Immerse Yourself In Vernacular Architecture
Indi Architecture is a social enterprise based out of Himachal Pradesh which aims to promote and conserve traditional knowledge and skills related to vernacular architectural traditions. They hold regular workshops by master craftspersons for those interested in picking up skills that go into the ancient, vernacular architecture processes of India. For instance, Kutchi mud work, mud and lime plasters, rammed earth styles, and more.
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Hone Your Writing Skills
If you are a budding writer (or have writer's block), head to the Panchgani Writers Retreat in the Sahyadris to pen down your magnum opus. You get a cosy room in a beautiful bungalow, and home-cooked meals. You may strike it lucky if they are holding one of their regular workshops on poetry or memoir writing. They also have a pool and yoga and meditation sessions.
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Pick Up Thangka Making Skills
The Norbulingka Institute in Dharamshala, named after the Dalai Lama's summer palace in Lhasa, is a haven for Tibetan culture. As artisans around the world struggle to preserve age-old traditions and techniques in a fast-paced and mechanised world, the institute helps preserve this form of community ancestral knowledge. And as a visitor, you can sign up for one of their workshops and stay in their guesthouse. They have nine workshops, including thangka painting, statue making, thangka applique, woodcarving, applique, wood painting, tailoring, weaving, and screen printing. You can even pick up products made by them at the store or online.
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Take A Botanical Art Class In The Himalayas
Imagine picking up art skills at a gorgeous art studio in the Eastern Himalayas. You can do that at the School for Natural History Art in Kalimpong. It is run by award-winning botanical illustrator Hemlata Pradhan who has studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, the Royal College of Art in London, and is the winner of the UK’s Royal Horticultural Society’s Gold Medal. Your classes will be held in a studio with huge glass windows looking out on to the surrounding hills. Several works by Pradhan and her students are up for sale, and you can easily pick them up from the studio. Contact her at hemlata.pradhan@gmail.com for more information.
Grow Organic Food With Permaculture
Looking for the perfect family holiday option that teaches your kids all about nature, the soil, and earth? Smell Of The Earth is a gorgeous farmstead located in Birbhum (near Shantiniketan) with an earth-friendly house and a self-sufficient farmstead, which is now the hub of lessons on permaculture, growing food, and leading life in an eco-friendly manner. Sign up for one of the several workshops and short courses that are held throughout the year. These courses will help you design and maintain ecological spaces, starting from small urban spaces up to a self-sufficient farm, so that you can step out of the chemical food cycles and provide wholesome organic food for your family and create farm-based businesses.
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