This is coming to you from Chennai airport where I await the boarding call for my first ever solo trip. The ‘solo’ bit seems to have thrown a few people off kilter, including the Italian consulate, that demanded a letter from my husband stating he had no objection to my traveling alone!!! While he couldn’t […]
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To see a tiger in the wild has been a lifelong dream of mine and when a dear friend invited us to join him for a safari at the Nagarhole (Kabini) reserve near Mysore, R & I readily agreed. Mr. Tiger stubbornly refused to make an appearance but we were amply compensated by the sight […]
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She sat motionless facing the stupa, dwarfed by its gigantic proportions. The scaffolding encircling the sacred structure providing a symbolic barrier against the world outside its perimeter. Her stillness and focus was fascinating. It magnified the contrast between this tranquil, spiritual retreat and the seething drama of life and death on the ghats of Varanasi, […]
Read MoreMemorial Monument For Hiroshima City Of Peace. The saddle shaped structure straddles a cenotaph that lists the names of all victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The epitaph on the cenotaph reads “Rest in peace, for the error shall not be repeated”. In the background, frozen in time, is the […]
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After expertly navigating the impossibly clogged route from the airport, our taxi coasted to a halt in front of a colonnaded arcade teeming with what seemed like half the population of Calcutta. “This can’t be it” I muttered to R in dismay, while he peered out with equal skepticism. Then a pair of wrought iron gates […]
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A literal as well as symbolic crossing of the threshold in the Meiji Jingu shrine, Tokyo. This little girl, in her traditional finery, is all set to mark a milestone at the Shichi-go-san, a coming of age ritual celebrated annually at Shinto shrines across Japan. More about it here. Thank you for visiting………..have a great weekend.
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R is going to be away on an unexpected business trip to New Zealand at the end of next this month with colleagues, and having been given to understand in no uncertain terms that my accompanying him would be a distraction, I suddenly find myself with two weeks of free time and no real plans. The […]
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No other Metropolitan city in India conjures up past urban memories quite like Calcutta does, its squalour and decay notwithstanding. Which makes for eminently fascinating walks through its distinctly dissonant neighbourhoods. Here are some (more!) evocative street scenes from the ‘City of Joy’ that was once upon a time, a ‘City of Palaces’! Early morning fog: The contrasts […]
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I was surprised by how many architectural marvels I photographed last year, mirrored in reflection pools…….at least one from each of our 2013 destinations! You have seen the Paris reflections one too many times, so here are the rest, all from India: The Victoria Memorial, Kolkata Humayun’s Tomb, New Delhi The Taj Mahal, Agra Chota […]
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“Oberoi Hotel, Jawaharlal Nehru Road” we repeated helpfully, as our cab driver frowned at his job sheet. He bobbed his head vigourously in response, “Yes, yes, yes…..Grand Hotel, Chowringhee”. Turned out they were one and the same. The trend of our interactions with anyone we stopped to ask for directions in Calcutta followed a similar vein: “Anandilal Poddar Street?”……Blank […]
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Squeezing into the hole at the bottom of the massive ‘healing’ pillar in the Daibutsuden of the Todaiji Temple is said to guarantee your place in Heaven. I didn’t dare risk being stuck in limbo!
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Bitter memories of conquest and subjugation are most commonly expunged, post independence, by appropriating the edifices and symbols of a conquering power and imbuing them with national identity. Successive governments then milk political mileage by eradicating vestiges of colonial association from cities, streets. and maps. Even in stubbornly resistant cities like Calcutta. But how does […]
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The Urge To Wander 