Historical

A Triad in Time – Gharapuri, Ambarnath and Pataleshwar

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The most important sculpture here is the Trimutri, 3 faces of Mahadev which have found its space on Maharashtra tourism logo as well. Nearly full length of wall, the faces are very skilfully carved. Point to note that this is not a sculpture of Trimurti – Brahma , Vishnu and Mahesh but these are faces of Shiva only. There has been tradition to carve faces on Shivling as well. And based on number of faces, the shivling gets the name from Ekmukhi to Panchmukhi.
Although the common man thinks these are 3 faces, the experts have always more to add. Stella Kramrisch is one such expert in Indian iconography. She has proven that these are not 3 but 5 faces. There are distinct names to each of the face and it really represents the attribute of colorful character of Shiva. Five faces of Shiva represent five elements, Ishana (sky), Tatpurusha (wind), Aghora (fire), Vamadeva (water) and Sadjoyata (earth) and together this depiction is called as Sadashiv as per iconography. We see three faces and there is one assumed to be behind and one on top.

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Jovial Jaipur…

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As we came out of the hotel, It started raining but we were prepared for this. We took out our Rain-coats and started our exploration. In the market we bargained with an Auto wala and for Rs 600 he agreed to took us to various places including Hawa Mahal, City Palace, Amer Fort and Chokhi Dhani. First of all we went to check out the famous Hawa Mahal of Jaipur. Hawa Mahal is a palace built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, so named because it was essentially a high screen wall built so the women of the royal household could observe street festivals while unseen from the outside.

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Along the old silk route – East Sikkim

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The entire zigzag road was blocked with snow. We were the only souls from far off plain lands stuck in the midst of old silk route, completely disconnected from the outside world and covered in a thick blanket of snow. Our journey to Gnathang Valley was cancelled. But what we witnessed was much more than what we had wanted and could ask for no more.

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Exploring East Coast – A road trip to Southern states

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I tried to negotiate, suddenly an ambulance came from back, at the same time there was a government vehicle came and took a left turn to our right side road of the T Junction. While I was thinking that I should tail the ambulance, all the villagers ran toward the ambulance to agitate, the government vehicle took left, and in the middle of the chaos, I heard my wife, “Pronil Bhaag yahan se”, and I watched that right is clean and without wasting seconds I took right to tail the government vehicle.

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गंगऊ बाँध और रनगवां बाँध – सौ साल पुराना छुपा खजाना

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एल टाइप सी अजीब सी शेप लिए हुए विसाल डैम आपने आप में एक सुरंग सा था आर पार जो उसके मेंटेनेंस के लिए होगी शायद। जिसमे सैकड़ो खिड़किया थी जिनसे रोशनी ऐसे आ रही थी मानो हम कई शीशो में एक के गहराते  से माहोल में अपने अक्ष देख रहे हों।   वहां जगह जगह विदेशो से लायी गयी मशीने और उपकरण आज भी ज्यों के त्यों

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Meeting with Monalisa and Mr. Eiffel – Part 1

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The main entrance covers a big area. Its size is comparable to one of the biggest metro stations (Rajiv Chowk) in Delhi. I am sure hundreds of people were only at the entrance, may be because of weekend (Saturday). For entering Louvre, you first enter the basement and get your tickets and then come to the ground floor to start your tour inside the museum.

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Picture perfect beaches on Jolly Buoy

The Emerald Islands of Andaman and Nicobar

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The view from underwater is breathtaking. Corals, oysters, sea weeds, colored fish  and the surrounding blue water is mesmerizing. Touching endangered species such as corals are  not allowed. The best part of the sea walk actually came when we fed pieces of bread to the  fish. As soon as you hold up the bread pieces, fish of different colors gather around you and it does get a bit ticklish but it is definitely a wonderful experience.  After 20 minutes of  “seawalking”, the divers  escorted us back up to the pontoon. When you climb up, one is likely to experience  the pressure factor again . At the end of it, the whole experience leaves you spellbound and the sparkling blue water always tantalizes you to go back underwater.

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The Idea of getting soaked in the Roman Bath

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What we see today are the beautiful remains of the ancient Roman Spa, well maintained even to this day with an amazingly designed circuit for the tour. A multi-lingual audio guide provided there helped us learn facts better and also gave us an imaginative explanation of how life was in the olden times.

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Land of Temples

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This was like a long long line of adjacent temples connected with each other, flanked by enormous ruins of even bigger structures now collapsed with a deserted, lonely and forested look. Each doorframe complete with a chandrashila ( decorative step before and after the stepping stone), leading into quadrangular enclosure with side wings opening into corridors leading to outside structures, the closed sanctums sometimes blessed with a Shiv ling, or an idol or just a block carved to hold an idol.

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Top reasons to visit Kashmir

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Other Other famous cuisines include: Kahwah (GreenTea) and Noon Chai. Kashmiris are heavy tea drinkers. Over 20 varieties of Kahwah are prepared in different households. One must taste the unheard “Kamal Kakri ke Pakore” near Nishat Gardens in Srinagar. Kashmir offers a vast variety of Kebabs. Non-Vegetarians must enjoy the mouth watering Chiken,Kebabs etc. But then, Nothing can beat the very own Lucknawi Kebabs! (Seriously),

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