The sleepy town of Bundi awoke with great anticipation on the morning of the Navsamvatsar. The 2nd of April, 2022 coincided with the first day of the Hindu month of Chaitra, which formally heralds the new year for North India. The beginning of the year 2079 of the Vikram Samvat, a year filled with hope and revival, especially so, after the 2 years of the pandemic. However, for the people of Bundi, it was the eagerness to participate in an ancient tradition of the anointment o

The Gond art form remains the legacy of one of India’s largest tribal communities, the Gonds. Spreading over the Deccan, Central and Eastern India, these indigenous people have been perfecting painted and carved art for over 1400 years. Dating back to the Mesolithic Period, Gond art can be found on the walls of ancient caves. More popular expression of Gond art over the centuries is found on the mud-plastered floor and walls of Gond homes, chiefly for the totemic symbolism th

Shreyasi Singh is not your typical millennial. Before her life clocked three decades, she has won her nation several shooting laurels…

After months of anticipation, Rajputana Collective finally converses with the mastermind behind it all. Aridaman Singh Rathore or Ari, as he is more fondly known, opens up about his inspirational journey as one of Jaipur’s most notable entrepreneurs. We brace ourselves as we are taken through how it all started, the big leap thereafter and where it is all headed now.

In a virtual conversation with Rajputana Collective, the newest generation Scindia introduces us to the truly inventive and futuristic concept of Pravaas, which is also deeply reflective of Mahanaaryaman’s rich sensibility of age-old heritage and values of its preservation.

Meet Sujit Rathore, the proud host of Nokha House, a charming homestay in the heart of Jaipur’s Bani Park area. In recent times, Sujit has launched his very own cafe and ventured into Pink City’s myriad culinary cityscape. Known to all as Nokha House by Firangi Deli, Sujit’s venture has won hearts right from the word go. The city’s various foodies cannot stop praising his spaghettis, pizzas and indulgent cakes. Although we hail from the same batch of Mayo College and Mayo Gir

As an Indian, I have held immense pride in my nation’s diversity of regions, topographies, languages, cuisines, traditional attires and religions to name but a few. This diversity’s gruesome heads to surface every now and then, but the utopian in me seeks solace in India’s symbiotic retention of parallel worlds, realities and truths. Of holding both, apples and oranges, chalk and cheese in one marvellous subcontinental platter. Where progressive and fascist political agendas

Worldwide, it is a common feature for boys from male-centric family setups to grow up into active perpetrators of the very patriarchy that they were raised amidst. Add to that the socio-cultural dividends accorded to patriarchs in more conservative milieus, which further bolsters male-chauvinistic conducts of behaviours and mindsets as a widely accepted and rewarded norm. Direct and indirect references to social misconducts warranted by patriarchy pervade across class, caste,

Just this morning, when I was washing down my last omelette morsel with coffee did I read the COVID 2.0 news bulletin: “India overtakes Brazil as world’s second worst-hit country by COVID-19 with a record rise in daily cases surpassing the 12-lakh mark.” The ghastly picture of this time around last year sent a shudder down my spine. Another national lockdown? More casualties, an overloaded medical infrastructure and the continued crippling of our economy? Would 2020 repeat it

Design and philanthropy stalwarts for over thirty years and counting, the Kathiwadas embellish yet another jewel to their ever-growing legacy of creative innovation. Just when their unparalleled contributions to the fields of fashion, cricket and philanthropy leave all of us wonder-struck and gasping for breath, the House of Kathiwada pulls the next surprise that they had thus far hidden in its sleeve. This time around, it’s Circle 1434, a first-of-its-kind members community

The charming European style villa that is perched upon Srinagar’s Shankaracharya Hill overlooking the Dal Lake is no ordinary mansion. Constructed in the 1920’s as Karan Mahal, it served as the residence of Dr. Karan Singhji, the then crown prince of Jammu & Kashmir. A charismatic leader of legendary stature, Dr. Karan Singh served as Jammu & Kashmir’s Head of State and Governor for nearly two decades before moving to the national capital to form Indira Gandhi’s cabinet. Havi

Ex-engineer Preeti Rathore and marketing professional Maanveer Shekhawat are making headlines as Pink City’s most power-packed couple and for good reason. The two resigned from their conventional jobs in order to invest themselves fully in their joint passion for sustainable farming. Both Rathore and Shekhawat have found their calling in natural quests since their childhood years, and fate had its way of aligning them with their mutually treasured cause. After quitting his co

The days have been flowing at a hectic, almost but not quite frenetic speed that has been all but normalised in the year that was 2020. The nights are even longer but have a distinctively spiritual and self-reflective quality. India is a cacophony of sights, sounds, smells, a sensorial fest where chaos is its equilibrium. But now India teeters around a dangerous flux. A flux around religion and autocracy as exemplified by the shutting down of Tanishq stores and the taking do

Sanjay Singh Badnor uncovers the dazzling journey of Bollywood's celebrated stylist and costume designer from Madhya Pradesh's former princely state of Narsingharh in this exclusive feature for Rajputana Collective.

In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, celebrity influencer Marie Kondo propagates the Japanese art of decluttering and organising through a purging process of one’s immediate living spaces. The exponential growth of rapid consumerism has met with several countercurrents of ethical questioning, with minimalism leading this fray. Popular streaming channels such as Netflix have taken the lead in broadcasting commentaries on the dire need of minimalism, sustainability and c

A postgraduate student at the London School of Economics, her country’s astonishing lapses in public policy led Shubhangana to take up the subject as her specialisation. Her sister Veerangana is an Economics major from Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College and endeavours to work in the world of sustainable fashion. Together, they have launched a series of social welfare initiatives for social welfare and wildlife conservation, the most recent one being Dor.

The Jamsaheb of Nawanagar (present-day Jamnagar) went down in history as India’s all-time-great cricketer, popularly commemorated today through the domestic first-class cricket championship named after him as the Ranjhi Trophy. His numerous offshoots, such as Duleep Sinhji and Ranvir Jadeja carried Indian cricketing to newer heights to the extent that renders Indian cricket incomplete without its Jadejas of Nawnagar. Anyone hailing from such an illustrious lineage of sportspe

Dualism is a word that most of us Rajput millennials know too well. We have grown up juggling with two parallel worlds. On the one hand, there is the bygone era of Rajput glory that continues to resonate in present-day rituals, folklores and songs. On the other hand, lies an expanding world of liberal ideas, freedom and change that we begin dissolving into, once education and schooling begins. No sooner do we come of age and return to our ancestral dwellings than that contras