Indian Culture – of Oneness with many Facets
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...
Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, India – Haunted and Hauntingly beautiful
Bhangarh Fort – history, royalty, wars, a one-sided love story, black magic and GHOSTS
Bhangarh fort! Let me tell you a story about it - a fairy-tale with a twist. This is a story of a beautiful princess. She lived in a majestic fort on a hill in Rajasthan. A poor magician nearby fell in love...
Assam from Mythology to Neo Vaishnavism of Srimanta Sankardeva
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...
Travel Musings – Being Shiva – Create with love, Abandon without a care
Travel musings
Solo travel has a great way of clearing the mind. It allows one to think and delve into the self in relative anonymity. Paradoxically, the constant movement of travel induces a strange stillness of the mind - Samatha and hence Vipassana, as the Buddhists would have it... These are some of my travel musings...
Chambal Valley – Protected by Infamy, Curses and Crimes
Chambal Valley – Protected by Infamy, Curses and Crimes The Chambal Valley is a cursed land as per mythology. It boasts of a barren and ravaged landscape, ravines, gorges and jungles. Bandits and dacoits. Outlaws and lawlessness. The setting for many iconic movies and the backdrop for many legendary Indian Robin Hoods… It remains pristine and untouched...
Hampi – Erstwhile Capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, temples, monuments, ruins and hippie island
Ever since the devastating earthquake caused destruction to the heritage sites in Kathmandu in 2015, I had made up my mind to visit the UNESCO Heritage city of Hampi - famous for its temples and ruins. In 2016, I decided to visit the capital city of the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire - Hampi. Thanks to Go...
Kumbhalgarh Fort Rajasthan- story of an invincible fort
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,...
Malana, The Magic – Of ancient Sages, Myths, Alexander & Malana Cream
Malana, The Magic - Of ancient Sages, Myths, Alexander and Malana Cream. This is a strange story and a real place. It involves ancient sages, kings, mythology, legends, history and drugs. To understand this, you have to get to know the ancient sage, Jamadagni, and a bit of Hindu mythology. Let me start with ancient times...
Khajuraho Temples – celebration of life and love & not just eroticism
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...