travel shorts: home at the kutaisi family house museum

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I am
what inspires me.
You are
what you love.
If you set your heart
upon a purpose,
you shall arrive there—
and believe me—
there,
you will find me.
~ Mari Berdzenadze, Excerpt from LAK’ECH

Deep in the heart of Kutaisi’s oldest neighbourhood is Mari’s home. Number 39 on Dato Berdzenadze Street—the street is named after her brother who died aged 21. He was the bodyguard of Eduard Shevardnadze, foreign minister during the Soviet-era, and independent Georgia’s second president. Dato was killed during elections. The house goes by the name Kutaisi Family House Museum.

Descended from the royal family which once ruled Western Georgia, 56-year-old Mari is a doctorate in law, published poet, and painter all rolled into one.

She has, like the four generations behind her, lived her whole life in this 150-year-old house bursting in the seams with artifacts that have held a special place in its residents’ hearts. A tiered four-season twinkling contraption that accompanied the family Christmas trees stands proudly next to a gleaming piano. Chinese cabinets and European figurines vie with a row of exquisite stringed musical instruments propped up on a damask sofa, whilst family photographs and paintings sheath the wall right up to the ceiling. Continue reading →

usgalimal, south goa’s 30,000-year-old geoglyphs

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I am often asked what is my favourite travel destination. High up on the long list is India. Just when I think I have figured the travel scene out here, it throws me a googly. Now look at Goa for instance. Top layer: beaches and Portuguese-era culture and churches. Second layer: pristine tropical nature and ancient Hindu temples. Third layer? Prehistoric geoglyphs.

Yes, even I was taken by surprise. Far from prying eyes is a collection of some 125 rock carvings spread over 5,000 sq. metres on a laterite shelf dated between 20,000 BC and 30,000 BC in South Goa. They are known as the Usgalimal rock engravings, named after the nearest village.

When Goa’s monsoons arrive, the entire shelf gets buried under the adjacent river. When the waters recede, it is often covered in mud. A quirk of timing that contributed to its anonymity in archaeological circles till May 1993. Continue reading →

museum visit: piprahwa relics—the light and the lotus

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By oneself indeed is evil done and
by oneself is one defiled, by oneself
is evil not done and by oneself is one
purified. Purity and impurity
depend entirely on oneself; no one
can purify another.

~ Dhammapada, Verse 165

The story of Buddha’s Piprahwa relics is as unusual as the story of the man himself—a 6th/ 5th Century BCE prince, Siddhartha Gautama from the Indo-Gangetic plain, who renounced worldly life and possessions to find a faith built on compassion and self-discovery.

Throughout his life, he was adamant he be treated only as a teacher and not God. Because there was no God. Only our karma.

When Gautama Buddha [a Sanskrit term meaning the ‘enlightened’ or ‘awakened’ one], passed away in Kushinagar, his bodily remains were divided into eight initial portions amongst North India’s kings to be interred in stupas.

The part that went to his own clan, the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, was buried in a gigantic stupa in Piprahwa, close to Lumbini, his birthplace. Two centuries later, the newly converted Mauryan Emperor Ashoka added an offering of around 1,800 intricately carved gemstones and gold objects and further enlarged the stupa. Continue reading →

72 hours in chennai: colonial history, an apostle, and hindu gods

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Chennai had long been on my wish-list. Even though I have travelled extensively through Tamil Nadu, including its magical temple towns’ route, the southern state’s capital had somehow evaded me.

When I got an opportunity earlier this year to explore the city whilst on a personal philanthropic project [I run pro bono workshops in development communication skills for the social sector], no surprises that I grabbed it with glee! The weather was perfect. It was February. I was going to be based in Alwarpet, right next to the city’s historical centre, Mylapore. And I was in no rush.

A bastion of Dravidian culture, British East India Company’s very first military stronghold in India, final resting place of St. Thomas, Jesus Christ’s Apostle who took it upon himself to spread the word in India, and home of Kollywood, India’s second-largest film industry—Chennai is many things rolled into one.

Here, Tamil social, cultural, and religious traditions coexist with a colonial history, and movie stars and politics are irrevocably entwined. It’s a heady mix of contradictions sans any friction.

Would you like to explore this city too? Deep-dive into its well-known landmarks and hidden away gems? Then read on.

Note: The itinerary below is thematic, rather than area-based. This is to allow Chennai be understood holistically, one layer at a time, rather than as a mishmash of sites. I hope by the end, you too have Chennai on your own wish-list. ❤ Continue reading →

travel diaries: one traveller, mount shada, and happiness

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I stare, first in awe, followed by disbelief. There are massive granite boulders around me, everywhere. Climb these? Heck, no.

But then every time I stand stuck, wondering how to traverse a massive crevice, or slide across a cliff topped with a rock that stood precariously over it, my guide Saeed’s hand would be there. And I’d make it. Higher and higher up the barren Lower Shada till I am looking down at the avalanche of rounded buttery stones till as far as the eye can see. The two accompanying villagers, who call these craggy heights their home, settle down on a sloping plateau. One plays his flute. Just like his ancestors did, and his children maybe will. And I find myself beaming with happiness.

I am deep inside south-west Saudi Arabia, on the Lower Shada [Shada Al-Asfal] in the Sarawat range. The mountain rises over 1,500 metres, filled with 3,000-year-old rock art and entire villages built into its 763 million-year-old caves. Towering next to it is the 2,200-metre-high Upper Shada [Shada Al-A’la], peeping through the clouds. Most of the villagers have now moved to the cities, their cave-homes morphed into holiday-homes or homestays. The prized Shadwi coffee bushes and iridescent flowers continue to grow unfettered in the wilderness.

Come along with me, up the Lower Shada, and let me share with you its incredible breath-taking beauty. Continue reading →

adobe fortresses and futuristic skyscrapers: 72 hours in riyadh

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Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capital in the middle of the Najd desert is a city of contrasts. Mud-brick fortresses from the ruling family’s yesteryears, and steel and glass skyscrapers reaching for the sky jostle next to each other in seamless ease. It is a city where the country’s past, present, and future have agreed to coexist.

If perchance you find yourself in Riyadh, here is how to make the most of 72 hours in it. Taking in the obvious, and some lesser-known gems.

But first, a little crash-course on the country’s modern political history to put things in context:

– The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world named after its ruling family. ‘Saudi’ is derived from the the ‘House of Saud,’ who are originally from Diriyah next to Riyadh. Continue reading →

5 reasons why jeddah needs to be on your saudi arabia bucket-list

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Jeddah Ghair!

If you wondering what it means, it is the city’s motto, and means “Jeddah is different.”

And it is. Cosmopolitan, liberal, capitalistic.

Most countries, over time, are seen to end up with two megapolises—the traditional, political heart and the commercial wheeling and dealing hub bursting with an eclectic art and food scene. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Delhi and Mumbai. Washington and New York. Beijing and Shanghai.

In Saudi Arabia, it is Riyadh and Jeddah. But Jeddah is not just different from the country’s capital in the arid Najd desert. It is different from the whole peninsula. A difference it celebrates with a self-congratulatory pat. Continue reading →

thee ain and ushaiqer: saudi arabia’s heritage villages

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Looking in, Looking out. Ushaiqer heritage village in Saudi Arabia's Najd desert has been around for 1,500 years.

Looking in, Looking out. Ushaiqer heritage village in Saudi Arabia’s Najd desert has been around for 1,500 years.

Before Saudi Arabia’s settlements transformed into steel and glass extravaganzas, they used to be made of mud-brick and rock-shards, built out of the earth they stood on. Not surprising then that very little remains of them. Over time they crumbled back into the alluvial oases or rocky outcrops on which they once stood.

Their styles were regional, with architectural features adapted to climate and available material, stamped with motifs distinctive to the local tribes. Two of the Kingdom’s most picturesque surviving villages [amongst very many] are Thee Ain and Ushaiqer. One is in the Al-Baha mountains, and another in the Najd desert. And they could not be more different from each other! Continue reading →

desert x alula: art in the saudi desert

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What’s this blog without some art? 🙂

Contemporary art has been a regular fixture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s cultural scene since the country drew up a vision which placed itself as a hub for global events.

For a few weeks every Arabian winter, AlUla’s incredible landscape in the north-west of the Arabian Desert plays host to large-scale site-specific temporary installations by some of the most ground-breaking artists from across the world. This year was no different. Luckily for me, it coincided with my visit.

Currently in its 4th edition, Desert X AlUla [16 January to 28 February, 2026] was conceptualized in USA’s Coachella Valley in 2017. In 2020, the event expanded into Saudi Arabia, and has showcased over 100 artists to an audience of 2 million since its inception. The theme for 2026 was ‘Space Without Measure’ inspired by Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran’s writings.

The open-air exhibition offers a completely unique way to interact and relate with the desert. After exploring its ancient and futuristic treasures, I thought I understood the shifting sands and burnt craggy canyons under the vivid blue skies. I was wrong. There was another dimension to the desert’s vastness and stillness—as the backdrop and inspiration for personal creative expression.

Here are ten artworks that were on display with a synopsis of the artist and what they wished to say. At times, rooted in the personal, and at others a commentary on global issues, and at others just an experiment to see what if? But always cajoling the spectator to reflect, deeply.

Wishing you safe and happy travels, filled with art! Continue reading →

travel shorts: the world’s largest camel market in buraidah

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It is 7:00 am. The sun has just broken through the Arabian horizon, wrapping the golden desert in a lilac mantle pinned by a lone morning star and a shimmering moon.

I am on the outskirts of Buraidah in north-central Saudi Arabia. Every morning, thousands of camels are traded in its camel market [the world’s largest] reaching a frenzy within an hour of the dawn prayers. A marketplace that has remained unchanged in the Kingdom for centuries—unchanged by the advent of oil, gas, or USD.

There are calves wailing for their mommies, preening hedonistic camels in the prime of their youth, and foaming giant males trying to attract a mate. In all shades of brown, black, and creamy white. Amidst them are frenetic auctioneers calling out bids whilst buyers ponder and inspect the animals’ gums and teeth. Interested, but careful not to look too interested. Continue reading →