Spiti Valley travelogue, Part 1: The Scenic Journey from Manali to Kaza

It was raining heavily at 4:30 am in Manali. Bunty, the driver of our hired Innova warned us to be up and ready very early as the journey to Kaza was going to be long and arduous. We had arrived Manali the day before by road from Chandigarh and were quite tired, but our enthusiasm got the better of it, and we were ready in the wee hours of the morning.

The Landscape of Spiti Valley

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The River Water Hilsa Festival at Oh Calcutta

My family had migrated from East Bengal (now Bangladesh) during the partition. “Bangals” as we are still known as having deeply rooted fascinations about many things. An important chapter of our culinary habits is written around Hilsa or Ilich mach as we call it, the aqua queen of the monsoon season. Bangals love this fish from the core of their heart, a passion that can only be matched by the Hyderabadi passion for biryani.

Paturi Ilish

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