Napa Valley : Nicholson Ranch tastings

One of the highlights of my recent San Fransisco trip was wine tasting at the much awarded Nicholson Ranch Napa owned by an old college friend Deepak Gulrajani. Deepak is the classic desi story of IIT and Silicon Valley but then there is always a twist in the tail -he became a vintner. Of course…

Valmont: The luxury Swiss skincare brand is in India

Valmont is a highly storied, luxury skincare care brand coming from a Swiss clinic legacy that goes back to the 1900’s.  Yes, Coco Chanel went there, so did Ingrid Bergman. The brand’s luxury skincare retail line based on the clinic’s protocols and experience, was born in the 1980’s and Valmont has over a 100 products…

Shopper’s Stop : Madrid

Spain has much to offer the discerning traveller and Madrid’s new positioning as the “best shop in the world”  can be put to test on your next visit .Check out Casa Loewe Spain’s iconic luxury brand at Calle Serrano, the street  for luxury high end shopping in Madrid. Designed as a collector’s home where you…

Farm to Face with Ras Luxury Oils

Many years ago I interviewed the late Horst Rechelbacher the founder of Aveda. By then he had sold Aveda  and moved on to his pet passion Intelligent Nutrients . Based out of his own farm it was an early farm to face experiment  with  a line of products  that you could use on your face,…

Spain Diaries : The sweetness of Turron

If you are travelling to Spain don’t miss this delectable spun version of honey, egg white and almonds along with a slice of history and stories going back to origins in the medieval ages,  possibly in Iraq. You will see versions of Turron /Nougat  in Portugal, Italy, Iran, Morrocco, Turkey, and Austria but Spain seems…

Postcards from Shillim

I spent three days at Hilton Shillim, three hours from Mumbai to experience their detoxifying, decompressing Dharana way of life . Three days is too short for real detoxing but it was a wonderful introduction to a brand of eco wellness, truly in the middle of nature. (It’s in a UNESCO designated biosphere in the…

Mittee – born from the Earth

Yashica Keswani, the founder of Mittee cosmetics had me at the names Ixchel and Yemaya. I loved her brand back story – she has looked at Earth Goddesses from different cultures for inspiration and woven  this into a range of skin care products. So there is Ixchel from Mexico, Yemaya from Nigeria, Rateeh from Indonesia…

Raza in Mumbai

Syed Haider Raza ( 1922-2016) was one of India’s most prolific artists and continues to be one of the most avidly collected. An exhibition at Mumbai’s Piramal Art museum highlights his journey, early influences and the evolution of his signature style and iconic third eye/Bindu iconography. Raza spent his life in France but remained strongly…

Champakali, Old Goa

I spent only 24 hours at Champakali, a luxury boutique villa/hotel tucked away on a quiet hillside up the winding road from the Se cathedral in old Goa. There is still something called Goa time and you segue effortlessly into it so 24 hours stretched out lazily and gently, though Champakali may have had something…

Mehmet Guleryuz at Jamaat, Mumbai

  Mehmet Guleryuz is Turkey’s most important contemporary artist and On the Road is his first ever Mumbai showing, in collaboration with Jamaat art gallery’s feisty Pravina Mecklai and The Empire Gallery, Istanbul.  Guleryuz now eighty, has had five retrospectives of his work including one at the  Istanbul Modern. He is also a trained actor with…