Once I met an Israeli tourist in Laos. He had been to India a dozen times. He made a statement which has stayed with me forever. “When you visit any country you can see temples which are a couple of hundred years old. But when you are in India, you can sit next to the...
Assam's cultural landscape can be looked at as pre and post Srimanta Sankardeva. In the ancient time, Assam was a country known as Pragjyotishpur. The name is mentioned in the Indian Epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The literal meaning of this word is “astrology of the east” or “jewel of the east”. However, in the medieval period...
We call it India’s Great Wall ! It is 36 kilometres long and 15 feet wide, and two cars can run side by side on the wall. Welcome to the Kumbhalgarh fort , Rajasthan. This fort is about beauty, architectural majesty and yes stories around it. Kumbhalgarh Fort, along with five other forts of Rajasthan,...
The guide kept referring to a certain section of the sculptures in Sun temple Konark as Khajuraho . I and my friends couldn’t stop smiling. This was sometime in 2009, and it made me think that why is this temple and its history only associated with eroticism. I had heard of various stories about Khajuraho...
Ruins of Mandu, or Mandavgarh, once the capital of Malwa region, a fortified town, was also known as the “City of Joy”. Mandu is not about the ruins of the glorious past , but it is a bouquet of stories and legends. How should I start? Capital of multiple dynasties, a forgotten glorious past, city...
Ross Island can look like a Ghost town to some, and some will travel back in time with a great story ! Some will relive the Indian freedom struggle and perhaps uncover the World War II connection, while others will get to know the journey about India national Army (INA) here. Did you know that...
India and mathematics go a long way and Jantar Mantar can be called as one of the Mathematical places of India. The name Jantar Mantar is derived from the Sanskrit word Yantra meaning instrument and Mantra meaning calculation. Jantar Mantar can be called as an instrument for calculating time. Long before the invention of watches, ancient...
Welcome to Mawlynnong –“God’s own Garden”, a small village in Meghalaya India. So what’s so special about this village? It is called “God’s own Garden” because of it’s cleanliness. And it was declared as Asia’s (not India’s only) cleanest village by Discover India , way back in 2003. Just an hour away from Mawlynnong is...
You think Bridges are non-living things? Wrong You think Bridges are always built? Wrong You think Bridges become weak with time? Wrong You think Bridges retain the same size? Wrong You think Bridges are not handmade? Wrong You think Bridges are built by engineers? Wrong We are talking about the living root bridges of Meghalaya locally known as Jing Kieng Jri,...
Abracadabra….heard of a place , where probably this is a rhyme ? Well, not exactly the same words , but the tradition of sorcery and magic is passed on from generation to generation ? A village where fortune tellers claim to predict a person’s future using seashells and broken glass pieces! Welcome to Mayong-the Black...
