Travel Tales
What do you do when you travel to a destination with miles of sugarcane fields flanking the road and the horizon is dotted with gigantic windmills? The first thing I wanted was to drink fresh 'Ganne ka Ras' or cold pressed sugarcane juice, a childhood indulgence. My secret desire was granted at Jackson Inns, Phaltan…
Continue reading ➞ Amidst Sun And Sugarcane: Serenity At Jackson Inn, Phaltan
Every Year November to December the two feet long adult female Olive Ridley Turtles also known as Pacific Ridley Turtles, return to the sands to nest. The turtles create a sand pit laboriously digging with their flippers and lay 80 or more eggs at a time. Left to incubate thus, these eggs hatch in about…
Continue reading ➞ Olive Ridley Turtle Festival, Velas Beach, Maharashtra
Before traveling unknowingly became a part of life, I was stuck in a 4 ft x 4 ft cubicle designing houses and bungalows for rich clients. I would listen to the client's brief where they would ask for something in their homes that they had seen on a holiday to exotic places. While I was…
Civilizations have perished and cities have been abandoned throughout the world due to drying up of natural sources of water. The first planned township of Mughals, Fatehpur Sikri, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, near Agra was one such city established with utmost passion by the Mughal Emperor Akbar but later abandoned for lack of…
Continue reading ➞ Fatehpur Sikri: A Labor Of Love, Abandoned For Lack Of Water
One of the ten Mega Kitchens in India, Shree Sai Prasadalya in Shirdi feeds free food to as many as 70,000 people on a busy day. I have made many trips to Shirdi Sai baba temple since childhood and have literally seen it transform into this tiled huge complex with various sections for different requirements…
What begins as a quest for the magnificent striped jungle cat ends in marveling at the beauty of the forest. I would have loved to meet the tiger in its natural habitat, but the fresh air, the bird songs, the mysterious woods all make up for that one missed sighting. Here are few glimpses from…
Kodiakkarai, the south-eastern tip of Cauvery River Delta in Nagapattinam district of Tamilnadu where the Palk Strait meets Bay of Bengal is internationally known as Point Calimere, a name given by Portuguese traders who settled there establishing trade relations with Chola Dynasty in 16th century. Having visited the three living Chola temples around Thanjavur, I…
Continue reading ➞ A Day At Muthupet Mangrove and Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary
She is just about high school pass from a remote village somewhere in Kumaon. She was married at a young age. She had her brood of kids at an early age too. But all this not deter her in her desire to do something worthwhile in her lifetime. "kuch karna hai jindagi me" she said.…
Continue reading ➞ A Woman Of Substance: Organic Farmer Savitri
Known for killing man-eater leopards and tigers of Kumaon region, Jim Corbett's legend lives on in stories of his hunting expeditions, his house and a single barrel muzzle-load gun in Choti Haldwani, a village that Corbett adopted. The Corbett family home at Kaladhungi, is now a little museum that gives glimpses of hunter-tracker-conservationist's trysts with man-eaters. Jim…
Kaziranga National Park, the home to two-thirds of world's Great one-horned Rhinoceros in Assam, is an UNESCO World Heritage site. When To Visit: The park stays closed from 1st May to 31st October every year. The winter season from November to March is mild and dry and a perfect time to visit the Park. There…
