Whenever we decide to travel someplace, the first thing we look for is a nice Homestay. Homestays enhance your travel experience in many ways, from making your feel welcome in a new place and offering you local recommendations to providing an opportunity to really understand a place from the point of view of the people…
Category: Homestays
Why you need to add Pali to your Rajasthan Itinerary
The thing about travelling to Rajasthan is that sometimes there’s a feeling that you’ve seen it all. Jodhpur’s Mehranghar fort, Udaipur’s City Palace, Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal and Jaisalmer’s living fort are awe inspiring and iconic and rightly get thousands of visitors every year, but there’s so much written about them and so many photographs and…
The Women Changemakers of Uttarakhand
I started my professional life training elected women across villages in India with an NGO based out of Delhi. At 22, fresh out of college, with a head full of ideals it was a sobering and humbling experience, one that has shaped many of my life choices and perspectives. These village women, with the right…
Murud Janjira’s African past and the mystery of the Boab tree.
Indians of African Origin? We first came across the story of the Siddis a few years ago in an article that spoke about a community of African descent living in pockets of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The article referred a people who came to India centuries ago, as slaves, traders or warriors, and fought for…
reDiscovery Podcast S3E5: One family’s quest to preserve their unique ancestral home
We love old heritage homes and since this season is all about the preservation and conservation of art, culture and heritage we thought it would be great to feature the story of Maranat Mana, one of the last living Pathinaru Kettus or four courtyard homes in Kerala and the unique manner in which one Namboodari Brahmin…
Exploring Dapoli: An offbeat weekend getaway
The black sand was soft and gooey under my floaters. I debated walking barefoot but decided against that. There was utter chaos in front of me, or what seemed like chaos but was in fact a highly organized, well-oiled machine, otherwise known as the Harnai fish auction. Far out in the sea were the large…
reDiscovery Podcast S3 EP02: An NGO provides dignified livelihoods through tourism to villagers in rural MP
In this episode we take you to Ganj, a small hamlet outside Orchha, occupied by traditionally lower caste families, where Friends of Orchha, an NGO run by Asha D’Souza, helps villagers set up homestays, thus offering them an alternate source of income, a chance to experience a wider world view and live a dignified life. We…
Explore Divar Island & Discover Goa’s true susegad lifestyle
Discover the susegad life on Goa’s beautiful river Island of Divar on the Mandovi whilst living in a beautiful resorted 18th century Goan mansion.
Goa’s stunning Heritage Mansions: The last link to its Portuguese Past
Drive around Goa’s interiors and prepare to be amazed by the beautiful old mansions that dot the countryside, many of which you can visit.
Why the Dudhsagar region in Goa is much more than just the waterfall
We stared at the white arrow painted on the rock which sort of pointed to the middle of the fork. “I think we need to take the left fork”, I said, vaguely remembering what Ashok had told us. Hoshner and Cathy looked at me and shrugged. They were not sure and so we went left….
A Royal Retreat: Live Like a King at Jambughoda Palace, Gujarat
I’m sitting on a swing, sipping tea with my host Vikramsinh, Maharana of the former princely state of Jambughoda. We’ve been walking around his gardens, and have settled near a large organic vegetable patch. A Great Dane and a Doberman lie at our feet, while several pups scamper around. Vikramsinh, whose estate is almost self-sufficient…
The reDiscovery Podcast S02E05: Our favourite Homestays in India
We love Homestays! To anyone who follows us this is pretty obvious, so we thought why not do an episode on our favourite homestays in India. As we have travelled over half the country we have quite the list of awesome places to stay and for those who enjoy immersive travel, there’s no better way…