LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

TO TRAVEL IS TO IMBUE THE MIND WITH MEMORIES, the body with experiences and the soul with the spirit to seek, beyond the monotony of the familiar. Artists in particular fuel their creativity by surrendering to the wandering spirit. Legendary artist Raja Ravi Varma travelled around the country extensively, usually in style, with a large retinue of staff, covering in excess of 90 cities in a little over two decades. Such was the imprint of his journeys that Rupika Chawla, the author of ‘Raja Ravi Varma: Painter of Colonial India’, comments that “had Ravi Varma not taken the road least travelled but rather continued to play out his life in Travancore he would not have become the Ravi Varma we know.” Taking a cue from Varma’s elegant signature style of expression, this month’s travel issue begins by charting the artist’s travels across Bombay, Madras, Mysore, Baroda, Udaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad and elsewhere to explore the impact of this gruelling schedule on his art. While Ravi Varma’s itinerary may have been slowed down by the modes of transport available in the 1880s, a post Covid world has to battle worse— an existential crisis about the day after and beyond. Travel may still be aspirational for a few, but the next couple of pages, we hope, will be just the sight for zoom-fatigued eyes. With 2020 dissolved in a pandemic-induced haze, will travellers dare to dream beyond borders in 2021? As an ode to the seeker of charming experiences, Spice engages with the medley of mountains and meditation to celebrate the unexpected beauty and prospects of Arunachal Pradesh as the evolving new hub for tourism that combines luxury with adventure. The stunning valleys of this still remote landscape are a tantalisingly exotic yet attainable idyll. Even before the pandemic, the state had been extending itself as a popular destination. Its clutch of colourful festivals and events offered a heady blend of wilderness adventure, indigenous tribal culture and a cosmopolitan music scene, egged on by an enterprising generation of tourism entrepreneurs. With the pandemic, came high-net-worth individuals, chartering private aircrafts and relocating travel adventures to less urban outposts. While the entire North East is relatively unexplored in the context of domestic tourism, what has happened with Covid is that the luxury domestic traveller has started looking at experiential destinations. The demand for private buyout properties has surged, with privacy being one of the most important factors in luxury travel, followed by hyper-personalisation. Determined to make up for lost time, travel experts reckon that 2021 is set to be a blowout budget year for luxury travellers, with an uptick in demand for ‘once in a lifetime’ holidays. While helicopter transfers are the best ways to bypass airport check-ins, hospitality majors like Resplendent Ceylon have launched bespoke, private jet experiential journeys in association with Jetpooling for Indian guests. With safety protocols in place, no minimum stays and no restrictive quarantine, it’s a covid-adjacent win-win. Don’t let your memory be your travel bag; here’s hoping 2021 will be less ‘pandemonic’.