Highway On My Podcast Ep 17: Hot butter tea and a visit to the Rumtek Monastery

Has the coronavirus pandemic disrupted your plan to take that long trip? Is the ongoing lockdown making you crave going off-road? Fret not. If you can’t go to the highway, Rocky, Mayur, Prashant, and Abhinandan — the team behind shows like Highway On My Plate, Vital Stats of India, Jai Hind, and Rocky and Mayur's Food Xpress — will bring the highway to you!

So, here goes the newest offering from Newslaundry: Highway On My Podcast. The creators of the much loved TV travel show revisit their travels across India, sharing stories, anecdotes, trivia, and — for when the roads are open and inviting again — recommendations on food, culture, people, and much more.

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant head to Sikkim to indulge in some spiritual seeking, try the food of the monks, and meet the most beautiful human they have ever seen in the unlikeliest of places.

Mayur gets into the mood and pulls a Shashi Tharoor, offering elaborate, poetic descriptions of Sikkim’s beauty. Rocky says Sikkim’s geographical layout resembles a chicken’s neck, and Mayur chips in with how Sikkim’s location influences its cultural and culinary traditions.

Discussing the Rumtek Monastery and its “wide-ranging colour palette”, Abhinandan, as always, reminisces about the beautiful drive to their destination, with wild-grown orchids that reminded him of his childhood in Siliguri. The team attended a morning class at the monastery with the monks where they discovered that irrespective of age and subject matter, a classroom always has its backbenchers — even if it is a religious setup.

Rocky, usually known for his activities in front of the camera, was inspired by his surroundings and the favourable habitat it naturally provided for birds. So, he got behind the camera instead, and Abhinandan says it was in Sikkim that Rocky took some of his best photographs.

On the subject of Sikkim’s scenic beauty, they talk about how in the last few years, Sikkim has been the only Indian state to only consume and produce 100 percent organic food. Prashant and Mayur, the inhouse trekking enthusiasts, talk about an underrated trek in Sikkim that all nature lovers should go for. They also talk about the state’s cuisine, Danny Denzongpa’s brewery, and the taste of hot butter tea.

All this and more, only on Highway On My Podcast.

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