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...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky , Mayur and Abhinandan fly off to their first international destination for the show, Sri Lanka. During the first leg of their Sri Lanka tour, the men discuss their visits to Habarana, Sigiriya and Minneriya.  Rocky sets the conversation going with the socio linguistic relevance of “bada bhai” (big brother) and “chhota bhai” (younger brother) with reference to Sri Lanka. Delving into what he thinks the essence of Sri Lanka is, Mayur talks about...

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...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, the gang — like all professionals playing on their home turf — hits it out of the park with recommendations and stories from Delhi. Instead of heading out of the city as they usually do, they drive through it, packing in as much as they can. Starting off with chaats and sweets, Abhinandan brings up Bengali Market. Here, Rocky has visited the same golgappewala for over 20 years. Prashant says the market is the most sanitary place to have street food as...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant head to the booze oasis bordering the dry state of Gujarat: the erstwhile union territory of Daman and Diu. They laze on beaches and drive across endless green pastures while sharing a drink, some laughs and lots of food!  Starting off, Abhinandan talks about the beautiful road leading to Daman, with the ocean on both sides. Heading straight to grab a chilled one on a hot afternoon, they visit Veere Da Dhaba....

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant head to India’s national holiday destination and now Mayur’s place of permanent residence — Goa. During their trip across the coastal state, they discuss food, alcohol, and Goan culture and how it has evolved over the years from when the group first visited the state years ago. Starting off, Mayur is urged to lead the troop which he does with nuggets of Goa’s history. Rocky reminisces about their first visit to the state for a shoot, when...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant drive to a state that they claim is a driver’s delight, with beautiful roads running alongside paddy fields: a trip to erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh. Their travels take them to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Machilipatnam and Ongole. After a beautiful drive to Kakinada, the team sleeps it off and sets off early in the morning for the famous local fish market. Its wares included bull sharks, octopus, eels,...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant take a swift trip across multiple locations. But this time, they take their cues  from some of our wonderful listeners, who have written in with their travel experiences.  Starting off, Abhinandan reads an email from Atharva, who recommends visiting the Irani restaurants in Mumbai and trying a wide variety of dishes. Atharva says the podcast helps him get through daily chores during the lockdown.  Picking up from Atharva’s city of...

In the light of the loss of 20 Indian soldiers killed in action in the Galwan Valley, Highway On My Podcast decided to dedicate this episode to our men and women who survive extreme conditions for our safety and well-being.  So, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant take you to various defence campuses across the country, which they had the fortune to visit during their 24-episode stint of Jai Hind. They travel from the freezing cold of -25° Celsius locations to excruciatingly hot terrains...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant drive off to Abhinandan’s home state of Uttarakhand.  Abhinandan starts off by expressing his disappointment at how Dehradun has become cluttered with traffic and urbanisation. The team then visits the Indian Military Academy, one of the most efficiently functioning institutions in the country. They describe how a sense of “nation first” is instilled in young cadets here — and how nobody lays out a party like the...

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...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant take us to Mizoram to talk about warfare training and jungle foods, before setting off for the abode of the clouds, Meghalaya.  After a backbreaking bus ride and a trip in a small aircraft that Abhinandan was scared to board, the gang reaches the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare Training School in Vairengte, Mizoram. This is where the army is trained to survive harsh jungle conditions, and the team gets...

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...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant take a trip to an underrated food heaven: Odisha.  Starting from the nondescript seaside village of Gopalpur, the gang drives through eerie lanes to reach their destination, only to find a quaint village with nothing more than a couple of shops and a really scenic and calm seashore. What sets Gopalpur apart is a DRDO testing centre on a nearby island, so the quiet is punctuated by thumping explosions. Mayur remembers eating Mathura cakes,...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant drive across Haryana, a state famous for its sporting culture. During their journey, they take you to one of the best dhabas in the country, a place in Rohtak where they stopped during most of their travels, and Murthal, which holds a special place for all of them since it’s where the pilot episode of Highway On My Plate was shot.  The team starts from Murthal, which Rocky calls “the first oasis” as soon as you head out of Delhi. They...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant take a deep dive into their memories of their travels in Gujarat. They drive across multiple cities, from coastal towns to bird sanctuaries, sampling food on the way. The trip starts from Baroda, famous for its dance festival during Navratri. As the team reminisces about the two occasions they got to be a part of the dance festival, in-house “bhalle dancer” Mayur recollects going shopping for traditional attire....

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan, and Prashant – or PRAM, as a Newslaundry subscriber recently dubbed them – drive up to the pahaads of Himachal Pradesh, journeying through Shimla, Solan, Chail, Kufri, Kasauli. They talk about the good, and bad, food they have along the and all the interesting people they meet. Starting their journey by taking a vote on who is a beach person and who is a mountain guy, the gang head to Shimla with much enthusiasm after...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant drive across Tamil Nadu. During their journey, the gang deep-dives into the culture and stories from this region while they travel across topographically wide-ranging cities with equally vivacious food culture. The drive into Tamil Nadu starts with Rocky breaking down the myth that it’s a predominantly vegetarian state. As he explains, Chennai has some of the most delicious Kadhai Quail and Nand Curry, and these dishes are a sign of how...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur and Abhinandan visit the “land of festivals”, Nagaland, as proclaimed by a huge gate they passed through during their travels. Mayur, who is vegetarian, talks about his struggles with finding vegetarian food during this schedule of the shoot. He describes Naga food as “heavily pungent”, thanks to the Nagas’ love for adding fermented soybean sauce and fermented yam to all their preparations. Rocky chips in with his two cents on why the food in this part of India...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant visit the wild wild west of India: Uttar Pradesh. As the gang wonders where to begin, Rocky decides to go someplace that’s “done to death” and talks about why it still stands ground: Tunday Kababi in Lucknow. While Rocky, Abhinandan and Prashant cannot stop gushing over the delicious food, Mayur enlightens listeners about how the famous kebab place came to be. Rocky says Tunday has a taste that’s unmatched anywhere else in the world,...

In this episode of Highway On My Podcast, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant reminisce about their travels through Jammu and Kashmir from back when Ladakh was a part of the state. The journey kicks off from a visit to a high altitude warfare training school to experience the harsh training jawans go through to survive the difficult terrains in Siachen and other high altitude posts. The gang talks about their visit to a winter training school in Gulmarg where Rocky was the subject of a...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur and Abhinandan return to the land of the Brahmaputra: Assam. Rocky talks about what makes Assam one of his favourite states, saying time slows down when you’re there. To feel the essence of the state, he says, one must listen to Bhupen Hazarika’s music. Before driving out of Guwahati, the gang visited the Kamakhya temple in the capital city. As Abhinandan reminisces about the beautiful view of the city from the temple, Rocky issues a brief caveat for anybody...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Abhinandan and Prashant drive across Rajasthan. Rocky starts off with a story about how Abhinandan thought he was having a heart attack. The conversation steers towards “kinky kulfi” (Rocky and Mayur’s version of King ki Kulfi) and Bajwa Dhaba on the way to Jaipur. Heading towards Bikaner, the gang talk about the Karni Mata temple in Deshnoke, famous for having thousands of rats in and around it. They recollect people offering prasad to the rats and eating...

In this episode, Rocky, Mayur, Prashant and Abhinandan talk about their journey to God’s own country, Kerala. They kickstart their journey from Thiruvananthapuram where Rocky, Mayur and Abhinandan struggle to keep up with the historical facts regarding Laurie Baker, the architect who designed the Indian Coffee House building. While Abhinandan recollects the restaurant’s communist associations, Rocky and Mayur talk about its history. Thiruvananthapuram also brings back memories of Azad Hotel...