Tapovan Times is a small community newspaper made in Upper Tapovan, the quieter, forested side of Rishikesh — published from Aavya, a creative wellness retreat above the main town. It started in September 2025 as a single hand-drawn edition pinned to the café wall, and has since grown into eight editions of essays, cartoons, café crawls, mindfulness columns, classifieds, and small bits of local gossip — all written by guests, residents, facilitators, and the team.
You can read it two ways. By edition — pick an issue from the grid below and read it the way it was originally published, including the original printed pages. Or by category — follow a single thread (Knowledge, Dear Didi, Editorials, Cartoons, Café Crawl, Mindfulness, Yogi Says) across all eight editions. Most pieces are short. A few are long enough to need a second cup of chai.
The paper is part of a wider Aavya Journal that documents life in Tapovan — what's happening at the pottery studio, what's coming up on the retreats calendar, who just played at an open mic, what the season looks like in the forest. If you're visiting Rishikesh, this is a good place to read first. If you're already here, consider this an invitation to write the next column.