Travels That Make Us 

April, 2025. My mum and I were in Kolkata for eight days, staying at my aunt's. And with each day that passed came more plates of home-cooked food that I would never have been able to have back in Melbourne (- sorry, Maa, this is not a criticism!). Whether it was something sweet or spicy. vegetarian or non-veg, rice or bread, it was wholesome, hearty and heavenly. Every time I finished a meal, I would only wish for the next one to come sooner. I have tried countless cuisines

The Man without a Passport Before I ever boarded a flight, I had already rehearsed my exile. Three times I had applied for a passport. Three times, rejection. Bureaucratic silence and a dead end each time. Somewhere along the line, I stopped imagining a life beyond Indian borders. Not out of contentment - resignation is its own genre of stability. And then came the call. One ordinary afternoon, I was pulled into a meeting. “We’d like you in the US office,” they said. “Just fo

...we were in Berlin, safe and secure in our first Airbnb, but tired to the core from the hassle of getting to the first city we visited on this trip! September 2024. This was our first time flying with Etihad. Rakesh was impressed when, instead of a sign, a ground staff at Melbourne Airport directed us to a counter for those who'd checked in online. The impression, however, dissipated when we discovered after boarding the first flight that the aircraft was quite cramped, mai

Kenya was always on my bucket list, and it naturally included the very ancient Masai tribe, whose past could be traced even beyond their...

December 2022. Another Christmas, possibly the closest to how the festive season used to be before 2020, and another short getaway with...

Day 1 We left my uncle’s flat in Marine Terrace, Singapore, with him, and took a train and two buses to reach Johor Bahru , Malaysia’s...