Vansh Tiwari (Travel Blog)

As a kid, I used to sit for hours with my grandfather’s late brother’s photo albums. He had this habit — he would click photos, get them printed, and put them in albums. Proper albums, with plastic-covered pages. As a kid I used to sit with those for hours. Admiring how a shot was taken. Recognising family members I barely knew. Looking at old pictures made me understand that moments matter.…

McLeodganj has a way of pulling you back. It pulled me back several times when I didn’t expect it. I feel this place wants you to come back again and again because there’s so much to do and see. Over multiple visits, I’ve slowly built a picture of what McLeodganj actually offers. This list comes from that. Seven things worth doing, most of them from my most recent visit, where everything felt…

Planning an international trip as an Indian passport holder used to mean stacks of documents and long waits at embassies. That’s changed a lot. Several Asian countries have made it genuinely easy for Indians to visit — either visa-free, or with a simple e-visa you can apply for from your phone. I’ve personally been to Vietnam and Malaysia from this list, and both were straightforward to enter.…

An unexpected call on a winter morning put me in a deep thought. My father lives in Russia. He called with a simple question — “There’s a Russian group planning to meet the Dalai Lama in McLeodGanj. There’s a seat vacant. Would you like to join and also show them around, if you have a day or two?” I wasn’t expecting that call. And I definitely wasn’t planning on meeting the Dalai Lama in…