Our life in Mumbai was a dream and we had worked very hard to make it just that—a beautiful home nestled in a leafy neighbourhood, a packed social life with friends and professions that kept us fulfilled—my husband Gaurav balancing his corporate career and I, busy with running my brand advisory. And best of all, our nine-year-old daughter Jiya, who coloured our lives with endless chatter and fun. It was a hectic life, and happily so. The pandemic descended upon us gradually—starting as faint whispers around January 2020 to a complete lockdown in late March. It was not just the concept of home confinement that was unprecedented but also the eeriness of silent neighbourhoods and the heightened anxiety over this unknown virus. When the airports reopened at the end of May, we took a quick call and the three of us took the first flight out of Mumbai and headed to our family home in Chandigarh.
Our first stop was at my brother’s farmhouse in the village of Kurali, on the outskirts of Chandigarh, where we quarantined ourselves for three weeks. Away from the city, we experienced a sense of calm even as our days became much more active. We rose at dawn and went to the fields to pick fruit and veggies for our daily meals. We walked past endless fields of watermelons and watched ambling peacocks and trundling tractors with equal amazement. We chatted with the people who worked on the farm, occasionally bathed at the well, cooked and ate in an unhurried manner and took long afternoon naps. Our lives were simple, bookended by spectacular sunsets set to the music of the gurbani wafting in from the local gurudwara.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May - June - July 2021 من Condé Nast Traveller India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May - June - July 2021 من Condé Nast Traveller India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
THE 2024 HOT LIST
Our pick of the best new hotels in the world
SHOPPING IN ABU DHABI
From a barbershop café to Emirati gems, home-grown brands offer a fresh counterpoint to the UAE capital's glitzy malls and designer labels.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
No place delights in retelling its own tale quite like the city of angels. Now, a wave of chefs, hoteliers, and entrepreneurs is remixing the classics to usher in a new golden age.
LOVE & TRAVEL - DECOUPLING
Ona long trip through Spain, Sophie Yun Mancini bids a tender goodbye to an old love
LOVE & TRAVEL - REFLECTIONS
For writer and translator Sara Rai, Banaras has her heart and is everywhere all at once. On a trip to Palermo, she wraps her way around the two cities in one breathless sentence
LOVE & TRAVEL - DEPARTURES
Chef Manu Chandra looks back on a time that brought home the power of love and travel
LOVE & TRAVEL - SUMMER
Travelling in a wheelchair, author Jarred McGinnis makes the most of a chance solo parenting trip
LOVE & TRAVEL - PERFUME
Author Divrina Dhingra distils the varied fragrances of the many places she has called home
CARNIVOROUS IN COIMBATORE
A Texan vegetarian fell for Kongunadu cooking, quail and all.
WHERE TO STAY - THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL USA
An eclectic palette and worldly flourishes fill this 19thcentury mansion turned hotel in New York.