How many psychedelic zebras were killed so you could get to work? How many fresh fruits were tripping at breakfast this morning? How many velvet robes gave up their lives of motel comfort to be here?

These are questions we routinely ask ourselves as we get into Mumbai taxi cabs that are upholstered with all kinds of prints laid on thick, thick fabric that is definitely not for all seasons and pupils.

Trying to remedy this is Taxi Fabric, a brand new community of designers that want to give the city’s cabs an Eliza Doolittle-worthy makeover. My Fare Lady? Taxi Fabric was started up by Sanket Avlani, art director at ad firm Creativeland Asia, who like many of us in this clogged city, is constantly stuck in traffic. To keep himself entertained on long rides from Wadala to Andheri and back, Avlani started taking pictures of taxi seat covers and sharing the images online, which generated a ton of interest. This led to a lovely Tumblr account, a brainstorming session with friends from the advertising industry, and finally, a bunch  of designers coming together to re-design taxi seat covers.

Bhaisaab, Kitna Metre?

"As a people, Indians are not very receptive to design -our mass transport systems lack a certain edgy design element. I felt that there was a massive blind spot that needed to be addressed", says Avlani. According to him, Taxi Fabric is still in a very nascent stage. The group is in the process of getting in touch with designers and setting up their networks with taxi drivers and owners.

If you've been on the Bandra side of the Sea Link or stopped by Rangsharda for a drink recently, you've probably noticed an odd looking structure, a building that looks like a giant desktop or a puzzle, waiting to fall into the hands of a curious child.  "A Cubist baby of lines and planes," author Jeanette Winterson would call it.

Some scouting and resurrection of three Winterson books later, we found that this will be the new gallery and office space for the Bombay Art Society, designed by Sanjay Puri, architect extraordinaire, the man who's also behind The Infosys building in Mysore and the CIE building in Cochin.

Art Deco

The Bombay Art Society was founded in the 1800s during the time of the British rule to give an impetus to the local art scene. A hundred and twenty three years on and the Society that allegedly gave MF Husain his first big break in 1947 (he was awarded a gold medal at an annual Bombay Art Society exhibition),  is set to get their very own building. "It’s a landmark moment for us, and we’re very excited,” says Parfulla Dahanukar, President, Bombay Art Society, which has functioned out of the Jehangir Art Gallery since 1952. “We’ve had some of the greatest names in the history of Indian Art associated with us and it’s great to have a building that is unique and contemporary, one that reflects the organization it will house," she says.

But getting the building to reflect what it holds on the inside wasn’t an easy job. With an idea to maximize the small 1,300 square metre plot, Puri created a fully fluid area to fit the society’s requirements. The building, which people often tell him resembles Henri Moore’s cubist sculptures, will house three galleries, a small auditorium for lectures and talks, a café and an office. To create an illusion of space, Puri had to use a wire mesh for the structure of the building as well as floating columns-so there are no straight beams that run directly from the top to the bottom of the building. “The idea was to allow one space to flow into another. Which is why the building has no corners!” A comment on the contemporary art scene in India, Puri feels the building showcases just how much Indian art has progressed.

Building Blocks

The building has attracted a lot of attention, both good and bad, considering this project has been over eight years in the making partly due to delayed BMC permissions and its complex design.

While this space will start to function in a few months from now, Puri tells us about the other Bombay buildings he loves to stare at and what he day dreams about when he looks at the city.

Up: Puri's Favourite Bombay Buildings

1. Kanchanjunga Apartments on Pedder Road by Charles Correa: For its clean and inspiring design plan.

2. Nehru Science Center in Worli by Achyut Kanvinde: For its internal volumes and the spaces that seamlessly move from one to another.

3. NCPA building in Nariman Point by Philip Johnson: For its beautiful picture windows and clean lines.

Fantasy League: Puri's ideas for Mumbai

1. Extend Mumbai’s coastline: Of the 125 km coastline that Mumbai has, only 25 kms are accessible to the public. Reclaim some land and build a landscaped, green track from one end to the other. It would solve one of the biggest issues the city is facing right now-public spaces.
2. Make Ballard Estate a no car zone: If the area is compulsorily pedestrian, tiny roadside cafes and boutiques could flourish in the area.
3. Tulsi Pipe could be our lung: According to Puri, Mumbai even had a chance to re-engineer itself about twenty five years ago when the mills shut down .Tulsi Pipe Road could have been a green lung in Mumbai if some of the mill land on that long stretch of road was left to be developed as a green belt.

Up, up and away!

Getting There: Bombay Art Society, currently at Jehagir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, 22044058.View their website here.Soon to open at Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (W)

“Macondo is not so much a place, as a state of mind, which allows you to see what you want, and how you want to see it.”

The way Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes his fictional town from One Hundred Years of Solitude always made it seem like a great place to get away to. A town that wasn’t defined by time lines and schedules, just your own plain will. Which is why when we heard of Latin Aventuras, a boutique travel agency that specializes in customised itineraries all over South America, the idea of seeing what we wanted, they way we wanted to, had us almost packed and ready to (tan)go!

La Isla Bonita

The idea for Latin Aventuras came to Atul Parekh during a tango class he attended in Mumbai. "Obsessed" with the region, he wants people to know that  "Latin America is so much more than just carnivals. There's wild life, rain forests, cruises, glaciers, adventure sports, beach towns, shopping...and that is what I want to showcase through this travel company,” he says. Latin Aventuras focuses on seven countries - Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru. The only non-South American destination they plan trips around is nine day expeditions to Antarctica, with senior researchers from National Geographic and BBC World News as tour guides. South Pole dance!

There's no pre-packaged deals here, just progammes tailor made to suit your requirements and interests, whether it is a luxe or a budget trip. The process is fairly detailed and involves debunking a whole lot of myths about the region by introducing clients to videos and information about the countries they intend on travelling to and then charting out travel routes and itineraries based on likes. Their own fee is fairly nominal, and a small percentage of the cost of the entire trip.

Sign up with Latin Aventuras and you could be:

Doing a 39 day trip across 13 cities in South America. You can take 39 days off? Who are you?!

Skiing and surfing across countries in Latin America.

Sniffing your way through Le Festival De Flores, the flower festival in Medellin, Colombia. Yes, that's the only thing you'll be sniffing in Colombia.

Hanging by a waterfall that's almost five times larger than the Niagara - the Iguacu Falls, a  275 waterfall stretch over 1.8 miles across the Iguacu River.

Looking at mad species of flora and fauna - no, not your travel buddies - through binoculars at the Sangay Park, a UNESCO Heritage Centre.

Ace Venturas!

Getting There: Latin Aventuras, 4, Vasundhara, Bhulabhai Desai.Road, call 23521746, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for queries, view the website here or the Facebookpage here.

What’s on your top ten holidays list? While ours includes alliterations—Moscow, Mexico and Morocco—we’ve been saving up for the perfect African safari, zebra spotting over breakfast, chilling with a giraffe at tea time and watching lions by the watering hole as the sun goes down. Chalo Africa, an eight month old Delhi-based travel agency, promises to organize safaris specifically tailored to your interests. The mane event?

Pride Parade

We spoke to Smita Srivastava, who along with Sangeeta S Prasad and Tanvi Srivastava, runs Chalo Africa. Smita, a former school principal at Banyan Tree School in Lodhi Colony, is also a biologist and the idea of running an animal centric travel company was very appealing to her.

The company focuses on Eastern and Southern Africa, with five countries in the itineraries at the moment—Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Namibia, and in the future, they plan to expand their focus to include things like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and spending some time in Zanzibar. (bpb tip: if you’re planning to visit Zanzibar, check out our cool postcard!)

The Chalo Africa website (www.chaloafrica.com) has a list of sample itineraries you can choose from—family, romance, wildlife and so on—and they give you what they call a ‘discovery sheet’ before you go. They also provide travelers with experts who can tell you even the slightest rustle of a leaf whether there’s a snake in the undergrowth or a panther staring at you.

Cub Scouts

While even the FAQs on the website say planning a safari can be expensive—so start saving!—they are willing to work within your budget and are planning a large tour around July or August, where anyone can sign on, so if you’re dying to go and have no one to travel with, it might be a good thing to sign up for that.  (Check the Facebook page for more updates.)

Plus, we got Smita to give us her list of things to remember when you’re going on your safari. Packing heat!

1)   Carry very comfortable shoes and a wide brim hat. Smita herself has never been bitten by mosquitoes on a trip, but carry some repellent anyway, just to be safe.

2)   Also, carry a few paperback books to read during downtime.

3)   While you’re reading—remember to do a good amount of reading about the best time to visit, although the company can help you out with that too.

4)   While there are usually 8 tents to every camp, only the central mess tent has charging facilities and sometimes the internet.

5)   Tents can be super luxurious —with bucket showers, western style toilets and fine dining food—so don’t be too intimidated by the camping life.

Getting There: Visit www.chaloafrica.com or call Smita on 9717275237, prices start at approximately Rs 1.5 lakhs.

Summer makes us think about Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, and while we plan to listen to plenty of jazz and poetry this year, we’re also super excited about a new tour in Manipur that we just booked. Coming?

Impha(l)-tically Speaking

One of the key yet forgotten battles of the Second World War was the Battle of Imphal, a struggle between Japanese forces and the British in India. The fascinating aspect of this battle was it's timing- in 1944, when the rest of the country was trying to shrug colonial domination, Indian soldiers were waging a battle on behalf of the British. Like Raghu Karnad writes in his prize-winning essay on Imphal “There is no monument and no Memorial Day, and there’s no notion at all of the dilemma they faced, fighting for the Empire at the very hour that their countrymen fought to be rid of it”.

In remembrance, Hemant Katoch, a former aid worker ( he’s been with the Red Cross in Congo and in Geneva prior to that) has set up the Battle of Imphal tours, to address it's fading imprint on public memory and consciousness.

The Rest is History?

The tour, which started last month, offers two daily options. Covering sites in and around Imphal and those related to the battle, the guided route (Hemant is conducting these personally until he trains local Manipuri tour-guides) winds through a Second World war era airfield, two war cemeteries, a battlefield (Nungshigum) and the colonial era Slim Cottage. Hemant plans to add more sites to the tour by the end of May, paying special attention those which are slightly away from Imphal, on the Tiddim-Imphal road.

Also – and this is the best part – if you know someone who is linked to the battle (a relative who fought in it, or passed through Manipur during the war) Hemant offers a “retracing of steps”. Using specific details research, he will try and be as precise in locating where your person was during the war.

The tour is conducted primarily in English with varying rates if conducted in French and Japanese. With prices ranging from Rs 3,200 (for an A.C Vehicle) and Rs 2,700 (for a non-A.C vehicle) this tour is a great way to go back in time. A summer of remembering, perhaps?

Getting there: Visit the website, or their Facebook page, Rs 3,200 for an A.C vehicle half-day tour.

A haze of cigar smoke clears to reveal a men den, all wood with leather arm chairs, a bunch of suits standing around smoking and discussing the stock market.

The  Bombay Cigar Aficionados club is nothing like this. "You can wear anything you like and say what you wish - even admit your ignorance about cigars - so long as you are smoking one," says Aneesh Bhasin, one of the club's founders, who often attends in shorts and a T-shirt. In fact, the dress code on the invite says "casual with a cigar in your hand".

Patel Rap

Founded a year and a half ago, the Bombay Cigar Aficionados was until now a private monthly get together, mostly for  friends. They've now decided to open up the club to you if you're interested and membership is free. "The club isn't just for experts. The whole idea  is to encourage dialogue and interaction about cigars," says Aneesh. Hence the club's new Twitter account, and the decision to go public.  

Cigar sessions are usually held at other founding members Clinton Cooper (Executive Chef at The Four Seasons) or Nikhil Merchant (he runs a food blog called The Nonchalant Gourmand)'s homes and are attend by people with varying levels of knowledge - there's a co-founder who is a " cigar Encyclopaedia",  a member who runs a cigar factory in South America and others who can't tell one cigar from another. The setting is casual - you bring your own cigars and alcohol  -  and if you're new and don't know much you'll get the low down on what cigars to start off with, where to buy them in India and why the Thunder by Nimish by Rocky Patel cigar is no joke. "It's actually quite good," says Aneesh.

The Marriage of Cigaro

If you're new to this, Aneesh suggests that you start off with ITC's Petit Corona or Partagas Short, which are not too strong, quite smooth and burn for about 40 minutes. "We all travel quite a bit and usually pick up cigars during these visits, so it's interesting to see what everyone is smoking." Since they buy boxes, there's also a fair amount of barter that goes on at club evenings. If you're purchasing here, there's Cigarindia.com that has a good collection of cigars and accessories and ships in a day, the Cigar Aficionados tell us.   

Their next evening in on May 4, so sign up before if you'd like to attend. Aneesh is bringing Flor de las Antillas, a brand that was recently rated number 1 by a reputed cigar magazine and comes in a box that's beautiful enough to be a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book cover. So how do you trade one of your Petit Coronas for his Flor de las Antillas? Clearly, you have a lot to learn about cigars. Join the club. Seriously. Sign up by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or tweet to them at @BombayCigar.

Getting there: Bombay Cigar Aficionados, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , follow @BombayCigar, free membership, Rs 300 cover for club evenings.

If your bum needs a deck chair,  your brain needs a beach too. Your next vacation could combine the two, if you plan your trip around a wine conference, an art fair or a creative un-conference.  bpb gets 8 conference hoppers - experts from different fields - to help you pick talks and trade fairs, fests and forums  in India and around the world.

Rahul Akerkar: F&B

The MD and Director de Cuisine of DeGustibus Hospitality Pvt. Ltd, Rahul Akerkar of Indigo, Indigo Deli, Tote on the Turf and Neel has been travelling twice a year for a conference centred around the hospitality industry since he launched Indigo in 1999. He picks his conferences based on plans for deGustibus, and how he is planning to expand the business in that year. His recommendations include conferences that are great meeting places for hoteliers and those that are great for staying abreast with global trends. While the Merano Wine Festival is boutique in format and a great pick for those who want to know more about the artisanal food industry, Salone del Gustro and Terra Madre is an interesting event for anyone interested in off-beat food movements such as the slow food movement.

Akerkar’s Top F&B Conference Picks:

Gulfood, Dubai World Trade Centre: February 23-27, 2014 (www.gulfood.com)
Food & Hotel Asia, Singapore: 8 to 11 April, 2014 (www.foodnhotelasia.com)
Sial, Paris: 19-23 October, 2014 (www.sialparis.com)
Hofex, Hong Kong: 7-10 May, 2013 ( http://www.hofex.com" www.hofex.com)
Merano Wine Festival, Merano, Italy: 9-11 November, 2013
Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, Turin, Italy ( salonedelgustoterramadre.slowfood.com)

Rashmi Dhanwani: Experimental Creativity 

As member of the founding team behind The Goa Project, Dhanwani recommends Burning Man festival, which inspired The Goa Project. Usually held in the months of August/September in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, Burning Man is a life-changing experience, say most who have attended the event. Dhanwani loves the fest for its openness, unconference-like set-up, the fact that it's not restricted to any one area of conversation and the level of interactivity at the event. It’s of the people, for the people.

Burning Man, Black Rock Desert, Nevada: August 26 to September 2, 2013 ( www.burningman.com)

Tasneem Vahanvaty: Music

Head of Business Development-Arts for British Council India, Vahanvaty has been to more music conferences than you can keep track of. She travels for conferences four times a year to look for new talent and to network with artist managers, label owners and to know more about what is happening in the world of music across the globe. Completely overwhelmed by her experience at SXSW, she recommends it to anyone who is involved in the music, digital or film space. The warm and lovely vibe of the conference takes over the entire city of Austin, she says. These conferences are not only great for new conversations, but the people you meet are diverse and interesting and at the end of the day, you get a chance to catch some of the best new artists. 

Vahanvaty’s Top Music Conference Picks:

South by Southwest or SXSW, Austin, Texas: March 8-13, 2013 / March 7-16, 2014 (www.sxsw.com)
The Great Escape, Brighton, UK:  May 16-18, 2013 (www.mamacolive.com/thegreatescape)
Womex, Cardiff, Wales, UK: 23-27 October, 2013 (Usually travels across Europe, for the first time this year it is being held in the UK,   www.womex.com)

Carlton D’silva: Digital Marketing and Advertising

As Chief Creative Officer for Hungama Digital Services, D’silva travels twice a year for a conference in the digital arena, either to scope out the latest or to play jury. He recommends digital marketing and creative festival, Spikes Asia in Singapore, the biggest gathering in advertising and branding. Apart from digital and ad-centric seminars by top media gurus, this festival sees a fun mix of industry people from around the world and is great for networking. If you’re lucky, the cocktail night could even shift to the Facebook office! Organised by the Cannes body, Spikes is truly the Cannes of Southeast Asia, says D’silva. For a more technical digital conference, the next best bet would be Ad Tech, which takes place in India and around the world. Carlton's  advice while choosing a conference: pick one closer to home, as the data discussed will be more relevant to your work scenario.

D’silva’s Top Digital Conference Picks:

Spikes Asia, Singapore: September 15-17, 2013 ( www.spikes.asia)
Ad Tech: Next one is being held on  June 13-14, 2013 in Singapore (www.ad-tech.com) a
Adobe Digital Marketing Summit: April 24-25, London (www.summit.adobe.com)
Goafest, India (www.goafest.com)
WAT Summit, Mumbai (www.watsummit.com)
IndiaSocial Summit, New Delhi ( www.indiasocial.in)

Ayaz Basrai: Design and Creativity

The co-founder of The Busride Design Studio, Basrai, who barely gets any time outside of work to attend design-specific events, strongly vouches for Delhi’s UnBox Festival that just finished its third edition in  February, 2013. Organised by art collective B.L.O.T, he says it’s a maker’s fair where everyone is creating something, is devoid of the concept of a passive audience, there are no seminars and it uses metaphors from other music festivals instead of following design festival models – which means different stages and more mayhem. This loosely defined festival is apt for anyone in any creative field from designers and artists to chefs and musicians, it’s a common platform to meet an eclectic bunch of people, inspire a dialogue rich with cross-pollination, and to step into a completely bizarre world outside of one’s comfort zone. UnBox is also a showcase of each one’s personal experiments, so while on one side you will see someone screen-printing tees, on the other side you will find someone conducting a cognitive neuroscience workshop. The Busride Design Studio presented their Bandra Project at the festival and conducted a Pedestrian Workshop across Hauz Khas, drawing parallels between the streets of Bandra and Hauz Khas.
( www.unboxfestival.com)

Dhruvi Acharya: Art

Mumbai-based painter Dhruvi Acharya recommends the Art Biennale held at La Biennale in Venice Italy as a must-visit event for any art lover or  practising artist. This year will mark the 55th International Art Exhibition at the Art Biennale and will be held from  June 1 to November 24, 2013. During this time, the entire city breathes and lives art with streets also doubling up as art venues, says the painter, who visited the 2011 edition of the event. Spread across various venues in the city, from Giardini and Arsenale, this year’s theme is titled ‘The Encyclopedic Palace’ and is curated by Massimiliano Gioni. 88 national participants will be showcasing at the historical pavilions at the Giardini, Arsenale and across the city that will see the work of 150 artists from 37 countries.
www.labiennale.org/art

Shilo Shiv Suleman: Multi-disciplinary

As an illustrator, visual artist and animator, Shilo experienced one of her biggest life-altering moments at TEDGlobal in Edinburgh in 2010. She says it’s an amazing confluence of some of the most brilliant minds in the world, a melting pot of “awesomeness”. Not only do you witness the talks live, but you get to meet some of the most interesting people in the world, doing all kinds of different things – everything from street artists to flying robotic birds. Every event is larger than life, and is held in old Scottish palaces across Edinburgh. She also picks the INK Conference in India (in association with TED), where 20 inspiring young individuals doing innovative work are brought together for the conference and an attendee gets a chance to spend three days with some of these inspiring people. It’s a travelling festival and is held in beautiful locations across India.   

Shilo’s Top Conference Picks:

TEDGlobal, Edinburgh, Scotland: June 10-14, 2013 and TED at Long Beach, California (www.conferences.ted.com)
INK Conference, Kochi, Kerela: October 25 27, 2013 (www.inktalks.com)

Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan: Literature

The author of three novels (most recently, Cold Feet) and bpb’s Delhi editor, Meenakshi loves travel and books, and thinks that the best kind of trip is when the two come together. Luckily, most literature festivals and conferences unfold in gorgeous locations, and besides the Jaipur Lit Fest, which is a circus in and of itself, there are several smaller literature festivals that encourage you to mingle with the authors, bug them for signed copies and generally sit around listening to people talk all day. Perhaps the prettiest lit fest she’s been to is the Kovalam Literature Festival, which generally happens around October in the gorgeous Taj Kovalam. With delicious food, an infinity pool and a private beach, the Taj itself is awesome, but she’s had the pleasure of listening to all sorts of interesting people talk there, from Gulzar to Om Puri and Shashi Tharoor. It’s a small crowd, but worth attending  for the intimacy of the setting. (http://www.kovalamlitfest.com).

In between spoonfuls of Mulligatawny soup, we would scream, “duck!” warning each other before leaves and branches of the Banyan Tree slapped our faces. No, we weren’t playing a 3D game at a friend’s, but were dining on a new open-air double-decker bus that is also a restaurant in Mumbai – The Moving Cart. A year-old concept in Chennai, The Moving Cart, a bright red bus with party graphics, tables and chairs and LED lights, will now cruise down Marine Drive three times a day at 1 pm, 8 pm and 10 pm. bpb got on board on day one, peeping into lovely Marine Drive art deco homes, waving back at curious bystanders, minding our heads and soup.

B.E.S.T experience? Read on to find out.

LED Poisoning

For those of you who had their bus fare all ready, we're sorry to report that the experience is as disappointing as the concept is novel. The interior on the lower level of the bus is tacky with garish, night-clubby LED lights (think B-grade actor’s vanity van, don’t ask us how we know). The open-air level was spared the LED explosion, but the sofa covers, beige with white leaf detailing, were not much of an upgrade either. The yellow and red table mats that don’t seem to match anything, are apparently made of non-skid material, which means your glass of water won’t fall even when the bus moves. Plate, stay! Good plate. Now go fetch food.

Speed Bumps

Just when we were coming to terms with the décor in this mobile restaurant, the “entertainment” for the night began – old Hindi songs performed live, and loud. Not in an endearing way. By now we were hoping that nobody we knew spotted us here. As the bus moved forward, time moved backwards with Dilip Kumar classics from the 60s and dishes from a bad 80s house party - cocktail samosas, hara bhara kebab and a nameless mocktail that tasted like Pina Colada. We were in for a long haul, we realised.

The Moving Cart offers patrons a choice between Indian and Continental, and it promises a 13-course meal with unlimited helpings. We opted for Continental, but since it was the first day we were served some dishes from the Indian menu as well. The tent card menu that was supposed to be on the table was not available, and we weren’t exactly served a 13-course menu. They probably meant 13 items, but even then we were served about 10.

Our love for motorcycles is like our love for bad boys: hopelessly incurable. That's the idea behind Spicy Elephant, a new travel company founded by two nomadic Europeans (Karl Krochmal and Aurelien Cardon) who lived and travelled in India and decided that riding motorcycles through the Himalayas was an experience that not enough people have ticked off their bucket list. 

Ladakh Odyssey 2013, the first trip under the Spicy Elephant banner comes with a customized itinerary which includes accommodation, flight segment from Leh-Delhi, motorcycle rental and a documentary DVD starring you at the end of the trip. Karl tells us that he has been organising motorcycle expeditions to Leh with friends and family since 2009 but this is the first official tour with the company. Which brought us to the name. Why Spicy Elephant? We were told that it was an amalgamation of visual representations of India and a spirit of adventure. You say potato, we say ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’.

Born To Ride

The motorcycles will all be Royal Enfields and Karl and co. encourage non-riders as well. They tell us of their last expedition where a previous non-rider learnt to ride only a week prior to the journey. With an eclectic group of travelers (people from the Middle East, Europe and Africa), the expedition will kick off on June 18. The 11 day trip includes a photographer who rides with the crew and will document key emotional moments. Hail fellow, helmet! 

We're also excited about the  Tour de Rajasthan coming up in 2014, a yoga retreat in Goa, and even a kite surfing school in Zanzibar. But with the Ladakh Odyssey 2013 priced at 2249 Euros/ Rs 1,57,430 per person, this might be one expensive elephant to ride. Too much commitment? Check out Vintage Rides, based out of Delhi, which offer cheaper day excursions around the city. Va va vroom!

Getting There: Registrations open at Spicy Elephant, view http://www.spicy-elephant.com, approximately Rs 1.5 lakh per person for an 11 day trip, registrations close in May.

You’re grouchy, irascible. Everyone around you seems annoying. It’s that time of the month again. That time of the month to plan a Goa trip. And bpb’s excuse number one gazillion and five is The Goa Project.

Started by a bunch of entrepreneurs and volunteers, The Goa Project (March 28-29) is an “unconference, an experimental platform” that will encourage the cross pollination of people across different fields. It’s a trip for you, but also for your ideas, which will meet other seductive ideas, get a room and have little baby ideas that will hopefully grow up and be awesome.

Hob Mobbing

If you’ve already booked your ticket, go expecting a mix of talks, workshops, jam sessions and show-and-tell lectures that span across arts and music, entrepreneurship, film, society, visual art and design. The Goa Project follows the crowd sourced format, allowing you to suggest topics of discussion and speakers. “Everyone who shows up is a potential speaker, and those who don't speak contribute by posting photos, blog entries, podcasts, and video clips of the proceedings,” they tell us.

Discussions will range from the death of the company logo and farming as a secondary income to what an entrepreneur can learn from Bharatnatyam and art as a community builder. Don’t care for these? You can suggest your own ideas through The Goa Project’s “funnel” here. While you can help decide the speaker line up and prevent snooze fests as well, a few keynote speakers like conference circuit regulars Mahesh Murthy have already been locked in.

More-jim

Since The Goa Project is entirely volunteer driven, they are relying on crowd funding through Wishberry’s platform. You can help by donating here, or getting your company to become an event sponsor. And If you are artistically inclined, you can also submit an entry for their official tee design contest, and put a shirt on their backs (send entries to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Psst: Also check out bpb’s guide to 8 cool things to do in Goa this season.

Getting there: Visit http://www.thegoaproject.com, Rs 5,000 for a ticket (20% off for early birds who buy before March 1).