Travel Tales
Jaisalmer, better known by the epithet 'Golden City' for its tawny landscape, is steeped in stories of valour, gallantry, vows, battles, sacrifices and royalty. For as far as the eyes can see, the city, surrounded by vast expanse of amber sand of the harsh arid Thar Desert, glows golden due to the rampant use of…
Continue reading ➞ In And Around Jaisalmer
Steeped in sagas of royalty, bravery, conspiracy and scars from many wars, this city of sun, sand and ship of desert, has abundance of history, art, architecture, and desert adventures on offer for the inquisitive and intrepid travelers besides being a shopper’s delight and I knew from the word go, when we planned a trip…
Meandering through the narrow crowded streets of this gorgeous old city, negotiating the sharp turns, taking in the little glimpses of people and their way of life we rode around in a black and yellow auto-rickshaw bumping at obscure speed-breakers and protruding stones our bones rattling in silent protest....we avoided a cow here, a bunch of dogs there, an on…
Continue reading ➞ Fast-tracking through Udaipur, The Venice of East
"Blue, limpid, mighty, restless lakes God's mirrors underneath the sky...." Lake Pichola shimmered with its azure waters reflecting like mirror, the equally gorgeous skies above... A large boat whisked us off , all eager tourists on a ride across the tranquil, picturesque and fairly large Lake Pichola. For an hour we sailed across the lake taking it all…
With whatever time we could squeeze out to visit Udaipur, in our long road trip from Rajasthan to Tamilnadu spread over a period of six days, we were left wanting for more.... Though old Udaipur is a maze of meandering narrow alleys teeming with people, cows, stray dogs, trash thrown carelessly, vehicles and tourists but it…
Continue reading ➞ A Glimpse Of Royalty At City Palace, Udaipur
Most men have special place in their hearts for their moustaches. There are dialogues and sayings dedicated to moustaches... Uttpal Dutt, the veteran actor of yesteryear erupts into his famous dialogue "moochh nahi to kuch nahi" in the movie Golmaal. And an English proverb goes... "A man without a moustache is like a cup of tea…
Continue reading ➞ Guard at the Ganesh Dyodhi and the story of his “Moochh”
"Behen ji, ek shawl pehan lo....mandir me jaane nahi denge aapko!" You see, I was wearing a sleeveless kurti with chudidaar leggings and no dupatta.... At the ticket window of Ranakpur Jain Temple, one man cheekily informed me to take a shawl or else I wouldn't be allowed inside the temple!! I had convinced Aby, my hubby dear,…
“What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery And there it was...A well….well-hidden under the muddy platform with an opening just large enough for only one pail at a time to reach in to draw water but when we had reached the camp resort, there was no activity,…
There are but few National Parks in India that have been given a status of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Keoladeo National Park or Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary as it is better known as is one of those. As a kid in Ghaziabad near Delhi, I remember, my father planning a visit to the sanctuary. I was…
A cricket match between India and Pakistan is no less than a war....emotions run high with people on either side praying for victory of their teams, betting high stakes or promising lavish parties post a win. The players are under huge pressure to play well because a defeat causes so much of heartbreak and depression that people burn effigies of…
