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Napa Valley wines Part 1 for Mint Lounge

February 21st, 2016|

Nicholson Ranch was the last stop on Day 1. By then, Platypus Wine Tours had taken a group of us wine tourists to three Napa Valley wineries in California. Buena Vista, because it was the oldest; Robledo, because it was the first to be owned by a migrant Mexican worker; and Peter Cellars, because it was a one-man show by a transplanted Brit. They say Pinot Noirs are the hardest to grow, but really, it could apply to any varietal. Blame it on Sideways.

  • Tai chi master
Love after fifty

February 13th, 2016|

Fifty by heart Love after 50 is a complex dance; it is also just habit Shoba Narayan Elizabeth Taylor and husband Richard Burton at [...]

The art of collaboration between dancers, artists and social scientists

January 22nd, 2016|

Rehearsals are a vicarious pleasure; a way of accessing the genius of performers without the pressure of a performance. A few arts institutions—the Lincoln Center in New York, for instance—accord the privilege of watching a rehearsal for a price. I am at Kamani at the behest of Minaakshi Dass, whose venture, India Heritage Desk, aims to discover the next Aditi Mangaldas or Malavika Sarukkai. Gauri Diwakar may be one candidate.

Rajasthan Tourism’s new campaign

January 20th, 2016|

  How Ogilvy Turned Rajasthan Into Rohansthan, Nehasthan, Meerasthan, Jennysthan... By Snehojit Khan , afaqs!, Mumbai | In Advertising | January 20, 2016 Ogilvy has [...]

Thanks for the plug, Ashville

January 18th, 2016|

"And, while there was precedent for a memoir with recipes (Elizabeth Bard’s Picnic in Provence, Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary and an entire Goodreads list dedicated to “books shelved as cookbook-memoir”), “the cooking lessons with Jonah linked me to the way food was central to both of our stories,” Smith says."

Heavenly breakfast in Varanasi: Mint Lounge

January 1st, 2016|

South Indians, or should I say Tamilians, can be cantankerous purists. No mixing tastes. No adding sugar to dal like the Gujaratis do; or adding jaggery to rasam like the Kannadigas do. Only one vegetable per sambhar; be it okra, brinjal or small onions. If you mix multiple vegetables, you are a caterer who is trying to palm off all the cheap vegetables available into one pot. These Tamilians ought to taste the pleasures of breakfast in Varanasi. It might change their minds.

Interviews with His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Old favourites that I wrote for Condenast Traveler (US edition)

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