Theme

Leighton Moss RSPB Nature Reserve, Silverdale, Cumbria, NW England

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I have been to this bird reserve again and again, as I mentioned earlier. On a subsequent visit, I also saw swifts, especially around dusk, when they are at their most active, since this is just before they return to their nests among the reeds on the far-side of the water bodies where they fly low, snapping up low-flying insects. I also had the fortune of seeing a bittern, making a booming sound as it waded among the reeds. Bitterns are not easy to spot as they camouflage very effectively.

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Lucknow to Nainital – Road Review

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During Ramzan Eid , we had a long week end holiday which I wanted to encash through visiting the nearby place and spend some quality time with family. Hence, we decided to visit Nainital which is a hill station and around 400 Kms from Lucknow. To reach to Nainital we have 4 options 1) By Train Journey till Kathgodam and from Kathgodam to Nainital by hiring taxi 2) Through UPSRTC Volvo Bus 3) Hiring a taxi 4) Hiring a Driver for own Car 5) Self Drive.  All the options except 5 were not working favorable to us due to Ramzan holiday and there was no availability of train ticket, and engaging taxi and driver is very very costly affair. Hence, I made up my mind to let me try self-driving.  

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Kolkata to Kumaon- Mesmerising Munsiyari

Kolkata to Kumaon- Mesmerising Munsiyari

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It was the longest road to Munsiyari of around 180 kms, via “Thal”, in all of our itinerary of hill destination planning. Though majority of the roads of Uttarakhand are much predictable and in quite good, balanced condition but went through many reviews of Munsiyari roads I came to a conclusion that the road would be quite tougher than other days.

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Ranikhet and Kausani : Himalayan Meadows – Part I (The Journey)

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The king with his entourage was passing through jungles of Kumaon, when a saint crossed his path. The vain king was offended and soon the saint was brought before him. The saffron clad saint, annoyed with King’s heckles, plucked a leafy branch from a wayside bush and swiped it across the King’s bare arms – it sent the king writhing and groaning in pain, as if a million needles were inserted in his arm. This is how the hymns of Ranikhet started.

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Tohfewala Gumbad Masjid

Siri – Third City of Delhi

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Legend has it that Alauddin beheaded 8000 Mongols living in the settlement now called Mongolpuri and built the foundation of his City on these heads. Thus the first Muslim city of Delhi was built in 1303 and called Siri (‘Sir’ is Hindi for head) as a homage to all the severed heads. In fact, Khilji chased the Mongols and pushed them north of Kabul that ensured the Mongols would not attack India again for some time.

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Pages from my dairy, traveling in Seventies

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Just for information and to lend credibility to this piece, my wife had (in those days) used the diary published by Tata Oil Mills, (Tomco – A Tata caompany) which was one of my client at OBM.I wonder if today’s young people know that Tata used to make and market soaps and detergents.They were known for their products like Jai and GoldMist soaps, and 555 washing powder Bar

These annual dairies always had the theme of Indian Historical places. The pages, scanned from these dairies, would give you the glimpse of Life & Times gone by, that we will never see again. We hope you enjoy going back in time and see the wonderful country of ours, of those days, with us.

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Matheran Musings

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There is a barricade at the brink of the ‘sunset point’ hill, lest people fall in the valley, mad by the red in the sky. There is ample space to enjoy the sunset for all: men, women, children, horses and monkeys. Everyone has more or less a chance of finding a good corner to sit but in solitude. It so happens that monkeys decide to practice acrobatics at the barricade and thus occupy the prime position, sending all the humans back.

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Bath – The Classic Architectural Marvel

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The bus-ride through southern England showcased the beautiful countryside; it pleases your eyes and soothes your soul with its soft contours of green hills and meadows. No rough edges or jagged ends to jab your field of vision. Occasionally you’ll find a cluster of trees as if to relieve the monotony. Looking out of the window one fails to notice that you didn’t blink for a long time. Bath is an eye soothing place to be in.

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Shravanabelagola – Gommateshvara Bahubali

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The overall view of statue, temple, surroundings, hill was amazing, you can see the temple of Chandagiri hill as well. Lots of history is written on stone and preserved by glass casing. Few pictures below describes it well. Seeing the statue, kids were amazed but puzzled as Bahubaliji was not having any clothes, so, they asked the obvious question, why no clothes?

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A day jaunt in Algeria

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It was such a delight to see large landscape, and feel fresh breeze on your face. After an hour, we entered ‘Oran’, the second largest (after the capital Algiers) and one of the important coastal cities of Algeria. It was appearing to be quite urban with tall building and large commercial places.

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