Escaping to the hills to beat the summer heat, Parmesh Shahani pens his notes from languid Landour
On the very first day of my visit, somewhere in the middle of a Landour chakkar — the circular route that loops around the hill station in the shape of the number 8, passing by the Kellogg memorial and St Paul’s churches, a graveyard and homes with fancy names, ending in ‘glen’ or ‘burn’ or ‘ridge’ or ‘ville’ — i pause for breath. The road is steep, and my city-spoiled lungs and legs are really not used to so much climbing.
With hands on waist, panting, i close my eyes and smell the forest all around me. There is a crisp stillness that amplifies the sound of birds chirping. Five minutes later, i open my eyes and realise that i am suddenly in the middle of a moist cloud that has silently floated in and embraced me with such tenderness that i can’t wipe the smile off my face. The monkey on the tree next to me grins approvingly. Welcome to the mountains.
Twenty minutes later, at the quaint emily’s café at rokeby manor, Landour’s fanciest hotel, my spoon eases into a toffee pudding and as the hot caramel drizzles down my throat languidly, my smile grows even wider. Landour is a small, sweet slice of heaven on earth. Why in the world have i not visited it earlier?
The name Landour is derived from Llanddowror, a Welsh village. The British established the cantonment as a base for a military sanitorium in the hills above Dehradun, and subsequently invited a few maharajas to build their summer holiday homes there. Today, the tiny town counts literary and film royalty as its residents — Bill aitken, irwin allan Sealy, victor Banerjee and vishal Bharadwaj to name just a few and of course, the omnipresent big daddy of them all, and his name is Bond…ruskin Bond.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2017 من Verve.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2017 من Verve.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Making Amends
This generation’s penchant for thoughtless consumption gets Madhu Jain roiled up, and she wonders if nature is getting its own back for our missteps…
Diamonds With Provenance
In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency
SARTORIAL ECONOMICS
Sisters Tashi and Tara Mitra demonstrate to Akanksha Pandey how deviating from the mainstream can bend the way we think, live and dress
NOTES TO SELF
An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today
The Eternal Optimist
As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate
Redemption SONGS
Indian music festivals have been demonstrating a refreshing sense of responsibility in terms of their ecological impact. Interacting with stakeholders who strive to make these large-scale events greener, Akhil Sood investigates the reasons behind the improved attitudes of audiences and the increase in corporate support.
earth hour
Crafted using nature’s elements, these dials draw inspiration from the many heterogeneous materials and hues around us.Verve turns its lens onto a mesmerising few
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Children are holding adults accountable for both the grim future they are facing and the toll this is taking on their mental health. Madhumita Bhattacharyya initiates conversations with families of young climate activists and observes the extent to which parenting has changed in the face of catastrophe
NATURAL JUSTICE
Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao
Along For The Ride
Navigating Indian streets as a woman is hard enough. But what is it like while riding a bicycle? Bengaluru-based Shreya Dasgupta, a regular cyclist, speaks to five urban women about the pros and cons of this increasingly popular means of transport.
