A Royal Tea Treat
Have you ever enjoyed drinking tea in a royal way? Did you ever know that there are 36 varieties of tea? As a tea drinker, I have always relished all kinds of tea – the traditional milk tea, black tea, lime tea, green tea. However, I felt that this royal drink has been losing its pride of place due to the invasion of coffee cafes and the variety of coffee served in them. I was quite eager to see if there are any tea cafes and chai-bars. After we shifted to Hyderabad, my husband surprised me on my seventh wedding anniversary by taking me to a place called Finjaan.

Tourist Trash Turns into Cash

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I happened to visit Mahabalipuram recently and was fascinated not only by the architectural beauty but also by the good work done in waste management generated by tourist activities. The solid waste management practice done here is commendable work that should be replicated by other towns.
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Rediscovering my Eastern Ghats

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As a child I always dreamt of great valleys, deep jungles, and lofty waterfalls. Fortunately I grew up in an area which was situated close to a spectacular valley with enchanting surroundings. Just 120kms away from my home town, Visakhapatnam, is the Eastern Ghats, which are some of the last remaining wild areas in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
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Stir up a passion for cooking!

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Have you been watching the numerous food and cookery shows on TV... Watching Aditya Bal or Vicky Ratnani stir up a dish on NDTV Good Times is always fun. It’s also fun watching renowned cooks Kylie Kwong and Nigella Lawson on TLC Channel. New channels on food are popping up every other day and I am fond of them, for I am passionate about cooking. But how good am I as a cook is a mystery!
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Cycle psychos take over town

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What do you feel about riding a cycle... does it sound like a vague memory from your childhood days... How would you react if someone says cycling now a happening movement... if you say weird, then you should have been there at the Freedom Ride 2011 event at Novotel Hotel lawns in Hyderabad on August 15th.
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Giving LIFE to birds in Kaggaladu

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Kaggaladu (Kaggalaadu) is another remote village which is privileged to have storks and pelicans come every year to settle their nests on trees in the village. Heard of rare birds coming to nestle amidst the noise and chaos of a village… where villagers take care of the hatchlings if they fall down from their nests… where children bring fish to feed them… Conventionally migratory birds such cranes, storks, herons, avoid human habitats and are protected by the forest authorities in bird sanctuaries.
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Chronicled on Canvas

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Turning away from the quotidian, I was audience to a cyclorama of contemporary Indian art inside Centre of International Modern Art gallery, Kolkata. This was an artist's world, born of forms and silhouettes, birds and animals, human beings and landscapes; of oil and water colours, acrylics, crayons, gold and charcoal, silk and cotton thread embroidery; of fiction and reality, women and men, and aquiline and soft features; of power and steel, and nature and creativity.
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The Magic Whistle

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Probir writes about the nostalgia of the smoking train, its sweet whistle and its never ending meandering tracks. These images probably created an enigmatic frame in his young mind that is still fresh in his memories.
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A Fable Revisited

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Invigorating our lives with their depth and infiltering our thoughts and feelings with their encoded, allusive messages, some fables become legendary. “The Little Red Riding Hood” is one such fable. The strong fabric of this story is its interminable moral message of inner strength, which underlies layers of mesh-like innocence and naivety.
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