14/06/2026
Black Swan Journeys x Great State Aleworks x Pranav Joshi Neher-e-Tahayyur | Fortresses, froth, food and folklore
Tahayyur—Urdu for stunned, pleasurable bewilderment—was coined by Siraj Aurangabadi, this city’s own Sufi poet. Few places earn it as completely as Aurangabad. We follow its course—from 2nd-century BCE rock-cut caves to the present—asking only that you remain open to astonishment.
Great State Aleworks, Black Swan Journeys and Floydian Cookery invite you to journey through Aurangabad’s many histories, seen through the eyes of an art historian, food chronicler, local chefs, brewers, and the people working to bring a river back to life.
- We’ll be accompanied by Dr. Pushkar Sohoni, a conservation architect with a doctorate in the History of Art who will weave the tapestry of this region by exploring the ancient rock-cut caves at Ajanta and Ellora, the formidable Daulatabad Fort, and Bibi ka Maqbara. We travel to Khuldabad, a 14th-century spiritual capital of Sufism in the Deccan, to visit key Sufi shrines and the tomb of Aurangzeb.
- Spend time with Eco Sattva and learn about their ongoing work on the revival of the Kham river — exploring the present of the same waterway whose past Malik Ambar shaped so indelibly.
- We savour Naan Qalia—Aurangabad’s signature dish, born in the time of the Tughlaqs—on a street food trail.
- A dinner with legendary Chef Zama Khan (featured on National Geographic) brings the Pathani Bakra Mandhi cooked underground, the Afghani Dumpukht, and a Sitafal Rabdi to the table.
- Two of these dinners unfold at a farm just outside the city —surrounded by over a thousand mango, guava, fig, and bamboo trees, overlooking the hills—where Great State’s experimental craft beers are poured under the open sky.
A finely curated journey that brings together fortresses, froth, food and folklore — four days of stone, story, beer and bite, across the layered heart of the Deccan. Limited seats! DM us to enquire and book your seat!
