tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580Wed, 08 Oct 2025 07:05:48 +0000What's outside my windowEveryday lifeBangaloreHindu festivals and customsSociety and cultureFlora and faunaSeasonsIndian templesChennai (Madras)Places in KarnatakaTamil NaduPondicherryHeritage ConservationIndian classical danceOrissaAndhra PradeshAurovilleMadhya PradeshPlaces I LoveCalcuttaIndia travel tipsGoaHyderabadAndaman IslandsMumbaiThe colours, sights and sounds of South India.http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Isabel)Blogger315125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-4648232703695812240Wed, 08 Feb 2017 01:51:00 +00002017-02-08T07:21:08.910+05:30 It's my Blogiversary! 10 YEARS AGO TODAY I started my India Outside My Window blog, one month after moving to Bangalore. Every week I wrote about what I was seeing around me, and shared the sights, colours, and even sounds of India via my blog posts. In 2013, I left India and started a new blog about my new life in Istria, Croatia, but continued to update the India blog when I would return for http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2017/02/its-my-blogiversary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-5635333057229010206Wed, 30 Mar 2016 05:22:00 +00002016-04-07T14:15:15.467+05:30Flora and faunaWhat's outside my window One thing I love about being back in India is eating all my favourite Indian fruits again! There's an abundance of fruits throughout the year, and some you can find year round. Here are some of the most typical Indian fruits... Mango is everyone's favourite fruit. This is a summer fruit: available from April through to July. The very first mangoes of the season are available from the end ofhttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2016/03/fruits-you-must-try-in-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-5872413794789605940Fri, 05 Feb 2016 08:38:00 +00002016-03-06T14:25:55.621+05:30After&nbsp;Part I,&nbsp;Part II,&nbsp;Part III, Part IV, here are a few more of the quirky (and sometimes&nbsp;unintelligible) signs&nbsp;India is famous for... A warning in Colaba, Mumbai I wonder what the results were Just so you know Dangerous laptops and 'luggeages' are prowling Shanthinagar bus station in Bangalore! Not sure what this one means... Sound advice http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2016/02/read-sign-part-v.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-1365667573834927486Mon, 25 Jan 2016 09:42:00 +00002016-02-23T14:46:17.517+05:30BangalorePlaces I Love Many people (especially foreigners) look at me in disbelief when I tell them I lived in Bangalore for close to seven years. Most foreign travellers to India avoid Bangalore because they think it doesn't have a lot to offer, or they think it's too 'modern' and therefore uninteresting. It may be true that Bangalore doesn't have a lot of tourist attractions compared to other Indian cities, but http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2016/01/common-misconceptions-about-bangalore.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-6724563490046012232Fri, 15 Jan 2016 06:40:00 +00002016-02-20T12:16:46.333+05:30<!-- INSTANSIVE WIDGET --> Dear readers, I'm in India for the winter and have lots of updates waiting for this blog... I'm experiencing a few delays but am working on getting the updates up ASAP! In the meantime, you can see what's happening outside my window on my Instagram page. I also post on the Facebook page when I can, so do have a look there. More very soon! http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2016/01/im-in-india-find-me-on-instagram.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-5847269342539201110Thu, 17 Dec 2015 11:12:00 +00002016-03-05T16:47:07.141+05:30India travel tips I started writing a post on 'how to pack for India', but it very quickly became a post on what NOT to pack, so here you go... my recommendations on what (not) to pack for India... The fact is that you can find almost everything you need in India, and usually for a lot less money, especially for things like toiletries. The fact that things are cheaper here does not mean they are lower http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/12/what-not-to-pack-for-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-2936390935428830241Sun, 15 Nov 2015 04:56:00 +00002016-03-06T11:43:49.469+05:30BangaloreEveryday lifePlaces in Karnataka Don't ever make the mistake of ordering a chai in South India... for South India is the land of coffee. This is the drink of choice, a daily ritual for many, and South Indians can't live without it. If you've never had a cup of South Indian coffee, you're in for a surprise... there are many things that make it unique.&nbsp; In an article I wrote for the in-flight magazine of Silk Air,http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-coffee-tour-of-south-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-3687163652365722499Wed, 21 Oct 2015 05:15:00 +00002016-03-06T11:43:59.717+05:30Andhra Pradesh I have always loved the Indian textile art of Kalamkari, and a trip to the village of its origin, Sri Kalahasti in Andhra Pradesh, was on my list of places to explore for a long time. I finally had the chance when I was researching an article on Kalamkari for the in-flight magazine of Silk Air. I spent a day at the workshop of one of India's best-known Kalamkari artists, http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/10/kalamkari-fabric-of-earth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-1426048390773197338Wed, 30 Sep 2015 04:10:00 +00002016-03-06T11:44:09.531+05:30AurovillePlaces I Love Auroville, the international township near Pondicherry, is a special place for many reasons. One of the fascinating things about it is the many creative, ecological, and entrepreneurial projects that its residents bring into being. Here, you meet many people who have left their conventional lives and careers far behind, and have created a completely different life for http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/09/janes-chocolate-factory.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-5796805561437830517Mon, 13 Jul 2015 15:44:00 +00002016-02-21T09:41:09.111+05:30Seasons If you check any guidebook for the best time to come to India, the period between June and September is usually not recommended. This is monsoon season in most parts of the country and travellers are inevitably put off travelling during this time because they imagine torrential rains, floods, and transportation chaos... Though I don’t really like the rain, I love India during the monsoon. Ihttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/07/10-good-reasons-to-travel-to-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-2475084632910532766Mon, 22 Jun 2015 06:53:00 +00002016-03-24T17:45:45.336+05:30India travel tips People often ask me if it's safe for a woman to travel alone in India, and I don't hesitate to say that there's no reason why a woman shouldn't.&nbsp;During my travels in India, I have travelled mostly alone.&nbsp;Yes, I have been groped, flashed, and harassed, but this has happened to me (and many other women across the world) not only in India... unfortunately these are hassles women http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/06/tips-for-women-travelling-alone-in-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-8567507094682813195Tue, 12 May 2015 06:12:00 +00002016-03-06T11:43:36.627+05:30GoaPlaces I Love Finding the perfect beach hideaway in Goa is a challenge... But Elsewhere is like nowhere else. This beachside hideaway is made up of four old beach houses surrounded by untamed nature with a private beach. My description of it below is an excerpt from an article&nbsp;I had written on luxury travel to Goa for a magazine distributed on private jets. Goa's peak season for beach lovers http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-place-i-love-elsewhere-in-goa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-6381828480327688901Sat, 25 Apr 2015 04:08:00 +00002016-03-06T11:44:26.013+05:30Pondicherry Pondicherry is one of my favourite destinations in India, one I keep coming back to. I love its seaside location, the fact that it's a city that can be easily explored on a bicycle, and the old world charm of its many heritage buildings that local organizations have put a lot of effort into preserving and restoring. In this article I wrote for Bold Magazine, I explore some of the unique http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/04/my-article-on-pondicherry-in-bold.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-3074694569400380345Tue, 17 Mar 2015 08:46:00 +00002016-02-21T09:50:24.434+05:30Everyday lifeMumbai While I was in Mumbai in January, I took part in a walking tour of one of its biggest slums. I remember reading about these tours of Dharavi, one of Mumbai’s most population-dense neighbourhoods, when they started a few years ago and spawned a debate on ‘slum tourism’. “It’s voyeuristic to peek into poor peoples’ lives,” slammed some. “This is a reality of Indian cities, and how 55% of thehttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/03/life-in-slum-in-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-9007695760795803070Thu, 05 Mar 2015 05:51:00 +00002016-02-21T09:50:36.810+05:30India travel tips When my sister-in-law and her young daughter came to visit us while we were living in Bangalore, I took the little girl for a walk around the neighbourhood. Two minutes into our walk, she asked me: “Why is everyone staring at me?” I told her that people are not used to seeing a little white girl and that they were curious and intrigued but that they didn’t mean any harm. She wanted to go http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/03/travel-tip-how-to-deal-with-staring-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-6420813923690411935Thu, 26 Feb 2015 16:58:00 +00002016-02-21T09:50:49.303+05:30Society and cultureWhat's outside my window It’s hard not to notice that the Cricket World Cup is on. When the cricket is on, everything revolves around it. Then when India plays Pakistan, the world stops for a few hours. That’s what it was like on February 15th... It was a Saturday unlike any other because there was almost no traffic on the roads. And it was quiet: no honking or traffic sounds, and not even the calls of the fruithttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/02/cricket-fever.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-2555827442867021435Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:51:00 +00002015-02-24T23:21:18.954+05:30What's outside my window http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/02/indian-mailboxes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-3399905375437389638Sat, 21 Feb 2015 15:42:00 +00002016-02-21T09:48:59.763+05:30Places I Love Photo courtesy of Vegan Bites While I was in Mumbai I had the chance to spend time with my friends Samir and Hemali and have some amazingly good food. They run their own business called Vegan Bites, a catering service that prepares healthy, 100% vegan meals which are delivered to Mumbai’s busy office workers six days a week... Aloo tikki made with love The meals prepared here are veganhttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-place-i-love-vegan-bites-in-mumbai.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-4057061924909944855Mon, 16 Feb 2015 16:20:00 +00002015-02-16T21:54:10.231+05:30BangaloreEveryday life On the 201R going from Indiranagar to Jayanagar... Just after Ejipura signal, an auto-rickshaw driver knocks on the bus door and starts yelling at the driver. Apparently the bus had scratched his auto-rickshaw. A shouting match follows. The door closes and we continue on our way. The bus stops a little further away and the auto-driver is there again. More animated shouting. Door closes, wehttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/02/on-bus-in-bangalore.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-8714459227444210377Wed, 11 Feb 2015 05:41:00 +00002015-02-11T11:11:51.639+05:30BangaloreHeritage Conservation Recently I had the chance to step back into another time when I took part in a heritage walk exploring the old homes of Basavanagudi a neighbourhood in south Bangalore. We were a small group made up of long-time Bangaloreans and other more recent residents (and me, a former resident!), who were all eager to learn more about the cultural heritage of this neighbourhood and explore its wide http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/02/inside-heritage-home-in-basavanagudi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-7546571584343364591Wed, 04 Feb 2015 16:09:00 +00002015-02-04T21:39:52.283+05:30BangaloreHeritage ConservationWhat's outside my window I’m back in Bangalore after being away for a year and a half. I’m staying in the same neighbourhood and in the same house, but not in the first floor apartment where we used to live, but downstairs with my former landlords who very kindly and warmly invited me to stay with them. I’ve only been away for 17 months but I’m amazed at all the new constructions in the neighbourhood. Once http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/02/bangalores-disappearing-heritage-homes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-5668025227358788603Thu, 29 Jan 2015 16:08:00 +00002015-01-30T22:12:37.260+05:30India travel tips Many of the questions I get about travelling to India are about health issues. Should I only drink bottled water? Should I take anti-malarials? What if I get sick? While travelling in India, you’ll need to take a few more health precautions that you would at home, but there’s no need to be paranoid. Do expect to get a stomach upset at least once and consider yourself lucky if you don’t!http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/01/india-travel-tip-how-to-stay-healthy-in_29.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-526395309518942901Mon, 26 Jan 2015 14:24:00 +00002015-01-26T20:02:55.622+05:30Heritage ConservationTamil Nadu I was sad to read that trains running on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway&nbsp;will no longer stop at Hillgrove station. I had written about my trip on this historic railway running through the Nilgiri Mountains two years ago and described the stop we made at this charming station where time seemed to stand still. The newspaper article&nbsp;announced that from January 5th, trains will no http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/01/no-more-trains-to-hillgrove-station.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-591953914385025495Sun, 18 Jan 2015 18:39:00 +00002015-01-19T00:10:37.599+05:30SeasonsWhat's outside my window A foggy morning outside my window in Delhi On my last day in Chennai I read about the ‘nippy weather’ the city was experiencing in the newspaper.&nbsp; It reported that minimum nighttime temperatures had dipped to 18.3 degrees Celsius, the second lowest temperature recorded so far in January. It described commuters on suburban trains switching off ceiling fans and pulling down windows to http://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/01/winter-in-india.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838568395887650580.post-300368468001994623Tue, 13 Jan 2015 17:45:00 +00002016-02-20T15:40:09.640+05:30Chennai (Madras)Places I Love Chennai is a busy, bustling, noisy city. In the middle of all the hustle and bustle is a calm and green oasis called Amethyst. Amethyst used to be housed in a beautiful century-old colonial mansion. There was a charming café on its veranda which wrapped around three sides of the house, and you could also sit in the elegant black-and-white-tiled drawing room decorated with old furniturehttp://india-outside-my-window.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-place-i-love-amethyst-in-chennai.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Isabel)0