ASIA
I confess to being a bit of a chai snob. Having consumed flavourful high grown Nilgiri tea at its source for decades, and brewed the propah English way, it would be an understatement to say I am picky about my tea. I detest the thick, sugary, milky cha/chai served in homes across India and when […]
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From dust to dust. Or in this case from the clay dredged from the bottom of the holy Ganges, and back to its murky depths. The journey of Goddess Durga, believed to be her annual sojourn in her maternal home, is a metaphor for impermanence and temporality. Of all life. But also, in the sacred ritual that […]
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On a Sunday closest to November 15, considered the most auspicious day in the Japanese calender, families descend on Shinto shrines across Japan, to celebrate a rite of passage called Shichi-go-san. The name literally translates to ‘Seven-Five-Three’, indicating a medieval tradition among aristocratic/Samurai families that stipulated that boys and girl stopped getting their hair shaved when they turned three, that boys aged five […]
Read MoreWishing you many reasons for happiness this holiday season, and throughout the coming year. And oh yes…..happy travels, no matter where life takes you 🙂
Read MoreThere are times when a passing glimpse through a window or on a street corner, that I didn’t pay much attention to at the time, sticks with me longer than any travel memory. A poignant scene. A mysterious face. Those fleeting fragments of life that register in my subconscious and return to haunt me. And […]
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While we do have cows on our roads in Chennai, the numbers in the smaller towns in North India seem to exceed their human population! Mathura and Vrindavan, not surprisingly, being the towns associated with the cow herd God, Krishna, were over run by cattle. I had to leave my camera in the car when […]
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No, I haven’t turned into a canine hunting vampire overnight! The title is the literal translation of a quintessential Bollywood quote from a 1973 Hindi flick, that has become synonymous with its aging, macho, once dashing, still endearing star. ‘Dog’ in this instance refers to the vile villain, who is about to have the %#&* beaten […]
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Getting to Chandni Chowk, for our tour with Delhi Heritage Walks was hard work that Monday afternoon. First a purported three minute walk to the subway station ended up being ten, I am guessing, because we neglected to specify the name of the station. Once there (Janpat), we found every ticket vending machine out of order, […]
Read MoreA grand viewing deck to commune with nature. That is the principal attraction of Kiyomizu-dera (Clear Water Temple), a Buddhist shrine near Kyoto, founded in 798 AD, whose main hall is dedicated to the eleven headed, thousand armed Bodhisattva. Highly venerated for its wish granting abilities, and brought out for public viewing only a few times a […]
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Luang Prabang Temples: Wat Mai Suwannaphumaham was once the principle royal monastery and the repository of the gold Buddha that Laung Prabang derives its name from.
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The unique stepwells of India, called Baoli’s (or Vavs in Gujurat), are ornate, complex structures that are legacies of the subcontinent’s ancient hydraulic engineering systems.
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R & I have had many turning points in our lives. Those serendipitous moments when things could so easily have gone the other way. And we have often argued over whether these were mere co-incidences or karmic interventions. R believes in hard work and sagacity. I do too. I really do. But I am too much of a romantic to […]
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The Urge To Wander 