Little paradises
Over the years, the tried and tested touristy destinations have remained popular but for some years now avant-garde tourism has been picking up. Mukesh Khosla lists 10 travel hotspots in India that promise an out-of-the-ordinary experience
A different view of the Taj
When you go to Agra, visit the Taj Mahal and then hit the Mughal Heritage Trail. This is one of the most unusual treks that has just been developed. It has been catching the fancy of the discerning tourists ever since it was developed. The trail on the backside of the Taj Mahal is designed around a 4-km meandering pathway of lesser-known monuments like the Chini Ka Rauza, Itmad-Ud-Daula and Rambagh. Another trail leads to Humayun’s mosque, where many of his kith and kin are buried, and the Jantar Mantar carved out of a single stone.

‘Customise’ sex education
Rather than blindly adopting western sex education programmes, we should have adolescent plans catering to our culture and area-specific needs, says Seema Bhatia
An eighth grade girl got very excited when she found that her parents were leaving her alone for a night to attend to some urgent social obligation. She invited her boyfriend to spend the night together. They spent an intimate night, experimenting, exploring and repenting. The anguished boy couldn’t fathom how to help the girl who started bleeding profusely.

Phobias at a glance
Do you steer clear of medical dictionaries and high-scoring Scrabble players? Well, then you might be suffering from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia — the fear of very long words. This is just one of the most curious phobias, catalogued by readers of New Scientist magazine, who learnt about their fears through counselling companies guaranteeing a cure.