February 2014 was as finicky as irresolute as any normal February should be. With the brief Delhi spring playing hide and seek with the winters, butterflies and lizards seem to be unable to make up their minds about whether to end their hibernation or go back to sleep. But those who have bigger decisions to make, such as the migratory birds who travel to India from distant lands, can't afford to be as indecisive. They have already commenced their journeys back home. Photo Journey derives immense inspiration from these hardy, persistent travelers. We keep traveling irrespective of the season, the weather, the time, or the terrain. And as a result, our February was as busy as any other time of the year and we have some great things to share this month too.
And completely in tune with the Valentine months, February 2014 saw Photo Journey's first-ever visit to a vineyard. We were invited to visit Four Seasons' vineyard, to experience their wines, to go through the wine making and packaging process, and to spend a night at their palatial property in the middle of nowhere near Baramati, Maharashtra. It was an experience that will stay with us for a long time. Click here to read more about it.
Photo Journey also accompanied its editorial partner, Literature Studio, to experience Delhi's own literary event, The Delhi Literature Festival 2014. Our joint verdict was that there is lots of untapped literary potential in Delhi that the festival can exploit and the organizers need to be careful of the decisions they take in the initial years. Click here to read our full review.
Avid traveller and trekker Mr. Shankar Rajaram, who also happens to be a regular reader of Photo Journey, visited us this month. We got to spend a good 4 hours with him and had a wonderful time listening to his experiences. We will soon be sharing more about him. Listening to his experiences reminded us about one of our memorable treks. It happened in 2008 when we headed out to scale the heights of Shrikhand Mahadev. We cannot forget the thrill ever. For more details on this trek, please click here.
This month also saw the beginning of a series that we personally enjoy doing. It also gives us an excuse to take frequent chai breaks. We present to you
The Great Indian Chai Experience series through which we will explore various chai-wallahs across the country and present to you our opinion of the unique tastes of their chais. Hope you enjoy reading these experiences.
And as promised in the previous digest, we also shared quite a few Photo Editing Tips during the month. Hope you would have found them useful. Please feel free to write back, in case you are looking for something specific to learn or try.
February also saw several wonderful posts by our guest writers. Aparna Mohindra's beautiful Photo Journeys on Pushkar and Kashmir left us spellbound. This was the first time Aparna shared her experiences with us and we hope to see many more posts for us in the future as well.
Another guest writer who has contributed his first story on Photo Journey this month is Pramod who shared the experience he and his friends had on the nail-biting trek on the frozen Zanskar riven in Chilling. The description and the evocative photographs is sure to keep you on the edge of your seats. Click here to read this post.
Bhavna Negi, one of the familiar names on Photo Journey, takes us places through her candid posts on Lucknow, Corbett National Park, and Auto Expo 2014. And she also offers a peek into Adobe's philanthropic initiative through their Adobe Youth Voices programme.
Darshan
Mehta brings to us a scenic post about Ranikhet. His post is sure to
make you want to tread the blanket of snow that blanketed the serene
hill station, and leave your footprints there. Click here to experience it yourself.
Another regular contributor, Karan K Gupta, takes us to the 78th Quila Raipur Sports Festival in Punjab. Click here to see photographs of some of the most amazing moments from what we are sure was a very exciting event to witness.