Immersive experiences are the best way to see the world. From Holi in Lord Krishna’s land to a summer getaway in the hills, and the frescoed buildings of Padua in Italy, this week we bring you the best of travel experiences from across the world. Worth possessing are Gauri Devidayal’s book on the making of The Table and Birdy. by Erik Lorincz bar accessories with fine Japanese craftsmanship.
Flowers, tonnes of them, mark Holi celebrations in Mathura and Vrindavan. Phoolon ki Holi, or holi played with flowers, is said to date back to Lord Krishna’s time, or so the myth goes. Ramanreti Ashram in Mahavan in Mathura, which locals consider to be the playground of Krishna, will host the festival over three days. The festivities begin at Vishram Ghat and end at the Dwarkadeesh Temple. Tonnes of gulal, other organic colours derived from flowers, and actual flowers are used.
In Vrindavan, Phoolon ki Holi is centred around the Banke Bihari Temple. The day ends with a splashing of gulal. Head out if the thought of playing holi the traditional way, without the use of toxic chemical colours, excites you.
Next time you travel to Italy, stray beyond the obvious (Florence, Venice) and head to Padua, the newest UNESCO World Heritage Site in Italy. Much before Michelangelo, Raphael, and Botticelli put the country on the world art map, lived Giotto di Bondone, a 14th-century artist who is revered as the father of the Renaissance movement. Though he was from Florence, his masterworks are seen in Padua. A series of frescoes, the most prominent on Scrovegni Chapel (1305), earned the city the moniker, Urbs Picta (Painted City). Padua offers you a rare opportunity to explore a secluded part of Italy.
The city is home to Prato della Valle, said to be the most stunning of European squares; Giotto’s legacy in Scrovegni Chapel and other buildings; Palazzo della Ragione, the biggest public building of the Italian Middle Ages, and a variety of churches.
For the past year, Gauri Devidayal, co-founder of The Table, has been speaking from various forums about how the restaurant rewired the way Mumbai dines through its experiential dining push. Her conversations haven’t just been about the success of The Table, but also about what has gone into creating it. Now, she and her co-founder and husband, Jay Yousuf, have put all those stories (and more!) and knowledge into her book, Diamonds for Breakfast.
Co-authored by journalist Vishwas Kulkarni, the two have put many secrets out there: Overcoming failed relationships, surviving a global pandemic, literally dousing a fire in the kitchen, and keeping their cool when an air conditioner came crashing down on a guest!
Diamonds for Breakfast, goes beyond the business, to introduce us to “Bollywood producers, socialites and politicians, gangsters and priests, freaks and geeks.”
For a very private summer vacation with just your family, head to Doghri (translate to mean ‘second home’), Meena Bagh homes’ new two-room luxury cottage in the hills of Shimla. The cottage is built using ancient architectural principles from Himachal Pradesh, which means a lot of the woodwork has no joinery. The seasoned wood has been sourced from a British building which once housed a popular girls college but was now in ruins.
Expect to enjoy unending views of the mountains and walks in the forested areas around. On the grounds of Doghri is an observatory with India's largest privately owned telescope. If the owner Sanjay Austa is around, speak to him about the fast-disappearing culture of the mountains, his permaculture experiments, or even his retinue of animals, which include cats, dogs, sheep, and ducks.
Vault Fine Spirits’ Keshav Prakash has brought down Birdy. by Erik Lorincz to India. Launched at the just concluded Home Bar Festival, and to be sold on Tata Cliq, these Japanese handcrafted bar accessories are said to be works of art.
The head Bartender of the American Bar at The Savoy, London, had been searching for unique shakers on his travels across the globe. On one fated night in a small bar in Osaka, a city he was visiting, the man searching for the ideal cocktail shaker had a drink with a man trying to make the world’s best shaker.
Two years of design, testing, and countless cocktails led to the setting up of Birdy. by Erik Lorincz, which makes all kinds of bar accessories. But the shakers are the real icons: Each is micro-polished by hand to achieve an optimised surface smoothness that helps ice move more efficiently, thus helping you make better cocktails.
