Was it the over-rated (or not) lust towards Bombay?
Is it that every day survival here seems harder than a successful attempt at CAT?
Is it that settling here makes me feel "I have arrived"?
Is it that moving around the city makes me feel like I'm a nobody?

How can a city elicit such emotions in a human being who is used to changing addresses every two years? Further, how can the same city elicit the same cocktail of feelings in the thousands that call it home every day?
Bombay is the sultry nymph with a galore of roadside Romeo's on one side fighting for a glimpse of her affection, and a row of jilted lovers on the other side hoping to find a way back to her fluttering heart.

Bombay is such a woman. She is unapologetically, wholesomely the woman I want to be.
She is beautiful. No, not the lush greens of Kerala beauty, or the rugged arid lands of the West charm. Not the beauty that comes with the history that embodies Delhi nor the naive old school charms of Calcutta.
But Lord she is beautiful. She is beautiful beyond definition.

Bombay is strength. Her strength lies in the fierce fire she stokes in everyone's bellies. Resilience is her middle name.

Bombay is fast and impatient. And the only way to deal with this woman is to be at her pace and yet patient at the same time.

Bombay will throw her tantrums, and drive you against the wall. And the moment you're on the brink, she will win you back with a sprinkle of love here and there.

Bombay will be tirelessly on your mind, even if she is not on your tongue at all times.

Bombay will become a part of you. So innocuously innocent at first and then, even before you know it, she will have your heart and soul in her clutches, leaving you writhing and pining for more sweet surrender.

Bombay is the poster girl of effortless seduction.

Bombay is the eternal surrogate lover.

Art We There Yet?

“Even if you do not come up with a picture to remove world poverty, you can make someone smile while they are having a piss – Banksy”

It was a usual sweltering Kochi afternoon and I had just about gotten done with the exhibits at the Biennale. Roaming around the streets, looking for a place to eat, I magically led myself to a lane completely covered with street art. Yep, right there in the middle of the fishing nets and beef curry, were multiple artworks by Guess Who (BBC dubbed them as the Indian Banksy, though they aren’t the first ones to be monickered that) and the Hamburg based street artist Tona, in their own (not so) subtle way trying to prove a point about the status of street or rather public art in India.

And Kochi is not the only city. From Mumbai to Bundi (honours on guessing which state it is in!), Bangalore to Assam, Pune to Delhi, these street artists over the last few years have slowly but surely begun to make a mark on the artsy Indian subconscious.

At a time where street art and India don’t sound like they fly together, St+Art India Foundation, is making inroads in changing the perception. First of their kind street art festivals were held in Delhi and Mumbai which saw artists from all over the globe fly down to make the cities more interesting looking. From Ranjit Dahiya painting the yesteryears’ movie stars, to Daku’s typography, trance inducing geometrical art by Seikon to tongue-in-cheek anti-establisharian Tyler, there are several unexpected walls and crannies waiting to be discovered.

While a lot of street art is usually expected to be about political activism, proving a point against societal conventions, most of the street art you’ll see around is an effort to relegate the status from street art to public art. To make art for a cross section of the diaspora, art that one doesn’t have to pay for, or be able to enjoy only with cheese and crackers. The effort primarily is to introduce the public to a new medium of expression and the response till now has been nothing short of what was expected ; massive curiosity as pedestrians slow down a little every time they cross one of these artworks.

We may not followed Banksy all the way to Gaza, but sure have managed to garner a few following eyeballs.

I wrote this piece for the Bizarre Culture here.

Check out the youtube video on the "Indian Banksy" here

Mornings in Manori

How would you feel when a gust of wind brings forth pomphrets and shrimps? Or walking down the road your eyes catch fish hanging down branches of withered trees? No, you won’t feel like a part of a sci-fi drama, you’d feel what any random day in Manori feels like.

Though it’s just an hour’s drive from Mumbai, or even closer if you take the jetty from Marwe or Gorai, but Manori feels like its nestled in some other era of technological advancement or consumerism, or lack of the thereof. The town is divided mainly into the koliwada or the koli village and the rest. For most people its best known attraction is the water park, Essel World. However, the best way to start off would be a walk through the koliwada. Walking down the narrow alleys, you’d have to squint your eyes to confirm if those are dead leaves heaped up outside every house or remains of shrimps and fish. Every household is engaged in the same activity throughout the morning. Men get the fresh morning catch, the women settle down to separating the fish and put them outside for drying, and some women busy collecting the fish and seafood that has been drying for a while. The whole village seems like an assembly line with the usual cow or kids playing with bicycle tires thrown in!

The village is located right on the Manori beach, which again is a little more of a safe haven from hordes of tourists as compared to the neighbouring Gorai beach. Though the water isn’t the clearest for a quick dip or even to get your feet wet, but there’s something about the whole juxtaposition of dogs sunbathing, carts of shaved ice and families bathing their horses in the sea, that makes the whole setting so charming and quaint and pleasing to the senses.

While on weekends it would be next to impossible to get food at any of the few resorts around, unless you manage to befriend one of the many 20-membered families out there on a picnic. But there are several tiny restaurants with basic fare, enough to satiate the lunch hunger pangs.

While on one end of the town is the koliwadi, the other end if occupied by the complete opposite of what koliwadi stands for. The other end has what they proclaim the largest water park in Asia, Essel World and Water Kingdom. And right next to it is the World Vipassana Centre Pagoda created a couple of years ago. Why would someone create a place of worship next to one of the noisiest places that there can be beats me! Its been decreed as sacred land, and ,men and women are asked to not stay very close to each other and try and immerse themselves into chanting, whereas a few hundred feet away men and women get wet together and howl and scream with adrenaline rush!

Well yeah, as if we did not know already, our country the land of paradoxes!

But for a quiet Sunday morning by the beach, do come to Manori and hang out at the fishermens’ village J

Dried fish hanging from trees

Dried fish hanging from clotheslines

More dried fish hanging from more places

World Vipassana Pagoda

Well coz it's sacred land they say!

At the entrance of the Pagoda