For us who grew up in the eastern part of our country, three places made a permanent place in our sensibilities. Digha, Puri and Darjeeling, humorously acronymed as DiPuDa, are the places which Bengalees always find closest to their heart. Any plan for a summer or winter retreats for the…
This is the story of Laura. Laura Martinez. But this could well be the story of Manabi or Suchitra. So what binds Laura, Manabi, and Suchitra? The answer lies in their sexual orientation? They are all transgenders. While Laura, a singer-dancer-performer has made New York her home, Manabi was the…
The name itself is a giveaway. Freetown Christiania is a city within a city, a self-governing hippie commune in the heart of the Danish Capital of Copenhagen. Surrounded by canals on almost all sides, Christiania is like an island with their own set of rules, independent of the Danish Government.…
Maramures opens up the vistas of a fictional reality. Here you may find the Chekhovian characters in anonymous provincial towns of Russian society coming alive animatedly and you are welcome visitors to their old worldview. As scenes unfolded outside my moving car window, it was a continual intrusion of past…
The remote mountains of Chin state of Myanmar, is witness to one of the fast vanishing tribal traditions of tattoo faced women. The older women of the Chin tribe still bear the scars of a barbaric ancient tradition. Chin legend has it that when a Burmese king traveled to the…
Like most people from Bengal, Fish is something close to my heart or stomach for that matter. But have you ever thought what goes on from when a fish is caught till it appears in your local market? A lot actually, as I found out during some of my visits…
In Bengal, beyond the urbanscape, there are rural pockets where the glamour and glitz of Bollywood has not yet penetrated, where Jatra Pala still rules the roost. The literal meaning of the Bangla word Jatra is ‘Journey’. The Jatra Pala is a little different from the more commercialised Jatra but…
Lopamudra Talukdar from India receives a beautiful DSLR Camera gift from her husband in 2010 and then things changed around her. She is so passionate about traveling and capture people around the globe. She is also working on assignments with some of the top magazines in India. In this short…