Salil Deshpande

Oct 23, 2024 | cntraveller.in | Salil Deshpande

Ten years after he first went to Cuba, photographer Rohit Chawla returned on assignment to shoot Havana, its culture and its cigars. He came back lighter than planned when his cigars worth nearly a thousand dollars were seized at Miami airport. “Like an honest Indian, I disclosed that I was carrying Cuban cigars,” he says. Not only were they confiscated, Chawla would later be put through an interview by the US embassy when he reapplied for a visit.

Aug 13, 2024 | cntraveller.in | Salil Deshpande

If there was a way to measure these things, Bharatbala Ganapathy can claim to be the filmmaker to have induced the most amount of goosebumps across India over the past three decades. Through films like Maa Tujhe Salam, with AR Rahman; Vande Mataram, with Lata Mangeshkar, and Jana Gana Mana rendered by a panoply of India’s greatest artistes–not to mention that version shot with the Indian Army in Siachen–Bharatbala has managed to arouse India Pride in a way few others have.

Aug 3, 2024 | cntraveller.in | Salil Deshpande

In Ladakh this summer, I had a strange experience. I sat in front of an lhamo, an oracle, who channels the spirits to find answers to your problems. Her remit is mostly matters of medicine, though I was told I could ask her anything. With all respect to the faithful, I am quite sceptical about shamans and soothsayers. But I am also aware that these prophecies can mess with your mind in the funniest of ways.

Jun 15, 2024 | cntraveller.in | Salil Deshpande

At this moment, in the waters around the Arabian Peninsula are 63 sea turtles living their second life. Brought in over the years in various forms of distress, some sick to the core, these turtles were nursed back to good health by the team at the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project (DTRP). On Wednesday, the programme marked 20 years of service to marine life by sending the most recent inmates back to the ocean.

Jun 10, 2024 | traveler.es | Salil Deshpande

¿POR QUÉ RESERVAR? Para conocer de primera mano la vida diaria de Ladakh, lenta pero incesante. EL HOTELEs muy probable que el avión tenga que dar unas cuantas vueltas antes de que se le permita el aterrizaje en Leh, uno de los aeropuertos comerciales a mayor altura de todo el mundo. Pero incluso un aterrizaje así puede resultar ameno cuando las vistas desde la ventanilla son tan impactantes: cumbres blancas y escarpadas que dan paso a un extenso desierto montañoso.