Historical

A Whiff of Paris

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We skipped the conventional and recommended “Lido” show and “The Moulin Rouge” on our trip to Paris. These were highly recommended night shows, presented aesthetically and were a huge crowd puller at Paris. We had to skip the energetic and spirited adventure bus. Our priority was to keep the young ones engaged, interested, while keeping our expectation about their energy levels strongly grounded. So we did take the hop in hop off bus to tour the grand city (Sacre Coeur, Champs Elysees etc) but planned on a 3 days stay at Disney World Paris.

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दिल्ली दिल वालो की – 2

दिल्ली दिल वालो की – 2

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क़ुतुब मीनार से हम लोग माँ कात्यायिनी मंदिर छतरपुर पहुंचे. यह मंदिर क़ुतुब से २.५ कीलोमीटर दूर हैं. और गुडगाव, मेहरोली मार्ग पर पड़ता है. यह मंदिर दरअसल मंदिरों का समूह हैं. और माँ कात्यायिनी को समर्पित हैं.

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दिल्ली दिल वालो की – 1

दिल्ली दिल वालो की – 1

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नगर से निकलते ही जबरदस्त कोहरे ने हमें घेर लिया।मैंने ड्राईवर इरफ़ान से गाड़ी धीरे चलाने के लिए कहा, खतौली पार करते ही जबरदस्त जाम लगा हुआ था,जाम के कारण गाड़ी बुढाना रोड से नहर की पटरी पर ले ली । बहुत ज्यादा कोहरा होने के कारण से कुछ भी दिखाई नहीं दे रहा था।गाड़ी धीमी रफ़्तार से चल रही थी। ड्राईवर कहने लगा की गाड़ी में डीजल नहीं हैं। मैंने कहा की सरधना नजदीक हैं वही पर भरवा लेगे, आगे पूरे सरधना में कही भी डीजल नहीं मिला, वापिस नहर की पटरी से मेरठ की और आकर के डीजल मिल पाया। रास्ते में एक बार गाड़ी नीचे नहर में गिरने से बची। खैर दिल्ली पहुँच कर राहत की सांस ली। चाचा जी के लड़के रवि के घर वैशाली पहुंचे, और वंहा से सभी लोग दिल्ली की सैर को चल पड़े।

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Southern Sojourn to God’s Own Country

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I wish to take you once more on a virtual trip through the mazes of the exuding beauty of the enchanting Kerala.

The peaceful green city of Trivandrum gradually unfolded itself with its narrow roads and neat colourful private houses half hidden amidst the coconut palms.From the airport, we took a pre-paid taxi to our hotel Uday Samudra (popularly known as UDS) at Kovalam – 16 kms from Trivandrum. We were given a sea-facing spacious room with a pool in front.

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Tranquebar

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Tharangambadi (or Tranquebar) is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 15 km north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary of the Kaveri River. Tharangambadi is the headquarters of Tharangambadi taluk. Its name means “place of the singing waves”. It was a Danish colony from 1620 to 1845, and in Danish and some other European languages it is known as “Trankebar” or “Tranquebar”.

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Ranthambore – My Machaan???

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We broomed the place under the tomb with a make shift Jhadoo and sat down; it gave us fantastic view of partly dried lake with deer grazing in the marsh. Amazingly there was no Machaan, to tell you the truth we forgot that it was a must at all the locations. Hours passed and we documented the deer and small carnivorous animals. At sunset, the wind direction changed and I could smell very strong tiger urine as and when the wind blew. It began to worry me a bit due to my experience in jungles watching and spotting tigers; I knew we were in the tiger territory for sure.

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Gokarna – Story of Ravana

Gokarna – Story of Ravana

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Gokarna also has an mythological significance which attracts pilgrims. There are a lot of stories about Gokarna, but the most famous one is the story of Ravana and the Atmalinga.
Ravana, the demon-king of Lanka, received the atmalinga from Shiva after he had performed a penance at Mount Kailash reciting self-written Shivatandavastotram. Shiva instructed Ravana that the sacred atmalinga should not be placed on the ground as it would establish itself where placed on earth. On his way back to Lanka, Ravana stops for his evening prayers at Gokarna.

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Srirangapatna – Mysore Trip Part 1

Srirangapatna – Mysore Trip Part 1

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Mysore, known as the cultural capital of Karnataka, is a must-visit if you come up-to Bangalore for even a week. As for Srirangapatna, made famous by Tippu Sultan and more so by the TV series “the Sword of Tipu Sultan” aired on Doordarshan :), it lies on the way to Mysore from Bangalore. So, visits from in-laws and my parents resulted in two trips to Srirangapatna and Mysore. Here is my travelogue based on the two visits – first part about Srirangapatna and second part on Mysore.

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Rediscovering Mussoorie

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Being the nature lover’s that we are, we first went for a walk on Camel’s Back road. Camel’s Back road is a long winding road frequented by nature lovers who visit this place for their morning and evening walks. Unlike the Mall road, this was a much better place. It was calm and the views of the Himalayas were breathtaking. As the skies were clear, the snow-capped peaks could be seen clearly. Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri are some of the peaks that are visible from Camel’s Back road.

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Khajuraho : Exotic and Unbelievable

Khajuraho : Exotic and Unbelievable

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It is hard to think that why these marvel of architectures are build here in complete isolation? There is nothing of significant interest or beauty to recommend Khajuraho as a building site and also there is no big population so some big fort nearby. Whatever be the answer the truth is that this isolated location helped preserve it from the vandalism of Muslim invaders. Due to the threat of Afghan invaders, Chandela kings forsook Khajuraho for their forts. Also all the religious activities were abandoned so that this should be kept away from the eyes of invaders. With the passing time forest covered this entire region.

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Somnath Pilgrimage / सोमनाथ: एक अद्भुत, अभूतपूर्व एवं अविष्मरणीय अनुभूति

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यात्रा की योजना एवं तैयारी: वैसे तो अब तक घुमक्कड़ पर सोमनाथ के बारे में बहुत कुछ लिखा जा चूका है, लेकिन एक छोटा…

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राजस्थान यात्रा – बीकानेर से जयपुर और जयपुर –

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पहले हिस्से में सूरज पोल से जाने पर मिलता है जलेब चौक जहां सैनिकों के रहने के लिए बैरकें बनी हैं| जीत के जश्न को देखने के राजसी महिलाओं के लिए झरोखे भी बने हैं| इस हिस्से को सवाई जय सिंह के कार्यकाल में बनवाया गया था| जलेब चौक के बाद इस हिस्से का प्रांगण है जिसके एक किनारे पर शिला देवी का मंदिर है| मंदिर का दरवाजा काफी प्रभावशाली है और इस पर तरह तरह की बनावटें हैं| इसके पीछे कहानी यह है कि राजा को सपने में देवी ने दर्शन दिए थे और उसके उनहोंने बंगाल के राजा को युद्ध में हराया था| देवी की मूर्ति को समुद्र से एक पत्थर लाकर उस पर नक्काशी करके यहाँ स्थापित किया गया था, इसीलिए नाम पड़ा शिला देवी| नवरात्री के दिनों में यहाँ बलि की प्रथा भी है| हम मंदिर के अंदर नहीं जा पाए क्योंकि पट बंद थे|

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