Treasured Holidays

16/04/2024

Attended yet another INTACH Pune Heritage Walk on Museum Aesthetics in Everyday Life.

The walk through was at the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum to understand the significance and history of the displayed artefacts.

The walk led by Dr. Chetan Sahasrabudhe was certainly informative and engaging!

12/04/2024

And we traveled back-to-back on two Treasured Holidays with two diverse groups, in the rolling hills of Nagaland!

04/03/2024

The well-known Cuttack Rupa Tarakasi (Silver Filigree) is unique to Odisha. The good news is that, the heritage metal craft received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag recently by the Geographical Indications Registry.

During our trail to Odisha, we interact with artisans of Silver Filigree who have been creating intricate designs in Cuttack district for more than 500 years. The Sunar community has been practicing Rupa Tarakasi that was introduced during the Mughal rule. It is said that the craft perhaps have reached Odisha through the trade links with Indonesia as the workmanship is similar to Indonesian craft form.

In the brilliant Tarakasi designs, the silver wires are used to make the frame into which small design pieces made from thinner wires are fitted. Splendid earrings, nose pins, elaborate necklaces, dainty neck chains, pendants, bracelets, bangles, anklets, toe rings have been huge in demand along with vermillion boxes, brooches, tie pins and hairpins. We also have seen showpieces of renowned Konark wheel, chariot, idols of Lord Jagannath, Subhadra and Balbhadra, Taj Mahal model, accessories used in Pooja, photo frames, candle stands, pen holders, cutlery, spoons and money purses.

During festivities, Rupa Tarakasi is widely used. Classical Odissi dancers also use bold silver filigree jewellery during their performances.

A GI tag endorses the value of genuine creations. It informs and catches the attention of potential users of the products. We wish to congratulate Rupa Tarakasi artisans of Cuttack for adding a well-deserved feather in rich cultural heritage Odisha!

In case you have been already using Rupa Tarakasi products, feel proud about your acquisition. If you are thinking of adding Silver Filigree to your collection of accessories, you have a perfect excuse to go shopping!

01/03/2024

Hello from the land of textiles and crafts, Odra Desha!

12/02/2024

70% of the population of Nagaland is involved in agriculture. Across the state, vegetable vendors sell fresh harvested produce on streets.

During our visit earlier in rural Nagaland, we came across a few vegetable stalls without the vendor. It made us curious about such unmanned stalls. Our guide told us the true story of ‘Jar of Trust’.

During the strict lock-down in April 2020, a vegetable vendor in Nagaland followed the state guidelines of social distancing with courage. S/he laid the street vegetable stall in the Minister's Hill area in Kohima, without actually being there. S/he kept a handwritten note with the cost of a bunch of produce and kept an empty jar for customers to drop money in it. Pleasantly this stall was noticed by many. With a genuine act of trust and honesty, the vegetable vendor earned money through the ‘Jar of Trust’.

The stall was featured by digital news platforms like EastMojo and India Times, went viral however no one knows who has done this daring act!

‘Jar of Trust’ significantly became popular among many vegetable vendors and this has been followed in many parts of Nagaland. We consciously shopped for fruits from such stalls and happily put our contribution in ‘Jar of Trust’ during our travel.

Come April and we would travel to Nagaland with the group. We are eager to experience many such inspiring stories of diverse Naga culture!

09/02/2024

Treasured Holidays is pleased to announce back-to-back two trails to Nagaland. Yes, this is a brand-new destination added to the list of trails of Treasured Holidays.

Nagaland is spotted with evergreen valleys, forests and mountain ranges. The vibrant land features warriors, head-hunters, dancers and much more through the cultural festivals. This encourages the travelers across the globe to plan their holidays for Naga festivals, textiles, jewellery, handicrafts, cuisine, landscape and diverse tribal as well as urban way of life.

16 major tribes live in Nagaland. The customs and traditions of each tribe lead to festivities. The ‘Tribal Tales of Nagaland’ trail is planned for an immersive experience of the Mon Festival with Konyak tribe from 31st March to 5th April 2024.

The second, ‘Treasures of Nagaland’ trail is scheduled from 5th April to 10th April 2024. It would explore historical Kohima, the brick city of Dimapur along with a few picturesque green and clean Naga villages.

You are most welcome to travel back-to-back on both the trails or either. Seats are limited and registration is on a first-come-first served basis.

We invite you to experience the diverse Naga culture together!

08/02/2024

Atreyapuram is a small town in Andhra Pradesh. This place is the origin of a traditional dessert called Pootharekulu. In Telagu ‘Pootha’ means coating and ‘Rekulu’ means sheets.

The dessert is wrapped in a wafer-thin rice starch layer resembling paper. Traditionally it is stuffed with sugar or jaggery and dry fruits. Hot and s**cy Pootharekulu are newly introduced with stuffing of Mirchi. Chocolate-Pootarekulu, Horlicks-Pootharekulu, Boost-Pootharekulu are specially made for kids, by mixing dry-fruit powder and home-made ghee.

While reading more about the dessert, we learnt that the cottage industry of this paper sweet offers livelihood opportunities to around 400-600 families of Atreyapuram. In August 2018, a group of chefs prepared a 10.5-meter long Pootharekulu to popularize Andhra cuisine during tourism outreach programme.

‘Local cuisine and travel’ is the most delicious combination! Do you like to try diverse fare while traveling? Tell us which is your favorite and where did you get introduced to it?

15/01/2024

Paush Bada Utsav is celebrated in the Pink city of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan. The Lunar calendar month of Paush is marked by offering fried snacks of Vada/Pakode/fritters.

This festival welcomes the winter season in a delicious style! Pakodas, dal-bati-churma, multigrain khichdi etc are offered in this festival. Such delicacies keep the body warm when the temperature drops.

The festival is celebrated on a huge scale. Lakhs of devotees participate in the celebration that is called the Lakkhi Paush Bada. The first Lakkhi Poush Bada festival was celebrated in Ghat Ke Balaji temple, Jaipur in 1960.

Traveling in the interiors of Jaipur. Happy to feast on Paush Bada as the local folks savour it by hopping from one place to another!

24/12/2023

And we celebrated and lived the glorious craft heritage of Kutch on our recent trail!

03/12/2023

We witnessed ‘Election Tourism’ during our recent trail in Rajasthan. The election fever was high. We experienced huge traffic congestion as national party leaders were travelling exactly at the same time we landed in Jaipur. And yes, we chatted like a chatterbox during such bottlenecked traffic!

Political rallies offered us more opportunities for ‘Jaipur Darshan’ as we had to detour our route. Long queues for voting were jam-packed with traditional turbans and ghagras in bright hues. Such election booths certainly extended photography breaks for us!

Three Journalists in our group were catching up with voting pulses continuously. We had ‘powerful’ discussions in our group too!

As the election results in Rajasthan are out, we reminisce memories of last week. All in all, the stage of elections was too noisy however we added to our list silently!!!

27/11/2023

Treasures of Treasured Holidays!

20/11/2023

The picturesque Spiti valley is in the high-altitude region in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The name Spiti means ‘The middle land’. As the name suggests, Spiti is the land between India and Tibet. It is perched at a height of 2,745 m above sea level and is surrounded by Lahaul, Ladakh, Kinnaur and Kullu. This trans-Himalayan territory is the least populated region of India.

Spitians speak ‘Bhoti’, a Tibetic language and follow Tibetan Buddhism. Spiti is pronounced as ‘Piti’ in the local language.

Privileged to have travelled to the cold desert of Spiti with Doe’s Ecotours, led by Doreen D'Sa earlier this September.

Spiti is the destination for trekking, angling, homestays, adventurous tourism of winter sports and yes wonderland for shutterbugs. Set your camera at any angle and be assured to get superb pictures here!

13/11/2023

Greetings on Sohrai Harvest Festival!

Traditionally the local tribal women from Jharkhand paint the walls of the house with Sohrai Khovar painting. This ceremonial mural art is practised during local harvest, festivities and marriages. Hazaribagh district is privileged to have different natural shades of soil. Such locally available soil is used for simple yet stunning painting.

It is a pleasure to travel through s**c and span tribal villages in the interiors of Hazaribagh to witness Sohrai Khovar paintings.

Sharing a few of our favourite pictures, enjoy!

12/11/2023

Here's wishing Happy Diwali to our artisans, friends and well-wishers! May this Diwali light up your life with good health, success and happiness!!

Rangoli Credits: Dr Gauri Kopardekar

30/10/2023

Anyone for Tingmo and Shapta? In the Tibetan language, Tinga means cloud and Momo is dumpling. Tingmo is a combination of these two words.

Tingmo is traditional Tibetan steamed bread that is twisted and swirled into a layered bun. We were served soft, fluffy Tingmo with Shapta, the vegetable stew.

In Spiti, Tingmo and Shapta served in a traditional way, satiated taste buds and utterly delighted us. All the layers of the bun unfolded like a flower!

Which is your favourite Tibetan dish? We would love to listen to your delicious food and travel stories!

20/10/2023

Last week we featured the World's Highest Post office in Hikkim, Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh. We will continue posting about the picturesque trans-Himalayan region of Spiti Valley for the next few weeks.

The scenic village of Komic is situated at the altitude of 15,027 feet above sea-level. Komic in the local language means ‘Eye of the Snow Cock’. World’s highest restaurant, Himalayan Nectar Kitchen, is located in this village. This restaurant receives almost all the visitors of Spiti Valley.

We had the world's best lemon-ginger-honey tea here. It’s a feast to the eyes to capture scenery and sip piping hot tea in the crisp weather of Himalaya!

15/10/2023

A rangoli tribute to Nobel Laureate International Durgas!

Narges Mohammadi, a Human Rights Activist - for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and Claudia Goldin, an Economist for uncovering gender inequality in the labor market.

2023 मधील नोबेल पुरस्कार विजेत्या आंतरराष्ट्रीय दुर्गा! इराणी महिलांवरील अत्याचारविरोधी लढा देणारी नर्गिस मोहम्मदी आणि श्रम बाजारपेठेतील स्त्री-पुरुष असमानतेवरील भाष्यकार क्लाॅडिया गोल्डिन.

Rangoli credits:
Dr Gauri Kopardekar

09/10/2023

Today is World Post Day. On this day, we wish to feature and celebrate the world’s highest post office at Hikkim in Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. It is a major tourist attraction at the highest point where tourist can buy stamps and cards, click selfies and most interestingly interact with the staff. The post office doing a crucial service of connecting the remote villages of Spiti Valley with the rest of the world!

This post office started the operations in Hikkim village in 1983. It is located at 14,567 feet above sea level. Last year this post office went through a make over and now it is in an attractive letterbox-shape! Rinchen Chhering has been a celebrity Post Master since the day one (1983) of this post office.

We were certainly privileged to meet the staff and to post our hand written letters. This post office has to close the operations during harsh winters of Spiti Valley. So glad to have travelled to a place where there is a post office!

02/10/2023

Hello from the Zero Mile of India!

27/09/2023

Greetings on Tourism Day!

On this day, seven years ago, our new journey of textile and craft trails started. Sustainable efforts with artisans, local experiences, slow and responsible travel, tapping lesser-known crafts, learning holidays have been appreciated by our travelers. Growing organically has helped us a lot to connect with the appropriate explorers. Hope we get many more opportunities to preserve and celebrate India’s exceptionally rich cultural heritage together!

Our earnest gratitude to our artisans, travelers, hosts, service providers, friends and well-wishers for being a part of Treasured Holidays!

We invite you to join us on following forthcoming trails:

- Elegant Karvati Kinar, Nagpur: 30 September-1 October

- Amazing Block Printing Holiday, Jaipur-Bagru-Sanganer: 22-26 November

- Living Traditions of Kutch: 17-23 December

25/09/2023

Living Traditions of Kutch is our most vibrant trail. We listen to inspiring stories of courage, tireless work, innovation, community efforts, creativity and much more from artisans and revivalists. We enjoy textures, stitches, mirrors, motifs and colours. We take a close look at meticulous artisanship. We visit the finest Museums. We also indulge in mouth-watering Kutchy cuisine.

Our extensive research of this region has been helping us to offer the best of the travel plan. Our sustainable efforts to promote the crafts and textiles has established deeper connections with the gifted artisans. This trail creates lasting memories about the culture of Kutch!

Come, join us to experience life in Kutch from 17-23 December 2023. It’s going to be a Treasured Holiday!

04/09/2023

Allahabad, Behraich and Gorakhpur districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh produce abundant Moonj and Rara grasses. Almost every family practices Coiling, a basketry technique used for domestic articles.

The wild Moonj grass is harvested in winter from the wastelands. The peel of the stalks is left out in the dew for about three days. Once the colour is lightened, some splits are dyed in bright colours to pattern the baskets. The baskets are tightly coiled so that they are practically waterproof and long-lasting. Binding of the baskets now is done with plastic strips, glitter and cloth. Sini, Tipari, Maunis, Baithkas, etc are the local names used for such baskets.

The baskets are light weight mainly woven for storing flour and food grains in the kitchen. Rotis and local varieties of flat breads are stored in them to stay fresh. Simple and tinier baskets are made for daily use. The baskets of the Tharus of Behraich are rather bold and woven with animal and human motifs.

Every girl learns the coiling technique from her mother. Exquisite baskets are made by a mother for her daughter’s marriage by using green and red colours. Special baskets with shell tassels are made for the bride. In Gorakhpur, the women coil large beautiful designs of circular baskets with large openings and rounded bases. These baskets are arranged in a row for the bride as she leaves her home. She takes some with her laden with grain, sweets and other gifts.

In Allahabad artisans earn a livelihood by weaving baskets. Placemats, trays, hats, hand fans, boxes and coasters are sold out in the market.

During our visit to eastern Uttar Pradesh, we witnessed weaving of a cot, locally called as Khat or Charpai. Right from harvesting of the grasses till the weaving, each stage is performed by the family members. Interestingly, the name of the family members is woven in the design of the cot!

Traditional architecture, harvest storage rooms, outhouses, huts, sheds on agricultural fields, animal shelters are commonly built with Moonj grass. Such makeshift constructions are the need of the scorching hot summers.

It was a pleasure to walk around such aesthetically built settlements with local material and created by local talent!

30/08/2023

Ghewar on Rakshabandhan is a perfect recipe in North India. Ghewar originated in Rajasthan. It is relished usually during damp weather of monsoon as just-right moisture in the air prompts making of Ghewar!

A disc-shaped honeycombed dessert is made from all-purpose flour (maida), ghee, milk, and sugar syrup. It is garnished with saffron and dry fruits. Flavours like malai, mawa, mango, paneer, chocolate or rabadi are popular or you can just have it plain. No machine is used in making Ghewars, only a skillful cook can make the crunchy ones!

Indian festivities offer many opportunities to enjoy seasonal good food across the year. After all, a sweet tooth also needs pampering!!!

18/08/2023

We are delighted to announce our most popular trail during Diwali vacation. We would try deep-rooted block printing practises to create our own designs on stoles. Call it fun-filled or meditative, block printing is certainly experienced in a group!

We would travel with diverse bunch having an eye for crafts and textiles. Let’s enjoy this Learning Holiday along with local cuisine in perfect winter weather. Join us in Jaipur, Bagru and Sanganer from 22 to 26 November for Rajasthani cultural treasures and much more!

15/08/2023

Textile enthusiasts, today's Google Doodle celebrates India's Independence Day in a textured way! Spare some time to read about each textile craft form. You would love it.

Happy Independence Day, India!