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Everything on this site
Ten sections. Every page listed, with a line on what is in it.
Ayurveda & Wellness
Ayurveda and prāṇāyāma explained as what they are — a classical medical system and a set of breath practices — with tradition and evidence kept apart.
- AyurvedaWhat Ayurveda is as a medical system — doshas, dhatus, agni — how a practitioner reasons, how it is regulated in India, and where clinical evidence for it stands.
- PrāṇāyāmaWhat prāṇāyāma is in the classical texts, the main techniques, what the research shows, and the safety points that usually get left out.
Arts & Heritage
India's classical dance forms and music traditions explained — what Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Odissi are, and what a raga actually is.
- Classical danceThe eight classical dance forms explained — what distinguishes Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi and the rest, what the gestures mean, and what the arangetram involves.
- Classical musicWhat a raga is, what a tala is, how Hindustani and Carnatic music differ, how a concert is structured, and how to listen to a form with no written score.
Festivals
The Hindu, Sikh, Jain and regional festival year explained — what each festival marks, when it falls, and how observance changes from one part of India to another.
- Festival calendarWhy Indian festival dates move every year, how the lunisolar calendar works, and why two calendars can disagree in the same year.
- DiwaliWhat Diwali actually commemorates, why the reason differs by region, what happens on each of the five days, and how the festival is kept in households outside India.
- Ganesh ChaturthiWhat happens across the ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi, why the public festival was built in the 1890s, and the immersion problem it now carries.
- HoliHoli explained: the Holika bonfire the night before, what the colour is for, the Braj traditions behind it, and the parts of the festival that get uncomfortable.
- JanmashtamiWhy Janmashtami falls on two different days, what happens at midnight, and how the festival differs between Mathura, Maharashtra and the south.
- Maha ShivaratriWhat Maha Shivaratri marks, why it is kept as a night vigil in four watches, what is offered on the linga, and how observance differs by region.
- NavratriWhat Navratri marks, and why Gujarat's garba, Bengal's Durga Puja and Tamil Nadu's golu are the same nine nights kept in entirely different ways.
Food & Cuisine
India's regional cuisines and the customs around eating — the thali, sattvic food, the six tastes, and what distinguishes Punjabi from Bengali cooking.
- BengaliHow a Bengali meal is structured course by course, the role of freshwater fish, mustard oil and panch phoron, and how Bangladeshi and West Bengali cooking differ.
- GujaratiWhat makes Gujarati cooking distinct — the thali structure, the sweet-salt-sour balance, Jain influence, and the differences between Kathiawar, Surat and Kutch.
- The thaliWhat a thali is, how the components are arranged and why, how the six tastes shape it, and how the thali differs between Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Bengal.
- North IndianWhat North Indian cooking actually covers, why restaurant "North Indian" is mostly Punjabi, the wheat-and-dairy base, and how the food changes from Kashmir to Awadh.
- PunjabiWhat Punjabi cooking actually is at home, how it differs from the restaurant version, the role of dairy and wheat, and what Partition did to the cuisine.
- RajasthaniHow Rajasthani cooking is shaped by desert conditions — dried lentils, gram flour, ghee and long-keeping dishes — and how Marwari and Rajput food differ.
- Sattvic foodWhat sattvic means in Indian dietary thought, the three-guna scheme it belongs to, what is included and excluded, and how it differs from ordinary vegetarianism.
- The six tastesWhat the six tastes are in Ayurvedic thought, how they relate to the three doshas, how they shape the order of an Indian meal, and where the framework's claims end.
- South IndianWhy "South Indian" is not a cuisine — how Tamil, Kerala, Andhra and Karnataka cooking differ, the rice-and-fermentation base they share, and what a meal looks like.
- Eating with handsThe real reasons for eating with the hands in India, which hand is used and why, and how the technique differs between north and south.
History & Civilization
How India's traditions, monuments and religions got here — ancient India from the Indus cities onward, and the engineering it left behind.
Spirituality
Vedānta, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, karma, meditation and yoga — the ideas behind Indian religious practice, explained without mysticism.
- Bhagavad GitaA guide to the Bhagavad Gita for someone who has never read it — the situation it opens in, the argument it makes, and which translation to start with.
- The Gita on workThe Gita's argument about action and results, read carefully — what niṣkāma karma means, and what the management-book version leaves out.
- Karma & rebirthWhat karma means in Indian thought, how it differs from fate, and how the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain accounts of rebirth diverge.
- MeditationWhat meditation means in Indian practice — dhyāna, mantra repetition, self-inquiry and vipassanā — and how they differ from the secular version.
- UpanishadsWhat the Upanishads are, which to read first, the handful of statements everything later argues about, and how to approach them.
- VedāntaWhat Vedānta is, what its three main schools actually disagree about, and why "all is one" is one position within it rather than a summary of it.
- YogaWhat yoga means in the Yoga Sutras, why postures are one of eight limbs and a minor one, and how a philosophy of stilling the mind became a global exercise practice.
- Yoga's journeyHow yoga became a global practice — Vivekananda in Chicago, the Mysore palace, and the point at which posture became the whole of it.
Traditions
The everyday customs of Indian households explained — touching feet, removing shoes, the diya, turmeric, the wedding fire — and how each varies by region.
- Many godsHow Hinduism holds many deities and one reality at once — what iṣṭa-devatā means, how the traditions differ, and why '33 million gods' is a mistranslation.
- Why do Indians…A series answering the questions people are too embarrassed to ask about Indian customs — touching feet, removing shoes, the diya, turmeric and the many gods.
- The diyaWhat the oil lamp is for in Hindu worship — what it signals, what goes in it, which oil is used where, and why it is lit before anything else is done.
- Touching feetWhat charan sparsh actually means, who does it to whom, when it is expected and when it is not, and why the popular nerve-endings explanation is not the reason.
- The wedding fireWhat the fire is doing at a Hindu wedding, what the seven steps actually are, who leads which round, and how the sequence differs by community.
- TurmericWhat haldi does in Indian ritual — the pre-wedding ceremony, the colour's associations, its use at births — and what the evidence for curcumin shows.
- Removing shoesWhy footwear comes off at temples and at the door of most Indian homes — what the rule is really about, and why the hygiene explanation is only half true.
For NRIs
Practical guides for Indians living abroad — raising children with the culture, keeping festivals, visiting India, and the property and money questions.
- Festivals abroadHow to keep Diwali, Navratri and the rest in a country that does not stop for them — what to compress, what to keep, and what to tell the school.
- NRI lifeThe shape of a life lived in two countries — ageing parents at a distance, the return question, building community, and the administrative load.
- Parenting abroadLanguage, food, festivals, classes and visits — what tends to work when raising a child with Indian culture outside India, and what parents most often regret.
- PropertyWhy this page waits for a property lawyer before it publishes, what it will cover when it does, and how to choose a lawyer in the meantime.
- ServicesIntroductions to checked professionals in India for travel, airport cars, on-the-ground errands, property in Delhi NCR, and accounting and tax for NRIs.
- Accounting and taxIntroductions to practising Indian chartered accountants for NRI tax filing, TDS on property sales, repatriation paperwork and residency questions.
- AstrologyHow to find a Jyotish practitioner without being sold to — what to ask, what a consultation should cost, and the warning signs of a remedy business.
- Cars and pickupsDrivers and cars arranged in advance across Indian cities — airport arrivals, day hire and intercity runs, booked before you land.
- ConciergeErrands, paperwork, hospital visits and property checks handled in India by a person we have vetted, for families who live abroad.
- Property in Delhi NCRManagement, letting, sale and inspection of family property in Delhi NCR for owners living abroad, through professionals we have checked.
- Travel planningTrips through India arranged with operators we have checked — routes, drivers, hotels and temple visits, planned around a family rather than a tour group.
- Tax & moneyWhy this page waits for a chartered accountant before it publishes, what it will cover, and how to choose a CA in the meantime.
- Visiting IndiaPractical planning for a trip to India from abroad — documents, timing, health, money, and travelling with children or with elderly parents.
Sacred India
Varanasi, Rishikesh, Tirupati, Kedarnath, Mathura and Madurai — what makes each place sacred, and what a visitor needs to know before arriving.
- The 12 JyotirlingasWhat a Jyotirlinga is, the twelve shrines and where they are, the story behind the tradition, and what a pilgrim actually undertakes in visiting them.
- KedarnathWhat Kedarnath is, why it is only open half the year, what the trek involves, and what the 2013 disaster changed about visiting it.
- MaduraiWhat the Meenakshi Amman temple is, why the goddess is the presiding deity rather than her husband, how the gopurams work, and what to see on a first visit.
- Mathura & VrindavanWhat Braj is, how Mathura and Vrindavan differ, the major temples, when to go — and the widows of Vrindavan, usually left out of the account.
- RishikeshWhat Rishikesh is for, the difference between its pilgrimage side and its yoga-school economy, and how to tell a serious ashram from a course sold to tourists.
- TemplesAn index of major Indian temples — where they are, which deity they hold, what makes each significant, and what to know before visiting.
- TirupatiWhat Tirumala Venkateswara temple is, how darshan and the queue system actually work, why devotees shave their heads, and what to expect on a first visit.
- VaranasiWhat makes Varanasi sacred, what the ghats are for, what happens at Manikarnika, and how to visit a city where death is public.
Travel
Practical travel guides for a first trip to India, the Golden Triangle, and a spiritual-India route — written for someone visiting family, not for a backpacker.
- Golden TriangleHow to do the Delhi–Agra–Jaipur circuit properly — how long it takes, what is worth the time, what to skip, and how to avoid the commission economy built around it.
- First tripHow to plan a first trip to India — how much to attempt, when to go, how to move between cities, what to expect on arrival, and the mistakes that spoil first trips.
- Spiritual IndiaHow to plan a trip around India's religious sites without the retreat-package version — which places suit which purpose, how to behave at each, and what to expect.