Museum of Stories
From concept to operation, dream to design each destination hotel of the RARE Community is a story worth being told many times, in different ways. If RARE were a physical entity, it would fill multiple rooms with sepia toned photos of heritage preservation, gold tinted handover documents to erstwhile royalty, herbariums filled with many flowering grasses, sketches of iridescent sunsets, voices of happy animals, footsteps of artists, photographers and film makers, art, craft, textiles, books, dreams, hopes and vision….. each drawing you into their stories. Many times you will enter a story, this collection is an ode to every hotel of the community, the destination may be different, but every story is worth celebrating.
An INDIA I celebrate...
Growing up along the southern
coast now a part of Seemandhara, it was common place to have music on speakers
and almost a wedding like celebration of a neighbor’s daughter attaining
puberty. My friends from the North viewed this with amazement not without a
twinge of disbelief....
Soul-Sister
Monsoons,
my favorite time of the year when I joined a group of women for a '
freedom weekend' last August. It was a four nights sojourn to Bhainsrorgarh
Fort, a beautiful family run boutique fort hotel just two hours from
Bundi in Rajasthan. We traveled overnight...
In defense of
‘tipping’
My early years were in the service industry working my way upwards and at times I have been so broke
that some money, any money was a blessing. As young people working in a city
with more desires than notes in our pockets, ‘tips’ were our only hope...
In defense of ‘tipping’
In defense of ‘tipping’
My early years were in the service industry working my way upwards and at times I have been so broke that some money, any money was a blessing. As young people working in a city with more desires than notes in our pockets,...
Mumbai's True Heroes.
Few things are as Mumbai as the Kaali-Peeli taxi or the ease with which a Mumbaikar would hail one. And that Ola cabs should have an app to call for one Kaali-Peeli is surely a perfect strategy to re-instate what my daughters tell me that Ola is the most economical call-taxi...
The Den of Morpheus
The Den of Morpheus
My eyes are longing for a sleep that my body clock still ticking to London time will not allow. What better time to write about the luxury of a turn-down service !
It could just be my thing as I have heard some people pooh-pooh the thought, but I...
Making a clean breast
Making a clean breast
Having spent an interesting weekend walking the lanes of Churu, Ramgarh, Fatehpur and Mehensar, I am feeling a bit depressed and have ideas that range from writing to the PM, to appealing to INTACH or may be writing to a rich family seeking...
Phool dahi, Chamma Dahi
Phool dahi, Chamma Dahi
There is something folksy about Bachi’s voice when he spontaneously broke into song while we were on drive to the ridge where Bhuwankhal was situated. There is also the wild and free in...
What's in a name ? Plenty.
What's in a name ? Plenty. A prayer, a blessing or just grace.
Naming children has a kind time reference and they seem to change much like the fickle fashion. So we have gone through a phase of Rahul, Siddharth, Gautam, Kanishk, Aditya and so on, then...
Ha ha ha..... and of Menz &...
Ha ha ha..... and of Menz & Womenz
I hate it when toilets are labeled Male and Female. Worse when it is Menz and Womenz, I wish I could stage a demonstration and incite other people to stay away from such offending places to relieve oneself. But...
Of stations and express...
Of stations and express trains
Bhim Singh, the agile and wiry porter literally swam through the sea of humanity that was Old Delhi Railway station on this pleasant October afternoon. His red shirt was to me like the Matador’s flag to a bull, not provoking me to...
An ode to a Camp that was...
An ode to a Camp that was...
This has to go down as one Camp that was perfect as a RARE partner. The couple Min-Ri and their babies – Bhalu, Titli, Daku, Choti together played gracious hosts on a camp that literally celebrated the earth it stood on and...