Hills
Altitude is a rate problem long before it is a height problem
The body adjusts to thin air over days rather than hours, which is why how fast you got there matters more…
· 4 min read
Leela Fernandes
Features writer, Traveology
Leela writes about states, hills, coast & islands, mostly the parts other people skip and is happiest when a piece answers the question completely.
14 articles
Hills
The Himalaya has a wet flank and a dry one, and the monsoon picks between them
The great range takes moisture out of the air as it crosses, which is why some Indian mountain valleys are…
· 4 min read
Hills
Mountain weather runs on a daily clock and the morning half is the good one
Solar heating drives valley winds and afternoon cloud, which is why flights, views and stream crossings all…
· 4 min read
Coast & Islands
India’s two coasts get their rain months apart, and that decides where to be when
One monsoon arriving from the southwest and a second one retreating across the Bay give the west and the…
· 4 min read
Coast & Islands
The cyclone season on the Bay of Bengal comes in two parts
Storms cluster before and after the monsoon rather than during it, and the difference between a warning and…
· 4 min read
Trains & Permits
A train seat exists only if a quota holds one for you
The Indian railway reservation system divides each train into separate pools by station, category and…
· 4 min read
States
Central India’s tiger reserves shut for the rains and the ground is the reason
Earth tracks that cannot survive heavy water, a breeding season the forest departments protect and animals…
· 4 min read
Coast & Islands
The fishing fleet stops for the monsoon and the whole coast changes with it
A seasonal ban on mechanised fishing along both seaboards empties the harbours for weeks, and everything…
· 4 min read
States
Eastern India’s plateau edge is where the rivers fall and the forest survives
The Chotanagpur and Eastern Ghats uplands end in a step down to the coastal plain, and that step explains…
· 4 min read
Hills
Old Himalayan villages sit above the river and the new towns sit on it
The settlement pattern in a mountain valley used to keep houses well clear of the water, and understanding…
· 4 min read
Hills
Himalayan trekking has two seasons and they show you different mountains
The window before the monsoon and the window after it differ in snow, colour, visibility and cold, and…
· 4 min read
Hills
The southern hills are bald on the ridges and forested in the folds
The high Western Ghats carry a mosaic of grassland on the open slopes and dense stunted forest in the…
· 3 min read
Hills
The people you meet on a high meadow live there for three months a year
Himalayan pastoralism moves flocks up and down the range on a fixed annual cycle, and most encounters…
· 4 min read
Trains & Permits
A night on a bus and a night on a train are not the same night
Both move you while you sleep, but the motion, the berth and the way each one handles a stop produce very…
· 4 min read