Mithali Raj is the first woman cricketer to be honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. This is an excerpt from Recipes for Life (2021) by Pune-based writer Sudha Menon. The book is part memoir, part celebration of food and mothers. 　　I was in New Zealand for the Women's World Cup in 2002, when I was diagnosed with...

　　Who hasn't dreamed of gazing up at the sky and being captivated by the awe-inspiring Northern Lights? This breathtaking display of radiant, swirling lights has fascinated humanity for millennia and is a must-see for everyone's lifetime bucket list. The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, manifest as vibrant, dancing ribbons of light in the night sky, spanning a spectrum...

　　When I first discovered frequent flyer miles, it was like unlocking a hidden level in a video game. I thought Id cracked the code—! So naturally, I did what any travel enthusiast would: I booked coach seats because, well, they were free. 　　But as time passed, I learned I was playing the game on the easiest difficulty level with the...

　　More than 150 years ago, European visitors to the Valley of Kashmir began staying in the houseboats moored on Dal Lake as they came here to escape the heat and dust of the plains. Some came to hunt and fish, others to paint and read, others to take long walks in the forests and hills and enjoy the abundant birdlife...

　　Recipes are a great method of keeping culinary archives as well as a powerful form of culinary storytelling, capturing the essence of time, place, and tradition. With just a glance at an antique recipe, you can be transported back to the bustling kitchens of the Mughal era or the comforting warmth of a grandmother's hearth. In these cookbooks, written by...

　　Having grown up in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and lived in Agra, the Taj Mahal was a familiar sight to me. I had visited it innumerable times but I had never spared a thought for Burhanpur where Mumtaz Mahal had died and had been initially buried. It was in search of her first burial place that I went to Burhanpur and...

　　Tucked away in Montgomery in Alabma (United States), is the only museum dedicated to American authors Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. What's more, you can also spend a night or two in the home where they wrote some of their famous works, like The Great Gatsby. It is located in Old Cloverdale, said to be one of Montgomery's oldest and historic...

　　The national parks of India invite visitors to get away from city life, breathe refreshing air, and listen to the chirping of various birds and insects. They are a literal green haven under the sun. In particular, Madhya Pradesh, which is famous for its natural beauty and rich cultural heritage, is home to some of the country's most amazing national...

　　Kilimanjaro was the first of my Seven Summits, the collection of mountains that comprise the highest peak on each of the world’s seven continents. It marked the beginning of one of the most colourful chapters of my life, taking me from the Himalayas to the virgin forests of West Papua and the icy wastelands of Antarctica. It is also the...

　　India’s colonisation by the British changed the face of the subcontinent in various ways, much of which still lies within the realm of debates and discussions to assess its deep-rooted impact. Our generation is learning, and often unlearning, the stories we were told. However, there was a common thread between most of them—the history of colonial India and its partition...