Himalayan Culture Comes Alive In The Capital At Journeying Across The Himalayas ...
The second edition of Journeying Across the Himalayas, Royal Enfield Social Mission’s annual multidisciplinary festival, concludes today at Travancore Palace, New Delhi. Held from December 4 to 10, the week-long festival brought together Himalayan community members, artists, musicians, practitioners, riders and audiences to celebrate and safeguard the region’s cultural and natural heritage.
Spread across exhibitions, performances, dialogues, workshops, films and culinary experiences, the festival positioned the Himalayas not as a distant landscape, but as a region shaped by lived experiences, evolving traditions and strong community voices.
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A Platform Built Around Community Storytelling
‘Journeying Across the Himalayas’ is built around a simple but powerful idea of celebrating and safeguarding the cultural and natural heritage of the Himalayan region. For Royal Enfield, the Himalayas are not just a destination; they are a spiritual home. Through this festival, the brand’s Social Mission created a space where Himalayan communities are not just displayed or spoken about, but they speak for themselves.
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The 2025 edition carried the theme ‘Ours To Tell’, and it could not be more relevant. The focus was on ownership of stories, traditions, materials, food, music and memories that have been passed down through generations. Throughout the festival, Royal Enfield reinforced its long-term commitment to working with Himalayan communities on climate resilience, cultural preservation and responsible travel.
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Opening With Conversations That Set The Direction
The festival opened with a vernissage evening on December 4, bringing together voices from across the region. The launch of The Great Himalayan Exploration - The Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Eastern Himalayas, a UNESCO and Royal Enfield collaboration, highlighted the importance of documenting living traditions that continue to shape everyday life in the region.
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The opening dialogue, Ours To Tell: Reclaiming Himalayan Narratives, brought together writers, mountaineers, cultural practitioners and community voices. What made the moment special was not just the book but the people on stage who have lived and worked in the region.
The discussion highlighted the message that these stories come from important communities and must be told with care and honesty. At last, the conversation moved away from romanticised views of the mountains and instead focused on lived realities, identity, and responsibility.
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Walking Through Living Stories
As you moved through the palace grounds, every corner offered a new experience. Art installations, exhibitions, and immersive spaces transformed the venue into a living archive of Himalayan life.
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One striking presence was Ri Gyancha, a snow leopard installation perched on the palace roof, silently watching over the festival. Inside, exhibitions explored everything from Ladakhi pashmina and endangered languages to material culture, sacred nature, and road safety reimagined through art. Nothing felt distant or academic. Each space invited you to slow down and engage.
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When Architecture Becomes Storytelling
Even the stages at the festival carried meaning. The main stage drew inspiration from Himachal Pradesh’s Kath Kuni architecture, grounding performances in traditional design. The Conversations Stage, framed by artwork from Ladakhi artist Jigmet Angmo, became a natural gathering space for dialogue and reflection.
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Another highlight was the Ritek Pavilion, a contemporary interpretation of the Adi community’s traditional communal structure from Arunachal Pradesh. These design choices ensured that architecture became part of the storytelling rather than a backdrop.
Music & Performance As Shared Expression
Music and performances formed a major part of the festival’s programming, with artists from across the Himalayan belt performing folk, blues, rock and contemporary music. Intergenerational collaborations and first-time performances brought together diverse sounds from the Northeast, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and beyond.
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The performances extended beyond entertainment, offering insight into regional histories, identities and evolving cultural expressions. People swayed, listened closely, and sometimes simply stood still, letting the music speak. It was proof that sound can carry stories as powerfully as words.
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Food That Connected Culture & Memory
Culinary experiences across the week showcased food traditions from regions such as Ladakh, Kargil, Meghalaya, Assam and Kashmir. These sessions connected food with memory, ecology and survival, highlighting how culinary practices are deeply tied to landscapes and community life.
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The Himalayan Bazaar complemented these experiences by allowing visitors to interact directly with artisans and makers, further strengthening the festival’s community-led approach.
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Beyond A Festival Format
In addition to exhibitions and performances, the festival hosted workshops, film screenings in partnership with Dharamshala International Film Festival, panel discussions and closed-door roundtables. Conversations ranged from sustainable tourism and climate resilience to material innovation, textiles and cultural heritage.
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A celebration ride during the festival also reflected Royal Enfield’s larger Social Mission, encouraging responsible travel and deeper engagement with the regions riders visit.
Walking Away With The Mountains Within
As the second edition of Journeying Across The Himalayas comes to a close, the message is clear. Preserving Himalayan culture is not about freezing it in time, but about supporting communities as they continue to live, create and adapt.
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By centring voices from the region and encouraging collaboration rather than observation, the festival has positioned itself as a meaningful cultural platform, one that connects urban audiences with Himalayan realities. It also reflects Royal Enfield Social Mission’s long-term commitment to work with 100 Himalayan communities by 2030 and to promote responsible, sustainable travel.
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And, as I left Travancore Palace, one thought stayed with me. The Himalayas are often spoken about in grand terms, their beauty, their scale, their mystery. But at this festival, the mountains felt human. They felt personal.
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