Postcards From Nowhere with Utsav Mamoria

In the narrative of Kashmir, what often lies forgotten is the origin story. What could a Naga king who ruled thousands of years ago, have in common with a humble Gujjar-Bakrwal man, and what did they have to do with the origin of Kashmir? This week, in the eighth episode of Kashmir Diaries, Utsav narrates the story of a deadly hike at Sheshnag lake, which ended in a rather peculiar way. Tune in, t...

What started out 600 years ago in Persia (present day Iran) thrived to become the crown jewel of the Kashmiri arts. However, the art of Kashmiri carpet weaving is now vanishing, on the brink of extinction. This week, in the seventh episode of Kashmir Diaries, we meet Rafiq Ahmed Shah, a 73 year old, fourth generation artist who is fighting to keep this art alive, and is probably the last patron of...

About 100,000 years ago, a mutation in a family of deers gave rise to 3 distinct sub-species which came to be known by the geographical regions they travelled to - Bukhara in Uzbekistan, Xinjiang in China and Kashmir in India. But what does that deer have to do with the Kashmiri people? This week, in the sixth episode of Kashmir Diaries, I bring to you the story of the Hangul, the Kashmir Red Deer...

In 1960, the Indian Archeaologist T N Khazanchi, in a painstaking excavation spanning 11 years, discovered proof of 4 distinct human cultures beginning from the Aceramic Neolithic to the Historical era, which meant that the Kashmir Valley had been inhabited for at least 11,000 years. In the excavation, they also found a stone carving, which did not merit enough attention. This week, in the fifth e...

In the Indo-Pak War of 1971, as the two countries fought bitterly, the fate of a few people change irrevocably - Overnight, they found themselves to be citizens of a new nation. This week, in the fourth episode of The Kashmir Diaries, Utsav takes you to Kargil, which overnight became a household name thanks to the war in 1999. But in the narrative of this most recent war, lies forgotten the story...

100 Episodes - A reason to celebrate, a reason to reflect. This week, we don't have a postcard, but a long conversation about travel. Utsav speaks with Chuck, the host of Getting Meta, about slow travel, the evolution of Postcards from Nowhere, and what drives him to travel in the first place. This conversation is about the person, beyond the podcast. Tune in, and discover the new Manifesto of the...

They form 12% of the population of J & K, and yet their story is missing from the larger discourse of Kashmir. The Gujjar-Bakarwals are the nomadic pastoralists who migrated from Rajasthan in the 6th Century, and continue to live off the land. This week, in the third episode of the Kashmir Diaries, we delve into the uncertain future of the community, caught in the web of nationalism, religion, env...

Two systems of writing time developed independently: One in Kashmir, and the other in Kerala. But they developed in completely different cultural milieus. And its all connected to the parking lot of Maulana Azad Medical college in Delhi. This week, in the second episode of The Kashmir Diaries, we delve into the art of Persian and Sanskrit chronograms, which have been used for centuries for everyth...

What could be common between the towns in the Isfahan province of Iran, and the city of Srinagar in Kashmir? And how could they show us two ends of the same spectrum? This week, starting a new series, The Kashmir Diaries, we travel to Srinagar and meet the last craftsman of a dying art - Rosewater making. But there is more to rosewater than being a beauty product and a food additive. There is a mu...

In a corner of northwestern United States, live a group of Native American people known as the Navajo, who in their language has no word for religion or art. But they have a very unique philosophy which encompasses both - Hózhó. This week, join me in understanding the life philosophy of the Navajo people, and what lessons it holds for us - as travelers and as humans. Tune in to discover how we sho...

In 1845, a young student at the University of Oxford wrote a poem that led him to win the Newdigate Prize. His poem was about a place he never visited. 130 years later, a nurse from New Zealand traveling through this very place, fell in love with a man, married, and started living with him - in a cave!  This week, in the fifth episode of Beneath the Veneer, we travel to Petra in Jordan and experie...

In the arid desert landscapes of Jordan, amongst the Balga tribe of Bedouins, is the famous story of the Ibn Khaltan, a man known all over for his incredible generosity, bordering on madness. This week, in the fourth episode of Beneath the Veneer, we travel to Little Petra in Jordan, and understand the intimate aspects of Bedouin hospitality. Tune in, and discover how Utsav had a very memorable ex...

What could a statue of an Islamic ruler in the Umayyad dynasty near Jordan have in common with Ashoka Pillar in Sarnath India? How does Jordan, a country with a 95% Islamic population, have aspects of Hinduism and Buddhism in its architecture. This week, in the third episode of Beneath the Veneer, we travel to Amman in Jordan and Jericho in Palestine, and uncover the fascinating story of cultural...

These structures are found all over the world right from Europe all the way to South Korea. They are seen in India too, 2,200 of them, but I can assure you that none of you have seen it. This week, in the second episode of Beneath the Veneer, we travel to one such structure in Jordan, and how it sends us on a meandering journey to discover the secrets of human civilisation. Tune in, to discover wh...

What could the iconic cartoon character Tintin possibly have in common with a marine biologist which kickstarted the global environmental movement. And what could both of them possibly have to do with a small nation in West Asia? This week, starting a new series, Beneath the Veneer, we travel to the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, where Utsav takes you through his first experience of encountering the...

It's been the site of a war, it has a connection to Mount Everest and a very very old connection to the human race. This week, in the seventh episode of Exploring your backyard, we visit the well known Lalbagh botanical gardens in Bangalore. This is the story of how well known but little understood Lalbagh is, and how many fantastic things one can see in the city, which are just a cab ride away fr...

A German Jew fleeing Nazi Germany. A temple buried and lost to the vagaries of time. A steamboat journey on the Mediterranean sea. This week, in the sixth episode of Exploring your backyard, we visit Malleshwaram, and how unlikely events and forces came together to establish this suburb. And how the city became home to one of India's foremost intellectuals, who went on to win the Nobel Prize. Tune...

What connects the Thai Forest Tradition of Buddhism to the neighbourhood of Ulsoor in Bangalore? (No, its not a Buddhist monastery!). It is in fact a tree whose fruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and the state fruit of Karnataka. This week, in the fifth episode of Exploring your backyard, we move into Ulsoor, which hides the story of two polar opposites. Tune in, to understan...

In 1792, the British departed from Srirangapatna near Mysore to Bangalore for a rather strange reason - To escape the mosquitos. But that wasnt the only deadly thing that shaped the future of Bangalore. This week, in the fourth episode of Exploring your backyard, we turn our eye towards Bengaluru, and how pandemics came to shape the city in ways we could not imagine. Dive in to understand how they...

"Cotton Green, the forgotten, nondescript station on the Harbour line of the Bombay suburban train network. But once, this area was the beating heat of Bombay. This week, in the third episode of Exploring your backyard, we take you to the story of the meteoric rise of Bombay, which had wide ranging causes, right from the American Civil War in the 1860's to the opening of the Suez Canal. Join us as...

You can't have been to Mumbai and not been to Colaba. The ultimate tourist hotspot, with colonial architecture and the bullet riddled walls of Cafe Leopold. This week, in the second episode of Exploring your Backyard, we take you to two silent spectators of Colaba, which are barely even noticed even by those who live there. Walk with us through Colaba to uncover its connections with Mark Twain, Ma...

For the outsider, Mumbai means Marine Drive and South Bombay. For anyone who has lived long enough in the city, they know that Dadar is the heart of the city which beats endlessly. This week, starting a new series, Exploring your Backyard, we tell you how this iconic neighbourhood has shaped the country in ways you would not have imagined. Or how Dadar in a unique way played a role in national int...

A pandemic which killed an estimated 2 to 6.4% of India's population, and became one of the only decades where our population actually declined. It's largely forgotten today. What did the 1918 Pandemic have to do with Jim Corbett and the leopards of Kumaon? What does it have to do with the home grown FMCG giant Godrej? In the last episode of the Dark Tourism Series, we travel across the length and...

The American Army fighting the war in Vietnam never took it seriously. They never estimated the extent to which these tunnels existed, for they seemed outside the scope of the American imagination. And yet, these impossible tunnels were very much a reality. This week, in the fifth episode of Dark Tourism, we take you to Vietnam, up close to the Cu Chi tunnels. Tune in, and understand how the narra...

They number in hundreds, if not thousands and they are the best kept secret of the Balkan countries, right from Slovenia to Macedonia. However, the world has come to see them very differently, thanks to the colonial gaze that has been upon them. This week, in the fourth episode of Dark Tourism, we take you to Kosovo and Serbia, upclose to these monuments, and how they came to be misrepresented to...