Saturday Feeling: How we will travel in 2026, inside Tarun Tahiliani's archive and other stories to read this weekend

I have a set shopping list of souvenirs no matter where I go, buys to bring back for friends who collect all manner of ephemera—the front page of a local newspaper for a former boss, a subway map for a public-transport-mad friend, a pair of locally-made earrings for another, a set of postcards for my mother. We may pick a destination for a different reason but once we’re there, it’s often the idea of home that shapes the way we see it and the memories we bring back—stories to recount to colleagues, photos to show family, embarrassing escapades to share with friends.

Indians are travelling more than ever, both in India and abroad, and this week, we report on the travel trends of 2026. Maybe you’ll spot yourself in some of them—maybe you plan vacations around marathons or badminton matches, maybe you’re the one who browses supermarket shelves in exotic places and brings back even more exotic sauces and spices to keep the holiday spirit alive while making dinner at home, maybe you enjoy finding World War II battlefields and scenes where iconic books were set. We also report on the big events of the next few weeks—storytelling festival Udaipur Tales and Bengaluru’s multi-venue public arts festival, BLR Hubba.

The ingredients chefs will cook with in 2026

If 2025 was about caviar and truffle, fine-dining menus are expected to get more adventurous this year with a spotlight on ingredients rooted in sustainability. India’s top chefs will continue to draw inspiration from some of the most unique and rare produce indigenous to the culture, and at the same time demonstrate restraint and respect through their specialised cooking techniques. Rituparna Roy asked chefs from across the country to share the ingredients they are looking forward to cooking with this year.

A walk through Tarun Tahiliani’s archive

From the outside, it looks like an office straight out of a James Bond film. A fireproof room with glass walls, dim lights, cement grey-coloured floor tiles and pillars, rows of cupboards, two employees glued to computers and CCTV cameras watching your every move. At one end are rows of cream-coloured shelving that hold three decades of custom-made couture by Tarun Tahiliani, part of the first generation of India’s couturiers. Pooja Singh takes a walk through Tarun Tahiliani’s archives and finds treasures as beautiful as decades-old gota-patti work picked out in couching stitches and playful velvet swatches sewn with beads that give a sense of movement even when they’re at rest.

What to do this weekend

Whether you’re looking for immersive drinking experiences or playful menus, the many new restaurant and bar openings this month should have you covered. We list five new restaurants and bars to check out this month, many of them in Goa and in Mumbai. If staying home and watching great shows is your thing, we suggest season 2 of The Pitt, Freedom at Midnight, and a host of other titles to watch this weekend.

A 2026 style guide

From 1980s-inspired silhouettes to the return of mixing prints, fashion this year is all about maximalism. 2026 marks the end of the beige era and a shift towards maximalism, colour and statement-making. Trend reports indicate that people will move away from the safety of neutrals, “cloud dancer” notwithstanding, and embrace saturated colours—think electric greens, butter yellows and the iconic Yves Klein blue. The silhouette, too, has shifted toward dramatic proportions, featuring sculptural power shoulders, voluminous parachute pants, and playful polka dots. Ghazal Chengappa brings you a guide to curating a wardrobe based on 2026 trends.

Midlife lingo: From crisis to calm

Midlife rarely announces itself with drama. It arrives quietly, threaded through work deadlines, family responsibilities and familiar routines. What is commonly labelled a midlife crisis is, in truth, a convergence of emotional, physical and social transitions that unfold gradually, writes psychologist Dr. Satish Kumar CR. For years, consumption was a way to cope with this transition—sportscars, luxury watches and expensive accessories—but this is changing and many are choosing to cope by focusing on their physical and mental health.

The trouble with getting a promotion

For most worker bees, getting a promotion seems like the greatest achievement in one’s career. But landing the promotion itself is usually the first step and the glow fades in a few weeks, replaced by the realization that learning how to work in the new role is a whole new task to master. Stepping into management demands guiding a team, setting priorities, and thinking strategically, which stumps first-time managers who find it hard to get out of an execution mindset. Geetika Sachdev provides tips for first-time managers to let go of execution and focus on management.