Photo by Caitlin Abrams

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Exploring India means choosing from dozens of itineraries, one of which should focus on Kerala, this Minneapolis shop owner says.

MSPMAG: Treasures from India aren’t all that fill Khazana, Anju Kataria’s beloved boutique in Minneapolis. So do rich travel tips, and Kataria’s eyes sparkle when she talks about Kerala. “If there’s one place on this planet where time seems to slow, beauty takes center stage, and history swirls through every street corner, it’s Kerala,” she says of the lush Indian state nestled between mountains and the country’s southwest coast. Kochi, Kerala’s largest city, is where art, architecture, and culture most dramatically converge. “Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian influences blend into a seamless culture and design language,” Kataria says. It wasn’t easy, but she narrowed her list of design inspirations to these favorites.

Fort Kochi, the most historic part of the city. Here, you’ll find a pair of churches—the Portuguese St. Francis church and the Dutch Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica—and the Paradesi Synagogue, all from the 16th century, as well as the Jewish quarter, its narrow lanes brimming with antiques shops. While the exquisite furniture and architectural details may be unwieldy for the return trip home, smaller and easily transportable items such as carved figurines, vintage photographs, and jewelry are fair game.

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The Kerala Folklore Museum. Family-run, built in three local architectural styles, and filled with some 5,000 artifacts, the museum “is like no other,” Kataria says. “The ethnographic and anthropological storytelling is deep, and every artifact, from kathakali masks and ancient textiles to colonial-era crosses and crowns, is part of that story.”

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The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Asia’s largest contemporary art gathering, next set for December 2025–March 2026. “If you’re an art hound, you’ll be silly happy to find yourself in this city at this time,” Kataria says.

Hortus, a restaurant known for its contemporary takes on traditional dishes, many of which include the three C’s—cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves—as well as Malabar black pepper. “I love it for its maximalism,” Kataria says. “It’s an architectural kaleidoscope of a restaurant.”

Luxury houseboat rentals, available through Airbnb and Vrbo, on estuaries around Alappuzha and Kumarakom near Kochi. “When you need a respite from the city, go there,” Kataria says. “You’ll find that time slows down to nothing.”

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