Dear bpb boy subscriber…

You are (gift) tagged in this post.

We thought we would address this specifically to you, because if the first sentence read “beautiful, handcrafted stationery”, you would shut it tout de suite.

The fact is, this post IS about stationery, beautiful and handcrafted. But it’s also about paper pumped with testosterone.

When a travel writer and a marine biologist offer to veer you off the beaten track, you’d be a fool to refuse. Put your voyage in the hands of this duo’s new travel company, Broken Compass, and you might end up playing guest to an all-important Village Chief in Leh. Or land in Thailand with a local boatman’s telephone number, who’ll teach you to fish. With quirky itineraries and local contacts, Broken Compass aims to customise holidays to suit every case.

The tallest man on earth, a band of virgins & an upside down girl in this month's bpb playlist.

Check it out - the third edition of Boombox, a monthly podcast of what we're listening to at the bpb office. Make space on your iPod for the tallest man on earth, a band of virgins and a girl who wants to do a headstand for you. October fest indeed!

Download the podcast or hear online here - happy listening!

Bruises – Chairlift
The Dreamer – The Tallest Man On Earth
Here In Your Arms - Hello Goodbye
Spaceman – The Killers
Mushaboom – Feist
Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar - Strings
Sky - Joshua Radin featuring Ingrid Michaelson
Tu Vuo’ Fa L’Americano – Rosario Fiorello, Matt Damon and Jude Law.
Rich Girl – The Virgins
Into Dust – Ashtar Command

Big shout out to subscriber Aishwarya Chhettri for Boombox suggestions. Have a favourite song? Send us your recommendations at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and if we love them, we’ll add them to next month’s track record!

Are we there yet? That’s one whiny question you won’t be asking on a road trip put together by Exoterra. Why? Probably because you and your co-trippers will be too busy scavenger hunting en route to the Konkan coast, or following a map to a secret waterfall in Bhandardara after your tour operator intentionally lost you along the way.

Reduced to Gears

These are the kind of road trip itineraries the new adventure drive company Exoterra’s Harshit Merchant can customise for you, who has been participating and organising race car rallies in Maharashtra since 1987. His motor movement is well oiled by event planner wife Anjani’s super organisational skills - before this, they ran Chequered Flag, a national Formula One fan club together.

This online travel bookstore carries a curated selection of fiction and non fiction books that are sure to send you on a trip.

What: Yellowleg traveller's bookstore, visit www.yellowleg.com, start at Rs 220 for a paperback.

Why: Slick and user-friendly, this online bookstore not only carries usual suspects like Lonely Planet and Fodor’s,  but also a curated selection of trippy fiction and non-fiction. Plus, they offer lowest price guarantees, buy back options and three day delivery. In bpb’s cart: My Invented Country by Isabel Allende, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone.

When: You want to (s)train your eye.

Riddle me this: How do you fit an airplane, sky diving equipment, an instructor and the moolah for a lesson in a 7 by 7 cardboard box? Oh and you’d also have to make room for a sailboat, paintball machine, dirt bike and zip lining gear.

Answer: Buy the “Adrenaline Gift Box”, a pretty crimson case that contains a voucher booklet of above mentioned adventure activities (and more).  This box of “experiential presents”  you send to a friend, who can then pick any one option from the mini brochure. Pretty neat trick, huh?

Latitude and Longing-tude

Here’s  a perfect ruffle by Bibhu Mohapatra; Hong Kong’s most dangerous stiletto; trapezoid earrings roughly hewn from a hunk of gold in Bogota: try hard enough, and you can almost taste the tamales on L-atitude, a new website that retails clothes and accessories by fun (and often unknown) global designers.

As a culinary establishment, Indigo (Colaba) has always been a rock star, and we, its groupies. Naturally we were kicked when food blogger Shaheen Peerbhai (Purplefoodie.com) scored us backstage passes to the kitchen, and even got chef Irfan Pabaney to sing for our supper. Put your hands together for his secret recipe: Fettuccine with Roasted Root Vegetables and Braised Amaranth. This is the part where you hold up your lighter above the crowd and look starry eyed, your body swaying from side to side.

Follow cooking instructions below and view delicious step-by-step visuals in our culinary slideshow that will make you want to plate for life.

Nut Case

From the kitchen of our favourite food blogger Shaheen Peerbhai (purplefoodie.com).

Spiced Cocktail Nuts

Yield: 3 cups
Time: 18 minutes

Ingredients: 3 cups mixed raw nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashew nuts), 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, 2 sprigs rosemary, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp red chilli powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp light corn syrup.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Chop the leaves of the rosemary and thyme and combine it with smoked paprika, chilli powder, salt and corn syrup in a mixing bowl.
• Add the nuts and mix thoroughly until they are coated with the herbs and spices.
• Spread the nuts in a single layer on the baking tray and roast for 12-15 minutes until fragrant and evenly coloured. Turn the nuts over a few times with a spatula. (Keep an eye on them, because they go from rich brown to charred in no time.)
• Remove from the oven and let it cool before you serve.
• The nuts will stay fresh in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Tough Love

Meet Angela, pretty as a rose but armed with war chains, and Monique, shimmery and fairy-like but suited up in leather. In fact, there’s a whole battalion of feisty fighters – Serena, Anika, Alia – all waiting to choke you. Why? Because chainsmith Meera Mittal decrees so. Raising an army of uber-interesting neck pieces, each named after a woman, Meera combines feminine fabrics with metallic details, setting in motion chains of command that are hard to ignore. 

One of bpb’s favourite underground designers, this NIFT graduate has worked under fashion bigwigs like Gayatri Khanna and Ashish Soni, and launched her online store yesterday. Are we buying? Ma’am, yes ma’am!