i had a plan to have a lovely weekend out of mumbai. monday taken as casual leave from work, so we have a three-day holiday… the hotel’s booked. the town is a close-by one that you never visit mainly because it is just too close, so ‘we’ll do it another time’! we have driven through it on our way to pune, but never stayed there. it’s … Continue reading i had a plan…
my first guest post at inspiringtravellers.com! thanks andrea for posting my ‘what to do list for a first visit to south mumbai’ at her travel blog! over to the guest post…
Continue reading “20 & more things to do on a first visit to south mumbai!”
it was a mom-daughter trip. to sri lanka! there were multiple ways to play it.. go to colombo + kandy and then head down towards galle and mirisa. however we decided we didn’t want to meet the indian ocean (will have to go back there for that one day, as always here such rave reviews about sri lankan beaches) decided to even skip colombo! people … Continue reading sri lanka: exploring the cultural triangle…
i visited sri lanka last year and that is the first time i came across a sandakada pahana or moonstone in english.
this is a semi-circular stone that is seen at the entrance of the temples at anuradhapuram and polonnaruwa.
buddhism flourished during the anuradhapuram. this is when the moonstone was supposed to have developed the most and become the most elaborate with intricate carvings. prior to that it was a square slab of stone.
carved in stone, the moonstone embodies the teachings of buddhism.
Continue reading “stepping on the sandakada pahana (moonstone) at srilanka”
the holocaust was a part of this huge war that happened years ago. history, books, stories, movies had built what it was in my head. it was huge. it was drastic. it was despicable. but it was very distant. as an indian, it wasn’t my fight. it had never been. my people at that time were waging another war – on the british raj, for our independence!
on that day, in berlin. it became very real. Continue reading “how the holocaust museum changed history for me…”
i visited the mysore palace many years ago. and everyone tells you ‘come back at night, it looks gorgeous.’ it does. the entire palace gets lit up with a series of lights on every sunday night for around 45 minutes! you can see every bend, every curve and every edge. the palace shimmers in front of you. every inch defined. i loved it. and i … Continue reading lighting up a palace or homes?
sort out photographs? plan the next trip? gnaw through google in the hunt for a next destination? eat your finger nails at plans that just don’t materialise? fight with husband over what you want to do vs. what he wants to do? comb through your bank balance? update your blog that lagging behind? work? wish for that trip that you know you cannot afford? bite … Continue reading all the things i do between trips….
i think it was at 11. can’t remember anything before that. and this was the BIG trip! for 10 or 15 days we were out of our city. that was huge. i think we did go to nearby places, and every summer to chennai to stay with grandparents… but in those days middle class indians didn’t waste money on ‘site-seeing’ at non-native places. we plonked ourselves at our grandmothers, as all our other cousins did and it was this huge melee of people. of course that’s another story, for anything time and another place… and, middle class tams, definitely did not ‘travel’ and importantly, stay at a hotel!! there were other more ‘educational’ things to be done! right?
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. Elmore Leonard interesting thought.. and don’t i wish i could? learning for the day – being interesting is not a rambling ramayanan… Continue reading if wishes were horses…
there is this quaint part hidden in the midst of a large, hip suburb with big buildings on either side with a suspension bridge on the third stuck in time. between modernity. this little village. stays afloat. islamic architecture melts into christian porches crosses at every turn that date to the 17th century. drying teddy bears dot today’s presence graffiti welcomes in freedom of expression … Continue reading walking down the lanes of bandra…
merry to go around 