Tag: Featured
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A Love Letter to Kyrgyzstan
Hi there, This letter has been long due to you, isn’t it? For me, you epitomised the elements of nature – I came face-to-face with your concept of open spaces, open minds, and open hearts. I remember landing at Bishkek airport and taking in the landscapes below from the aircraft in awe; you were a…
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A Tiny Infinity – Lahaul & Spiti
It has been more than a year and I have tried numerous times to put ink to paper in expressing those few days spent in the lap of absolute bliss. At first, it was the reverence and notion that putting any words to it might violate what I experienced in those mountains, and later, as…
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Theyyams: A Dance Divine
The December air is sticky with perspiration, as mosquitoes buzz around and fly into our faces, like little drunks who have lost the way, in the thick vegetation on either side of the narrow mud road we are traversing on. A numb thumping of the drums in the distance breaks through the 2 a.m. darkness…
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The Munushkors of Issyk-Köl
Standing on a semi-dusty lane, outside the gates, in a circle, we listen to Ruslan as he invites us to his country, his home, and how happy he is to have us here. This is one theme you always come across in Kyrgyzstan – the love for the country first and everything else follows smoothly. …
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A Glimpse Of Love
“If you ever write about this, name it The Search For A Perfect Thangka,” says Norbu, my guide, and displays his pearly whites in a smile. “Very funny, but I will consider it,” I respond, “and you can be my editor for the article!” After driving me around for almost two hours in a near-deserted…
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A Banter In The Mountains
The crisp morning Himalayan air whips through my hair. I look out at the first glow of sunrise from my hotel balcony. I have been coming to Rishikesh every year and the stay at Divine Ganga Cottage is becoming a norm. I particularly love the fact that, in this hotel, I find the quiet and…
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Postcards From Varanasi
Kashi, or Varanasi/Banaras as it is known today, is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world. The history of the place is writ amongst its charming ghats to its maze-like by-lanes. Life here is bodacious, vivid and gives you a sense as old as time itself. The Ghats This place is an important site…
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Warrior Monks – The Knights Templar
The Knights Templar have captured my imagination ever since I can remember and I have spent numerous waking hours reading about them – some conspiracy theories, but some fascinating facts too. So, it is of little surprise, when I found out about the existence of a temple connected to the legendary warrior monks in the…
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Sights and Sounds of Notting Hill Carnival
A numb thumping sound catches my attention and I look towards my friend inquisitively, amused to see the same look on her face. We are seated in a fairly, packed evening commuter carriage of the Circle Line, having changed from Metropolitan at Baker Street, headed towards my apartment near Tower Hill. Just as the carriage…
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Cave Fit For A Sage: Vashishta Gufa
I anxiously look out from the passenger seat of the white Tata Indica cab as it tries to meander through the semi-blocked narrow strip of the road. Jai, my guide, chips in once again; he has been talking all morning, “it’s the landslide season ma’am”. I smile and nod at him through the rear-view glass…