• Places - Weekend Stays

    Weekend Stays From Mumbai # 01 – Forest Village

    Weekend Stays From Mumbai is a series on places to stay for a weekend away from Mumbai. It focuses on the place of stay. Details about the destination are very limited. Note: These are NOT sponsored posts. We paid for these stays and travel 🙂 Forest Village, Khanvel Forest Village is on the Khanvel–Jawahar road, about 4 km from the Khanvel junction. It is a quiet resort with around six units, and each unit has two self-contained rooms, a central living room, and a very spacious sit-out area. There is a nice lawn just outside the sit-out area. At a…

  • People - Places

    Inventing Destinations: Jana Water Falls, Himachal

    There was a time when tourism began and ended in Manali. Tourists travelled to Rohtang Pass to see snow and do skiing. Rest of Kullu, as or more enchanting as Manali, remained untouched. As Manali became crowded and less charming, nearby villages quickly moved in to use the opportunity. They started promoting tourism in their own villages. One such village is Jana, near Naggar, the former capital of Kullu. The waterfalls was nothing much to admire at the time we visited Jana (in October). However, the drive to the village is picturesque, with deodar, pine, apple trees flanking the meandering road,…

  • Flora - Places

    Sarovaram: A bio-park and some nostalgic thoughts

    The name Sarovaram Bio Park piqued our curiosity, as this is a recent addition to the tourist map of Kozhikode. With a little skepticism about this conservation effort, we decided to check Sarovaram out. In no time, our skepticism vanished as we admired the commendable work. Sarovaram is aimed at protecting the mangroves and green cover in the city. As we moved around inside the park through well-laid pathways flanked by tall trees and thick undergrowth, a stark realization struck us. Sarovaram looks and feels exactly like the places around our homes where we grew up in the 70s and…

  • Places

    Beypore: The Birthplace of Urus

    Even the narrow mud tracks would have myriads of stories to tell. How people of the distant land of Mesopotamia visited this then-buzzing port town and established trade relations as well as personal relations with the natives. How the dhows made by experts of this land, Beypore, an ancient port town near Kozhikode (erstwhile Calicut), was used by Arabs for trading and fishing in the medieval times. We grew up learning about Beypore as part of Kerala history but never visited the place until last year. The trip to Kozhikode was not meant for sightseeing but to visit a friend.…