LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

WHILE FILMING ONE of his travel shows, English actor, writer and television presenter Sir Michael Palin found himself celebrating a festival in an Amazonian village. As a special treat for an honoured guest, he was offered some potent wine. He wondered where the sugar had come from since he hadn’t noticed any sugarcane fields around. He was later informed that when sugar was scarce, the grapes were fermented with saliva, generously donated by the resident old women! Of course, not all travel is imbued with such unexpected experiences. To celebrate the seeker of enchanting experiences, Spice explores journeys that challenge boundaries to explore a life beyond the familiar. Critically-acclaimed actor Radhika Apte, who recently bagged the Best Actress nomination at the 2019 International Emmy Awards for her performance in the Netflix film, Lust Stories, is the poster child for free spirit. For the Spice cover story, the star shared her love for journeys—both metaphorical and physical. Whether it’s charting her journey from theatre to film to television and across genres and eight languages to choosing to travel across destinations that follow anything but the beaten path. Royal life, you may think, is all about conformism, but the journeys of Radhika Raje Gaekwad, Maharani of Baroda, tell you otherwise. Setting the tone from the time when Louis Vuitton became a staple royal sojourner to when minks replaced purdahs, she shares her most treasured travel moments and experiences. Talking of adventure, top chef master Suvir Saran, who is also chairman of Asian Culinary Studies for the Culinary Institute of America, takes Spice on one through the palates and platters of Manhattan, demystifying the finest slice of the Big Apple, capturing its most distinctive scents, sounds and flavours. He draws up the perfect guide to dining in Manhattan. For renowned artist and curator Sudarshan Shetty, many journeys have become reference points for his work. Likewise, the stories and folklore, exploring India by train and hitchhiking through Europe, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan have helped Dilip Kapur, founder-owner of Hidesign, hone his design idiom and vocabulary. A journey, then, may last only a few days, but it stays in the mind forever.