Colours of India – Issue n°20 – November 2017

MIG TV brings you yet another issue of our monthly video-magazine, Colours of India.

This November, we commence our journey amidst Diwali celebrations in the capital New Delhi. Spiritually, the festival signifies victory of light over darkness and of good over evil. Hindus across the world observe the festival to celebrate the homecoming of Lord Ram, his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, after 14 years of exile. To honour the return and illuminate their path, villagers had then lit up diyas (earthen oil lamps) to welcome them and since then every year, people follow the same tradition.

We then head towards Patnitop in Jammu, which was originally known as ‘Patan Da Talab’ (Pond of the Princess), as according to ancient tales, a princess used to bathe in a lake of the meadows. With the River Chenab flowing in close proximity, weather in the region changes within a blink of an eye – every 15-30 minutes – from chilly and foggy to rainy and then moderate again.

Besides nature admirers, the destination has a lot in store for adventure lovers as well, with its zip line around pine trees, ATV rides, mountain biking, trekking and zorbing, amongst other activities.

To savour the traditional hilly Indian cuisine, we steer towards Shoghi in Himachal Pradesh and learn how to prepare the irresistible ‘Siddu bread’ – the staple winter dish in the region, with a generous quantity of clarified butter added to the age-old recipe.

Moving towards the east, we end our journey in Odisha, where we explore the Raghurajpur Art Village that is keeping alive the traditional but lesser known folk art from known as Pattachitra, which is a cloth-based painting based on Hindu mythology painted with natural colours.

See you, next month, with more such hidden jewels from India.