Back home! Japan was a wonderful and unexpected jaunt, but the pace of the short trip was hectic and I feel I need another vacation! Have been sleeping off the jetlag and exhaustion the past couple of days. We covered a fair bit of ground for ten days including Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Takayama, Shirakawa Go […]
Read MoreFirst off, I apologise for my tardiness in visiting your blogs and responding to your generous comments. My excuse? The never ending demands of the Indian extended family. And finishing touches to my upcoming trip to Japan. I leave tomorrow – early day after actually – and shall not be posting anything new for a couple of […]
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Out beyond ideas of wrongdoingand rightdoing, there is a field.I’ll meet you there.When the soul lies down in that grassthe world is too full to talk about.~ Rumi Every time I read Rumi, I am filled with regret that I cannot read it in the original Persian, for I know how much is lost in […]
Read MoreThe Musée du Louvre is the most visited museum in Paris, perhaps in the whole world, and rightly so. I doubt I will ever find enough time to do justice to all it has to offer. But when you are done here, a short walk down to the Musée de l’Orangerie can be a highly rewarding […]
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“Remember to bury these under the Sun Gate.” Frank, our guide, handed over a bunch of coca leaves…. “For luck.” I carefully tucked the leaves into my pocket before boarding our train to Aguas Calientes. Frank was going to await our return to the Sacred Valley, the next evening. We lucked out with front row […]
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We wind up the Kings Highway from the Dead Sea to ancient Moab. (No this is not a biblical tale! This is R and I, on our way to check out one of the largest crusader castles in Jordan :-)) As we crest a promontory, we spot the redoubt, straddling a strategic position atop a windswept ridge. […]
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If we had come here first, like everyone else looking to explore the romance of Rajputana, maybe, just maybe, we would have liked Jaipur better. But as it is, we came here from Jodhpur, and Udaipur before that, and we perceived a more jarring urban version of the famed Rajput culture and hospitality. We missed the […]
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This excerpt from the Book of Revelations, clearly cites what early Christians thought of the fabulous Altar of Zeus, on which Antipas was sentenced to death, when he refused to declare that the Roman emperor was “Lord and God.” “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘I know your works, and where you dwell…where […]
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After a long day of sightseeing, we rest our aching feet at a little cafe in the shadow of the Yeni Camii, the not so new ‘new mosque‘. This 16th century edifice underscores the fact that ‘new’ is relative here! We watch resident Stamboulis go about their daily lives as we sip Çay from little glass tumblers set over […]
Read More“I don’t call myself a Buddhist. I’m a free spirit. I believe I’m here on earth to admire and enjoy it; that’s my religion.” ~ Alice Walker Thank you for visiting and have a great weekend.
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It was suffocatingly still. And silent. We started walking up a wide road, lined with what looked like crumbling little cottages. The asphalt seemed out of place, the heat bouncing off it in waves and enveloping us in a disquieting haze. Peering into a doorway, spooked by my own shadow, it was evident these structures were never […]
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“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” ~ Robert Browning Perched precariously atop the pinnacles of steep sandstone cliffs, resembling lofty aeries of some giant predatory birds, the monasteries of Meteora beggar belief! Built in the 14th century to escape persecution by the invading Ottomans, with no access save baskets […]
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The Urge To Wander 