Hi, I’m Dr. Avita Khawas — and yes, I really do have a PhD that’s basically about wandering around old buildings and asking “but why does it look like that?”

I own WalkAroundIndia (the ATG stands for Architecture Travel Guide, in case you were wondering) — and no, I don’t just design itineraries from a desk and hand you off to someone else. I’m personally involved in every single tour we run. If you’re walking through a Mughal courtyard or a Chandigarh concrete marvel with us, chances are I’ve either planned that exact route myself or I’m the one standing right there with you, mid-story.

And I don’t do this alone. On many of our architecture journeys, you’ll also be joined by my partner-in-crime for all things architecture, Ar. Ariadna Garreta — an architect who runs Altrim Publishers, an architectural publishing house based in Barcelona, Spain. Between the two of us, we’ve also put together detailed architecture guidebooks for most of the cities we take you to. So if you’re an architect, a design student, or just someone who gets weirdly emotional about a good façade — rest assured, your journey is planned by people who are genuinely, professionally obsessed with this stuff. Not enthusiastic amateurs. The real thing.

I grew up in Rajasthan, surrounded by forts and havelis that most people fly halfway across the world to see — so I never really got the memo that architecture was supposed to be “just old buildings.” To me, a building is never just a building. It’s art, it’s politics, it’s craftsmanship, it’s someone’s obsession carved into stone. I got curious about all three — art, architecture, and culture — and never really stopped.

Somewhere along the way, that curiosity turned into a PhD in Heritage Tourism, a habit of guiding internationally, a couple of books, and a passport that’s now stamped from 25+ countries — which, honestly, mostly just confirmed what I suspected: other places have beautiful buildings too, but India’s still play a different game entirely. Layers on layers on layers.