Column: The Good Life: for Mint Lounge
Whitewater Rafting Story for The National Abu Dhabi
Take Me to the River I am standing at the edge of the Nantahala River within the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. Beside me, clutching my hand tightly, is my eight-year-old daughter, Malu. It is her first time river rafting and she is excited and a little scared. I, on the other hand, am terrified. I have a fear of water, you see, and have foolishly decided the only way to get over it is to take my children rafting. When I am with them, maternal protectiveness always triumphs over fear. That was my logic when I planned five [...]
For Destinasian on India
Mountain Magic: Chimagalur: Destinasian: August 2009 I am hiking up the lush Baba Budan Hills of Karnataka, carrying little more than a flask of freshly brewed coffee. It’s a bright February morning and the temperature is hovering around 20°C, perfect conditions for a scenic ramble in the mountains. But for caffeineloving me, this is as much a pilgrimage as a nature walk, for it was on these slopes that South India’s favorite beverage first burst forth. As the late, great Tamil novelist R. K. Narayan once noted, “The origin of Indian coffee is saintly. It was not an empire builder [...]
For Destinasian Magazine on Coonoor India
A Higher Calling The cool Blue Mountains of Tamil Nadu may not be as sedate as they were a generation ago, but they’re still a very special place, as one returning devotee discovers By Shoba Narayan Photographs by Martin Westlake Residents of the Nilgiris will tell you that the highlands they call home have good vastu—a harmonious alignment of energies that sets them apart from anywhere else in India. I for one have long been mesmerized by the mountains’ ethereal beauty. As a child, I used to sit on the porch of my grandparents’ house in the plains of Coimbatore [...]
For The National in Abu Dhabi on sport fishing
The lure of sport fishing A man struggles under the weight of a mahseer caught in Karnataka. Courtesy Jungle Lodges & Resorts Ltd by Shoba Narayan Last Updated: June 18. 2009 5:35PM UAE / June 18. 2009 1:35PM GMT For a vegetarian to hold a live fish is, to say the least, unsettling. For a lifelong Hindu vegetarian such as myself to hold a throbbing 18kg humpback mahseer was quite frankly terrifying. Yet there it was, this scaly silvery fish, cool to touch, heavy with life, twitching with tiredness from the race it had put us through for the last [...]
Samosas for Financial Times Weekend
Searching for the best Indian snacks By Shoba Narayan Published: June 6 2009 02:22 | Last updated: June 6 2009 02:22 For your last meal on earth, what dish would you pick? Caviar, foie gras, fish and chips, pasta ... I’ve heard it all. Faced with such a difficult choice, my answer is unequivocal: the humble samosa. Samosas, for those who don’t know, are a much-loved Indian snack. Triangular and deep-fried, the parcels usually have a savoury filling. But this bald description does them no justice. Samosas are sublime, though among its many fans opinions vary enormously about what constitutes [...]
For Washington Post on Indian Safaris
The wildlife you see on safari in North India
Goa | Condenast Traveler US |
Once a hippie haven where even India's tightly chaperoned teens could turn on, tune in, and drop out, Goa has lately gone upscale. Living in a trading port for the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Europeans meant that Goans were forced to interact with the outside world far earlier than the average Indian. This has made them friendly but not overly curious about foreigners.
Grains of Tradition for Gourmet magazine
SHOBA NARAYAN GRAINS OF TRADITION 09.11.08 In India, where I grew up, rice gains mystical—even mythological—proportions. It is the first food that we Indians eat and often our last. My grandfather passed away after swallowing a spool full of rice gruel, or kanji, as we call it. I honor my ancestors by offering rice balls speckled with black sesame seeds to crows (who are believed to carry the souls of the deceased). Rice coated with turmeric is sprinkled on newlyweds as a confetti-like blessing; cooked rice with a dollop of ghee is offered to gods as prasad before a meal. In [...]
Scuba Diving Lakshadweep | Condenast Traveler US |
I don't want to write about this place. Few people know of it; fewer still visit. Perhaps that's the way it should be. In this rapidly shrinking world, there ought to be somewhere that remains remote, even obscure; set apart in space and time; offering the promise of mystery, the romance of discovery. Lakshadweep—the name comes out in a sigh.
For Gourmet magazine on Florida
Every year for the past 15 years I have been coming to Southwest Florida. I have family here. More important, at least for my kids, this is Disney country. Orlando and Busch Gardens beckon from one end and Rum Runners from the other-- I drink the Rum and my kids do the rides. All around are towns with musical names that reek of Native American history, Americana and coastal living: Thonotosassa, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers and Naples. The Caloosahatchee River cuts a warm swath through the land attracting fisherman who catch red fish, snook, trout, and tarpon. Boats [...]