Welcome To The India We Know, The One That Feels Like Home

India is not a single story. It is a constellation of languages, rituals, subcultures, and textures that refuse to be distilled into postcards or travel clichés. For our 29th anniversary, we turn away from predictable frames of monuments, skylines, and guidebook expectations, and instead explore 29 cities through what truly defines them: memory, mood, and lived culture. 

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At ELLE, we’ve always believed that fashion and lifestyle are most powerful when seen through a personal lens, shaped by lived experience rather than spectacle. Each city here is interpreted not through authority, but intimacy: a photograph taken at the right wrong time, a passing conversation, a taste remembered, a poem scribbled in a Notes app.

This is India as it exists now: evolving, expressive, future-facing yet deeply rooted. A country where culture isn’t preserved behind museum glass — it is lived, improvised, argued over, and celebrated.

Ahmedabad

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“In Ahmedabad, textiles aren’t nostalgia — they’re a launchpad. Our grandmothers perfected bandhani, sure, but the kids at NID and NIFT are the ones turning that heritage into business models. Here, a loom isn’t just tradition; it’s R&D. The city doesn’t separate craft from industry. One lane dyes fabric by hand; the next is pitching a fashion startup to investors. That tension — tradition versus ambition — is what makes Ahmedabad feel like a future in progress.”

- Dhvani Patel, Fashion Business Student 

Vadodara

At the heart of Vadodara’s cultural identity is The Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) of Baroda. Steeped in history yet unmistakably modern, MSU has shaped generations of artists, designers, architects, and thinkers who’ve influenced India’s creative landscape. The city mirrors this rhythm: quiet mornings over chai, days alive with studios and debate, and evenings unfolding across cafés and cultural spaces. With one of the country’s strongest fine arts ecosystems, MSU offers a rare balance of rigour, freedom, and a deeply lived creative life.

Surat

“Some of my favourite memories are from Surat’s techno nights tucked away in industrial pockets. We’d spill out afterwards for cold coco, laughing our way through the night street food market. It’s in those moments that I felt the city revealing a version of itself that daylight never dares to show.” 

-Charmy Monpara, Student 

Mumbai

Mumbai’s original rhythm belongs to the Koli community. Long before the city’s skyline rose, fishing nets, tidal cycles, and coastal rituals shaped daily life here. Even today, Koliwadas anchor Mumbai to its maritime soul, reminding the city that beneath the speed, ambition, and reinvention lies an older culture of resilience, community, and deep connection to the sea.

Pune

“Pune’s design culture is one of India’s quieter strengths, understated, human, and driven more by people than trends. Its creative pulse has produced sharp design thinkers, designpreneurs, and generations of NID aspirants. What defines the city is its community-led ecosystem: ideas grow through café conversations, small meet-ups, art walks, and intimate exhibitions. Students bring experimentation, seniors bring depth.”

-Aakash Jhanwar, Founder & Creative Director, The Design Trip

Nagpur

“Growing up in Nagpur, I’ve seen café culture become a language of community for the city’s youth. These spaces aren’t just about coffee — they’re where people connect, create, jam, read and simply exist together. That’s why India’s first coffee rave happening here felt less like a surprise and more like a natural celebration of a culture the city had already built.” 

-Siddhant Pillewar, Engineering Student 

Goa

A rare moment from a 1977 full-moon party on Anjuna Beach: Kenny on lead guitar and
Goa Gil on bass — the godfather of psytrance, long before the world knew the word. This was Gil experimenting with music as a continuous, evolving journey, where sound, psychedelia, and community fused to form the earliest roots of global psytrance culture — all of it unfolding, quietly and radically, in Goa.

Bengaluru

“Bengaluru’s museums are strange in the best way—obsessive little worlds that reveal the city far better than any skyline ever could. They trace the city’s tangled relationship
with science, its unexpected quirks, its quiet fixations, and the everyday dramas tucked into its history. In a metropolis that can feel scattered and stretched thin, these odd, brilliant spaces offer a moment of clarity: a reminder that beneath all the sprawl and speed, Bengaluru has a curious, insistent heart—and it’s been collecting stories all along.” 

-Anushka Mukherjee, Writer & Researcher

Kochi

“For anyone who grew up in Kochi, the Kochi–Muziris Biennale isn’t just an art festival, it’s a mood the city slips into every two years,” says photographer Sooraj S. Nair. “The city becomes a living gallery, where streets, walls, and everyday moments feel newly charged, and art is not just seen, but lived.” That energy reshapes the city’s spaces too. “The Biennale turns warehouses, godowns, streets, and courtyards into temporary museums,” adds Manvi Gandotra, Founder and Creative Director of 1Plus1 Studio, “and that spirit of experimentation lingers long after, shaping how spaces are used and the kind of people Kochi attracts.”

Chennai

Chennai’s coastline has quietly birthed a new-age surf culture. Early mornings, shared boards, ocean respect, and local-led schools have turned the sea into a space for culture, not conquest.

Coimbatore

Coimbatore’s art district turns a once–overlooked slum into an open-air gallery, with 13 buildings transformed by murals created by St+art India.

Hyderabad

“A daawat in a Hyderabadi home is less a meal and more an orchestration of warmth. I once left with three carefully packed boxes: biryani fragrant with saffron, double ka meetha (bread pudding) still warm, and a portion of kebabs they insisted I would crave later. ‘Daawat ka asli maza toh baad mein aata,’ they said with a smile. And truly, the hospitality stays with you long after the last bite is gone.”

-Jigar Saraiya, Entrepreneur 

Bhubaneswar

“Doors flung open, homes doubling as studios, walls alive with hand-painted art, my first visit to the UNESCO-listed Raghurajpur Artist Village, near Puri, made one thing clear: Odisha’s cultural identity extends far beyond its temples. From pattachitra and palm-leaf painting to metal casting, stone carving, wooden masks, terracotta, and coconut-fibre figurines, craft here is a living language. That creative map continues to expand, from Kalinga-style stone carvers to spaces like Ekamra Haat.”

-Pratishtha Rana, Features Editor, Elle Decor India

Kolkata

“People romanticise Kolkata with books and adda, but its nights have always worn
mascara and mischief. Long before Gunday or Parineeta, Park Street shimmered with
feathers, jazz, and women who knew how to own the spotlight. Cabaret here wasn’t rebellion or spectacle; it was craft, presence, a livelihood passed down quietly. The glamour never vanished. It simply changed names, stages, and alleys.”

-Tara Basu, Event Curator & Club Runner

Darjeeling

“Framed by Mount Kanchenjunga, Darjeeling’s charm today lies beyond its tea estates
and heritage trains. In villages like Lamahatta, Takdah, Lepchajagat, and Bijanbari, a
slower, community-led tourism is emerging through women-run homestays. Thoughtfully simple rooms, farm-to-table meals, bonfires, misty hikes, and star-filled nights redefine how the hills are experienced.”

-Himashu Datta, Journalist

Shillong

“Shillong’s music culture is impossible to ignore. Almost everyone knows someone in a band, or is part of one themselves. Music here isn’t a hobby; it’s a way of life. During my four years in the city, I saw this up close, walking into cafés or small venues and discovering bands doing something entirely original. What makes Shillong special is its audience. People don’t just listen, they show up, they care. The city feels built around sound and performance, shaped by generations who’ve grown up with music at its
centre. That’s why Shillong truly earns its title as the rock capital of the country.” 

-Anamm Inamdar, Jr. Fashion Writer, Elle India

Imphal

Ima Keithel, the iconic ‘Mother’s Market’ of Imphal, has been thriving since the 16th century as a bustling women-run bazaar. For over 500 years, it has stood as a vibrant symbol of female entrepreneurship and community, blending tradition with economic
resilience at the heart of Manipur.

Guwahati

“As a fashion student, Guwahati has always felt like a living mood board, alive with textile memory and modern reinvention. Style here isn’t trend-led but craft-driven: muga and eri silks on the loom, gamusas stacked in markets, and traditional weaves worn effortlessly with contemporary silhouettes. Fashion becomes a conversation between heritage, pop culture, and experimentation, with young designers reinterpreting generational motifs.”

-Ashna Das, Design Student 

Patna

“Growing up in Patna, food was the quiet strength of the women in my family. My
mother, grandmothers, and aunts cooked not just to feed us, but to preserve something deeper. From coal-smoked litti chokha and festive khaja to thekua packed
for journeys and malpua slow-fried during Chhath, these dishes formed a culinary
language often overlooked outside Bihar. For me, Bihar’s cuisine will always taste
of resilience and quiet pride.”

-Ekta Singh, Digital Writer, Elle India 

Lucknow

“Lucknow isn’t a city you visit; it’s one that remembers you. The Imambaras and the Rumi Darwaza are less monuments, more memory—where cousins turn into guides and architecture becomes familial. A chikankari shop still calls me by my grandmother’s name. Here, belonging is inherited, recognised without introduction. Perhaps that’s why the city moves slowly.

-Ishani Chatterji, Lucknow Born

Varanasi

“In Varanasi, time doesn’t pass, it drifts just like the river gracing the city. The city moves in a slow and meditative rhythm, where dawn unfurls over the ghats like a ritual, and everyday life feels suspended between centuries. Even in its chaos, Varanasi holds a rare stillness, a reminder that life here is less about urgency and more about presence.”

-Kumar Aman, Photographer 

Dehradun

A quiet love letter to heritage storefronts, fading signboards, and businesses that have shaped the city across generations.

Rishikesh

Long before wellness became a global trend, Rishikesh was a tapobhumi along the Ganga. Today, known as the world’s yoga capital, it draws a young, global community seeking yoga, meditation, Ayurveda and pranayama. Trends may change, but its essence endures in ancient temples, Himalayan stillness, and the call of inner renewal.

-Sakshi Sharma, Yoga Instructor

Leh

“Young Ladakhis are crafting a fashion language rooted in tradition but ready for the world—from goncha-inspired coats to cloudembroidered jackets. For them, sustainability is continuity".

-Padma Yangchan, Co-Founder & Desinger, Namza Couture

Srinagar

“Kashmir is my home, and for me, it lives beyond the hills and the famed hospitality. The Gulmarg Golf Course is especially close to my heart and is among the best in Asia. Trekking and skiing are so deeply embedded in me that I even had the opportunity to represent India. It’s the values and heritage found in these often overlooked, ‘unconventional’ Kashmiri sports that shaped me into the person I am today.”

-Esha Malhotra, Consultant And Content Creator 

Chandigarh

"Chandigarh is best discovered through the places our grandparents once loved: from Sunday mutton dosas at Indian Coffee House to slow strolls through Leisure Valley, and wandering towards the quieter side of Sukhna Lake, where the Buddha Garden offers that old-Chandigarh calm, complete with bhel in paper cones and sunset views".

-Hiya Chakravarty, Communication Strategist 

Delhi

“Delhi, a city of remarkable history, is home to our bookshop –Faqir Chand and Sons, a cultural monument nearly as old as independent India. For four generations, we've stood witness to changing times, a testament to the city's enduring spirit. Some patrons who visit our shop today reminisce about their great-grandparents who walked these very aisles, their stories and memories lingering among the shelves. Our story is one of introspection, cultural preservation, and adding to this beautiful city's charm and character.”

-Abhinav Bamhi, Bookseller, Faqir Chand Bookshop

Bhopal

“After years of watching performers in Bhopal, I’ve realised the city supports the arts in the quietest, most consistent ways. What always stands out is how the audience here listens. Even at Bharat Bhavan’s open-air shows, you’ll find people sitting through
an entire performance simply because they respect the craft. Bhopal doesn’t push you toward the arts, it simply makes you feel part of them.”

-Riddhi Mishra, Journalist

Jaipur

“Jaipur Literature Festival turns Jaipur into a city of ideas. The pink walls are the backdrop, but the real colour is in the debates, the chance encounters, the way the air feels charged with everyone’s half-finished sentences.” shares Anay Agarwal a literature student. “It’s the only place where a Pulitzer winner and a local college poet stand in the same line for chai, arguing about metaphors,” 

- Raina Shah, Publishing Professional.

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