Neera Nundy is Co-Founder of Dasra India

Dasra, or ‘enlightened giving’ in Sanskrit, was co-founded in 1999 by Neera Nundy and her husband Deval Sanghavi as a venture philanthropy fund in India to invest in early stage non-profit organisations working in SDG areas of gender equality, urban resilience and sanitation. In twenty-five years, Dasra has unlocked over $350 million US for 1500+ non-profits and impacted over 180 million people through its trusted ecosystem, one recent start-up GivingPi being India’s first Family Philanthropy Network.

LUX: You are a recipient of multiple awards from inter alia the Canadian Governor General, Forbes India, Forbes Philanthropy, Vogue India, and you partner with Harvard, Stanford, USAID. How did you embark on this journey as a change-maker?

NEERA NUNDY: In hindsight, while it feels like there was a clear strategy in fact the pathway was more zigzag than linear! Twenty-five years’ ago, when we started, I was very young, an analyst at Morgan Stanley who had just graduated in statistics, followed by business school at Harvard then UBS.

With all this access to privilege, not of wealth but I mean privilege of education and exposure to diverse experiences, I was always asking myself if there was something I could do that would make a difference in the world? Whilst I was born and raised in Canada but I felt a deep connection to India. My mother had founded a school for tribal children in India, I went back myself when I was ten to boarding school, so I had a sense of identity and belonging and I wanted to make a difference there.

Visit to partner Satya Special School in Muntrampattu, Puducherry advocating for the inclusion of children with special needs in education, employment, and society.

LUX: How did your background in finance influence your approach to unlocking capital for good?

NN: I really started out on this road with my husband. We met at Morgan Stanley as analysts in1999. If you think about financial services, there are so many different kinds of ways to move capital around and, to move philanthropic capital, you also need intermediaries. We are one of India’s few infrastructural bridge builders, helping organizations on the ground working with the most vulnerable, working with communities and growing their impact. We did not have funding at the start, so the real skill we had was helping organisations institutionalise. So from a management side, what the private sector takes for granted, we asked how could we enable organizations to strengthen themselves institutionally so that their impact could grow? Very quickly we realised that all of that costs money and you need flexible money so we decided to use some of our capabilities to raise money from families and corporates. At that time in India the CSR mandate had also emerged so our role evolved to connect philanthropy to organizations doing great work on the ground.

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LUX: How did Dasra evolve from a social impact bridge-builder to a leading non-profit collaborator impacting over 180 million lives?

NN: Over the first decade, it was honestly all about survival. We were a very small team trying to raise money and make ends meet. We started Giving Circles so that there would be some funding. We had families pool money and support non-profit organisations who are the pioneers now in their field like Educate Girls SNEHA, The Audacious Project, Magic Bus, ARMMAN and we had a good feeling that we had in some way contributed to this success. The next decade became about staying relevant, accelerating our impact rather than just raising money. So over the last 25 years, although we have influenced around $350 million USD and motivated our teams, we have always focused on impact. That is why we moved our work from 1-2-1 relationships to more platform-building, growing networks, holding ourselves more accountable on outcomes. That’s really when we launched our first alliance, Girl Alliance, a collaborative fund for adolescent girls, focusing on girls from 10 to 19 years old. Only fifteen years ago, you would meet someone in CSR asking if they wanted to fund adolescent girls and the men around the table would not get why this was important as for them it was over as the girls would soon be married. So it was for us to create a market. Some of what we have done in 25 years is to create markets for different issues, bringing them together, evolving platforms for a real array of organizations trying to support the unlocking of philanthropy but also supporting organizations on the ground. It may feel that Dasra does a bunch of different things but it is because the sector needs it.

Industree partners’ project, GreenKraft, Tamil Nadu, a virtually 100% women’s collective engaged in creating and selling handicrafts made from recycled banana bark.

LUX: Who is the audience, the target group?

NN: I’ve really tried to emphasize the part of our vision where a billion thrive with dignity and equity, that at the core of all we do must be in service of the most vulnerable, supporting them and investing in creating thriving communities. To do that you need to bring together and invest in NGO leaders, invest into funding and philanthropy and build that trust between the three of us.

So are we in service of the funder or in service of the NGO leader? Neither but we need both of them to be part of being in service of the community. To do that, we make the issues more visible, help them engage, show them the impacts on the ground. Ultimately though you need funding! So you are still in the most immediate sense catering to the needs of different funders and the needs of NGO leaders and bridging them.

In terms of hierarchy, though, I would say first, the community, then the NGOs, and then the funders. We are in a privileged position that we can take a stand with funders and say there is a right and wrong and we can support you in doing a better job by working with you.

LUX: You also work with leaders from the smaller NGOs and minorities, engaging with communities and collaborating bottom-up: how did that come about?

NN: That’s also been a journey for us over the last 25 years. When we started we were much more proximate when we had Giving Circles and were working with NGO leaders. These were all very small organizations then. Educate Girls was only in 50 schools and when we started working with them they became or established and now they are in thousands of villages and impacting around two million girls.

About 10 years ago we started working with various established organizations and the ecosystem grew because everyone was funding the same organizations and spotlighting them. Then we shifted on the back of Covid, with all those challenges within communities experiencing the pandemic, the way proximate leaders risked their lives to support communities and to support India, we felt strongly there was now a new role for us. We decided to go back to the grassroots, to some of the more proximate organizations and to continue to support the next generation of organisations and that is the $50 million USD Rebuild India Fund.

SEEDS partners training local communities in construction principles and practice to build robust safe homes, schools and infrastructure.

LUX: What do they want, the leaders of the next generation of organisations?

NN: They want to make what was invisible more visible, be engaged and be part of the nation building. India is only going to flourish if we move this group. We are a sort of nexus between what next gen and what they want to contribute to, showing them the effectiveness of listening to communities and working bottom-up to make change.

LUX: How important is an intersectional approach in bringing about successful outcomes?

NN: Around 15 years’ ago when we moved toward a platform-building model, we started our work around adolescent girls and there was real awakening in India with a new focus on outcomes. A girl needs an education, health, and employment and although funding is sectoral that does not mean you deliver ultimately for this girls’ empowerment via these separate lenses.

You need extensive health interventions to make other outcomes sustainable. Our ‘10 to 19’ anchored outcomes for a collaborative fund, so an education funder can come in, a health funder can come in because the kinds of outcomes we had were keeping girls past grade 10, delaying marriage, delaying first pregnancy, increasing their independence and employability. So multiple funders can come in because you are delivering on the outcomes.

We are supporting a particular State, or a number of different organizations and the measurement is providing a view on and links to these outcomes. So there is a role for us as an intermediary, or backbone collaborator, or systems orchestrator that can be enabling, to show where funding might take a certain shape for good, show the need in the community for these girls, and bridge the parties. That has been a lot of what we’ve been working towards and to make change you need that intersectionality.

LUX: Is that intersectional approach also appropriate with climate change and the disproportionate adverse impacts on women and children in the Global South?

NN: Climate is a tough one to get our country to engage with, especially if you move down this path to energy transition. We do not want to compromise economic growth. If you want to buy a washing-machine there are emancipatory benefits for a woman in saving her time from washing clothes. There is a role you need to play to shape the intersectionality. So climate and gender, climate and health, climate and livelihood, being able to link the impact of climate on these sectors. What we call intersectionality will actually unlock greater interest and potential for both funders and organizations to engage.

Read more: Hansjörg Wyss on his pioneering work in conservation

LUX: Is intersectionality offering new opportunities that change the model of family-giving in India?

NN: It has been evolving and I think it’s a newer category at least in India, where promoter-led giving ie business leaders are also family-owned businesses. Corporate giving is aligned with family-giving and this synergy is still evolving. Family philanthropy has deep history in India. Wealthy families have been part of our Independence movement, the cornerstone of our religious structures and organisations, and they have invested back into their communities through education, institutions, and hospitals.

Families, especially those with a family office structure, give to communities based on their personal values and their corporate governance. Rather than advising them to be more strategic, we recommend they continue to with their philanthropy, which some may say is traditional, but also explore with them what has been happening in their chosen field of philanthropy, so can they engage in these intersections for the most vulnerable? Again we are spotlighting needs. We now have 300 families in this Giving Pi giving network, 80 of them Indian families.

LUX: Who are the emerging philanthropy leaders among India’s next gen?

NN: Women really understand the intersectionalities and it is really exciting to see around 70-80% of the family offices are women-led. While they may not have created the wealth, they represent their families and are the decision-makers for where their families will direct and engage their philanthropy. That dynamic is shaping and forming a whole new way of giving. To be honest it is more collaborative.

There is a real appetite to want to build the community. These women want to engage with gender-focused philanthropy, with climate as an emerging issue, arts and cultural philanthropy which has always been there and is growing further, and with mental health. So these are the four themes we are seeing emerge in this community that is giving now around 200 million USD each year to India for India.

Vanavil (Rainbow) Trust, Tamil Nadu: Revathi Radhakrishnan, managing trustee, in conversation with mothers from Boom Boom Mattikarar and Narikuravar nomadic tribes, about their children’s education.

LUX: How important is trust to collaborative philanthropy?

NN: Trust has always been a cornerstone for anything we do, whether in business or philanthropy, in philanthropy even more so because you may be quite removed from the lived experience of what’s happening in these communities, or not know what it takes to make this kind of change.

You have to be patient, it takes longer to measure impact, and costs a lot. So there is a lot of complexity. Ultimately, delivering on the impact really rests on our trusting that we are all aligned with the intent of where we’re all trying to get to, the change we want to see, and it is dynamic so it needs flexibility.

All players have to come in with those values and sometimes that is missing in the hustle and the urgency. So coming to the table with that trust and willingness to be flexible on all sides is important.

LUX: Finally, what is the relationship between trust and finance?

NN: Trust and finance are closely linked to the extent that you can structure finance in a way that enables trust. So trust means you do not have expectations of each other or of the work, yet you can structure the finance and the philanthropy with that flexibility. It is not about just giving money.

Trust-based philanthropy has taken on this kind of mania that you can write a cheque without understanding where it was spent but you have to ask how it made the difference. Trust is about clear communications, expectations, measurement and requires financial structures like blended finance, alternative business models and transparency about the areas which need subsidisation.

www.dasra.org

Durjoy Rahman of Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation addresses the audience at the AVPN South Asia Summit

A pioneering conference in India is seeking to kick start venture philanthropy in South Asia

‘We had a strong sense that our projects had a lack of effectiveness. Add to that the lack of transparency as well as poor methods of measuring impact, and it became clear that something needed to be done.’

On a charity fundraising trip in 2002, Doug Miller realised the futility of his friends’ and his impact ventures in private equity. Unlike traditional investments, metrics were undeveloped, and methods and final impact opaque. In short, a lot of capital and time was being spent with the best of intentions but with limited results.

In response to this, Miller developed the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) in 2004 and the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) in 2011, bringing a collaborative approach to venture philanthropy through exchanges with impact investment.

His successor is the overwhelmingly accoladed Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO of AVPN and Chair of the International Venture Philanthropy Center, proclaimed one of Asia’s Most Influential by Tatler Asia in 2021 and awarded awarded one of Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen by CSRWorks. Batra presided over the latest AVPN South Asia Summit in Mumbai earlier this month; it was the first of these conferences to take place in person, last year’s inaugural edition having taken place virtually. This year’s theme was ‘Bringing Fringes to the Fore”, and it brought together individual philanthropists from culture, education and social impact, and major global companies and organisations.

Durjoy Rahman, a philanthropist from Bangladesh engaged in South Asian art and culture, focused around the creative realm and cultural soft power. Speaking of the cultural world, he said that one of the missions of this Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation was to show that the cultural world “does not need to be seen or judged by the West’s historical perspective”. Durjoy said he is finding this message is finding resonance both in the rest of the Global South, and also in the traditional cultural capitals of the West.

AVPN South Asia Summit brings together philanthropists, venuture capitalists and other leasers to promote the field of venture philanthropy

“It is important to lead the conversation, and to do so needs to involve a multilateral, global conversation. It’s not about doing something and broadcasting information about what we do: multiple dialogues are the way to ensure we engage with like-minded individuals and institutions around the world.”

Durjoy also spoke about how the creative realm can contribute to future-ready education; and specifically, how the creative and cultural field can play a “soft power” role in influencing international views of Bangladesh, a country only founded in 1971 which previously had a negative economic reputation but is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the region.

The same panel, moderated by Vivek Agarwal of the Tony Blair Institute, also focused on educational reform, and featured Dr. Akhil Shahani, Managing Director of The Shahani Group, Dr. Nivedita Narain, CEO of OneStage and Rakshit Kejriwal, President of Phillips Education, speaking about empowerment in employability.

With a history of philanthropic infrastructure lacking in Asia, AVPN CEO Batra is building a network, catering to models that suit the collective regional story and its challenges, moving from a purist venture philanthropy, focused on empowering voices and expanding the network at all costs.

Venture philanthropy itself is a relatively new field, pioneered in the US and now making inroads around the world. It combines elements of traditional philanthropy, where a return is measured purely on the impact of the philanthropic aims, and traditional venture capital seeking a return. There is a prevailing view now that this maximises returns on both levels.

The AVPN conference is aimed to be an interregional weaving of thought leaders and industry experts, where a collective regional story is conducive to progress as opposed to challenging it. Its brief spans culture and education, as well as sustainable development goals.

Left to right: Vivek Agarwal, Dr Akhil Shahani, Rakshit Kejriwal, Durjoy Rahman at the AVPN Summit after their talk on future-ready education

A conference on social impact and sustainable development runs the risk of empty pledges. But not at AVPN – Lavanya Jayaram, South Asia Regional Director, ensured animated conversations, with stakeholders ‘debating unique regional challenges and solutions towards charting a roadmap for philanthropy and impact investing in the South Asian region.’. Founder Doug Miller’s aversion to inaction charged the summit, which hosted over 70 speakers over 27 sessions, a variety of panel discussions, keynote speeches, workshops and ‘fireside chats’. The agenda is also interspersed with networking opportunities, encouraging an ongoing dialogue between speeches, to expand the AVPN ecosystem, with over 600 members across 33 markets and its own academy dedicated to teaching skills in impact investment.

In the wake of environmental disasters that struck the region over the past year, the 2023 summit featured panel discussions on climate resilience and energy transitions in South Asia. Speakers such as Prerana Langa of Aga Khan Agency for Habitat India, developing network based models for disaster risk reduction and biodiversity conservation, spoke particularly to this year’s floods and industrial accidents in Bangladesh, bringing investors into contact with means of making effective impact.

Read more: Cyrill Gutsch on saving the oceans through art and collaboration

A panel discussion dedicated to ‘Bridging the Borders’ and ‘Global Perspectives’ brings as one of the speakers Sanjay Gujral of Everstone Capital, a private equity firm investing across the South Asian landscape, further engaging investment in a cross cultural design. Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar also spoke about finding purpose in philanthropy.

The conference equally addressed gender gaps and supporting women within the economy through talks on gender lens investing, furthered by AVPN’s Asia Gender Network, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which seeks to advance equality through representation in leadership positions, economic empowerment and education, just to name a few.

Through a multiplicity of sectors and regions, the South Asian Summit is driving a collective effort in sustainable development and in centralising fringe communities in the discussion. The phrase ‘catalytic platforms’ is often thrown around, and yet could not be more apt in such dynamic conversations taking place. The Summit, through the focused involvement of leaders in their fields, is set to catalyse significant change in important and evolving areas. – Olivia Cavigioli

Find out more: avpn.asia

Founders of Shrine Empire Shefali Somani (left) and Anahita Taneja (right)

Anahita Taneja & Shefali Somani founded Shrine Empire in 2008 with a mission to support South Asian artists. Here the gallerists speak to Samantha Welsh about the development of India’s art scene and the importance of collaboration to build up South Asia’s art community

LUX: How did you start to work together?
Anahita Taneja & Shefali Somani: Back in 2006 we met over a sale of an artwork and found common links in Kolkata, India. That was when we first decided to collaborate and work together on a group exhibition in 2007. It led us to work further together as two separate entities, the Shrine Gallery and Empire Art, in exhibitions in Singapore and then the first edition of India Art Fair. Over a period of time, we realised that we had a similar vision and believed in practices of similar artists in South Asia, so we joined hands and started Shrine Empire in 2008.

Yoshinori Niwa, Our Human Spirit Under Capitalism, Prameya Art Foundation, curated by Anushka Rajendran

LUX: What was ground-breaking about what Prameya Art Foundation (PRAF) offered?
AT & SS: In India we’ve only had a handful of art foundations who have consistently done good work. Due to the dearth of funding and patronage, many private entities have had to take not-for-profit initiatives under their belt and promote the growth of the art community in India. We realised the need for an institution which would help to build the art ecosystem, would provide opportunities for artists, writers and curators, and create international partnerships to help build a network to benefit the community here. It was the need of the hour.

Neerja Kothari, Keeping Score, Shrine Empire

What made Prameya Art Foundation stand out from the rest was that we supported initiatives that never really had any funding or support in India. For example, PRAF Publish which is our artist book grant, Art Scribes Award, our residency and exhibition grant for curators, PRAF Participatory which leads international artists workshops and exhibitions, Pair Award offering grants to mid-career artists, and our imminent launch of India’s first major video production grant.

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With PRAF Participatory (one of our initial programs) we have invited artists like Sue Williamson (South Africa), Paul Wong (Canada), Bracha I. Ettinger (France), and Yoshinori Niwa (Japan) all of whom have visited India as part of this programme, and have collaborated with invited artists and creative practitioners from this country to create artworks.

Rehabilitating our human spirit under capitalism by Yoshinori Niwa, curated by Anushka Rajendran

LUX: Which art weeks and fairs are particularly impactful for South Asian artists?
AT & SS: For South Asian artists, India Art Fair, Art Basel Hongkong and Art Dubai are some fairs which bring focus to artists from the region. Kochi Muziris Biennale, Colomboscope, Kathmandu Triennale and Dhaka Art Summit in fact have a larger and more significant importance, as they hold well curated conversations around artists from South Asia where curators, writers and collections get to view more of their work and bring focus and attention towards their practice.

LUX: What conversations will you be mediating through your partnership with Hello India Art Awards?
AT & SS: The collaboration of Shrine Empire with Hello India Art Awards promotes recognition for artists, curators, writers and other contributors in this field, offering them encouragement and recognition in the industry. The Award also gives a small grant to the winners and recognises certain categories such as best writer, best performance artist, best public-led initiative amongst others which otherwise do not get their due importance or support. We hope to build further patronage through initiatives like these.

Shrine Empire was founded in 2008 by Shefali Somani (left) and Anahita Taneja (right)

LUX: Where do you see future opportunities for engagement?
AT & SS: We hope to open up the world to India with further international collaborations and opportunities for our community here. We see a scope of growth through dialogue and engagement with other communities beyond the arts creating exposure and conversation around it. In developing our dialogue and keeping South Asia as our focus, we hope to build initiatives which help, support and create future opportunities.

LUX: What was the vision for Shrine Empire?
AT & SS: Shrine Empire was envisioned as a space to show contemporary art practices from South Asia that were relevant to context of the times and region that they belonged to. We have worked to fulfil this vision for the past fifteen years.

Forestial Flock Curated by Adwait Singh, Shrine Empire

LUX: How was the contemporary art market in India at that time?
AT & SS: When we started Shrine Empire, the market in India for contemporary art was nascent, and a market for experimental practices was nonexistent. Over the years due to many factors, India now has a strong growing market for contemporary art. We see a growth in the number of young collectors every year and not only from our major cities but in the past couple of years from smaller towns as well.

LUX: Is your role curatorial in terms of facilitating discourse?
AT & SS: Our role is not curatorial but we jointly decide on the discourse that we would like to facilitate through the gallery and foundation with curators we work with.

Tayeba Begum Lipi, Vanity Fair, Shrine Empire

LUX: How do you offer platforms for cross-cultural participation?
AT & SS: We offer cross-cultural participation through PRAF. Many of our programmes have international partners and we select artists, writers and curators who then spend time in international residencies such as La Napoule Foundation in South of France and Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. For the first time, we will be inviting an international artist for a residency in India through Villa Swagatam, an initiative led by French Institute in India. We have recently collaborated with Han Nefkens Foundation for a major video grant for South Asian artists, which will give them an opportunity to show their work in five major institutions around the world.

LUX: What socio-political themes particularly resonate with artists you champion?
AT & SS: Our artists are working with the socio-political issues that are prevalent in the South Asian context. Mining and industrialisation in tribal areas leading to loss of indigenous ways, issues of migration both within the region and to countries outside South Asia, the politics of caste and gender, these are just some of the themes that resonate strongly with our artists.

Sue Williamson, Other Voices, Other Cities, Prameya Art Foundation, curated by Anushka Rajendran

LUX: What you foresee for the South Asia art scene over the next decade?
AT & SS: We see a positive shift of interest from international collectors towards South Asian artists. There is already significant attention on this region by important institutions and museums who are exhibiting and showing their works. International curators are showing a marked interest in the dialogue around practices from this region.

Read more: Patrick Sun on LGBTQ artists in Asia

There will be a significant growth in collections building on artists from South Asia and many more artists will be shown at international Biennale’s and Triennale’s. A subsequent result of these factors will lead to a rise in the market of these artists going forward.

Find out more: shrineempiregallery.com

Sundaram Tagore. Photo by Paul Terrie. Photo courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery

Art and culture is part of gallerist Sundaram Tagore’s DNA, coming from one of India’s leading creative families. Here, Tagore speaks to LUX’s Leaders and Philanthropist Editor, Samantha Welsh, about the importance of showcasing underrepresented artists and ensuring creatives are not pigeonholed

LUX: How did your upbringing nurture a fascination for cross-cultural exchange?
Sundaram Tagore: I grew up in a house of art and culture. My father, Suho Tagore, was a painter, poet and writer. He was one of India’s early modernists. He was raised in a family of artists and creative people, including Rabrindranath Tagore, the first non-Westerner to win the Nobel prize for literature. When I was a child, my father was publishing an art magazine, building a museum and organizing exhibitions. We had a constant flow of creative people from all over the world staying in our Calcutta home—artists, writers, and filmmakers. Calcutta, at that time, was a glamorous cosmopolitan city and India’s intellectual capital.

But it goes beyond that. My family has been involved with the idea of cross-cultural exchange going back generations. In the early twentieth century, they built a globally focused university, now known as Visva-Bharati University, outside of Calcutta. They were so committed to the idea, they invested everything—the entire Tagore family fortune, including our ancestral home—to build it.

The school was known for its intensive arts program and an emphasis on returning to nature, with classes often held outside under the trees. By the early 1920’s, there were students coming from every corner of the globe to attend, including notable scholars and artists, including the renowned British painter William Rothenstein. Mahatma Gandhi and disciples were based there for a time.

In 1922, the very first Bauhaus international exhibition, which comprised more than 250 works of European avant-garde art, was brought to Calcutta by my family. The exhibition featured works by Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Lionel Ettinger presented alongside work by modern Indian artists.

Susan Weil, Landscape, Image courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery

LUX: Where did you start to seed these East-West dialogues?
ST: Again, it goes back to my family, who, over generations, created real cultural dialog. My father, who had studied in England in the 1930s, came back to India and formed one of the first arts collectives in India called the Calcutta Group­—inspired by the Bloomsbury Group. So, those ideas have always been with me, it’s part of my mental DNA. Rabrindranath Tagore advocated for universalism throughout his life. This was the family ethos.

LUX: A former director of Pace Gallery, NY, how did that experience challenge your perception and change your direction?
ST: I saw a very professional world at Pace. It was a highly aestheticized environment with rigorous programming and curatorial values. Those were the things that I carried with me when I opened my own gallery—paying sharp attention to the details.

LUX: What was your thinking behind launching the flagship gallery?
ST: I came into the gallery world from an academic background. I imagined that I might be a museum curator. I was doing dissertation research at Oxford University on Indian Modernism, again, returning to issues of East-West dialogue and intercultural discourse. It was a topic close to my heart, this question of what modernism means to a deep-rooted traditional culture, such as India’s. To be modern, one has to reject tradition, that is the basis of Modernism. And for many tradition-bound cultures, like India or Indonesia, if you give up those traditions, how do you exist? It’s like choosing to be an orphan.

As a student of Indian Modernism, I soon discovered there were few museums that could accommodate me because in those days, there weren’t many positions in my field of expertise. And so, I began working as an advisor for various museums and institutions. Eventually, I decided to create my own gallery, which opened in 2000 in SoHo, New York.

Hiroshi Senju, Waterfall on Colors, 2022. Image courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery

The kind of gallery I wanted to visit didn’t exist. At that time, most galleries in New York had a strong Euro-Western focus, representing predominantly men. There were a few galleries representing Indian artists, Russian artists or Chinese artists, but there were no galleries focussing on the global community. I was drawn to artists who synthesized ideas from disparate cultures, drawing from diverse formal traditions and philosophies.

It became my mission to show that some of the best and most meaningful art was being created by artists deeply engaged in cross-cultural explorations. So I assembled a global roster of artists, including Hiroshi Senju, Sohan Qadri, Karen Knorr, Zheng Lu, Susan Weil, Ricardo Mazal and Golnaz Fathi, who crossed cultural and national boundaries. I showed this work alongside important work by overlooked women artists from the New York School, who I always thought deserved more attention and representation. We will be showing an exhibition by Susan Weil (b. 1930, New York), a groundbreaking American artist from the New York School and the first woman I signed to the gallery in 2000 at Cromwell Place in London this October.

This global and inclusive outlook naturally lead to opening international locations, including Beverly Hills, California, in 2007; Hong Kong in 2008; and Singapore in 2012. And just this year, we opened a permanent space in the London arts hub, Cromwell Place.

LUX: What kinds of impact can artists make when you introduce them into cultures where art is under-represented?
ST: Art is always present, everywhere. However, society may not be in a position to appreciate it because of economic or socio-political issues. But people always create. It’s a basic human drive.

Artists challenge us to think differently or see things in new ways. When you bring new or underrepresented artists into a space, they revitalise it, at least creatively.

Sundaram Tagore’s Apartment with interior styling by Philippa Brathwaite. Photo by Paul Terrie. Photo courtesy Sundaram Tagore Gallery

LUX: How would you say this has changed the art scene over the last couple of decades?
ST: By looking at a work of art, appreciating it ,and having a discourse about it, we expand our minds and take those conversations into our everyday lives.

In the past few decades, the art world has expanded in a very significant way. Interest has expanded beyond the United States and Europe in ways we couldn’t have imagined twenty years ago. There are biennales in some of the remotest corners of the world shining a light on artists who have been underrepresented in the art world. Curators and some galleries are now paying attention to artists they wouldn’t have a decade ago. Some of this has been prompted by politics, and now, increasingly, by economics.

Technology has also expanded the commercial art world. We all have more access to information. This is positive.

LUX: Is there a tendency to typecast artists by region, gender, cause, medium, at the risk of restricting their freedom to explore new avenues, genres to reach their fullest potential?
ST: There is a tendency to typecast artists by identity. Religion, gender, ethnicity are easy categories. In the last few years, there’s been a rush to redress past wrongs in the art world when it comes to race and gender in particular. Museums and galleries don’t always get it right, but they’re trying to represent and champion a broader range of artists and are now expected to do better.

One thing I never worry about is artists being restricted in their freedoms or creativity. Artists are by nature rebellious, contrarian, ground-breakers and rule-breakers. Galleries, museums and collectors may be hung up on typecasting, but not artists.

Susan Weil, Untitled, 2022. Image courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery

LUX: You are known to immerse yourself in your work, engaging fully with geographies and people. How does that approach align with your beliefs?
ST: Because I travel so much and I’ve lived in a dozen different cities across the globe, geographies dissolve and country, culture and ethnicity are almost irrelevant terms to me. I don’t judge people on their nationality, religion or any other identifier. If I connect with a person, I can be at ease in any space in the world.

LUX: Where would you say art conversations are making a significant impact on society?
ST: Many art-related conversations right now are about marginalization and identity. I think that will go on until we address these issues with broader representation. That’s the nature of art, isn’t it? To push the conversation into the foreground.

Increasingly we see how the role of activism in art can have the real-world impact, especially relating to issues of social justice and environmentalism. For example, we represent the world-renowned Brazilian photographer and activist Sebastião Salgado, who has told the stories of millions of dispossessed people around the world. To that end, he and his wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado, have a nonprofit, Instituto Terra, which has been devoted to reforestation and environmental education since the 1990s. Their recent collaboration with Sotheby’s—the largest curated solo exhibition of photography in the auction house’s history—raised more than a million dollars for their foundation.

The Salgados have replanted 2.7 million trees in a region previously covered by the Atlantic forest. It was an infertile and burned land where erosion showed the red veins of the earth; the trees, the smell of the sweet flowers, the song of the birds had disappeared. Their efforts, fueled by sale of Salgado’s work, show the power of art and artists to make a difference.

LUX: How will you continue to challenge and change perceptions?
ST: I’m not interested in controversies, trends or provocation. We have enough of that in other arenas today. I want to use art as a vehicle to bring people together.

Find out more: www.sundaramtagore.com

Sana Rezwan at Barwara Kothi, Jaipur

Sana Rezwan is a thoroughly modern entrepreneur and philanthropist, living and working in London, then New York, before recently moving back to her native India. Now she is upping the ante with ambitious plans to raise the profile of South Asian art around the world. Reaching for the sky is in her blood, she explains to LUX

LUX: Is there a new awareness of South Asian art?
Sana Rezwan: Yes, it is an exciting time. There have been many calls for the art world to be more inclusive in recent years, and there is now an openness to new voices. This wasn’t the case a few years ago. Museums and collectors are finally open to ideas from South Asian artists.

LUX: What is your focus as a collector?
SR: One focus is on South Asian female artists who have been overlooked by the market, or written off by institutions and galleries. Having spent the past year in India, I have met so many female artists whose work I feel needs global recognition. There is a chance now to open the barriers to let such artists come to light.

LUX: Which artists are interesting you today?
SR: I am passionate about the late Zarina. She used printmaking mediums, such as silkscreen and woodblock, and made print series around concepts such as displacement. I love Bharti Kher’s use of found objects to convey her position as an artist between milieus. I admire Rana Begum for her use of repetitive geometric patterns, inspired by minimalism and her memories of daily recitals of the Qur’an.

A private-collection visit for The Cultivist with Krishna Choudhary of Royal Gems and Arts, Jaipur

LUX: Can South Asia be seen as one region?
SR: We use the term broadly to designate a category, but there is a multiplicity of cultures, religions and traditions within South Asian art, which makes the art you encounter so exciting.

LUX: Why did you move back to India?
SR: I believe India is where I can best engage with and promote the work of South Asian artists to the world. In 2022, I set up Public Arts Trust of India (PATI) to commission art in global collaboration with galleries, institutions and museums, to be shown in public spaces in India.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

LUX: What role can philanthropy play?
SR: It can offer ways to extend the reach of the arts. Through philanthropy, we intend to build discourse around urban spaces and heritage structures as sites for engagement through art to inspire reflection and a sense of community. This extends to sustaining cultural conversations globally through supporting residencies, commissions and trans-disciplinary practices.

Artist Tanya Goel’s New Delhi studio

LUX: Is interest from global collectors rising?
SR: Yes, in India we are seeing a great number of international collectors visiting India each year, and the intent of my project is to keep them coming. We will also host encounters in London, Paris and New York to promote cultural exchange and generate awareness. Through my agency The Art Lab, I put together a programme for 14 members of global arts club The Cultivist for a trip to Jaipur and Delhi. We looked at craft, jewellery, design, we went to art fairs and made visits to studios and private collectors. It was very successful. About 75 per cent of collectors bought and started collecting through the trip. It inspired them to explore art from the region.

LUX: What are the challenges for philanthropists in India?
SR: One is to bridge a gap that is not currently served by the government in supporting art. They also have the challenge of building platforms to ngage the public in art, and of finding solutions for generating income for arts organisations to create meaningful jobs in the art world.

LUX: What have you learnt as a collector?
SR: I finally found my calling by moving back to India. My experiences in London and New York have made me well positioned to work as an ambassador for the Indian scene. My goal is to create appreciation for art, support for the local art market and invest in art education.

Yulia Dultsina at the residence of Akanksha and Tarang Arora of Amrapali, Jaipur

LUX: Which two living artists would you invite to dinner, and which two of the past?
SR: Shilpa Gupta and Ishita Chakraborty – to learn about their research and practice. From the past, Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, whose work is spiritual and profound, and Zarina.

LUX: Your advice to unknown female artists?
SR: Keep creating. Plans are under way to generate platforms for your work to be seen and appreciated by the global art community.

Read more: Sam Dalrymple and Durjoy Rahman On Cultural Reconnections Post-Partition

LUX: Will South Asian cultures come to see being an artist as a respectable way of life?
SR: For centuries, South Asia has had a history of nurturing creative talent, craftsmanship and artistic sensibility. It is now our responsibility to show today’s artists’ work to the world and have them be considered seriously.

Find out more:
publicartstrustofindia.org
theartlab.studio

This article was first published in the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of LUX

The conversation between Durjoy Rahman and Sam Dalrymple took place over Zoom. We have used artistic licence to create the photo montage above

In the third of our series of online dialogues, Sam Dalrymple, Activist and Co-Founder of Project Dastaan, speaks with philanthropist Durjoy Rahman about cultural reconnections post-partition, the importance of multi-cultural artists across borders, and the rapid shift in popularity away from the West and towards the East. With an introduction and moderation by Darius Sanai and created in association with the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation.

Raghu Rai is a Magnum Photographer who chronicled the Independence war of Bangladesh in 1971 when the territory that was East Pakistan gained independence from what is now Pakistan. The Indian army ultimately came to the aid of Bangladesh after an enormous refugee crisis ensued. We present a selection of his works within this article

LUX: Sam, could you tell us firstly what sparked your interest in Partition and inspired you to create the ground-breaking ‘Project Dastaan’?

Sam Dalrymple: Project Dastaan began when my friends Sparsh, Ameenah and Saadia were at University chatting about the fact that everyone’s grandparents had migrated from somewhere in the Sub-Continent, and how bizarre it was that in the UK you could have the easiest conversations about this.

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When you are in India, it is difficult to chat to a Pakistani, when you’re in Pakistan it’s difficult to chat to a Bangladeshi as these walls have been built up in the Sub-Continent, so that it is actually in the former colonial power where it is easiest to talk.

There were conversations about how Sparsh’s grandfather had migrated from near Islamabad, in Pakistan, and here was Saadia who was from near there and could easily go and take pictures of his old house or temple which had been impossible for Sparsh’s family for 75 years. They had no pictures of it, no idea where they were from. The ease from a London standpoint to re-connect triggered the whole thing.

Ayodhya, india 1993

The partition that is the cause of this fragmentation in India was, simply put, the largest forced migration in human history. In the course of a year what had been British India, was divided into two territories, which is now three – India and Pakistan, which later became Pakistan and Bangladesh. This was 75 years ago and for most of that time, most of the migrated people have never been able to see their homes again.

So it began as an attempt to use virtual reality to re-connect Partition survivors across borders, so if you came from Lahore and had migrated to Delhi, we would go out and find your old Mosque, your old school, your old house and, if we can, find any friends who you knew before 1947.

Chawri Bazar, old Delhi, India, 1972

We additionally wanted to translate some of these stories that we were hearing, into animations with a cross-border, collaborative studio in Bangalore and Lahore, which was in itself an attempt at cross-border with team members scattered from Bengal to Punjab. Then, we finally made a film called ‘Child of Empire’, which just premiered at Sundance. It is a VR mini-movie, a 15-minute animated journey through the Partition based on Sparsh’s grandfather’s story and another man who did the opposite journey. It is about these two men 75 years later chatting to one another and the therapeutic discussion of their two journeys which mirror each other in so many ways but, obviously, have been polarised so much over time.

LUX: In the context of Partition, what does Partition and its consequences mean to you Durjoy?

Durjoy Rahman: I come from a generation where it was my parents who had seen the displacement, twice. They were born during this time and have seen the consequences and the aftermath of partitions first hand. I grew up hearing everything that happened in 1947, the riots and so on. So between me and my parents we have seen the largest displacement in the history of these civilisations that happened in this region. These experiences have influenced me to do activities surrounding Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation heavily.

Mother Teresa at her refuge of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, during prayer, India, 1979

LUX: Do people have a strong sense of national identity currently? Would you say that this is down to cultural or religious differences?

SD: It is many differences and culture definitely plays into it. I think the memories of both ’47 and ’71 play into how people remember their pasts, but it is also a generational factor. The national identities are harder for the younger generation who never knew the other side of the border, whereas for a lot of people who migrated at the time nationalism was firing up these independence movements.

Art definitely plays into how we create a nation, with national anthems and the flag which of course crystalise these ideas of nationhood. What we’re seeing now is the crystallising of losing the generation who knew undivided India as undivided.

Imambara, Lucknow, India, 1990

DR: Nationality has always been an important element in the subcontinent. We always talk about India and Pakistan, but I would also include Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan in this context. Everyone holds their own nationalistic value to identify themselves and where they are from. But culture and religion, these two determined factors were also a factor when the British divided the subcontinent with the Muslims in Pakistan and left India where it was. A lot of people said ‘well, religiously you are all the same’ but religion is not the only deciding factor. We were culturally different so that was also important.

We are Bengali as Sam just said – we were never Pakistani, maybe we were all Muslims, but we were culturally different. So culture is a very important factor in defining borders and nationality. How you possess your cultural identity, this is what I believe defines you, and no matter how younger generations perceive themselves as a global citizen with a global identity, the identity borders will remain in our lifetime.

Indira Gandhi at a Congress session, Delhi 1967

LUX: Sam, Project Dastaan is ultimately a unifying project taking people virtually across borders. How has it been received among the people you deal with?

SD: It has touched people because it was something they thought was impossible, to see their old homes. The key thing has been not trying to look at the big and complex questions of Partition – We’re trying to show conflict through the eyes of an 8-year-old child. The generation that is still alive were mostly 12 or younger 75 years ago. We’re trying to show it through the eyes of the generation who’s still around. One of the things they would want to see is their old playground, their old houses, and the things that everyone can relate to. I think addressing the conflict and the great divide through these memories and nostalgia can be very healing.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (the Toy train), India, 1995

LUX: Durjoy, you wish to promote the art of people who may not have had a voice, without borders. How does that relate to the very definite borders in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India?

DR: Since DBF was established in 2018, our projects have been based on the concept of art without borders. We never considered ourselves a foundation that had originated from Bangladesh. We started working with creative personalities regardless of whether they were visual artists, musicians, literature backgrounds, performance artists and we did not consider which region they are from. We have always identified if their practice relates to the mandates that we are trying to highlight; displacement, disadvantage, ethnicity, some kind of challenge which probably obstructs their creative development. So, art without borders was our primary goal.

Woman pushing cart Delhi 1979

LUX: Sam, with Project Dastaan, what will make you feel like you have achieved your aim, what will you be doing in 5 years, 10 years?

SD: Who knows, is the answer! The big thing we’ve been working on is this particular year as it’s the 75th anniversary, and I think the aim has always been to raise awareness about what happened – the aim has always been to try and get people to record these stories, because they are disappearing rapidly. The foundation of our project has been oral history, and the contemporaneous generation is rapidly disappearing. I think we also have a particular aim within Britain, to get Britain aware of its role in the events.

LUX: Regarding artists and the film-making that you employ, was that something that you had conceived from the start that is not just a means of storytelling, but something that you want to focus on and encourage?

SD: With Project Dastaan, the aim has always been cross-border collaboration. For our animation teams, one of our animators had a family who fought in 71, another family was part of the trading diaspora across the Bay of Bengal. I think one of the interesting things is, and I’m not sure how deliberate it was, but the types of animators and the team we built around ourselves, seems to have brought in people whose stories kind of corroborate the stories we are telling.

Hand building highway – Hydrabad, India, 2004

LUX: Durjoy, with regard to the next generation that you’re supporting in terms of art and culture, do you feel that there’s a role for creative practitioners to break down these borders?

DR: I would say that I am not only very hopeful, but I am very optimistic. In this post-covid scenario, in this globalised atmosphere, I personally believe that we were in the right moment where we could take the entire South Asian art movement to the next level. Now the West has started looking at the East. Of course, our foundation and activities focus on promoting artists from South Asia, but we have seen a massive global increase in interest for South Asian artists. I also believe that these artists will take great advantage from the rising virtual scene within the context of the more active online and digital art scene within the past two years.

SD: I think what you said then is exactly right. One of the most interesting pieces that I’ve read recently was by Fatima Bhutto in her book ‘New Kings of the World’, which talks about the shift in the past 20 years. The biggest film industry is Bollywood, the biggest TV industry is Turkey now and the biggest music industry is now South Korea K-Pop. I think there is a lot of hope and a lot of growth in the artistic sphere here. I don’t think that will necessarily mean the borders themselves disappear; I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think there’s going to be more collaboration, more interesting art pieces and more embracing of technology for it.

Local commuters at Church Gate railway station. Mumbai, 1995

DR: Would you ever choose another region as your beaming point, other than India?

SD: I think the idea of virtual reconnections is something that you can use in an array of different countries, but we are so focused on areas affected by the Partition as that is where the personal connections of the team lie and a very specific area of interest where we can enact real memory connecting change. What’s unusual is that these countries are so close in so many ways, it’s just that trauma etc has left them severed from one another It’s a bizarre, specific situation that neither of them have ability for tourist visas, there’s no tourist visas for India and Pakistan, you can’t just visit, you have to have a reason and government approval.

Read more: Rana Begum and Durjoy Rahman on South Asian art’s global ascendancy

LUX: Possibly controversial, but I would love to hear from you both, what do you consider needs to happen for conceptions to really change around the Partition and affect the vast majority of the population?

DR: We have to perform what we believe and have to do what is good for the community, what is good for the region, despite what the supremacy wants to establish.

SD: I don’t think there is a simple solution, but I think that creating conversations and conflict resolution is always a noble aim. I think conflict resolution and actually talking about it is where to start, without bias and actually listening.

All images © Raghu Rai

Find out more: 

durjoybangladeshfoundation.org

projectdastaan.org

Durjoy Rahman with Bose Krishnamachari, president of Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery, at the launch for the DBF-KMB Award and Lecture Series, Venice, April 2022, photographed by Clelia Cadamuro

With the opening of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale on Monday 12th December, LUX speaks to the founders of the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation/Kochi-Muziris Biennale Award, which has been created in collaboration with the Hayward Gallery, London.

The inaugural recipient of the multi-year award will be chosen shortly after the opening of the fifth Kochi-Muziris Biennale, held in Kochi, Kerala, India, in December 2022. Aligning with Rahman’s ethos, the award will be bestowed based on merit to an emerging South Asian artist participating in the Biennale.

Spring Song, 2016 ongoing, by Munem Wasif

“Recipients will have their first UK solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery’s HENI Project Space in the Southbank Centre. Such an honour will no doubt transform the trajectory of their careers,” says a clearly pleased Rahman. “Seeing a South Asian artist, irrespective of their religion or country of origin, occupy such a prestigious space in London – the former centre of colonial Britain – is a powerful example of decolonisation, progress and tolerance.”

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Speaking exclusively to LUX, Hayward Gallery director Ralph Rugoff adds his own thoughts on the initiative: “With the DBF-KMB Award, Durjoy Rahman will be expanding the impact and legacy of South Asian art by funding exhibitions of South Asian artists at London’s Hayward Gallery, introducing UK and European audiences to important new artistic voices from the region.” He adds, “By fostering cultural exchange and community-engagement programmes, the DBF plays a vital role in creating new connections and conversations between South Asian artists and the rest of the world.”

The Wall, 1967, by Murtaja Baseer

Fittingly, Rugoff will also be co-curating another impressive facet of the collaboration, The Durjoy Bangladesh Lecture Series, alongside the Kochi-Muziris Biennale Foundation team. Slated for 2024, 2026 and 2028, the programme promises to feature an impressive line-up of distinguished curators and artists from the Global South.

Read more: Durjoy Rahman: Making Space For Art Of The Global South

Staying true to his mission, Rahman notes that the public series will “further build the Hayward Gallery’s critical and research-driven engagement with the South Asian arts landscape.”

Untitled, 1975, by Shahabuddin Ahmed

Remembering partition is never a simple exercise. But doing so through the lens of Durjoy Rahman, via his artistic philosophy, philanthropic mission and art collection, offers a unique understanding of the subcontinent and applicable methods of decolonisation. “Rather than alienate one group or another, art should bridge our collective understanding,” says Rahman, as our time together comes to an end. “This is the moment to remember that lesson.”

Find out more: durjoybangladesh.org

This article first appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2022/23 issue of LUX

Whose Sari Now, 2007, by Charles Pachter

On the 75th anniversary of the end of British rule in India, LUX’s Maya Asha McDonald speaks to Durjoy Rahman, Bangladeshi philanthropist, art collector and founder of the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, about the legacy of colonialism and Bengali art

At midnight on 15 August 1947, British India ceased to exist. As the British Empire receded into the history books, the vast land was divided into two dominions largely along religious lines: Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan. Marred by large-scale violence and mass migration, the controversial division of the subcontinent would be known as the partition.

With 2022 marking 75 years since the end of British rule, it is a time for reflection for many in these countries, not just about politics and history, but about the art and culture of the region, traditions that stretch back millennia but are now in the same vortex of globalisation as others on the creative planet. Durjoy Rahman founded the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation (DBF), a non-profit organisation, in 2018, with a mission to support and promote art from South Asia and beyond in a critical, international- art context. There is, he believes, a vantage point from which we can examine the past, understand the present and envision the future.

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Speaking with me amid his art collection, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Rahman says it is important to acknowledge the weight of the moment. “This is a big year for the Indian subcontinent: it’s 75 years since partition. 1947 may sound long ago, but my parents and many others retain vivid memories of that time,” he says. A seismic event, partition saw the migration of 14 million people and laid the groundwork for a second postwar revision of the subcontinent’s political cartography some years later: the creation of Rahman’s native Bangladesh, from what had been East Pakistan.

Durjoy Rahman, founder of the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, whose mission is to support and promote South Asian artists in a global context

“It is important to consider that Bangladesh was born in 1971, much later than India and Pakistan,” says Rahman. “Since we were established further along in the historical timeline, Bangladesh is behind in development compared to the subcontinent’s other countries. But our rich heritage and culture, originating in Bengal, has helped us reclaim our reputation.” The historic region of Bengal, to which Rahman refers, covers present-day East Bengal in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.

The Dhaka-based entrepreneur turned cultural activist is playing a vital role in rebuilding his country’s national voice, working diligently to elevate his homeland’s artistic titans and emerging talents. In establishing the Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, Rahman also committed to furthering decolonisation. By incorporating his country’s name within the foundation’s title, in place of his surname, Rahman shares the DBF’s accomplishments with Bangladesh. In fact, ‘Durjoy Bangladesh’ means ‘Invincible Bangladesh’.

A cardinal tenet of the DBF’s mandate is to preserve the canon of Bangladeshi artists who flourished throughout the 20th century. “I have consciously collected works by artists who shaped the practice of modern art in Bengal,” says Rahman, whose foundation has created the first online personal-collection resource on Bengal Masters. “Murtaja Baseer, Mohammad Kibria and Safiuddin Ahmed are among those names. They have all sadly passed, but held great artistic influence before and after partition. Today, their work continues to inspire.”

A Child’s Boat for Aylan and Ghalib, 2015, by Zarina

And so to the art collection. Pleased to share his Bengali treasures, Rahman directs my attention to Murtaja Baseer’s 1967 work, The Wall, from his series of the same name. Depicting a brick wall in the Dhaka Central Jail, the painting references the harsh realities of life in the 1960s under the dictatorship of Ayub Khan, the general who had seized the presidency in Pakistan (including East Pakistan, later Bangladesh). Composed of precise lines and balanced colours, this influential work of abstract realism is also broadly interpreted as a critical commentary on society at large.

Next, Rahman shows me two pieces by Mohammad Kibria and Safiuddin Ahmed, both created in 1980. At a glance, it is clear that Kibria and Ahmed share Baseer’s desire to visualise history. Ahmed’s copper engraving, aptly named The Cry, is a witness to the volatile period, including partition, that the artist lived through. Similarly, Kibria’s painting, Memorial, functions as precisely that, a visceral ode to the many souls lost during Bangladesh’s bloody Liberation War of 1971. In recent years, Kibria’s emotionally charged netherworlds have realised prices far above estimates at Christie’s auctions. It would seem Rahman has prophetic instincts.

Executed with a Bacon-esque flair and featuring baroque-like figures, Rahman’s masterwork by Bangladeshi artist Shahabuddin Ahmed, Untitled, 1975, is instantly one of my favourites in the collection. “His style may be slightly more European,” says Rahman, “but his subject matter is always something close to home.” With its dynamic composition, the scene emanates a kaleidoscope of emotions. Ahmed’s cosmic dancers at once invite the viewer to come closer, while alluding to the turbulence surrounding the 1975 Bangladesh coup d’état.

Herself, 1983, by Andy Warhol

To a large extent, Ahmed’s seminal work epitomises what Rahman believes art ought to be at its highest ideal. “Art should address the common man. It should not be completely detached from our daily life and society; if it is, then art won’t survive,” he expounds decisively. “That being said, creativity should be exercised with tolerance. Artists should look outside themselves and respect all peoples, regardless of race, religion or region.” Unsurprisingly, Rahman’s collection reflects his artistic philosophy.

Consequential and bewitching, Rahman’s modern works by South Asian artists offer a powerful visual chronology of the Indian subcontinent. I stare at them in awe. To my right, Nandalal Bose immortalises the struggle against British colonial rule in India with his 1936 portrait of a freedom fighter, Untitled (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan). Further down, Sayed Haider Raza sharply illustrates the Bangladesh Liberation War, with partition as its antecedent, in a lithograph, Untitled (Bangladesh), created around 1971. And hanging above where Rahman stands, Atul Dodiya takes on the mantle of decolonisation by reversing the Western gaze, in his 1999 diptych, German Measles: Kiefer’s Cell. And that is only to examine three artworks out of hundreds.

From the ‘Soaked Dream’ series, 2013 ongoing,
by Firoz Mahmud

Rahman has a special place in his collection for those artists of South Asian origin who left the subcontinent and settled in the West. “The legacy of partition is fundamentally linked with the concept and experience of displacement,” he explains. “This concept applies to diaspora artists, too, such as Rasheed Araeen and Zarina Hashmi, known professionally as Zarina.” Araeen is a celebrated Karachi-born conceptual artist living in London, and the late Zarina was a trailblazing Indian-American minimalist active in New York City. Both artists are in the permanent collections of Tate Modern and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

German Measles: Kiefer’s Cell (diptych), 1999, by Atul Dodiya

Another prominent artist from the South Asian diaspora community for whom Rahman is a patron is the rising star Firoz Mahmud. Originally hailing from Khulna, Bangladesh, Mahmud lived in Japan and now lives and works in New York City. “The DBF is always engaging with projects that deal with the topics of migration and displacement,” says Rahman. “Mahmud is an expert at tackling these issues in his multidisciplinary exhibitions.”

Noakhali, November 1946, 2017, by Atul Dodiya

Indeed, Mahmud’s ongoing series, ‘Soaked Dream’, begun in 2013, which features displaced minorities including the Rohingya people, has received critical acclaim and was nominated for the 2019 COAL Prize at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. The harrowing yet hopeful photo-sculpture series depicts migrant families envisioning their dreams through green sci-fi glasses, crafted with found objects from shelters and symbolising each family’s resilience and commitment to making a better life. It was photographed in Bangladesh, which has accepted more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees. Rahman says the series helps bring awareness to an issue that has largely faded from the West’s consciousness.

Untitled, 2015, by Rasheed Araeen

Several works in the collection address both Eastern and Western canons. One such piece is Atul Dodiya’s monumental 2017 collage, Noakhali, November 1946, which was shown at Art Basel 2018. As part of his series ‘Painted Photographs/Paintings Photographed’, Dodiya juxtaposes Europe’s first half of the 20th century against the same period in British India. “A dramatic shift took place, particularly in France, with artists such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp,” Dodiya wrote of the work. “During this period, India was fighting for freedom, which resulted in Independence from British rule and ended with Gandhi’s assassination.” Feeling almost inconsequential in its presence, I would suggest that this is Rahman’s most significant artwork.

Portraits by Matt Holyoak

As a cosmopolitan figure, the DBF founder’s collection also contains works from the Western canon that often wink at the Global South. These include enviable acquisitions, such as Charles Pachter’s witty 2007 painting, Whose Sari Now, and Andy Warhol’s iconic 1983 screenprint of Ingrid Bergman, Herself. Both Pachter and Warhol famously travelled to India, voyages that would inform Pachter’s subject matter and influence Warhol’s affinity for using vibrant swathes of colour in his work.

Untitled (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan), 1936, by Nandalal Bose

Unexpected links arise, too. Even Ingrid Bergman has a connection to the subcontinent through her one-time husband, Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. Rossellini rather publicly left the Casablanca star in 1957 and eloped with Bengali screenwriter Sonali Dasgupta, to whom he remained married until his death in 1977. Clearly, Rahman’s collection is saturated with buzzworthy creations, rich in historical and cultural intrigue.

Untitled (Bangladesh), c 1971, by Sayed Haider Raza

Tearing my gaze from a brightly coloured Bergman, our conversation flows away from Rahman as collector to his ever-expanding identity as an international change agent. With the continued reverberations of the partition top of mind, the philanthropist draws a straight line between the largest mass migration in human history and the DBF’s mandate.

Read more: Shezad Dawood: Out Of The Blue

As a fledgling foundation itself, Rahman believes the DBF can empathise with the South Asian struggle of trying to gain purchase on the global stage. To help others avoid the similar exclusionary effects of colonialism and partition, he says, “many DBF initiatives work to help individual South Asian artists claim recognition outside the Global South. Part of that process means taking up space, both physically and metaphorically.”

Find out more: durjoybangladesh.org

This article first appeared in the Autumn/Winter 2022/23 issue of LUX

Sunil Gupta standing amongst his works from Arrival series, 2022

Photographer, writer, curator and activist Sunil Gupta has explored issues of racism, sexuality, migration and inequality in his art. Here, LUX explores our favourite bodies of work by Gupta and the call to action that each series projects

Gupta’s series Delhi: Tales of a City is a play on the old and the new. Gupta has explored and photographed historical sites in Delhi, primarily constructed between the years 1638 and 1739. During these years, the city was rebuilt by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. He  imposed his power and influence over the state to control cultural life and the urban economy.

Sunil Gupta, Delhi: Tales of a City: Humayun’s Tomb, 2003/2022

Centuries later, Gupta saw these historical sites, such as the Red Fort and Humayun’s Tomb, and noticed the range of age, religion, caste and sexual orientation of the people visiting these historic sites.

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He realised that, in turn,  people were unknowingly overthrowing the repressive heritage of these monuments and even more he could use them as a decorative backdrop to project their individuality.

Sunil Gupta, Delhi: Tales of a City. Red Fort – 3, 2003/2022

Christopher Street is possibly Gupta’s most important body of work. The idea of this series first came to Gupta when he moved to New York City in 1976. The aim of these photographs was not only a way for Gupta to focus on his passion for the freedom of expression but also to shed light on the momentous event in the LGBTQ+ community, known as The Stonewall Riots. This was a series of spontaneous protests by members of the LGBTQ+ community against a police raid that occurred on 28th June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village.

Sunil Gupta, Untitled #42, Christopher Street Series 1976/2022

These demonstrations led to a fundamental switch in the gay liberation movement which led to an increase of openness and unparalleled acceptance within and towards the gay community in New York. These photographs display a community that shaped Gupta as a person and concreted his personal ambition to portray people who have been denied a space to be themselves.

Sunil Gupta, Untitled #43, Christopher Street Series 1976/2022

Arrival, is a body of work Gupta created in collaboration with his partner Charan Singh.

Read more:Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation: Layers of Meaning

In this series Gupta and Singh use elements of Victorian portraits that were known to project Victorian conventions and norms of behavioural identities.

Sunil Gupta and Charan Singh, Arrival series, 2022

However, Gupta and Singh change the narrative by creating an anti-colonial legacy through compassionate, poetic gestures to convey their sitters’ range of emotions, who are always anticipating when the process of their arrival will become complete.

Sunil Gupta and Charan Singh, Arrival series, 2022

The project also serves as a reminder that homophobia is an anti-humanist cultural affliction, that negatively effects nations beyond the Commonwealth.

‘Sunil Gupta: Cruising’ is on show at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi Until Friday 16th September 2022

Find out more: vadehra.com/exhibitions

After the unexpected success of his first two books, Amish Tripathi resigned from his career in financial services and became a full-time writer of spiritual fiction. Twelve years on, he has sold 5.5 million copies across 9 books and achieved the records of fastest- and second-fastest-selling book series in Indian publishing history. The polymath has since added more strings to his bow as a fledgling film producer and Director of London’s Nehru Centre, which promotes cultural exchange between India and the UK. Tripathi speaks to LUX about his life philosophy and the future of Indian culture on the global stage

1. Your first book, The Immortals of Meluha, was rejected by 20 publishers before you self-published it, and yet it went on to become a bestseller in India within its first week of sale. To what do you owe your persistence?

Ancient Indian wisdom says that the most persistent and effective are those who are detached from success or failure, because failure fills demotivation in your heart, which can stop you, and success fills pride in your mind, which can distract you. If you can detach yourself from consequences, and just enjoy your work, your karma, then you become unstoppable.

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Perhaps, without realising it, I was following this ancient Indian wisdom from the Bhagvad Gita. I was happy in my financial services career. I was earning well. So, I wasn’t really thinking too deeply about whether my book Immortals of Meluha, would succeed or fail. I wasn’t seeing it as a way to make money, let alone a pathway to another sustainable career option. The book was, in a way, the voice of my soul. And I just wanted to try everything that I could to get it to readers. After that, it was up to the readers whether they liked it or not.

I still follow this philosophy of detachment when I write. I genuinely don’t care at all about the opinions of readers, critics, editors etc when I write. I write the way it comes to me, trying to be as close to my heart as I can. That’s the best way, I think, for any creative to be. Be detached, true to the art, and don’t think about success or failure. The rest is up to fate.

2. You started writing full-time – resigning from your 14-year career in financial services – following the success of your second book, Secret of the Nagas. What prompted that change from banker to author of spiritual fiction?

By that time, my royalty cheque had become more than my salary. So, it was a pragmatic, albeit apparently boring decision. I know it sounds sexy to get a great idea, kick your boss, and jump into something new, but I had to be pragmatic and practical with my career choices. I come from a humble family background; I cannot be irresponsible. There are always bills to pay!

3. Your books tend to amplify the historical. What role do you think the past plays in informing the present?

There are two approaches to change in human civilisation. One is evolutionary, where the present builds upon the shoulders of the past, taking along the best of the past, while reforming that which is not good. The other is nihilistic, where it is assumed that everything about the past is bad, we need to break it all down, and start from scratch. I am certainly not nihilistic: I am evolutionary in my approach.

That doesn’t mean that I think we should oppose all change, where we worship traditions to the extreme and become hidebound; but the other extreme of being nihilistic is not good either, since it usually leads to too much chaos. The evolutionary path, where we retain the best of the old, and bring in the best of the new, is, in my opinion, the best way. And I guess that reflects in my writing.

Amish Tripathi speaking at an event with Anil Agarwal and Amitabh Shah

4. Your next project will see you produce the film adaptation of your book, Legend of Suheldev: The King Who Saved India. How are you preparing for that challenge?

I have been an author for over a decade. And the Gods have been kind to me in this field. But film production is a completely new area for me, and when one is entering a new area, it’s always wise to get good partners. This project is also period war film, so the budget is quite significant: we need to manage it well. We have hired senior people in my production company, Immortal Studios, based in Mumbai. We have also tied up with a TV production company (one of the largest in India) as a partner for this project. I am hopeful that we will be able to put together a good film on King Suheldev. We will certainly try our best!

Read more: Emilie Pastor & Sybille Rochat on Nurturing Artistic Talent

5. Besides being an author and columnist, you’re the director of the Nehru Centre, London, which works to facilitate intercultural dialogue between India and the UK. Why is it important for you to engage in diplomatic work of this kind?

I genuinely believe that ancient Indian culture has particular relevance today. We are told about a dichotomy nowadays: namely, that one can either be traditional or liberal; one cannot be both. There are problems with this approach. If we destroy all traditions, sense of family and community, then we atomise society. We end up with the problems of loneliness and the mental health and stress issues that naturally result. At the same time, if we put all traditions on a pedestal, then we have no space for liberal ideas like women’s rights, LGBTQ rights etc. Society would be in a far worse situation without these liberal ideas.

Ancient Indian culture can provide a model for that balance, of being both traditional and liberal at the same time. This gives you the roots and solidity that traditions give you, but also the freedom and ability to soar that liberalism provides. Isn’t that worth propagating? This is what I get to do through this diplomatic role, and it’s why I enjoy this job – because it is in consonance with the values I try to imbibe into my writing.

6. Are you optimistic about the future of Indian art and academia on the global stage?

Certainly. I think ancient Indian culture always had something positive to contribute to the world. But since for most of our post-independence existence, India was an economic under-performer, with very little global power, it was understandable that few foreigners were interested in our culture. Despite those constraints, however, many parts of our culture have been accepted across the world, including yoga, Buddhism, cuisine, films, and so forth. As our economic footprint expands and India becomes a wealthier and more influential country, I am sure that more and more aspects of our culture will find salience across the world. I am proud that through my diplomatic role and my books, I get to make my own small contribution to this journey.

Two Point Two AW20 collection

Anvita Sharma

Anvita Sharma founded her Delhi-based fashion label Two Point Two to celebrate individuality through genderless collections that reject all forms of stereotyping and categorisation. Following the launch of the brand’s latest collection at London Fashion Week, Abigail Hodges speaks to the designer about the concept of beauty, self-expression and acceptance

1. Can you tell us about the historical events that inspired your AW20 collection?

Every collection that we have done so far has had a multicultural reference to it. Maybe it’s because I have lived in such different countries as well as among such different nationalities that amalgamation of these different/opposing or similar things comes very naturally to me. As a creative person, I try to challenge myself with every season. To do something that Two Point Two has not done before, may it be in relation to colours, silhouettes or embroideries.

Follow LUX on Instagram: luxthemagazine

With this collection we wanted to take a step forward, and mix art and comfort. ‘The Self’ embodies a reconceptualisation of genderless clothing, aspiring to refashion a world that breaks down the boundaries of gender and illuminating the very fluidity of it. It speaks about self-confidence despite flaws and quirks. It is about finding perfection in the imperfections; about embracing one’s uniqueness and weirdness because that is what sets you apart from the rest. It is a synthesis of the masculine and feminine energies of the universe in one body which are depicted in our inspiration of the embroideries – “Ardhanareshwara”, an androgynous form of Lord Shiva and Parvati. We made our artwork using the tantric symbols of these deities mixing it with the Japanese character Enso as well as some genderless faces.

A look from ‘The Self’ collection by Two Point Two, which launched at London Fashion Week 2020. Photo by Gio Staiano

2. How is your brand philosophy reflected in the models that are chosen to showcase the pieces?

We celebrate individuality, confidence and diversity. [Our philosophy] aims to create an “agender” identity, which has characters from maybe both the binaries or maybe neither. It strongly stands against stereotyping and categorisation of anything. Two Point Two believes that beauty exists in every soul and it’s all about accepting and endorsing it as your own. We focus on the individual and not their gender, culture, race or size and support them to express their individuality through clothing even if it’s something unusual. Being ‘Typically Atypical’ is our motto. We chose models who we thought have very strong personalities and character to them. We were very pleased to have all of them in our show as each and every one of them represented Two Point Two’s brand philosophy of inclusivity and individuality to the core. As we did not have any particular category or guidelines as to what type of faces we need, we saw so many interesting people at the casting and instantly fell in love with so many of them that it became difficult to choose.

Two Point Two AW20 collection

3. Do you face any institutional obstructions when working to showcase a genderless collection?

The world has started going in a direction of all-inclusivity. It’s becoming very welcoming and embracing everyone’s individuality day by day. Self-expression is easier now than 10-20 years ago. And it’s only getting better. However, since the norms/criteria or categories still exist, there will always be stereotyping among things. Whether a particular look is too feminine or too masculine. Beauty is connected to a particular idea that the society creates. Sexiness is connected to a particular image or type of looks. Idolising that concept of beauty sometimes feels like an obstacle to who we, you and I are. The constant justification required as to why genderless fashion and people adorning it are also sexy/beautiful is something which we face and have no problem reminding everyone about it multiple times.

Read more: Founder of Nila House Lady Carole Bamford’s guide to Jaipur

I was very self-conscious about my looks while growing up. Still sometimes, very rarely, I fall in that vicious cycle of idolising the perfect beauty. So, for me, the concept of Two Point Two and the celebration of individuality and self-confidence it stands for, as well as rebelling against giving any sort of justifications for who you are, is the main goal while working on genderless collections. Also, the gender disparity and the problems the LGBTQIA community faces in India is something I strongly stand against and this is a way to support their community as well as any individual who feels that they don’t “belong”.

4. Which are your favourite pieces from this latest collection?

Oh, it’s very difficult to choose. They are so different yet so similar to each other. I poured my heart and soul to each garment and each detail. But if I have to choose I’ll have to say the monochrome olive-green look. It was very unexpected as the decision of changing its combination happened moments before the runway, so I was very pleasantly surprised by it myself. This is what fashion is to me. Fast paced, maddening and yet very satisfying.

Anvita Sharma’s favourite look from ‘The Self’ collection by Two Point Two. Image by Gio Staiano

5. How has your design process evolved over the recent years?

I think there is a massive growth in terms of design aesthetic as well as the process that we follow. With every season, I learn from my mistakes and evolve and grow making sure that those mistakes are not repeated again. We are of course more organised and clear now as compared to our first collection. Although, our brand ethos, philosophy and belief remains as strong as when we started the brand. And, we still work on a ‘go with the flow’ basis and let the inspiration take over when it has to instead of actively looking for one. Like mentioned earlier, my favourite look was very last minute and unexpected, so these things happen very spontaneously and I strongly believe that the energies of the universe guide you and take you where you are meant to go.

6. What’s your five year vision for the brand?

I want Two Point Two to have a global audience and impact in the coming years as the brand is non-demographic and all-inclusive and can be appropriate for any market and any customer in the world. We also like to be working with more handloom and handwoven fabrics which we are already exploring and used in some collections at the moment and planning to get more involved in it. Also, we would like to support the local artisans and their dying crafts from different regions of India, so we are exploring certain tribes and clusters of various parts in India and getting to know their stories, their histories and cultures as well as helping them economically and incorporating their crafts in Two Point Two and give them an international audience in the coming season.

View the collections: twopointtwostudio.com

Supported by the Lady Bamford Foundation as a centre for craft and sustainable design, Nila House occupies a 1940s residence in Jaipur restored by Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai. Image by James Houston

Lady Carole Bamford, the founder of Daylesford Organic, beauty brand Bamford and numerous charitable foundations including Nila House gives us a guide to her spiritual home, Jaipur

Lady Carole Bamford

Where I hunt for treasures…

I always look forward to visiting the government khadi shops. I find myself spending hours there, lost in the piles of beautiful hand-spun fabric. Handwoven in villages across the country, the simple white cloth with all its imperfections is my idea of the ultimate luxury item.

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Cultural immersion…

The riot of colour and sound of the markets is extraordinary, and the old city has some of the best textiles and jewellery. I recently met a family of hand-block carvers who have been creating intricate wooden blocks for generations. Such artisans have a wealth of knowledge that we at Nila House, our new centre for preserving these traditions, believe should be shared with a broader audience so that it can be carried on into the future.

Image by James Houston

My perfect day in the city…

I always start my day with a puja prayer ritual followed by yoga and meditation. Then I will head out with my design team to visit our suppliers. I love visiting the workshops; I always learn so much, watching the dedication and meditativeness of their work. In the afternoon I might explore antique textiles at Rajasthani Arts to see if there is anything for our archives.

Read more: Hôtel Chais Monnet & the beauty of southwest France

Best dining spot…

47 Jobner Bagh is my favourite place to escape the crowds and noise. This charming family-run hotel has the best home-cooked Indian food. My favourite is a bowl of dal makhani, mopped up with a hot naan bread.

The building features a shop and studio spaces for local artisans. Images by James Houston

Home away from home…

We always stay at the The Oberoi Rajvilas. It is our home in Jaipur and the wonderful staff look after us like family.

Worth a detour…

I love visiting the paper factories in Sanganeer, just outside Jaipur. They have some of the most beautiful paper you can find, all handmade from natural materials – from cotton rag and banana fibre to the beautiful textured seed paper that we use for all of our packaging [at Nila House].

Nila House is a cultural centre dedicated to preserving traditional craft methods and supporting artisans across India; it is part of the Lady Bamford Foundation. Find out more: carolebamford.com

This article was originally published in the Spring 2020 Issue.

A monkey runs across the private pool terrace of the Royal ‘Burra Sahib’ Suite at Sher Bagh. Image by James Houston

Why should I go now?

Thanks to  stricter wildlife policies, India’s population of endangered Bengal tigers has increased by 33 percent since 2014, and with 60 tigers roaming 500-square-miles of wilderness, Ranthambore National Park remains the best place to see them.

The park was once the private hunting ground of the Maharajas of Jaipur, and is still home to many ruins of hunting lodges as well as a majestic crumbling fort from the 10th century. The landscape itself is varied with everything from dense jungle to open plains and desert-like areas; each safari jeep is assigned an area on arrival to prevent overcrowding and limit the impact on the habitat.

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The park tends to be quieter at this time of year, making the safari experience especially peaceful and whilst seeing a wild tiger is never guaranteed, it helps to have a knowledgeable guide. SUJÁN Sher Bagh is known to have not just the best guides and trackers, but the luxury group is also committed to conservation, meaning that every guest who stays at the camp is contributing to the group’s philanthropic initiatives.

Sher Bagh’s swimming pool overlooks the wild grasslands. Image by James Houston

What’s the lowdown?

Sher Bagh is a luxury tented camp pitched under a canopy of indigenous trees on the fringes of Ranthambore National Park. There are only 12 tents with the majority arranged in a semi-circle and the royal suite secluded behind mud walls, giving the whole place an intimate, homely atmosphere, emphasised by the warmth of the staff. The place is designed to evoke the romance of old-world travel with wood panelled floors, leather furnishings, vintage trunks, crystal decanters of whiskey and golden oil lamps that light the pathways and hang from the branches come nightfall. The staff are mainly all from the local villages, and everything from the tents to the interior decorations and even the smooth mud surfaces of the pathways are created by local craftspeople, whilst the kitchen uses ingredients grown in the gardens and cultivated on the camp’s farm.

Image by James Houston

Sher Bagh’s staff hang lamps on the trees at every dusk, creating a magical ‘fairy-tale’ atmosphere. Image by James Houston

Breakfast and lunch are generally served in the beautiful grand dining tent with a menu of delicious Anglo-Indian dishes, whilst dinner is traditional Indian cuisine served in a surprise location each evening. The thali and the buttery flaked parathas were amongst the best we’ve ever tasted, and we also loved the selection of canapés served with pre-drinks round the fire every evening, but the bespoke dining experiences were the real highlight. After a morning game drive, our jeep pulled up into the farm yard where a decadent breakfast buffet was laid out underneath the shade of a tree. Before eating, we were given the opportunity to try milking one of the cows and collect eggs from the henhouse, which were then cooked by the chef with fresh herbs and spices. On our final night, we arrived back at our tent to find a table set up on our private pool terrace, surround by hundreds of glowing lanterns.

Breakfast and lunch are generally served in the main dining tent (above), but bespoke experiences can also be arranged. Below: breakfast served on the camp’s farm after an early morning safari. Images by James Houston

The park’s animals naturally wander into the surroundings areas. This is especially the case with the monkeys who, during our stay, swung between the branches overhead, played on the roof of our tent and drank from our pool. In the mornings, the camp naturalist showed us the tracks and trip-camera images of nighttime visitors to the farm, including a leopard, sloth bear and hyena. Understandably guides are required to accompany guests back to the tents after dark, but the real magic of the place comes from not knowing what you might encounter, who might be peeping at you through the branches or sharing the same pathways.

Read more: The must-visit destinations of 2020 by Geoffrey Kent

Indeed, most guests come to Sher Bagh for the wildlife experiences. The camp’s luxury 4×4 vehicles depart for safaris every morning and afternoon, with stops halfway through for drinks and snacks in the jungle. Whilst tigers are the main draw, the park is also home to leopards, sloth bears, deer, mongoose, wild boars, hyenas, jackals, crocodiles and an array of tropical birds. For us, one of the most beautiful experiences was watching the monkeys walking amongst the villagers on their way to morning worship. In between drives, the camp is a very peaceful place to relax, swimming, reading or listening to the hum of the jungle.

Getting horiztonal

We stayed in the largest and most luxurious tent: the Royal ‘Burra Sahib’ Suite. Enclosed behind  mud walls, the tent is the most secluded area of the camp with its own private heated swimming pool overlooking the grasslands. The interiors follow the camp’s colonial theme with cream linens, and rosewood and teak furnishings, including a beautiful four-poster bed and two open wardrobes each equipped with a branded safari fleece (the morning drives can be very chilly). There’s a separate sitting room with a curated selection of books, and a spacious bathroom, featuring natural, sustainable bath products. Laundry and ironing are complimentary and the suite comes with a high-tech DSLR camera for guests to borrow on safaris.

Most of the tents are arranged in a semi circle (above), whilst the Royal ‘Burra Sahib’ Suite is secluded behind mud walls (below). Images by James Houston

Flipside

Sher Bagh manages to balance the highest level of luxury with authenticity and honesty. Sustainable practices are integrated into every element of the camp from the homegrown ingredients to the local staff and use of natural materials. The air conditioning units in the rooms and communal areas are the only contradiction to this ethos that we noticed, and although it’s understandably necessary to keep the rooms cool during the hotter months, it seems a shame that these can’t be replaced with a more environmentally friendly option.

Rates: From ₹55,000 for a luxury tent including all meals (approx. £600/€700/ $750)

Book your stay: thesujanlife.com/sher-bagh

Millie Walton

The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the Philippines is forecast to grow at the the second fastest rate of any country, says Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2019. Pictured here: Manila

Lord Andrew Hay. Image by John Wright

Lord Andrew Hay is Global Head of Residential at Knight Frank, the international real estate consultancy, and has built up property portfolios for some of the wealthiest people in the world. In this regular column, he is handed a theoretical sum of money by LUX and asked how he would invest it. This month, we asked Lord Hay where he would invest if he had $200m to spend on real estate in emerging markets

“Where would you invest if you had $200m to spend on real estate in emerging markets?” It seemed appropriate that I was asked this question by LUX having just returned from a business trip to Manila. With the Philippines front of mind – this is where I would start.

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As reported in The Wealth Report 2019, the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in the Philippines is forecast to grow by 38% in the five years to 2023, the second fastest of any country. In Manila, the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) facilities sector is rapidly growing – currently employing 1.5m Filipinos, 1.5% of the population, and accounting for 7.5% of the economy – with the government aiming to expand this to 10-11% in 2020. This growth has boosted office rents within the metro Manila region as well as the residential market as investors snap up multiple units to lease out to BPO employees working nearby.

I would then move my attention to India. Recently the Government of India has put in place a growing number of incentives to enter India’s warehousing sector and this is an area, which seems ripe for investment. The new ‘Make in India’ programme was created to encourage manufacturing; the development of multimodal transport networks and the setting up industrial corridors such as The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) are also supporting growth in the market.

India’s warehousing sector is ripe for investment, according to Knight Frank’s Andrew Hay. Pictured here: Mumbai

My focus would then turn to an investment in South Africa and to something that appeals to me on a more personal level – a game lodge and reservation. As interest in climate change, sustainable tourism and the concept of “natural capital” grows around the world, there is an increasing focus on Africa. Much of this is centred on South Africa and projects that can add significant value to denuded agricultural land, especially if the “Big 5” are in residence.

Read more: Why we love the Richard Mille x Roberto Mancini RM 11-04 timepiece

Back to Asia, I would look to South Korea. The government recently introduced a pre-sale price cap policy in an effort to cool its housing market. However, this currently only applies to four areas in Seoul. House prices in certain prime areas of the city have been recording price growth in excess of 15% year-on-year over the last 12-18 months, as developers rushed to redevelop older buildings. Going forward, this move is expected to rapidly cool speculation in the market and reign in accelerating prices but there is still an opportunity to invest here.

There are no restrictions on foreign nationals acquiring property in Romania, making entry into the market easier for investors, says Andrew Hay

I would then consider closer to home in Europe – the Romanian prime residential market. It recorded promising results in the first half of 2019 and, according to Knight Frank, 60% of developers active in the local market expect price increases of up to 10% per square metre in the next year. There are no restrictions on foreign nationals acquiring property in Romania either, making entry into the market easier for investors than many other markets.

Perhaps not the most glamorous of locations or assets but nonetheless a diverse and interesting portfolio and this is where I would invest $200m if considering investment across some of the world’s emerging markets.

Find out more: knightfrank.co.uk

A gorilla in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda

Abercrombie & Kent’s Founder and LUX contributor Geoffrey Kent tells us his six top safari destinations from Brazil’s wetlands to the remote Canadian town of Churchill

1. Gorillas in the midst

The greatest of the great apes, the mountain gorilla, is also the most endangered. Just a few hundred survive in the high-altitude seclusion of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes in neighbouring Rwanda. Dismiss any thoughts of terrifying, chest-thumping brutes – these are gentle and peaceful vegetarians living in closely bonded family groups. On day hikes from luxury lodges and led by superb local guides, you can get up close and personal with some of our closest relatives. Prepare to be moved and humbled by the privilege of sitting within a few metres of these magnificent animals.

Follow LUX on Instagram: the.official.lux.magazine

Elephants in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

2. Tanzania’s south side story

Time to move on from the spectacular but busy national parks of northern Tanzania and head to the country’s deep south, and the biggest reserve of them all: the Selous. Named after the 19th century explorer and big-game hunter Frederick Courteney Selous, it covers over 50,000 square kilometres and is home to some of the largest concentrations of wildlife on the continent. Yet visitor numbers are low, and you’ll get a sense of Africa as it once was. An easy flight away is Ruaha National Park, offering an excellent chance to catch up with leopard as well as African wild dog, the legendary painted wolf, in one of its last strongholds.

The wetlands in the Pantanal region, Brazil

3. A watery wilderness

The size of France and covering parts of three countries – Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay – the sparsely populated Pantanal is a vast wetland and one of the hottest wildlife destinations right now. Not only is it a paradise for avian species ranging from iridescent hummingbirds to the huge jabiru stork, but it’s also the best place on the planet to look for jaguar. Kilo for kilo, South America’s top predator packs the heaviest punch of all the big cats and is best looked for as it hunts along the banks of the many waterways. Superb eco-lodges will be your base as you set off safari-style in jeeps and boats in search of the spotted maestro.

A lemur in Madagascar

4. Mad about Madagascar

Ninety million years of isolation in the Indian Ocean have made the world’s fourth-biggest island a unique reservoir of biodiversity, with over 75% of its flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. There is a vast array of ecosystems to explore, from rainforest packed with orchids and ferns to the magical Spiny Desert and its cathedral-like baobabs. Keep a look out for the island’s 100-plus species of lemur, with the dancing sifaka and wailing indri top of the hit list. Sure, the roads can be rough and the conservation issues challenging, but for many adventure travellers it doesn’t get any better than Madagascar.

Read more: Why we’re obsessed with Bvlgari’s Cinemagia High Jewellery collection

A polar bear in Manitoba, Canada

5. Ice bear essentials

With mounting concern over the impact of climate change on the Arctic ice cap, the plight of the world’s polar bears has never been more in the spotlight. Nowhere more so than in the Canadian town of Churchill, where 500 or so bears spend part of their year on the shores of Hudson Bay. This is remote country, best accessed by rail or plane, but once here be prepared for some stupendous wildlife watching. Specialist guides will lead you across the tundra in search of the big white bears, but keep an eye out too for smaller creatures, such as Arctic foxes, caribou, ptarmigans and even wolves.

A snow leopard in Ladakh, India

6. Spots are the new stripes

Tigers are great, but there’s an even more spellbinding big cat in India. Head for the roof of the world, Ladakh, in search of the almost mythical snow leopard. Once glimpsed only by local people and scientific researchers, it’s now possible to spot one yourself with the help of expert trackers in Hemis National Park. There’s other wildlife too, with golden eagles soaring overhead, ibex scrambling over the rocks and tiny pika calling from the slopes. Plus the stupendous Himalayan scenery as a backdrop. There can never be guarantees of a leopard sighting, but trust in fate and your guides. Not quite the Yeti, but almost.

For more information visit: abercrombiekent.co.uk

This article was originally published in the Summer 19 Issue.

S.H. Raza, Sienne Port, Oil on canvas; 1960. Image courtesy: Piramal Museum of Art

The first major exhibition of Sayed Haider Raza since his death in 2016, S.H. Raza: Traversing Terrains explores five decades of the painter’s work from the early 1940s to the late 1990s, tracing his development and influence as both artist and philosopher.

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S.H Raza; Eglise et Calvaire Breton; Oil on Canvas; 1956. Image courtesy: Piramal Museum of Art

‘The most tenacious memory of my childhood is the fear and fascination of Indian forests,’ Raza said in an interview 2001. ‘We lived near the source of the Narmada river in the centre of the dense forests of Madhya Pradesh. Nights in the forests were hallucinating; sometimes the only humanising influence was the dancing of the Gond tribes…’

Read more: Why you should check into Chewton Glen this month

As such, the scenes Raza often depicts are full of life, movement, memory, Indian iconography, nature, philosophy, music and poetry. They’re otherworldly, sometimes strange and chaotic, sometimes precise and ordered, fusing together the landscapes of France (where he lived after being awarded painting scholarship at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris) with the feverish colours and unique aesthetics of India.

S.H. Raza; Benares; 1944; Watercolour on paper. Image courtesy: Piramal Museum of Art

In 1947 ( the same year that India gained independence), Raza co-founded the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, advocating an avant-garde style (Fauvist colours, Cubist forms, Expressionist brushwork) with Indian subject matters and themes.

This expansive retrospective provides an intriguing and important insight not only into the artist’s career and life, but also into the progression of Mumbai’s art scene.

‘S.H. Raza: Traversing Terrains’  runs until 28 October 2018 at the Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai.  For more information on the exhibition visit piramalmuseum.com/exhibitions/current/sh-raza-traversing-terrains

British Polo Day 2017 at Black Bear Polo Club, Henley-on-Thames

British Polo Day’s unique approach to an international, invitation only, global polo platform has cemented the brand as one of the most sought after events on the social calendar. Partnering with the likes of Bentley, VistaJet and Chelsea Barracks, the events see some of the world’s most interesting individuals gather to celebrate polo in dreamy locations around the world. LUX Editor Kitty Harris speaks with Co-Founder and Director Tom Hudson about the inception of the idea and the history of horsemanship

Tom Hudson (right) with BPD’s CEO Ben Vestey

LUX: How did the inception of British Polo Day come about?
Tom Hudson: In 2008 I moved to Dubai along with a whole wave of friends from school, university and the Army, who all seemed to be moving out at the same time. I began playing polo at a brand-new club that had been built in the desert and became friends with the Habtoor family who were the local polo patrons. At the time not, many people watched the sport. I grew up in Windsor, next to Guards Polo Club which often draws thousands of people to watch, and pitched the idea for hosting an exhibition, where we would bring out the best British players to ride against the best Gulf players. Our first event was in February 2009 and we expected about 200 people. More than a thousand turned up, and British Polo Day was born. Since then, we have held 65 British Polo Days in more than 15 countries across all 5 continents and have raised more than $2m for good causes in the process.

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LUX: Why was it important for British markets to have access to Dubai?
Tom Hudson: I think in a post-Brexit world, Britain needs to look to its friends further afield and Dubai is a natural gateway to the East with many British Expats living there. It has a familiarity about it, especially with the financial freezone having a legal system based on English law. Above all, the Emiratis are incredibly hospitable and like things that are quintessentially British.

British Polo Day – Dubai 2018 from British Polo Day on Vimeo.

LUX: What is it about polo that captures its audiences and players?
Tom Hudson: Polo is the world’s oldest sport, and there is a famous saying said to have originated in ancient Persia that “the game of kings will always be the king of games”. I think the history and heritage resonates everywhere it is played, whether that is India with the Maharajas or China, harking back to the Tang dynasty. As the only mode of transport for more than 2000 years, horsemanship is celebrated in almost every culture, and polo allows one to demonstrate strength, speed and stamina. The Ralph Lauren adverts have not done the game any harm either!

Luxury hospitality at last year’s British Polo Day event at Henley-on-Thames

LUX: British Polo Day has been described as an international members club, with the intention of building lasting relationships. How does this work as a business model?
Tom Hudson: British Polo Day was founded with the aim of bringing people together and forging friendships with our hosts in their home countries. By working with mutually complimentary but non-competing companies, partners can club together and co-invest in the platform that would otherwise cost them much more to do themselves. There is also the network effect around their clients. If one partner invites 10 clients, but 10 partners each invite 10 clients, then there are 100 potential clients for them all to meet and introduce to each other.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent on how to pack for an adventure

LUX: How do you go about selecting the right partners for the brand?
Tom Hudson: We are meticulous in only bringing in companies and, more importantly, people who are a good fit and who buy into our long-term vision. We have 2000 years of combined heritage across our partner base and we check with our existing partners before bringing a new company in.

LUX: What are some of the challenges you face organising international British Polo Day events?
Tom Hudson: People often talk about the founding or inception of an idea as if it is the hard part, however I think it’s turning the vision into a reality that is the biggest challenge, and riding out the bumps on the way. It was one thing to throw one event in Dubai in 2009, but quite another to deliver the events globally to the same standard for 10 years straight. For that I have to thank the British Polo Day team and my great friend and partner Ben Vestey. Ben played in the first ever British Polo Day in India and immediately saw the potential, leaving his job soon after and investing in the growth of British Polo Day.

Tom Hudson with Sir Richard Branson at a British Polo Day event

LUX: Much of your advertising is by word of mouth from your guests. Supporters include key figures in government, aristocracy, diplomats and arty types too. How would you describe the ultimate British Polo Day guest?
Tom Hudson: We look for those who are not only interesting, but also interested in others. From entrepreneurs like Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk, to Arab Sheikhs, American influencers with millions of followers, through to Indian industrialists and Chinese couture designers, we’ve hosted them all. We pride ourselves in the magic and eclectic mix and are always striving to introduce people who we think will get along and find that chemistry. We’ve even had our first wedding and baby from a couple who met at a British Polo Day!

Read more: 6 reasons to buy a Richard Mille McLaren watch

LUX: British Polo Day now travels to 8 destinations a year, what does the future hold?
Tom Hudson: We used to think that the more events and countries the merrier, with many polo clubs inviting us to host British Polo Days, but recently we have decided to stick to our core countries and concentrate on quality over quantity. Ben and I both have young families, and we would love our children to witness some of the amazing experiences that we have been lucky enough to enjoy through British Polo Day.

LUX: Where do you go to escape?
Tom Hudson: I’m fortunate that Jess, my wife, works with some of the best luxury holiday destinations in the world, so recent holidays have been on Velaa Private Island and Royal Mansour in Marrakech.

The captivating expanse of the Moroccan desert

In his latest column for LUX, Geoffrey Kent, founder of leading luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, discusses the growing interest in luxury adventure travel, recalling his own thirst for exploration and the importance of a personalised experience.

Geoffrey Kent on his motorcycle adventures

A rise in luxury adventure travel can be explained in many different ways – whether it be a desire to escape the norm, a wish to discover uncharted territories or a need to rediscover a sense of self. Whatever the reason, adventure means something different to everyone and there are some amazing opportunities out there to be experienced.

My early years in Kenya were spent exploring the Aberdares barefoot, much to my mother’s chagrin. When I was 16, I rode a Daimler Puch 250cc motorcycle from Nairobi to Cape Town and I joined the British Army in 1959 (only after I’d climbed Kilimanjaro, of course). My desire for adventure has always been the driving force in my life.

During my solo bike ride from Nairobi to Cape Town, I stayed in a five-star hotel for the first time. I then realised that any adventure is made more palatable if by night, fresh sheets, a spring mattress, security and luxury are offered.

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In recent years, more and more travel companies have taken this idea on board and their offerings will inspire anyone who looks for both luxury and adventure in their travels. There has been a sea change in what luxury adventure means. It is becoming a far more personal and involved decision. But how can we make this more different, exclusive and unique?

I recently took a group of adventurous clients into the heart of the Arctic Circle to experience the mesmerising phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis. From a wilderness lodge, each night we watched the skies for the Northern Lights. By day, we met local Sami nomads with their reindeer herds and their mystical Shamans.

A wild reindeer grazing in Norway

For those looking to experience a complete unknown in lesser-visited places, I recommend a trip to the Indian state of Nagaland on the Myanmar border. Here, eagle-hunters and Mongol herders will introduce you to their traditional way of life, creating an understanding of their culture and customs which goes beyond any text-book description.

Read more by Geoffrey Kent: The hottest luxury travel destinations for 2018

Although it is clear that adventure travel is not reliant on adrenalin anymore, for some people adding these elements in can create a whole new level of experience. Taking control of your own desert 4×4, having received expert guidance from a former logistics officer of the Paris-Dakar Rally, could reveal Morocco to you from a completely different perspective.

All options for luxury adventure travel are open to us now. We have the expertise and knowledge to build amazing adventures in exactly the way people want to live them. A backpack and a map may promise adventure for a student but for a time-poor customer, combining the unknown or the unexpected with knowledge and seamless logistics makes the experience accessible.

One of the world’s most mesmerising natural phenomena: The Northern Lights

Adventure travel is a step into the unknown. Add luxury and you are making it a transformative experience with personalised service. But it is also so much more – experiences you never dreamed of, sights you never expected to see, like the beauty of a silent sunrise in Iceland or the inexplicable phenomenon of the Northern Lights.

Life is richer and deeper with these experiences. Holidays should always enrich our lives – however we personally choose to make that happen.

The dramatic landscapes of Chile. Image by Ruben Santander

Geoffrey Kent, Abercrombie & Kent’s chairman and founder, spends around 270 days on the road every year. In this month’s exclusive column for LUX, he pins down some of luxury destinations that will be trending in 2018 and gives his insider tips on where to stay and what to do

Armenia

Armenia is one of Europe’s best-kept secrets. Known as the “Land of Churches”, it’s scattered with magnificent monasteries, ruins full of relics and centuries-old cathedrals. The now-defunct Kingdom of Armenia was the first country on the planet to adopt Christianity. It’s said that two of the apostles – Thaddeus and Bartholomew – spread the religion’s ideas northwards from the Holy Land to Armenia after Jesus’ crucifixion.

Armenia countryside. Image by LEMUR Design

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During my recent visit, the many highlights included visiting UNESCO-listed Geghard Monastery and Zvartnots Cathedral, the Hellenistic-style temple of Garni and Khor Virap, from which there are magnificent views of Mount Ararat. Whilst at Khor Virap, I particularly enjoyed partaking in the tradition of releasing doves in the hope they’ll fly to the mountain’s summit.

The “Pink City”, Yerevan is one of the world’s oldest inhabited cities. It’s home to the Yerevan Brandy Company, which has been producing cognac since 1887. During World War II, Stalin apparently shipped cases of Armenian cognac to Winston Churchill, who first tasted the spirit at the Yalta Conference.

Montenegro

Though small, Montenegro may be the next major thing in the Balkans. With some wondering if it’s the ‘next Croatia’, the country’s tourism star is on the rise thanks to the development of a new multimillion-dollar marina on Boka Bay. When it opens in 2018, Portonovi will lure the Adriatic’s yachters to shore with its siren’s call. The marina’s lifestyle resort will include Europe’s first One&Only resort, a yacht club and an Espace Chenot spa. I’ll be cruising around Montenegro on a superyacht this September, docking at Portonovi and attending a private opera on an islet in Kotor Bay, which is on the World Heritage List.

Montenegro: the new pearl of the Balkans. Image by Faruk Kaymak

Chile

In my experience, most travellers touch down in Santiago and head straight out of town – north for the stark beauty of Atacama or to the wild expanse of Patagonia down south. In this sliver of South America, which will celebrate 200 years of independence from the Spanish Empire in 2018, there’s so much in between.

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Long overlooked, Santiago is worth pausing in. The food scene is piping hot, with restaurants like Boragó at the fore. More and more design-centric boutiques are popping up. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s all framed by the stunning surrounding Andes. With BA’s relatively new nonstop flights to Santiago, it’s more accessible than ever.

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. Image by Olga Stalska

Once you’ve finished exploring Santiago, I recommend heading to Patagonia to stay at one of my favourite hotels. The Explora Lodge provides some of Earth’s ultimate views. Sitting at the breakfast table on a clear day, the view is one of the most beautiful you’ll ever see – with glaciers, snowcapped mountains and the lake. The trouble is you must get lucky. I’ve been there several times and you might get horizontal snow when it’s windy so that you can’t see more than a foot ahead of you.

Agra

Rudyard Kipling, Disney and the UK’s close ties to the subcontinent obviously have had an indelible effect on our psyches. India’s appeal is evergreen and the classic introduction to this colourful and captivating country is the ‘Golden Triangle’ – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Before travellers visit the tangled jungles of Madhya Pradesh, the tranquil backwaters of Kerala or the Bollywood sets of Mumbai, the Golden Triangle is essential India.

Travellers continue to be entranced by the colours and culture of India. Image by James Houston.

Most just dip into Agra for the Taj Mahal, but with the famed mausoleum under restoration-related scaffolding at the moment, there are new cultural attractions emerging. Famed architect David Chipperfield is collaborating with New Delhi-based Studio Archohm on the Mughal Museum. Located near the Taj, this modern marble palace is due to open any day now. I like contemporary architecture so I’m very excited about this.

Egypt

Image by Martin Widenka.

This isn’t the first time Egypt’s been on my ‘where to go next’ list, but it’s back because this ancient country is  buzzing with renewed confidence. It’s been a bucket-list destination for centuries, but there has never been a better time to travel to Egypt. There are new hotel openings to entice, such as the 39-storey St Regis in the heart of old Cairo.

New tombs are being discovered regularly. A trio of rock-tombs were unearthed 125 miles south of Cairo and another was found on the left bank near the Valley of the Kings. And most excitingly, the world’s largest archaeological museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will open in 2018 in Cairo. Not only that, but its many fabled sites are free of crowds and open to in-the-know travellers. The experience for tourists in Egypt right now is as welcoming and upbeat as I’ve ever seen it, but the ability to see the pyramids without crowds won’t last long.

Find out more about Abercrombie & Kent’s luxury tours: abercrombiekent.co.uk

Camping under the stars in the desert. Image by Wei Pan

Geoffrey Kent is a pioneer of luxury travel and the founder of the multi-award winning Abercrombie & Kent global travel operator. In his most recent column for LUX, Mr. Kent explains why the most luxurious travelling experiences are truly transformative.

Over the past decade the definition of luxury has changed. It has become much more flexible with an emphasis on experiences and personalised service, rather than the mere physical trappings of luxury. From the opulence of a palatial hotel to the serenity of waking up to a spectacular sunrise in a simple mountain refuge, I believe true luxury is the privilege of discovery, adventure, relaxation and insight, enjoyed in a context that perfectly suits the experience. Seamless service, safety and security are a given. But it is the unexpected that inspires a sense of wonder and elevates an adventure into a true luxury experience.

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There are some places that are just so exceptional that they have come to define luxury. These run the gamut, from African safaris to expedition cruises in Antarctica, but their commonality is that they are transformative experiences that do more than just take you to a new place, they challenge your understanding of the world. I have found that this kind of travel is a powerful way to induce the sort of shift in thinking in which creative breakthroughs spontaneously arise.

A man poses with his camel for desert polo in Jaisalmer, India. Image by James Houston

Guests define luxury as having an authentic experience – an encounter that is true to the place and its traditions, incorporating elements of the past and reflecting the local culture. Spending time on a tropical island is appealing, but luxury guests want more than that. They want to get out and explore, experiencing authentic cultural traditions that do not reflect Western values. Your life will change when you are immersed in a culture so dramatically different from your own and reach a new understanding of how life is lived in another part of the world.

African safari at dusk. Image by Sergey Pesterev

Recently I met a couple on the beach who recognised me. They told me that despite the money they spend on their holidays, they always feel richer when they get home.

Read next: Art auctioneer Simon de Pury on the rise of the online art market

For discerning travellers, it’s not about checking places off a list – it’s about making connections through unique local experiences not found in a guidebook. It might be a camelback safari to an Indian desert camp, enjoying a hotpot dinner in the home of a Tibetan family in China’s Yunnan province, or taking a private cooking class in the Mercato Centrale in Florence with a local chef. It will be these kinds of inspiring encounters you’ll share with friends and family when you return – not the gold-plated Corinthian capitals in your hotel suite.

Geoffrey Kent is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent

On board Saffron, Spice Routes’ double-storey houseboat. Image by James Houston

Beyond Kerala’s humid, bustling cities lies a subtropical maze of secret waterways and verdant rice paddies. LUX discovers the singular beauty of the backwaters, aboard a luxury houseboat

We arrived in Fort Cochin, dusty and bleary-eyed from a long train ride down from Mumbai, into the thick humidity of an early Indian summer. Fort Cochin is the prettiest and oldest part of Kochi. It was once occupied by the Dutch and the Portuguese, and the cobbled streets and architecture retain the appearance of old-world Europe. The food is fresh with tropical flavours that differ from the rich, creamy sauces of Northern India. We ate best at the tables beside little huts which sit beneath palm trees along the waterfront, where the fish is caught practically before your eyes and served simply with fried spices and rice.

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Whilst this part of the town used to be busy trade port (there’s plenty to be discovered in various museums), the rhythm of life is now sleepy and tranquil, with tourists drifting between air-conditioned cafes, craft shops and independent art galleries. During our stay, we caught the last few days of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, stumbling across various installations and exhibitions hidden within courtyards and gardens as we wandered the streets.

Views over the rolling hills of Wayanad. Image by James Houston

Almost everyone we met was returning to the state for the second or third time, having fallen in love on their first visit. The top recommendations were to stay amongst the tea plantations in Wayanad (the north-eastern part of Kerala) and to go on a cruise through the backwaters. For many travellers, the word ‘cruise’ understandably conjures up images of massive five-storey monster ships, packed tight with tourists, but in Kerala, a cruise simply means a boat trip whether that’s on a fishing boat, houseboat, or in any other kind of floating vessel.

Most of the backwater tours depart from the coastal town of Alleppey (an hour and a half’s drive down the coast from Fort Cochin, or two hours in a tuk tuk if you prefer a slower, more scenic route). Spice Routes, unlike many of other cruise providers, offers exclusive use of their luxury houseboats, meaning that you get the whole thing to yourself. The company owns six boats varying from one-bedroom to five-bedrooms. We were booked on Saffron, an elegant double-storey boat with a large bedroom, ensuite bathroom and lounge area on the lower deck and a dining room and sundeck upstairs. The interiors paired traditional Keralan design with contemporary touches and an abundance of floor-to-ceiling windows.

Read more: Art dealer Tamara Beckwith on Rob Munday’s holographic portraiture

Rather than feeling like a floating hotel, the boat felt homely and private. The staff were there when we needed them, and not when we didn’t. We spent most of the time from our departure to nightfall, lying on the deck, sunbathing, watching the fishing boats and listening to the birds.

It is worth noting that the backwaters are by no means a secret and whilst there are, most likely, more secluded routes to navigate on smaller vessels, the main waterways tend to be busy with activity. By the evening though, when we moored up close to a bank to buy fish for our supper from a local fisherman, most of the other boats had returned home. We ate amidst silence and slept with the blinds up in a grand four-poster bed, waking with the sun.

The real luxury of the sailing through these waters, though, is the opportunity to see the landscapes and life beyond India’s urban environments. For most travellers, experiences of the country tend to be confined to the cities dotted along designated transport routes; self-drive cars are near impossible to hire and if you have a driver, it can be difficult to know exactly where to direct them unless there’s it’s to a tourist site. In the backwaters, life happens on the riverbanks: the washing of clothes, dishes, bodies, hair, swimming, chatting, playing. On the deck of a luxury boat, we became  voyeurs, made suddenly, acutely aware of the country’s wealth divide, of our privilege and other ways of existing in the world.

Rates from 25000 INR per night on-board Saffron, incl. all meals (approx. £250/ $350 / €300)

For more information visit: spiceroutes.in

Priya Paul, one of India’s most prominent entrepreneurs, is chairperson of the design conscious, luxury five-star boutique hotel group ‘The Park Hotels’. She is heir to the Apeejay Surrendra Group, owners of Typhoo Tea, and her determination, spirit for hospitality and flair for design awarded her India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri in 2012 (for her services to Trade & Industry by the President of India). The President of the French Republic granted her Insignia of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit) an Order of State.  Kitty Harris talks to Priya about the Indian luxury market, leadership and innovating whilst staying true to heritage.

Priya Paul

LUX: Apeejay Surrendra Group has been running for over 100 years. How has the business evolved since it began?
Priya Paul: The family business started over one hundred years ago with my grandfather and my father’s brothers and the business was originally in steel – in steel trading, small manufacturing and then into steel production. It then moved into shipping. We do dry bulk cargo ships and shipping, and we still have that business.

Later we added businesses such as hospitality, tea, real estate, finance, logistics and a whole lot of other businesses. Right now, it is my brother, my sister and myself who run the business and the main sort of businesses are shipping tea. We are the largest producers of tea in the country and we own Typhoo UK. We also have a hospitality business, real estate, logistics and other financial investments.

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LUX: What is the greatest challenge facing a group with so many different branches of investment?
Priya Paul: Indian businesses have been more diversified and have responded to many of the needs that the country has had in terms of investing. Traditionally, a lot of Indian business houses have largely been diversified. Firstly, to respond to the different needs and industries that arose when India was in its early decades of birth. I think having a diversified list of assets has been quite good for us over the long term; sometimes one thing is a drag and in other times, another one is. Particularly in a large family it has been quite good, because everyone has their own space.

LUX: It’s a family run business, is this ever difficult?
Priya Paul: Our family business was much larger, until we split up in 1989. Since then it has been my brother, my sister and myself. My mother and one of my uncles were also involved the nineties, so at one point there were five of us in the business. As I said, the business is large enough for everyone to have their own space. Yet, we make a lot of decisions together, certainly in the larger investments or re-investing. Decisions are made by us siblings now, together, and I think as we’ve grown up pretty much in the same age we see a lot of the same things and our world view is very similar. It has been quite rewarding for us.

LUX: You began your career under your father, the late Surrendra Paul, what was the greatest lesson you learnt from him?
Priya Paul: I worked with my dad for about a year and a half before he died. I think my father was very disciplined and I could see that in his work and in what he did. I can’t say I’m as disciplined, but it is something I try to emulate. He was especially disciplined and so I learnt from that. He would say, “work hard and play hard, and enjoy life too”. So that is how I live my life.

LUX: You’re the Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels – what is the key to its success?
Priya Paul: We are celebrating fifty years this year. It has always been a very young and vibrant company that reflected a contemporary aesthetic, even when it first opened in 1967. I would say my role has been to actually reposition and build it for a new generation of travelers and customers – both Indian and international. The success has really been to reinvigorate the brand, provide it with meaning and to position it as something that is far from ordinary. That’s my tagline: ‘anything but ordinary’.

LUX: The Park Hotels have new properties under construction, Chettinad (old palace conversion), Mumbai and Jim Corbett National Park – how do you decide on location and maintain the five-star level across so many properties?
Priya Paul: We have two brands now. We have one called The Park, which is a fifty-year-old, luxury, five-star brand with full service that’s routed in the design. When I go to look at a property, I want something from the interiors that I can create a unique identity with. Personally, it is very important for the space to be creative, interesting and not like any normal hotel you might see. The site and location are dependent on the type of city, as the city must be able to take that kind of hotel. We have now also launched a brand called Zone by the Park, which I call a design and price conscious hotel. Similar in essence to that of The Park, as they are still fun, lively and vibrant and remain a reflection of the local space. However, they are in smaller spaces in smaller cities and the hotel size typically ranges from 65 rooms to 300 rooms at most. The idea here is to create a vibrant, big-city atmosphere within a small city. Since that is what the smaller, growing, cities in India want and need. There is a whole aspirational class of customers that want a nice bar and restaurant with international food, as well as the local specialties. They want spaces where they can entertain and have their weddings.

LUX: How do the contemporary luxury boutique hotels (The Park Group Hotels) set themselves apart from the rest?
Priya Paul: I think it’s a combination of many things. We orchestrate the whole design and aesthetic of how the hotel looks; however, it is also how the hotel behaves. This is in terms of how the spaces interact and how the customer feels when they relax and are at ease in a place. There is still outstanding service, but our staff have been trained to deal with customers on a more equal basis and to be more relaxed and casual with them. It seems very simple now, but when we discussed it twenty years ago there was big kind of difference between how staff in a hotel would be treated by customers. There was a class difference and I think that has changed because hotels now attract younger service staff. I feel we have taken care to hire creative people with individuality, who are able to deliver that service in a different way. When we started talking about that around twenty years ago, that was quite a unique approach and that is the feel when you go into The Park. It is relaxed and casual and people are friendly. You have everything you might need and want, in an environment that is fun, creative and interesting.

Read next: The bohemian allure of Chiang Mai  

LUX: Is it important to hold on to heritage and tradition or to keep current?
Priya Paul: I think it’s a combination of two things. I am a firm believer that you need to know your culture and heritage and to preserve part of it, whilst allowing yourself to move forward. So, it’s a tricky balance. That being said, one of the hotels that we are currently restoring is in a palace. I firmly believe in heritage conservation and I believe this also applies to food. Twenty-five years ago we were not even exploring what our Indian food heritage was. But within twenty years, people have caught up and realised we are losing our grains, our vegetables, our techniques and our recipes. It is very important that we preserve those, but also that we move forward with them. Our food does not have to look the same for five hundred centuries. It has to evolve. For example, we host The Parks New Festival, which is a performing arts festival that now runs in six cities for a month – we started off in just one city! We do this because it’s actually for new performances not the old stuff, we want creatives to push and move forward. So how do you push comedy or music or dance? There’s that and I also think maybe it’s from my personal interest; you have to know your tradition, but we must still know how to move forward, explore and experiment.

LUX: How has the hospitably climate changed in India and how did you respond to these changes?
Priya Paul: We’ve always had a few very good luxury hotels because a lot of the palaces were converted. What’s happened in the last twenty five years, is many of the Indian brands invested in some great
properties and developed new circuits and new properties in lots of locations. A lot of the international brands have come in with their high-end brands, whether it’s Grand Hyatt and The Four Seasons. I think it has changed a lot. We have about eight million international tourists traveling into India but we have over 400 million Indian travelers traveling. So, the strength of the Indian market has never been better. At all levels of the 400 million people you need hotels and accommodation. And as people earn more money they want to move on to the next best thing. So, there is a lot of demand for luxury products within India, whether it is cars,hotel rooms, luxury dining or experiences. That has fueled a demand to supply and create those products. At all segments of the market I’ve seen growth; we are growing at seven something percent.

The Park Calangute Goa

LUX: What’s the ultimate luxury in hospitality?
Priya Paul: You know I think I’m more of an explorer, I like exploring new places and cities or neighborhoods. For me, the luxury is in the exploration, in getting to know the area. I used to plan everything a lot more and now I just go to a place and I just discover. I think that’s also quite exciting, to just explore and you never know what you are going to find. Also, I always look for a hotel that is interesting, design wise. I typically don’t choose a chain hotel to stay in, unless there are brands doing new things. I don’t mind doing things once or twice, just to see what’s on. I look for a clean aesthetic, contemporary rooms; similar to what I do now with hotels. On the other hand, I also sometimes like grand, luxurious hotels and those old-fashioned hotels can sometimes be quite charming and interesting too. It depends on the destination.

LUX: You are a trustee of Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) and board member of the National Council of Science Museums. You’re passionate about art and design, an art collector too – where did your love of the arts begin and how do you incorporate it into what you do?
Priya Paul: I think my love of the arts started off because I lived in Calcutta with my parents. Calcutta at that stage, and even now, is considered a very artistic city. The people are artistic and into the arts whether its music, dance, theatre or fine art. At a young age I did oil painting and my parents would take us to all the exhibitions in town. And at that time, in the seventies, there weren’t many art exhibitions in India but there were some in Calcutta. We would go to exhibitions, to see art and new artists. At that time, my parents collected art for the hotels, as well as personally, and so we were exposed to it at a young age and it just stayed with me.

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LUX: You’ve received numerous accolades and acknowledgements that include the FHRAI (Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India) who inducted you into their hall of fame in 2010. You were awarded “Excellence in Design Innovation 2011” by Condé Nast Traveller India. Which one was the most special to you?
Priya Paul: Numerous and I think a lot of them are from the industry. In the early years, it was very important to get those recognitions from the industry because I was not from the industry. I was doing something quite disruptive, I was making people look at hotels in a different way. It was great to be recognised then as doing something different and being successful but I think the most proud moment was the one I got from the government of India in 2012. The Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour, which was completely unexpected. I am probably one of the youngest people to get it in the industry and that was a very lovely recognition.

LUX: What does it take to be a good leader?
Priya Paul: Leadership requires different things at different times. I think I have a good “people instinct” and I enjoy working with people. But I’m also not afraid to make decisions and I think you have to be courageous as a leader, to make decisions whether they are bad or good. And you have to perform and stick by your decisions.

The Park Hyderabad

LUX: You’re a powerful female figure, with Forbes recognising you as top 100 most powerful business women in India – have you ever faced challenges in business from your gender?
Priya Paul: I’m lucky, in that I work in my own family business. When you work in your own family business you get the benefit of people accepting you because you are in that ownership and leadership role. Having said that, I started working at a very young age and I was also working at a time when there were very few young people working in business at a leadership level. Very often I felt people looked at me and thought you’re too young to be making that decision or to be in a decision-making role. I got more of a youth bias than a discrimination bias. But I was the owner and when in that position, you obviously have to handle yourself correctly whether you’re young or a woman. To me it doesn’t make a difference whether you’re a man or a woman, as long as they perform. But there are many people who have issues with it. I didn’t directly face that gender bias because of the industry I’m in. Even when I joined as a marketing manager, and General Manger of one hotel, when my father was around there were quite a few women in leadership roles in hospitality, because hospitality was much more equal. Women would always be heads of Sales and Marketing or Housekeeping, with a few General Managers and a few chefs. So there were even people twenty-five years ago in those leadership roles. There were some powerful women, even in hospitality.

LUX: Why was it important for you to be a Chairperson for the South Asia Women’s Fund?
Priya Paul: I was invited by Ford Foundation to be one of the founding directors of the South-East Asia Women’s Fund and I have always been a proponent of women’s empowerment and women’s leadership. Partly having had leadership roles in my School and College and having gone to a very pure feminist college in the US. It’s always been a part of my consciousness and so it’s my way of giving back and providing that leadership to the organisation. I was a director for many years, and I was elected to be chair a few years ago. It’s very interesting as I’m not from the field of women’s rights or activism but I think the organisation needed me to give it more direction, which I think has been quite successful. The organisation is doing good work.

LUX: If you hadn’t of gone into the family business, what would you have done?
Priya Paul: Well I’m asked that question a lot, and I have a standard answer for that. For many years I’ve said I would have been a chef. Cooking and food; it’s also a passion of mine. And luckily, I have wonderful chefs and I get to live vicariously through them. But that’s what I would’ve done, I would have run my own restaurant.

Dwarika’s Dhulikhel is designed like a village, nestled into the hillside overlooking the Himalayas

Since the devasting 2015 earthquake, Nepal has slowly been rebuilding itself as a travel destination. Until now, visitors tended to be Everest summiteers and those seeking other, though slightly less extreme, high altitude adventures, but slowly luxury is finding a place in the Himalayan foothills for travellers who seek to immerse themselves in mountain life without the hike. In the second part of her Himalayan journey, Digital Editor Millie Walton crosses the border from North East India to the remote Nepalese mountain retreat, Dwarika’s Dhulikhel in search of a slower pace of life.

Unsurprisingly, the Himalayas are difficult to navigate. It’s not until you’re actually eye to eye with the mountains that you can even begin to appreciate their enormity, not just in terms of height, but length too. The range stretches through Nepal, India, Bhutan, China and Pakistan with over fifty mountains exceeding 7,200 metres (including ten of the fourteen 8000 metre peaks). So making the journey from Darjeeling to Kathmandu isn’t impossible, but it’s not easy. Firstly there’s the drive to the border, which even in one of Glenburn Tea Estate‘s hardy Land Rovers is likely to make the strongest of stomachs queasy. The land border itself is a breeze, the Nepalese border control are easily the most friendly security officials I’ve ever met, but then there’s the flight. The weather systems over the mountains are unpredictable – on a good day it’s a bumpy ride – that said, the views of the world’s highest peaks rising majestically through the clouds makes it more than worth it.

Day beds dotted round the resort provide a perfect viewpoint of the Himalayas

Sitting in the Zero Gravity lounge at Dwarika’s Dhulikhel that’s all far behind us. We’re here for the sunset, which, we’ve been told, illuminates a view of panoramic peaks in soft pinks and golds. The lounge is a rectangular glass box with an alfresco roof top seating area, but the winds are blowing and it looks dangerously like rain so we’re nestled into one of the day beds, playing Bagh-Chal (Nepal’s national game, also known as tigers and goats), hoping that nature will change its mind. Of course, it doesn’t. The storm when it hits is fast and ferocious. Sheets of rain slice into the glass, forks of lightning stab the ground and the wind shakes the sides so violently, we almost expect it to shatter. It’s over in less than ten minutes. The clouds have been ripped apart leaving smudgy outlines of the giants that surround us. There’s no rosy tint, but even these sultry shadows are impressive.

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Homely touches in the suites

An hour’s drive outside of Kathmandu, Dhulikhel is an ancient Newari hillside town where tourists flock in the promise of panoramic views from Langtang Lirung in the east, through Dorje Lakpa to the huge bulk of Gauri Shankar and as far as Numbur. Of course, for the true thrill seekers, you can venture by foot into the depths of the Himalayas to a base camp or perhaps even to a peak, but if its luxury you’re after, you won’t find any beyond this point. Just outside of town, Dwarika’s sprawls up the side of a slope, hidden behind thick forest. Built in 2013, as the more subdued sister of the Dwarika’s hotel in the city, its a place of indulgent solitude, where guests are invited to embrace a slower pace of life in search of a more mindful and creative existence. There’s a daily schedule of complimentary activities led by resident gurus and artists including yoga, meditation, pottery and painting all held within little mud huts tucked into the dense foliage. Most beautiful is the Himalayan pink salt room, with walls and floors made from glistening rock crystals. It’s the purest form of salt on earth and is thought to be beneficial for the respiratory system – sitting on the arm chairs with a soundtrack of spiritual chanting, it feels almost otherworldly. Time within these walls loses all meaning.

The resort’s infinity pool

We begin our stay with an Ayurvedic consultation with an enthusiastic doctor who asks us to fill out a form to determine our body type. Most of the Ayurvedic teachings are based on common sense, and whilst sceptics may be turning away at this point, at the very least its an important reminder to prioritise health and mental wellbeing with early nights, mindful eating and exercise. Essentially it’s about learning or re-learning to listen to your body. In urban landscapes, every space is filled with sound (traffic, voices, building sites) – even when we get home, there’s rarely a moment of true silence – and so somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten how to listen to our bodies. The mountain setting of Dwarika’s then isn’t just about pretty views, but about reconnecting to a more traditional way of living, a way of life which still exists within the Himalayan villages.

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The Art Studio at Dwarika’s Dhulikhel. Image by James Houston

The resort takes its inspiration from that simplicity and whilst it is certainly luxurious, it is designed to blend seamlessly in with the natural surroundings. The suites are all bright and spacious with rustic furnishings, cream linens, smooth natural woods and pebble stoned bathroom floor. To be truly of nature, there probably shouldn’t be wifi access or televisions, but since most guests fill their days with chakra meditation or ink painting, there’s really very little opportunity to pull out a device. Our junior suite is centred around the views with floor to ceiling windows allowing the space to fill with natural light and a large terrace where we curl up on the daybed in the afternoons with a cup of herbal tea and homemade cookies, gazing out at the mountains. There are homely touches like a bowl of walnuts for cracking, a pot of honey as a natural sweetener for tea, homemade soaps and a ceramic pot of lemongrass bath salts on the edge of the tub. Each evening coloured cotton scarves are placed on the bedside table, to wear on the following day reflecting a certain energy along with a small silver dish of soaked almonds to promote peace of mind. It’s a world of indulgence, in which every detail has been carefully considered to create an atmosphere of complete calm, and it’s not long before we feel ourselves unraveling.

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The Spa. Image by James Houston

The food adheres to Ayurvedic principles too; ingredients are locally sourced, and vegetables are plucked straight from Dwarika’s own organic farm. At Mako’s Zen, the Japanese restaurant, which offers set menus of six or eight courses, the cuisine is based on the diet that was originally followed by monks in training (it’s not nearly as intensive as it sounds) and dishes are all vegetarian and light on sodium, designed specifically for easy digestion. The vegetable tempura and maki are the highlights, and although we leave craving a little something more, it is refreshing to go to bed feeling light. For Nepalese traditional cuisine, Nature’s Flavours restaurant serves up by far the best momos (dumplings) I’ve ever tasted, and they look pretty too, dyed (naturally, of course) in bright colours.

Sunset over the mountains. Image by James Houston

On our last morning, before sunrise, we wander to the top of the hill – it’s quite a breathless climb for those unused to altitude (at 1,550metres it’s well above the UK’s highest peak) – to the meditation maze, a winding walled path of sculptures on the grass with hidden speakers playing a continuous track of OM chanting, which has an almost soporific effect as we drift from side to side. The air is fresh and light, not yet saturated with the heavy heat of the day, the grass is damp beneath our feet and the birds are only just beginning to sing. The Himalayas surround us, rising like giant waves into the ice blue sky. It’s a powerful image of stillness and stability, that’s more poignantly therapeutic than any level of luxury ever will be.

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Breakfast is served alfresco at Glenburn Tea Estate on the terrace. Image by James Houston

The Himalayas are one of the few corners of the earth that remain unconquerable by humans. Many of the world’s highest peaks are yet to be summitted and much of the range is still a mystery. In the first leg of a journey from North East India to Nepal, Digital Editor Millie Walton ascends to the colonial city of Darjeeling to experience life at high altitude from the luxurious view point of Glenburn Tea Estate.

Life on the mountains begins at sunrise. The curtains of our suite are drawn at 6am with the delivery of “bed tea” ( a china teapot of the estate’s finest brew) and biscuits. The room glows pale yellow, a light which will soon turn bright and icy. We have been told that this is when the Himalayas are at their most magnificent as the sun slides down the edges of the mountains, and the snow blushes pink, then gold. This morning, however, nature won’t oblige voyeuristic eyes and the mountains are concealed by layers of puffy, white clouds. Set against, the vibrant green of Glenburn’s surrounding tea plantations, it’s still beautiful, but not quite Kanchenjunga.

Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, sits opposite Glenburn

“You may need umbrellas. It rains almost every day here,” Jemima, our Scottish hostess warns us as we set off on a morning walk down to the Sikkim river. In the hot sun, it’s hard to believe, but the weather at high altitude is volatile and necessarily so for the healthy growth of tea. “Most people don’t realise that there are only two types of tea: Chinese and Assam. We grow both here at Glenburn,” our guide explains to us, as we stroll through the neatly combed lines of tea plants. Today is Sunday so there are no pickers at work, but there are over 1,000 employees on the estate who contribute in some way to the production of the tea. The estate, originally established by a Scottish family hence the Celtic name, is now owned and run by one of the most respected tea families in India, The Prakashes, not just as a business, but as a community. There are five villages, five schools, shops, hospitals, mosques, churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples on Glenburn’s hillsides. Lives are created and lived on the same soil from which the tea grows. It’s not something you tend to think about when you sit down for a cup of afternoon tea, but of course, most of the brands we are familiar with don’t have that kind of heritage, in fact, we’re told, a large percentage of the tea bags we dip into boiling water are stuffed with the leftover scrapings of leaves, the bad, cheap stuff. Unwittingly, our tastebuds have been dulled into acceptance of mediocre.

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The Glenburn estate isn’t actually in the town of Darjeeling, and whilst it’s only 6 km away (as the crow flies), it’s a painful hour’s jeep ride along mountain roads and down dirt tracks to reach the pretty green and white cottages that sit on a well kept, mountainside shelf (each morning the postman makes the journey to deliver the daily newspaper). So it’s remote enough not to see or hear the deafening horns of India’s jostling traffic, which somehow still manages to infiltrate the lower parts of Darjeeling. Walking down an increasingly steep track to the river, the only sound is the singing of birds. The lower we descend, the more jungle like the landscape becomes – the mountains here are so vast that they support multiple ecosystems – and we arrive at the riverside campsite glistening. Here more adventurous guests can camp for a night in the basic, comfortable lodge, but compared to the four poster bed in our bright and spacious floral suite, we decide lunch will suffice.

Tea pickers on the estate

The river, flowing fast with ice cold, glacial mountain water, is the border between West Bengal and Sikkim, and whilst Indians can move freely between the two states (we meet two men returning to a Glenburn village later on with baskets of beer hanging from their foreheads, as alcohol is cheaper across the water), foreigners require a permit to cross the bridge so all we can do is peer through the distant trees. The journey back is by jeep – luxury travel gives guests the option to choose the intensity of their adventure – and the clouds are still stubbornly blocking our view, smouldering with coming rain. Come nightfall though, the mountains around us are blinking with thousands of lights revealing the isolated communities that are hidden during the day. At a higher level, the sky seems even more black and endless filled with the vibrations of cicadas.

The Singalila Suite

Views from the bathtub. Image by James Houston

Dinner is served formally at 8pm, following colonial tradition, round a communal dining table after drinks in the drawing room. On the first night, guests timidly trot round the edge to find their place name, smiling shyly at their neighbour, but conversation flows freely after a few glasses of wine; the remoteness of Glenburn appears to attract a more worldly and relaxed type of traveller in comparison to city smart hotels. The menu is themed each night according to the produce the estate has been able to source, and whilst it’s not quite Michelin star quality gastronomy, the chefs do well with the limited resources, often incorporating tea into dishes in innovative ways. It’s a languid, indulgent and homely evening. The very charm of Glenburn lies in its unpretentiousness and eccentricity; each room is furnished with beautiful, “lived-in” antiques, battered board games are stuffed onto shelves amongst well read books, there are no locks on any doors and guests are free to wander without butlers pouncing on them to ask if they’d like another drink. It’s a nostalgic world that could not exist anywhere else, but the foothills of the Himalayas.

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That night, I’m awoken by the reverberating drumming of an insect calling out hopelessly into the darkness for a female. It’s almost 2am, hours from sunrise and yet… I draw back the curtains and in the silvery light of the moon glimpse the jagged edge of a luminous mountain, just visible for a moment before a shadow moves across the sky. There’s something reassuringly calming though, just knowing that the mountains are and always will be there.

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The streets of Delhi. Picture by Igor Ovsyannykov

In the past, India’s heaving capital has been a fly-in, fly-out destination for most tourists, but with a booming art scene and the recent opening of the Hyatt hotel group’s, coolest counterpart, Andaz, Delhi is fast developing its own allure. Yet, it’s the chaos, culture and complexity, that makes Delhi so fascinating, says our Digital Editor, Millie Walton.

It’s daybreak in Delhi and the streets are singing with car horns as taxis and rickshaws muscle past each other, weaving in and out of stray dogs, pedestrians and the occasional cow. India’s capital is more than overwhelming: it’s explosive. Every year the city, consumes huge mouthfuls of landscape, stretching it’s borders further in order to accommodate it’s 9 million and growing population. It’s a heaving labyrinth of sounds, smells and bodies. It takes a few minutes to be able to focus in the sensual chaos. This isn’t London busy: heads down, too busy to stop, see or speak. This is India busy that centres around interaction and trade. There’s something calming about the vibrancy.

The sunlight cuts shapes through Chandni Chowk’s crammed streets, holding dust in the air and illuminating passersbys. It’s one of Delhi’s oldest and busiest market areas, but fortunately the mundane outweighs tourist curiosity so you can play the invisible observer, without being coerced into buying a trinket, batteries or silk scarves (if you want to purchase cheap merchandise of almost any category this is the place). Huge blocks of golden brown sugar lie stacked at the front of the stall, whilst the man next door makes Jalebi, dropping coils of batter into a copper bowl of spitting oil, and a dog hopefully pushes its nose through the litter on the road. There’s less traffic here and most of the rickshaws are pedalled, but the force of bodies is enough to keep you moving underneath the overhanging tangle of electrical wires and pipes. It’s better not to plan a route, not just because there’s little indication to tell you where to turn, but because you can let your surroundings fill you without limitations. I stop at the call of a chaiwala to buy a small cup of steaming, spicy, sweet Indian tea underneath a blackened building that looks as frail as an empty shell.

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I break out of the market onto a wider main road, slipping in behind a local as he crosses the road. The Jama Masjid is the largest and most imposing mosque in India, standing at an elevation of 10 metres with two tall watchtowers guarding the entrance. For visitors there’s an entrance free but it’s well worth it if only to stand barefoot courtyard, eye to eye with ornate yawning mouth that some 25,000 pass through for worship. Locals seem to stop here too, to rest on the steps and watch life sprawling below.

A cup of hot Masala chai exchanging hands. Picture by Igor Ovsyannykov

In a rickshaw some time later, I sit alongside the dense pocket of traffic jostling towards Connaught Place, the commercial and business district where most of the luxury hotels cluster. My driver holds down his horn as a man on a motorbike pushes ahead, the woman perched sidesaddle on the back throws back a stare that silences. Then we’re there, in a circle of colonial style white columns and designer shops. It’s another city entirely: New Delhi. The huge flag of India lazily ripples in the sky above, while smart Indians strut into designer shops. It’s beautiful, but lacks the visual seduction of the older areas. Here you’re less able to blend into the surroundings, as foreigners are quickly spotted by locals as affluent and therefore, targets for money making schemes.

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The wider parts of New Delhi though are more pleasant and offer an interesting insight into India’s contemporary art scene. DAG Modern is the place to begin, with an impressive collection of modernist works, experimental art forms and paintings by some of the country’s most respected names. The theme of memory and identity that’s gripping the art world globally, reveals itself here with a display of works from 14 diaspora artists interpreted through western and Indian writings. I stand captivated by Satki Burman‘s swirl of moving colours that’s acutely relatable in this vibrant setting.

The Hyatt Regency Hotel, Delhi

Outside the heat has settled and the air is visibly thick with pollution. I retreat to India’s oldest luxury residence, the Hyatt Regency that’s cool and sultry with recent renovations.

The bakery at the back is still where many of the wealthy local families buy their bread and pastries, sending their drivers to make the most of the end of the day 50% discount. I sit downstairs in the cafe for a Indian high tea of chai, samosas and pani puri ( crisp balls filled with potato and spicy tangy water) before soaking in the jacuzzi pool, in the hotel’s gendered spa. As it’s Chinese New Year, dinner is at the hotel’s famed China Kitchen for a feast of crispy duck and dumplings. Oddly, it’s the best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted.

As I wander upstairs to bed, it strikes me that it’s incredibly still within the hotel walls, and I wonder, perhaps whether that’s the ultimate luxury in a city that’s endlessly restless.

While Hollywood stagnates, Bollywood is thriving. CAROLINE DAVIES charts the exciting progression of an Indian film industry that is going global

In India, cinema is more than just weekend entertainment. Producing roughly 1,000 films a year, the industry is projected to be worth US$4.5 billion by 2016. Its stars are filtering into LA; Amitabh Bachchan appeared in The Great Gatsby, Irrfan Khan as the baddie in The Amazing Spider-Man and Priyanka Chopra, or rather her voice, appeared in Disney animation Planes. Other names and faces are also seeping into the international consciousness: Aamir Khan, Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are but a few. Hollywood may still have the lion’s share of the global film market, but Indian film makers are snapping at their heels. Slumdog Millionaire, Laagan and most recently, Three Idiots, the highest grossing Bollywood film to date, drew big audiences at home and abroad, and with it, new international investors.

But Bollywood is more than a business. It has, after all, been bringing a sub-continent together for decades. Its all-singing, all-dancing and mostly Hindi language films captivate billions, watched everywhere from rural village screens erected on cricket pitches to massive urban cinemas crammed with city workers on a Friday night – not to mention among expatriates the world over. In India, the songs are hummed in fruit markets and blasted out in nightclubs.

Bollywood is taking risks. The stars, the structure, the stories and even the songs are starting to stray from the tried and tested formula of the past. This is a brave new India and it is demanding more.

“Eight or 10 years ago we thought that cinemas would close down,” says Rakesh Roshan, a Bollywood actor, director and producer. “They were very bad; the sound system, the seating, the toilets.”

“The upper middle class had stopped going to the cinema. They watched films on DVD,” says director and composer Vishal Bhardwaj. “Until the multiplexes arrived.”

India’s huge economic growth over the past decade has nurtured the middle and upper middle classes, predominantly based in the major cities. In the early 2000s, multiplex cinemas sprang up in the urban hubs of India. Unlike the pre-existing single screen cinema audiences, the new, airconditioned, well-maintained complexes offered multiple smaller screens.

“Previously, if you couldn’t make a film that filled a hall of 1,000, then it wouldn’t get made,” says writer and director Sriram Raghavan. “But multiplex screens have 200 seats. People will come and fill that.”

The audience packing out these smaller screens does not necessarily have the same taste as the masses in the halls.

“I think cinema audiences have matured,” says Vikas Gulati, a film and music director. “They are looking at films with a little more meaning. They have seen international ideas and storylines.”

But director and producer, Rohan Sippy begs to differ. “I think that audience was always there. They were always open to good content,” he says. “But still, certain types of film are still not going to have more than a 30 million audience, which is pretty small when you consider the population density.”

Thirty million may be a small percentage, but it is still a sizable demographic. Targeting different audiences has given film makers a new freedom to experiment.

“Indian cinema used to be split into commercial and art house,” says Bhardwaj. “Art house was dying, almost dead. Before, being ‘art house cinema’ meant that no one would watch your film. Since then the line has been blurred.”

As concepts have developed, songs have been squeezed. “Every film used to have eight songs,” says Roshan. “Then it came down to six, then five, now three. Now you have songs playing in the background without lip sync. Now people have less time so we have to make shorter films.”

“Songs used to be patches in the narrative,” says Bhardwaj. “Seventeen years back, if the song was not good, people used to go out and smoke. That doesn’t happen now, because directors are trying to incorporate it in the narrative.”

A new generation might also not have as much need for a musical interlude to help the story along. “In Hollywood, they express love by having an intimate scene,” says Roshan. “Because of the sensitivities, we used to have a song. All that can be explained in Hollywood in 30 seconds, we have to show in five minutes. Now the censors are becoming more liberal and we can convey it in a shorter way too.”

But songs are in no danger of disappearing altogether. “When they are badly done, they are a detour,” says Dr Rajinder Dudrah, Bollywood academic and Head of Drama at Manchester University. “But Bollywood song and dance sequences are crucial. When done well they act as narrative accelerators. If you cut out a particular song you would miss a crucial element of the plot.”

“It is the way the audience has been conditioned for more than 100 years,” says Bhardwaj. “There is a song for every occasion in our life and every region has their own in a different language. Marriage, coming of age, death; when we laugh we sing, when we cry we sing, so it becomes a part of our culture.”

It is also a part of the commercial culture. “Songs in Bollywood music are a very big promotional tool,” says Gulati. “It gives you free play on music channels. From the producer’s point of view it makes a lot of sense, because you play a video for three minutes for free rather than for a 30-second advert.”

“I think that the need for songs in Bollywood films is slightly a self-fulfilling prophesy,” says Sippy. “Conventional wisdom says you need a song and the films don’t get made or promoted without, therefore you don’t know how to do without the song. It seems unlikely to completely change; music is still a big reason why people come into movies.”

Storytelling has also changed. “Previously when you were writing a film that you wanted to do well across India, you wouldn’t root it in one city,” says Raghavan. “We often wouldn’t have surnames so you couldn’t tell which part of India they were from. That is changing. Last year there was a film set entirely in Calcutta which used local language and actors. Rootedness is being accepted.”

Not all stories were easy to introduce to India. While casting his Bollywood version of Macbeth – Maqbool – Bhardwaj approached a big Bollywood star. “He read the script and said he enjoyed it,” he says. “But then said ‘he is a loser’. I laughed and told him ‘that’s Shakespeare’s fault not mine’. He couldn’t get what I was trying to do.”

Some contend that the stories themselves are not that new. “It is more the treatment, not so much the story that has changed,” says Sippy. “Maybe some ways of storytelling have changed.”

The huge success of the 2012 film Vicky Donor, a romantic comedy about a sperm donor, was seen by some as a sign of India’s growing acceptance of new lifestyles. “Ideas are global,” says Kishore Lulla, Executive Chairman of the film studio Eros International that created the film. “There is no such thing as ‘just for Bollywood’. It depends how you package it. We are in talks with an American studio who would like to remake Vicky Donor in the US.”

Hollywood may be borrowing from Bollywood, but it is a symbiotic relationship. “From 1997 to 1998, India begun to be liberalised,” says Dudrah. “The government opened the borders and allowed foreign investment. The opening up led to Bollywood partnering up. There were new forms of business and filmmaking opportunities.”

Eros are also due to partner with HBO to create a Bollywood-based version of Entourage, the popular US TV series following a Hollywood film star and his friends. Scripts are not the only thing India has adapted and adopted from the States. Studios, rather than individual producers, are now funding the projects.

“Bollywood today is where Hollywood was in ’40s and ’50s,” says Lulla. “Studios have the financial muscle and distribution. What Hollywood achieved in 50 years, Bollywood will do in 10.”

“The corporates mean that the industry has become more organised,” says Bhardwaj. “When it was just independent producers, it was a mess.”

While Hollywood studios are now notorious for pushing re-runs and re-makes, Indian studios seem to be more open-minded, able to spread the risk.

“Many smaller films with young actors are being made because the corporates support it,” says Roshan. “It is easier now that the corporates have come. The new directors, writers, actors get breaks and a chance to work.

“On the flipside it has become so easy that people are not working hard. That’s why you see short films that come around for a few weeks then disappear. If I’m putting my own money in the film, I will see to it that I get my returns back. But if I am making a film for someone else then I don’t have that pain. I just think ‘let’s do it, we’ll see what luck has got’.”

While the West is playing it safe, Bollywood is testing its boundaries.

With thanks to Eros, Reliance, Sobo Films and Media and Entertainment at The Confederation of Indian Industry