TAMIL NADU in South India, particularly the Chettinad area, is a ‘road much less travelled’ than many of the trendier tourist destinations like Goa, Rajasthan and Kerala but intriguing, particularly for those who have a penchant for temples, architecture and of course food. 

Indian author Neel Mukherjee’s will be in Bantry on Thursday to read from his Booker-listed

Iyer’s Cafe, 38, Pope’s Quay, Cork; tel: 087-6409079; Facebook: Iyer’s Cafe

GOLD may climb the most in more than three decades this year as investors and central banks boost their holdings on concern that global economic growth may stall amid a worsening sovereign-debt crisis in the US and Europe.

HUNDREDS of men in south India joined forces to mark World Men’s Day, voicing their protest against “biased” laws favouring women.

SOME of the world’s most endangered chants, poems and songs could soon be protected with the help of the internet, university experts said yesterday.

A pilot who once landed on the wrong runway is reported to have failed a breath test at an Indian airport, it emerged today.

Not enough is being done to save elephants that get caught up in conflicts with Indian villages, conservationists have warned today.

A south India village that worshipped monkeys after their numbers increased to more than half the population are now calling for them to be forced out.

Indian political parties were today focusing their attentions on their post-election strategies ahead of the results being announced over the weekend.

The identity of the terrorists behind the Mumbai atrocities remained a mystery today, but experts agreed they appeared to combine local grievances and international inspiration.

HUGE excitement among the birding community and more ominous signs of climate change.

A bomb ripped through a historic south India mosque as Friday prayers ended, sparking riots that left 13 people dead and 35 wounded after a day of violence and raising fears of Hindu-Muslim clashes in Hyderabad, a city long plagued by spasms of inter-religious bloodletting.

EVERY now and then I come across an exciting food writer. I have just come across an Indian cook called Monisha Bharadwaj. I should have known about her sooner as she has written several award-winning books.

MIDLETON Farmers’ Market celebrated its fifth birthday at Whit weekend. Since it started, the growth of the Farmers’ Market Movement has been nothing short of phenomenal. There are now well over 100 markets in Ireland and others are opening at the rate of one a week.

DEATH has come to the eternal city and mortality has struck at a faith that believes in everlasting life.

Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians make sense of great loss differently, writes Kenneth Woodward.

INDIA'S most wanted bandit, who had been seen by some as a Robin Hood figure, has been killed by police in a jungle gun battle while on his way to get treatment for an eye problem.

Ireland's first co-production with the famed Bollywood industry, Ayodhiya, is shooting in the County Wicklow area (one week has already been shot in south India).