Lifestyle

Perhaps everyone has a cherished list of things to do, places to visit, milestones to achieve in a personal Bucket List -- items to check off before one kicks the bucket! Sabrina Islam an entrepreneur, photographer, and avid traveler -- was able to fulfill one of her dreams from her Bucket List: a photo adventure in the backwaters of the south Indian state of Kerala. But it turned out to be something more: a journey of the soul, a sorely needed sojourn of the mind from the daily grind, and an opportunity to reflect, recharge, and rejuvenate.

New Delhi in the mid-1950s forms Raana Haider’s first recollection of India. She accompanied her diplomat father on his posting to New Delhi. Some fifty years later, she was once again living in New Delhi – this time accompanying her diplomat husband. India: Beyond the Taj and the Raj is the account of the author’s travel across the complex tapestry that is India – underlined with historical and literary narratives by generations of writers on India. Vestiges of the Mughal legacy crowned by the Taj Mahal are relived, as are remnants of the Raj.

Tagore was indeed a biswa-kabi, or poet of the world. In the first half of the twentieth century, few had travelled as much as him, visiting more than thirty countries on five continents Shying away from being a ‘patriot’ and ‘seeking compatriots around the world,’ Rabindranath laid faith in humans, no matter of what nation, race or caste, in overcoming limitations and perils of all kinds. It is this faith that made him cross boundaries, both intellectual and territorial.