Wanderink

Behind the boom barrier: What you never knew about toll plazas

Bet you never knew Mr Robert Vadra is not exempt from paying toll. Am kidding, sure you knew. Then, did you really? Know that the Gandhi in-law – unlike in airports in the country – was not on the ‘exempted’ list of highway toll plazas? I went through the entire list of 13 ‘exempted dignitaries’ […]

The quintal dumbbell of Kotwan

All the while I was in Kotwan I couldn’t shrug the queasy over safety of my car. My Red was parked right in the village square – or whatever you call four charpoys arranged in waking disarray under a grandpa tree – and some kids had already discovered the wonderful slide the hood would make. […]

An evening in Vrindavan

Save the flirtatious cavorting the rest of it is still intact in Vrindavan. The guys are all Krishnas, women are Radhas and the cows a happy lot. What drives the thousands flocking to this part of brajbhoomi or land where Lord Krishna was born and spent his youth, attired in dhotis and half saris and […]

The gasp-spell according to Paul

Die-hards of ‘Star Wars’ series getting into Darth Vader costume for premiere have always struck me as a bunch of losers. Then, I’ve done it myself – getting into ‘character’ that is. God forbid, not to honour Skywalker. A dozen-odd years ago when the first instalment of ‘Fast and the Furious’ came out I was […]

Continental GT: Revving a culture, vaguely

There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc café racer is one of them – but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one.  Hunter S. Thompson, Song of the Sausage Creature 2008. In the motorbike market for my third ride, the […]

Of jolts and jhaans: The making of an oracle

After telling me his story – from enfant terrible and Mall Road Romeo to successful farmer and responsible father and village oracle, he told me not to take his photograph as it sapped his energy and not to publish his name or that of his village. “Then,” he asked, “is my story so strange that […]

The stones and other marvels of Dholpur

Delhi – Agra – Gwalior – Orchha – Khajuraho is the hottest heritage circuit in the country. Starting with the Kosi Minars, mile stones from the Mughal era, along the NH2 as you exit Delhi, the best way to do it is from the highway. I drove till Orchha in October this year and rediscovered […]

Halloween travels: Ghosts tales from the road

One more Halloween. And more of Pirates and Jokers, Grim Reapers and Draculas. Isn’t it strange that in a country inundated with faith healers, psychic mediums, temple oracles, exorcists and haunted dak bungalows, we are yet to come up with an indigenous spectral line up? Here are some spooky tales, from the road, which might […]