New Delhi [India], December 5: Royal Enfield Social Mission opened the second edition of Journeying Across The Himalayas, its annual multidisciplinary festival aimed to celebrate and safeguard the cultural and natural heritage of Royal Enfield’s spiritual home—the Himalayas. The opening evening, held on December 4 at Travancore Palace, brought together artists, mountain communities, partners and audiences in a shared space of storytelling, expression and celebration.
Anchored in this year’s curatorial theme, Ours To Tell, the festival was inaugurated with opening remarks and a special address, followed by the launch of The Great Himalayan Exploration – The Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Eastern Himalayas (a UNESCO × Royal Enfield project) by Bidisha Dey, Executive Director, Eicher Group Foundation and Tim Curtis, Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for South Asia. They were joined by folk music artist Kuvelu Tetseo from Nagaland, Kunzang Wangmo of Ladakh and rider-researcher Maral Yazarloo.
The evening progressed with a dialogue on Ours To Tell: Reclaiming Himalayan Narratives featuring Chiki Sarkar, Jamling Tenzing Norgay, Kelly Dorjee and Rigzin Wangmo Lachic, followed by performances by Tetseo Sisters and Jungle Vibes, culminating with a special set by Joi Barua, Lou Majaw, and Rudy Wallang. Curated dinner and cocktail pairings by Chef Doma Wang brought the evening to a close.
Speaking about the opening of the festival, Bidisha Dey, Executive Director of Eicher Group Foundation, said, “Journeying Across The Himalayas is a space for communities and collaborators from across the region to share their stories in their own words. With our curatorial theme ‘Ours To Tell’, we continue to bring the region together through creative expression, dialogue, and celebration—reflecting our long-term commitment to partner with 100 Himalayan communities.”
Festival Highlights
The festival brings together immersive exhibitions, installations, culinary journeys, workshops and performances co-created with Himalayan communities and collaborators. Audiences will encounter Ladakhi pashmina landscapes through the exhibit Unwoven/Spoken, the soundscapes and seasonal rituals of Echoes of the East, the living learning spaces of the Hub of Many Heart(h)s, through contemporary explorations by youth changemakers across fellowships supported by Royal Enfield Social
Mission, helmet art installations and workshops by Helmets for India and film screenings with DIFF on the Road. The Himalayan Bazaar offers the chance to meet creators and artisans and to buy items spotlighting regional heritage and storytelling, while Chouka, the food and beverage area, offers a taste of Himalayan cooking. Together, these curations reflect the festival’s commitment to preserving and celebrating the living traditions of the Himalayas.
Ri Gyancha, the snow leopard installation perched atop the palace roof, stands as a silent guardian of the highlands—honouring Ladakh’s “jewel of the mountain”.
Stages inspired by Art & Architecture
The festival’s performance and dialogue spaces draw deeply from Himalayan aesthetics. The main stage, designed with motifs from Himachal’s Kath Kuni architecture, shifts through the day—from cultural performances, theatre, culinary demonstrations and workshops to high-energy evening concerts spanning classic rock, indie, fusion, soul and electronic. Complementing this is the Conversations Stage, framed by original artwork from Ladakh’s celebrated contemporary artist Jigmet Angmo, offering a dynamic setting for talks, panels, community storytelling, textiles, heritage, ecology, responsible tourism, sports culture and more. The Ritek Pavilion by Vishal K. Dar further extends this narrative, reinterpreting the Adi community’s traditional communal structure from Arunachal Pradesh into a contemporary space for gathering, reflection and shared experiences through films and conversations.
Building on last year’s debut, the 2025 edition unfolds across Travancore Palace through a series of interconnected venues and pavilions featuring immersive installations, exhibitions, culinary experiences, workshops, conversations, performances and community-led programming. Audiences and riders will also participate in the Celebration Ride during the festival, embodying Royal Enfield’s Social Mission—its commitment to partnering with 100 Himalayan communities and inspiring a million riders to explore sustainably.
The festival runs until 10 December 2025 at Travancore Palace, New Delhi, featuring programming that spans material and cultural innovation, craft, heritage, sustainability, responsible travel and performance—co-created with communities and collaborators from across the Himalayas.
About Royal Enfield Social Mission
About 75 years ago, the Himalayas became Royal Enfield’s spiritual home. Royal Enfield Social Mission is catalysing an ecosystem of collective action to meet its long-term vision of partnering with 100 Himalayan communities by 2030 towards building climate resilience.
The Royal Enfield Social Mission projects and initiatives include ‘The Himalayan Knot’ – a textile conservation project, bringing together pastoral communities, artisans and designers for wider market access; ‘The Himalayan Hub’ – a collective learning center for Climate Resilience; a network of community-run ‘Green Pit Stops’, embodying responsible travel; ‘The Great Himalayan Exploration’ in partnership with UNESCO to document Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH); the Royal Enfield ‘Ice Hockey League’ promoting rural sports and winter tourism; conserving biodiversity and wildlife through the Keystone Species project; and ‘Helmets for India’ – a road safety initiative.
Through the Social Mission, Royal Enfield is also encouraging and inspiring one million riders to explore sustainably and ‘Leave every place better’.
In addition to the Social Mission, Royal Enfield also works with local communities near its manufacturing plants in Tamil Nadu, focusing on areas such as education, livelihood, sanitation, healthcare, etc. Two multi-decade partnerships with Bodh Shiksha Samiti in Rajasthan and Dr Shroff Charity Eye Hospital in Delhi continue to be supported as legacy projects.
Royal Enfield Social Mission and other CSR initiatives are implemented by Eicher Group Foundation, a section 8 company incorporated in 2015 under the Companies Act of 2013.
For more updates, visit socialmission.royalenfield.com & follow @royalenfieldsocialmission on Instagram
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