Life & Style

Runners on Sheikh Zayed Road at the Dubai Fitness Challenge’s flagship event.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Margazhi celebrated Shravan Kummar’s journey as a designer
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A storytelling session is about to commence at Bengaluru’s Buguri Community Library in Banashankari, a space created by the not-for-profit Hasiru Dala for the children of waste pickers and waste workers. Around 20 bright-eyed children, ages five to mid-teens, sit cross-legged on a jamakkalam, giggling and chatting among themselves while Gomathi J, Pushpalatha S, and Lathasha, all associated with this library, flit around the cheery mural-and-book-filled room, preparing for this session.

Gomathi begins with an icebreaker, asking all participants to close their eyes and listen as the other two facilitators introduce various sounds: a squeak, a bird’s chirp, clapping hands, and stomping feet. “Can you identify these?” she asks, with a smile, as a stream of enthusiastic responses comes in. This is followed by a dramatised story about Chintu, a little boy with musical abilities, which ends with an interactive session with the children.

“Through storytelling, we can explore so many things: creativity, music, theatre,” explains Pushpalatha S, who believes that children enjoy a good story, especially one buoyed by all these various elements. “These children are passionate about music, which is why we picked up this story,” agrees Lathasha.

At the storytelling session at the Buguri Community Library in Banashankari
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The importance of play

This storytelling session is part of a city-wide movement to reclaim childhood by Bachpan Manao, an EkStep Foundation initiative titled BM in a Box. According to Deepika Mogilishetty, Chief of Policy and Partnerships, EkStep Foundation, Bachpan Manao was started over two years ago, as a “collective creative articulation of the idea of bringing attention to the first eight years of childhood, a unique window of opportunity for every child.”

During this phase of life, learning and living are the same for children, Deepika says, because their brains are developing at a rapid pace. She adds that it is important to ensure that children get to experience the elements of joy, curiosity and wonder in this critical period of growth and development, regardless of the child’s background, something Bachpan Manao and its collab-actors from across the country strive to do “If, as caring adults, we don’t fuel it with nurturing environments, we are shortchanging our youngest.”

Play is an essential activity for children to explore these feelings and emotions. Play should be abundant in childhood – something that happens “in exploration, storytelling, running, climbing, imagining, and reading and even when children are doing nothing,” says Deepika.

In an effort to ensure support structures that enable play, Bachpan Manao seeks to create more child-friendly, welcoming early childhood care spaces. “Bachpan Manao’s 100-plus collab-actors are part of this conversation, and they seek to do this in their own way,” she says, pointing out that a range of events, both online and in-person have been organised across the country, which celebrate and make visible early childhood, “in our homes, in our conversations, in our anganwadis, kindergartens, schools, parks, libraries and in other public spaces.”

Play happens in multiple ways, including exploration, storytelling, running, climbing, imagining, and reading
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

A collaborative effort

BM in a Box emerged out of a collaboration between Bachpan Manao and Makkala Hubba, which is part of the upcoming BLR Hubba, a Bengaluru-based arts and culture festival, which will be held in the city between January 16 and 25.

Bhawna Jaimini, the curator of Makkala Hubba, described in the BLR Hubba website as “a sensorial world in the heart of Freedom Park that restores wonder, play, and discovery”, expands on the reason behind it.

“There are fewer and fewer spaces in cities for children to explore beyond the confines of their homes and schools,” she says. And while Bengaluru is no exception, it does have an extensive network of parks and open spaces, which its citizens continue to occupy and reclaim imaginatively.

“Makkala Hubba is another way of reclaiming the city for childhood in creative, joyful ways, where artists, educators, and creative practitioners lead the way in making Bengaluru the city of, by, and for children,” says Bhawna.

Makkala Hubba with Bachpan Manao transforms Bengaluru’s Freedom Park’s historic grounds into a landscape of curiosity, connection, and wonder, where “learning doesn’t happen in rows of desks but through touch, sound, movement, storytelling and quiet time”.

In the process of this co-creation between Makkala Hubba and Bachpan Manao, another idea emerged, says Deepika. While looking at what would be presented through the lens of play and learning at Makkala Hubba to make it inviting to younger children, they also began to explore ways to create something that could happen in any space in the city.

An installation from Makkala Hubba, Nose Squats
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“This is not just about one event or one park. It’s about fundamentally reimagining Bengaluru as a city that prioritises its youngest residents, where every neighbourhood has safe spaces for play, where we invest in our anganwadis and libraries, where public planning considers children, and where childhood is not just protected but actively celebrated and eventually becomes a national conversation and movement,” she says

Creating more child-friendly spaces

This led them to conceptualise the BM in a Box toolkit, a “metaphorical box” that offers ways to bring early childhood to life across various spaces and communities. This co-created digital playbook, available for download from the Bachpan Manao website, offers resources to help anyone host a BM in a Box event.

These include a simple guide, eight childhood themes such as play, social bonding, nature and stories, over 32 activity ideas—including lagori, pictionary, sock puppets, scavenger hunts, clowning and story circles, to further explore these themes, a directory of artists, storytellers, musicians, and resource persons, printable décor, materials, and giveaways to make spaces vibrant and pointers to ensure safety, inclusion, and care for every child.

“BM in a Box is an invitation to anyone, saying that – here are a few ways of bringing childhood alive in your community and neighbourhood,” says Deepika, who sees it as a way of empowering communities across Bengaluru to create space for and celebrate childhood in their own neighbourhoods.

Buguri Library’s Lathasha agrees saying, creating spaces like this enables children to open up and express themselves more fully. “Many of the children here face social challenges in their everyday life, and don’t have a platform to express themselves.”

These activities, she feels, also offer them an opportunity to talk about their suppressed thoughts and feelings. “When Pushpa does read aloud, for instance, children say that this happened to me that day. And when we assign tasks like writing to them, they do it beautifully,” says Lathasha, who says creating safe spaces for children to be themselves is extremely important.

The BM in a box toolkit can be downloaded at the bachpanmanao.org/playground_bm/bm-in-a-box-a-series-of-micro-events-celebrating-childhood

Kickstart 2026 on a high with several new culinary offerings that have opened doors. A Southeast Asian hawker-inspired restaurant, a pub that draws from Bali’s tropical locales, and Ishaara’s second outlet in the city are just a few of the many experiences on offer.

NEW IN THE HOOD

In-house brews @ Tropika

The latest entrant to Marathahalli’s dining scene is Tropika, a tropical-inspired dining and craft brewery. Inspired by Baliesque interiors and island vibes, the outpost has been designed by city-based WDA Architecture and features “greenery, earthy textures, and breezy open areas”. 

As for the culinary offerings, the menu features over 200 globally inspired dishes including  international plates, as well as vegan and Jain options. Offerings include paneer jakhas bao, walnut cream cheese dumplings, jalapeño poppers, leaf-grilled lamb, among others. The highlight, however, is the in-house craft brewery, guided by the philosophy, “Good Beer Doesn’t Hurry.”

On offer are eight signature brews including Belgian wit, chocolate stout, tropical coconut cream ale, and sparkling strawberry cider that are complemented by premium spirits, cocktails, and mocktails.

At37/1, Outer Ring Road, Panathur, Marathahalli, Bengaluru – 560103

Sector 144 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Coastal meets continental @ Sector 144 

The multi-cuisine pub’s second outlet offers diners a rooftop dining experience on the fourth floor with a terrace. An all-day dining venue by day and rooftop bar by night, it is designed in warm, earthy hues, Aztec-inspired design elements, and intimate seating pockets.

The menu features 120+ dishes spanning Karavalli coastal, Chinese, and continental cuisines. Highlights include truffle parmesan fries, Korean fried chicken, spiced cottage cheese skewers, lamb seekh kebabs, butter garlic prawns, and slow-cooked chicken mains, among others.

The beverage menu features cocktails and mocktails that draw inspiration from ‘birds, trains, card games, rock bands, global currencies, and cult characters’. Indulge in a whiskey sour, gin basil smash, vodka watermelon cooler, tropical rum punch, a virgin passion fruit mojito, etc. 

At 4th Floor, Above Style Union, Santrupthi Nagar, JP Nagar 7th Phase

The Wine Studio has been curated by CUR8
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Wine Studio @ Four Seasons Hotel Bengaluru

Upping their cocktail game, the hotel’s newly launched The Wine Studio has been curated by CUR8. Aimed at offering a more immersive, elevated wine culture in the city, the studio offers a range of tactile experiences for diners. Guests can assemble their own cheese boards, discover boutique Indian labels, and more. 

Highlights include Indian Chenin Blanc, Burgundys, and more. The studio also features a ‘rotating menu of curated journeys that bring regional wine traditions to life through thoughtful pairings and guided tastings’.

The Grand Tour de France, for instance, features wines, live baguette slicing and artisanal cheese carving from Bordeaux to Burgundy, the Italian Wine and Cheese Soirée covers the Alps, Tuscany, and Sicily with bold reds and hand-sliced Prosciutto di Parma. 

At 8, Bellary Rd, Dena Bank Colony, Ganganagar

A cocktail at Ishaara
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Memory-led dining @ Ishaara 

Bellona Hospitality has brought its ‘purpose-led’ diner to Church Street. Created on the philosophy of giving back, Ishaara is helmed by a team of hearing and speech-impaired service professionals. 

With their food philosophy leaning towards familiarity, the menu is rooted in memory — ‘by the kitchens, lanes, and lived experiences that define Indian cooking, from the bylanes of Old Delhi to coastal homes and clay pots in Bihar;. Highlights include Dilli waale dahi bhalle, oyster moilee, tandoori broccoli, Chandni Chowk chicken kebab, kathal kakori, paneer palak shyam savera, Ishaara butter chicken, Champaran mutton, Kashmiri gucchi biryani, Sufiyani chicken biryani, Amritsari Halwa, and more. 

At 1 Sobha, Church Street

Dishes at Yoichi
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Hawker-inspired @ Yoichi

The team behind Shiro and Hard Rock Café brings to the city a restaurant that draws from the food carts in the narrow alleys of Bangkok and Tokyo. Yoichi, meaning ‘street market’ in Japanese, is located in the heart of Manyata Tech Park and is a Southeast Asia-inspired culinary offering. Complete with stalls and carts, the restaurant features an Izakaya live section lined with bottles of sake and Japanese whiskey; a Tuk Tuk Bar; a Claypot Corner; Salad Cart; The Grill; and a Vegetable House. There are also live experiences like a dim sum counter, a parata ichiban stall, a satay cart, and a sushi station. The highlight is an Asian Thali that comprises a ‘mix of several Asian dishes with bites of South East Asian favourites’. 

Top dishes include Thai glass noodles, Korean kimchi ramen, Cantonese hot pots, Japanese classics like hamachi carpaccio and tsukune, and Vietnamese hotpots, to name a few. 

At Block U, 1st Floor, Manyata Tech Park – 1, MS Ramaiah North City, Nagavara, Bengaluru 560045

Khoya Mutter Makhana at Lohri
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

FESTIVE EDIT

Harvest specials @ Lohri 

Commermorating North India’s harvest festival, Lohri has launched a new menu to spotlight Punjab’s winter kitchens. It begins with festive drinks like the peeli phasal, a blend of ripe mango, sugarcane juice, roasted cumin, and fizzy soda; mirchi te ganna da ras, a mix of fresh sugarcane juice, ginger, lime, and red chilli. 

As you move to mains, savour sarson da gosht, murgh lababdar, khoya mutter makhana with breads like palak aur lasun naan, beetroot and roasted jeera naan. Alongside are hearty soups such as makki da shorba and paya shorba. The breakfast section features a rabdi paratha, while the desserts include atte ka halwa and gajar ka halwa.

Until January 18 at Ground Floor, Trinity Circle

A dish from the millet menu
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Millet menu @ Radisson Blu 

This harvest season, the hotel has collaborated with health food brand Bakahu to curate a millet menu. Coinciding with Makar Sankranti, the menu spotlights indigenous and seasonal produce, and is ‘rooted in mindful eating and the goodness of native grains’.

The menu features foxtail millet vegetable hakka noodles, ragi millet uttapams with veg sago, and a sorghum millet halwa. There is also a section for millet-based drinks that includes heritage highball with toasted bajra water; and bhoomi breeze with ragi water, among others. 

Until January 14 at 90/4, Outer Ring Rd, Marathahalli Village, Marathahalli

Good food needs no drama or backstory to entice the eater. And yet, when doli ki roti was served to me for lunch by Sherry Mehta, hails from Shimla and is an authority on Himachali and Punjabi cooking at Kanak, Trident Hyderabad, I found myself curious. Without context, it looked very much like a puri that was part of ‘A culinary tale of unchronicled Punjab.’

Sheen sajji by Sherry Mehta
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

“No, it’s not a puri. Break a piece, taste it, then let’s talk,” says Sherry.

I did—and the doli ki roti surprised me. Simply put, it is a thoughtful hybrid of a bhatura and a dal puri. Unlike a bhatura, doli ki roti is made with wheat flour that undergoes a 24-hour fermentation. It is stuffed with roasted, coarsely ground yellow moong dal, rolled out to puri size, and fried in oil. The result is soft and slightly stretchy, never chewy, with the moong dal adding an occasional bite.

“These rotis were made for the bride’s journey from her mother’s home to her sasural in the olden days in the region of Multan i,” Sherry explains. “The fermented dough ensured the food wouldn’t spoil, while the moong filling provided protein. The name ‘doli ki roti’ literally means bread for the palanquin.”

Some of the starters by Sherry Mehta
| Photo Credit:
Prabalika M Borah

Next came the Peshawari naan, gently sweet and stuffed with mawa. After these two breads, there was little temptation to reach for something as plain as the kesari ki paronthi.

What stood out was the menu Sherry had put together — one that foregrounded lesser-known gems from the region like a mixed vegetable kadhi, green tomato butter chicken, Lahori tadka daal, panjratni daal, pani phal ke kofte and so on). The starters included babugoshe ka shorba (a pear-based soup), parat ki paneer (paneer stuffed with prunes), bathuwa aur nyoje ke kebab (tikkis made with bathua greens and pine nuts), sheen sajji (whole meat slow-roasted over coal), and bhang jeeri jheenga (prawns cooked with hemp seeds).

“There are two parts to this menu,” says Sherry. “One comes from research and the digging up of old recipes. The other, dishes made with green leafy vegetables and pulses, is my way of breaking the mindset that Punjabi food is only about paneer and butter masala.”

The bathuwa aur nyoje ke kebab, for instance, highlights an overlooked use of bathua (which grows as a weed during winter season and consumed as leafy vegetable). Punjabi cuisine is often reduced to familiar pairings like sarson ka saag and makki ki roti, but, as Sherry points out, “we also eat bathuwe ka paratha and bathuwe ka raita.”

Sherry Mehta
| Photo Credit:
Prabalika M Borah

Surprisingly, the starters were devoid of the usual curd-and-spice marinades. The batyr ka shorba (peppery quail soup), for instance, relied solely on pepper for heat. The sheen sajji — marinated with nothing more than salt and pepper — proved that flavour often lies in restraint and simplicity. The bathuwa aur nyoje ke kebab, meanwhile, leaves you guessing its ingredients.

So how does this food differ from what is commonly commercialised as Punjabi cuisine? Sherry explains, “We’ve been made to believe that Punjabi food is all about ghee, paneer and butter chicken. As a result, many everyday dishes and seasonal greens have been ignored. I also make butter chicken—mine is green because I use green tomatoes. Kebabs and curries aren’t always prepared with curd-based gravies.”

Staying with the idea of seasonality, Sherry served two dips — one made with green shallots, the other with radish and sesame. Dessert followed in the form of panjiri ice cream, kali gajar ka halwa, and seb ki phirni.

The fest at Kanak, Trident Hyderabad is on till January 17 (lunch and dinner )

Published – January 13, 2026 01:59 pm IST

Bengaluru’s Bar Spirit Forward wins the number one spot at the 30 Best Bars India 2025.

Having grown up in Vikasnagar, a small town in Dehradun district, Shrey Rawat began noticing how the educational system in the hills was not helping students connect to their surroundings. 

As a child, he witnessed his grandfather lead several social movements in the area and he was inclined to follow suit. In 2023, Shrey and his wife Jyoti Rawat, also an educator, launched Suraah, a ‘living school’ in the valley.

“The idea started taking shape around 2020 when I kept seeing the same story repeat in our villages: children studied to escape the hills rather than feel rooted here. Most ended up in low-paying jobs in cities,” says Shrey, 33, who began his career in education as a Teach For India Fellow in Ahmedabad, and went on to be a part of non-profits such as Central Square Foundation, the NIPUN Bharat Mission, etc. 

Jyoti Rawat and Shrey with the children at Suraah
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

When the pandemic hit, Shrey spent more time in his village and started speaking to families, teachers, and local leaders. “What I heard again and again was that children needed an education that made sense in the life of the hills. That’s where the seed came from, wanting to build a school model that brings together thinking, feeling, and doing,” he says over a call from the school, adding how they started the pilot in 2023 with one school.

Suraah (meaning an auspicious path in Hindi) is also referred to as the ‘Ulta Pulta’ school and Shrey says this name came about because the classrooms “look the exact opposite of what they expect from a typical school”. Kids learn math outdoors using leaves and stones, understand history by visiting canals, forests, and old community sites, and they paint on walls, not just notebooks. “They ask questions more than they answer them,” says Shrey.

“For the community, this is wonderfully upside-down. So the name stuck.” On a more personal level, he says the name also carries a family legacy. “My grandfather, Surendra Singh Rawat, spent his life in public service and grassroots social movements in the hills in the 70s and 80s. In the region, he is remembered as Suraah-ji.” 

Kids learn math outdoors using leaves and stones, understand history by visiting canals, forests, and old community sites
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At present, Suraah has around 70 children from Nursery to Grade 5, with eight full-time local teachers, and a few Teach For India fellows who support planning. “Since the school works by adopting and strengthening existing schools, we inherited a school with its own long-standing practices and a committed local teacher team. What we introduced was a clearer structure for how learning and teaching could flow every day. This includes weekly coaching, lesson debriefs, detailed planning routines, and regular observation cycles.”

Suraah (an auspicious path in Hindi) is also referred to as the ‘Ulta Pulta’ school
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Shrey explains that a big part of their growth has come through a partnership with non-profit The Circle India. “Our teachers travel to Pune twice a year for a year-long professional training programme and participate in regular Nature-based learning sessions, rehearsal spaces, and collaborative planning meetings.” 

As for the syllabus, every part of the learning connects back to the hills. “Children study rivers, forests, farming cycles, village professions, and migration in Jagatgyan; Nature trails, leaf symmetry walks, and farming observations through Mauj; and in Yogdaan, they identify real village challenges, water scarcity, waste, tourism, and design small impact projects,” says Shrey outlining their modules.

Other branches include Khoj where local materials are used as science tools, Abhivyakti that uses mud, pine needles, stones, and local colours. “The goal is simple: learning should make sense in the world the child lives in.”

A math session in progress
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

A great teaching methodology, no doubt, but for most people, especially those in the cities, this seems like a utopian scenario given how most mainstream schools function. Shrey believes that a few things are easily replicable across schools.

“First, Nature and community integration. You don’t need forests for that; even neighbourhood walks work. Second, observation-based assessments that include continuous, small, behaviour-focussed notes, not just tests. Schools can incorporate slower classrooms as children learn better with fewer concepts and deeper experiences,” he says, adding that weekly planning clinics for teachers are also important. “You don’t need to overhaul the system to do this.” 

The methodology comprises Nature-based learning sessions, rehearsal spaces, and collaborative planning meetings
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Having said that, Shrey admits the challenges of running an alternative school. Some of the biggest, he says, were convincing parents that learning without pressure and punishment actually works, and training local teachers for a pedagogy they never experienced themselves. “One common belief is that progressive schooling is slow, or not serious. The reality is the opposite. It requires stronger planning, deeper teacher training, and a lot more consistency.”

A classroom session in progress at Suraah
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

So far, children who have moved from Suraah to mainstream schools have adapted “surprisingly well.” Shrey adds, “They sometimes find the initial lack of creativity in mainstream settings a bit dull, but academically, they settle in smoothly because their conceptual foundations are strong and they can make sense of new ideas quickly.”

To ensure children can stay on longer, the team is now expanding up to Grade 8, and also setting up a second school site (15 kilometres from the existing school) by April 2026. “Long term, the aim is to build a replicable rural school model for Uttarakhand that is rooted in context and strong in academics,” he concludes.

Details on suraah.org

There is a stretch in Panjim where the road loosens its grip, the river widens, and you find yourself glancing sideways without fully meaning to. Hotel Mandovi sits there with studied indifference — the kind of building you pass often enough to stop seeing, until one day it returns your gaze with questions. It feels paused rather than abandoned, as though it has simply stepped out of the present for a moment.

Inside Sabores
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

That feeling followed me this December, when I was in Goa for the launch of Sabores, run by Akshay Quenim, of Tataki and Shoyu, whose family history is entangled with the now-defunct hotel. Over meals and casual conversations with locals, after my visit to Sabores, Mandovi surfaced instinctively. “That’s where we took visitors,” a local told me, as if reciting an old rule. “If you wanted crab done properly, you went to Rio Rico.” The name of the restaurant carried the weight of old cinemas and clubs — spoken with affection, and the understanding that something formative had once taken place there.

Hotel as social infrastructure

The reverence makes sense when you look back. Conceived in the early 1950s for the exposition of the relics of St Francis Xavier, the Mandovi was Goa’s first starred hotel. It welcomed dignitaries, including Jawaharlal Nehru, alongside waves of clergy, pilgrims and officials moving through Panjim at a moment when the city was learning how to host without spectacle.

Listening to people talk about it, another Panjim begins to take shape. A slower, civic Goa anchored to the Mandovi river. Bureaucrats and journalists lingering over drinks. Families dressing up for Sunday lunches that slid gently into evening. Plates of prawn curry, pork vindaloo, crab xec-xec arriving with confidence.

Walking past it now is a reminder that Goa has always offered more than one way in. Beyond beaches and shacks lie caves, petroglyphs, village museums, old palaces and riverfront hotels that once shaped its rhythm. Places like the Mandovi sit at that intersection — easy to overlook but impossible to replace.

Sabores: legacy without reverence

Akshay is clear that while that legacy follows him, Sabores is not an attempt to recreate it. “We’re putting our spin on food this region is known for, but often diluted,” he says. Located within Clube de Palma, a private residents’ club in Bambolim, the 60-seater restaurant leans into Goan-Portuguese architectural cues without slipping into pastiche. Laterite walls remain exposed, contemporary chandeliers hover overhead, and booth-style seating allows for intimate, unhurried meals.

Inside Sabores
| Photo Credit:
Cleto Fernandes

The culinary programme draws from Goa’s Hindu and Christian traditions, with Portuguese influence running quietly through it. As with any new restaurant, there is an adjustment period — a kitchen learning to handle the ferocity of orders, seasoning finding its footing, and proteins settling into consistency. That said, several dishes already show a clear point of view.

Inside Sabores
| Photo Credit:
Cleto Fernandes

The chicken corrado, a house interpretation of Goan chilli fry, is confident and well-balanced, heat held in check by restraint rather than dilution. Rissóis de camarão, served with a smoky tomato aioli, are crisp, correctly filled, and unshowy — done the way they should be. The charred pork belly with amsol glaze is tender and deeply flavoured, the kokum lending acidity without sharpness, while the slow-cooked pork roast is smoky, comforting, and quietly indulgent.

The spread

Clam bullhao rissois lobster

Divar mutton samosa

The bread programme — poie, onde, pão and celebratory dinner rolls — is thoughtful rather than ornamental, especially when paired with house-made butters ranging from a subtle choriso note to a classic café de Paris.

Not everything lands, however. The Goan green beef curry, though hearty, feels muddled where it should be precise, its freshness dulled by excess weight. The Chapora, a Rio Rico classic reimagined — a coconut-forward curry meant to deliver soft tang and coastal comfort — lacks the depth and clarity.

The cocktails

The cocktail programme, developed with Pankaj Balachandran of Countertop India, is disciplined and largely assured. The Flor de Palma, built on frangipani-infused vodka, is effervescent — a drink that knows when to stop. Ain’t No Sol-shine, a tequila cocktail with kokum and plum, carries tang, soft sweetness and a refined sour finish, like a tropical monsoon held neatly in a glass.

The standout is Vindaloo — pork-fat-washed gin, Cointreau, chilli-garlic honey and citrus, finished with egg white. It is bold, refined and quietly explosive, the kind of cocktail that lingers in memory rather than demanding attention. Mango Verde, however, disappoints: a highball that promises brightness but falls flat, its raw mango note failing to cut through as expected.

What stands out at Sabores is that it offers proportion — an understanding that heritage does not need to be replicated to be respected. Between the plates, the drinks, and the small gestures — postcard-style comment cards, and the promise of regular Fado nights — there is an attempt to keep memory active rather than embalmed.

Address: Clube de Palma, Phase 2, Aldeia de Goa, Bambolim, Goa; meal for two costs ₹3,000 (inclusive of alcohol)

Published – January 11, 2026 02:38 pm IST

Karthic Rathinam is 26 and, by most traditional measures, healthy. The Chennai-based product designer has no chronic illnesses, no dramatic warning signs, nothing that would have sent an earlier generation rushing to a clinic. Yet he has undergone a battery of medical tests: blood markers, metabolic panels, sleep analysis. He tracks his body continuously through a ring on his finger and an app on his phone. Each morning, he checks the data — how long he slept, how much of it was deep, and whether his heart-rate variability suggests recovery or strain.

“The numbers do not merely describe my body; they shape my understanding of it. A good score brings reassurance. A bad one lingers through the day, even if nothing feels wrong,” says Rathinam, who is trying to slow a future he cannot yet see. The tests, the tracking, the constant feedback are less about today’s body than about tomorrow’s.

Karthic Rathinam tracks his body continuously through a ring on his finger and an app on his phone.

For this generation, longevity is not a distant concern but a way of managing uncertainty in the present. Many young Indians entered adulthood amid economic volatility, delayed milestones, and a constant sense that the future is fragile and contingent. Health, unlike careers or the climate, appears measurable and improvable. Tracking sleep, glucose, or recovery offers a feeling of control in lives otherwise shaped by forces beyond individual command. In fact, in urban households, the flow of health expertise is often reversed today: children introduce parents to protein intake, wearables, and preventive tests.

The body has become a visible project

“Kids today are so much more conscious about what they put into their mouths,” says author and podcaster Shunali Shroff. “I can definitely speak for my daughters. After 16, they started looking at food in terms of groups, thinking about protein versus carbs, making choices with intention.” And it’s not just them; many of the younger generation are the same.

Shunali Shroff’s daughters look at food in terms of groups, making choices with intention.

“Teenagers and young adults aren’t waiting to feel unwell. They are treating wellness as a practice, not a remedy. It’s a shift in behaviour, but it tells you something profound about how this generation thinks about health,” she says. Cryotherapy, red-light therapy, Ayurvedic detox protocols, naturopathy cleanses, autophagy diets, urban ashrams, collagen formulas, PRP injections: all are part of their toolkits. Shroff describes the pursuit as a form of signalling, a way of showing that one has the time and resources to invest in living longer. She notes, “The body, once a private concern, has become a visible project.”

Aditya Palod, 30, works in private equity, a world built on long hours and constant mental strain. He has tried ice baths, yoga, the gym — the now-familiar rituals of modern self-optimisation. He emphasises, “how ordinary this sounds. These practices, once fringe, have become water-cooler conversations, shorthand for how a generation is trying to manage the cost of the way it lives”.

Aditya Palod has tried ice baths, yoga, and the gym.

“The country already has more than 140 million people over the age of 60. By 2050, that number is expected to exceed 350 million. This will give rise to a senior citizen economy estimated to cross $1 trillion dollars. An economy built for youth and speed will be forced to adapt to endurance, care, and ageing.”Aryan KhaitanInvestment associate, Whiteboard Capital

Aryan Khaitan

Beyond western templates

India’s longevity story, however, cannot simply borrow from western templates. “In India, people often live long enough to grow old, but not well enough to remain independent,” says Rishi Pardal, co-founder of the longevity clinic Biopeak. He argues that the real question should be about functional survival — much like the younger generation is increasingly trying to address. “The gap between lifespan and healthspan is wide, and it appears early. Indians tend to develop cardiometabolic risks at younger ages and lower thresholds than western populations. Muscle loss, reduced mobility, and chronic inflammation set in sooner.” Many interventions popular in global longevity circles are designed for very different biological and social conditions.

Rishi Parda says the real question should be about functional survival.

Meanwhile, Prashanth Prakash, founding patron of Longevity India, a multi-disciplinary initiative by The Indian Institute of Science, believes that India’s historical links with practices such as Ayurveda and meditation could stand us in good stead. He states the country can be a hub of longevity innovation. “We can leapfrog legacy sick-care systems directly to predictive health, and our history is a massive asset here,” he explains. “Ayurveda is essentially the original ‘systems biology’ — viewing the body as an interconnected network rather than isolated parts. This cultural familiarity with holistic balance [like gut-brain axes] accelerates the acceptance of modern, AI-driven interventions.”

“The need of the hour is to converge ancient wisdom with modern medicine in an evidence-based way. Scaling longevity services will require collaboration between the public and private sectors. Insurers could tie policies to preventive health metrics [like wellness scores] to reward healthy behaviour. Public health systems could partner with longevity researchers to bring data-driven, preventive programmes into communities. High-touch clinics could serve as innovation labs, but a more affordable layer will consist of AI-led digital coaches that deliver 80% of the value at a fraction of the cost.”Prashanth PrakashFounding patron, Longevity India

Srinivas Balasubramanian

A collective recalibration

A decade from now, Rathinam will not remember most of his numbers. The sleep scores and charts will blur with time. But his health, tended to early and deliberately, will hopefully stand him in good stead.

Awareness is spreading, too. A whole generation is beginning to think about ageing before it arrives, to treat strength, mobility, and mental clarity as assets worth protecting. Longevity need not be a race to live forever or a privilege reserved for a few. At its best, it could be a collective recalibration, a society learning to value staying capable, connected, and independent for longer.

The author works in consulting by day and writes about culture, business, and modern life.

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