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The Seige & Tragedy of Lucknow’s Residency – A History Lesson

By Nirdesh Singh

As you enter the main gate of Residency, the din of Lucknow city recedes until just the distant hum of traffic remains. It is a quite green oasis in the middle of cacophany that Lucknow is today. The pervading hush makes it hard to believe that this eerily quite place was witness to one of the bloodiest fights of Indian Mutiny of 1857. This is nature’s way of soothing the Residency with eternal balm and tranquility to anesthetize the tumultous past. The dewy green grass absorbs the shock of looking at the cannon scarred red brick walls. Most of the buildings are heavily damaged with few having roofs.

Barring the green grass, it seems that the siege ended just yesterday. The shattered walls carry the echoes of tragedy, doom, valour, disease and gore. Walk the grounds and you are immediately transported to those turbulent days. Residency is a sprawling compound with neat manicured gardens. Signs indicate the names of various buildings. During the rains, the green moss covering the red brick broken walls lends an exquisite charm to the place. Spend some time in the museum. The church’s cemetry has the graves of about 2000 people including Lawrence. Visit Nawab Saadat Ali Khan’s Tomb. Stay back for the light and sound show in the evening.

Trip to Scotland

By Shubham

It was nice and quaint, and very, very green. About half an hour into the journey I realized that it seemed almost criminal (for lack of a better word) to not listen to the Beatles on a train-ride across England, and so I kept down the book and whipped out my headphones, and generally just peered out the window watching the green world pass me by.

Hajj: The Final Installment – What it means to be a Haji

By Taher Kagalwala

To have performed Hajj in such unusual circumstances also means that I would be able to advise others on how to go about performing Hajj in this manner. Only Allah can tell whether this can be construed as a good thing or not. The good thing is that I can definitely advise people to spend more and go with a comfortable agency, whichever it may be, and preferably legally cleared with the Saudi authorities; to perform Hajj “legally” means not having to suffer as my friends and I did. It means that one gets proper accommodation at Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina. It means not having to worry about whether eating food properly may increase one’s desire to visit the toilet, especially because they are neither clean, nor easily accessible, esp. at Arafah and Muzdalifah. It means that once one lands at Mina, one can stay there for the next three days to pray and visit the Jamarat whenever one wants to without actually having to walk up and down from Makkah and to it multiple numbers of times. It means that one is not inconvenienced by having to squat on roads at Mina and being told by the police to get up and go elsewhere every single evening/night.

Puri – Lord Jagannath’s land

By Abhee K

In the evening we came out of the Hotel to explore Puri Market and Swargdwar. As regards to Puri Beach I have always seen in television that sand art is generally performed at Puri Beach so I was looking at the beach if I can found any sand art. Unfortunately we did not get to see any sand art on Puri beach. We were walking on the beach and there I saw a board “National Sand Art Festival”. We were so excited and quickly took tickets (Rs 20/- for each person and Rs 15/- for camera).We entered inside and got to see some beautiful art works.

Nathdwara-Bagaur Haveli-Return from Udaipur

By Sushant Singhal

उदयपुर अपनी जिन झीलों के कारण विश्व प्रसिद्ध है उनमें फतेह सागर झील भी एक है। अगर आप सोच रहे होंगे कि फतेह सागर झील का निर्माण महाराणा फतेह सिंह ने किया होगा तो आप सरासर गलत हैं। इस कृत्रिम झील का निर्माण 1678 में महाराणा जय सिंह ने किया था। पर बाद में महाराणा फतेह सिंह ने इसका विस्तार किया और यह झील उनके नाम को समर्पित हो गई। उदयपुर के उत्तर-पश्चिम में और पिछोला झील के उत्तर में स्थित यह झील जयसमंद झील के बाद दूसरी कृत्रिम झील है जिसका निर्माण निश्चय ही उदयपुर को रेगिस्तानों के लिये प्रसिद्ध राजस्थान को सूखे से बचाने के लिये किया गया होगा। ढाई किमी लंबी, डेढ़ किमी चौड़ी और साढ़े ग्यारह मीटर तक गहराई वाली इस झील के मध्य में स्थित तीन टापुओं में से सबसे बड़े टापू पर नेहरू पार्क है। इस पार्क में जाने के लिये नाव का सहारा लिया जाता है। इन झील को पानी तीन मार्गों से मिलता है और एक मार्ग का उपयोग मानसून के दिनों में पानी की अधिकता से निपटने के लिये किया जाता है ताकि झील में से फालतू पानी को निकाला जा सके।

दूसरे वाले टापू पर सुन्दर सुन्दर से पानी के फव्वारे लगाये गये हैं और तीसरे टापू पर नक्षत्रशाला (solar observatory) है। हम लोग सिर्फ नेहरू पार्क तक ही सीमित रहे जिसमें नाव की आकार का एक रेस्टोरेंट भी बनाया गया है। लोग बताते हैं कि वहां पर एक चिड़ियाघर भी है, जिसकी अब मुझे याद नहीं है। हो सकता है उस समय वह न रहा हो या उसमें जानवर न होकर सिर्फ चिड़िया ही हों !

नेहरू पार्क से आप चाहें तो बोटिंग के मजे ले सकते हैं। वहां पर बहुत तेज़ भागने वाले हॉण्डा वाटर स्कूटर भी थे जिस पर जाट देवता जैसे पराक्रमी घुमक्कड़ झील की परिक्रमा कर रहे थे। वैसे यदि आप उस स्कूटर की सवारी करना नहीं जानते तो भी कोई दिक्कत नहीं है। उनका आपरेटर आपको ड्राइविंग सीट पर बैठा कर खुद सारे कंट्रोल अपने हाथ में ले लेता है। आप यदि स्टीयरिंग भी ठीक से नहीं पकड़ सकते तो मेरी तरह से आप भी इन सब झंझटों से दूर ही रहें।

The Devdar Prayers

By Manisha Chitale

Down to earth from heaven, our vehicle proceeded through roads making inroads into sea of deodars. Crossing the valleys and forests our next stop was the famous Khajjiar. This is a relatively small Himalyan meadow and a shallow lake surrounded by mighty pines and devdars all around. One of the most favoured tourist stop was but a bit of disappointment. The meadow was dull and lake looked like a pit of stagnated water with lot of rubbish thrown around. And to add to it, there were stalls selling anything from popcorn to buddhee ke baal on the meadow itself. May be it would be more enchanting when it is monsoon green or winter white. Here again a temple awaited us namely KhajjiNag. A typical Himachali temple in wood and sloping roof has a black stone idol of the Nag devta. Nag worship is quite common in this part of Himalaya with Khajji nag, BhagsuNag and many more.
Again travelling down in setting sun and through darkening valleys we finally reached Chamba, located on the banks of river Ravi. Chamba is a part of settlement between 2 mighty Himalayan ranges Dhauladhar in the south and Pir Panjal in the North. Chamba got its name from Champavati, daughter of Shailavarma. The town was founded in 10’Th or 11’Th century. The name of the king is written differently in many places, Sahilvarma, Shalivahan and Shailverma. Chamba looked like a cheerful town with packed shops of fabric, chappals, mithais and chaat. Not to forget the roadside sellers with radishes and oranges and berries. This temple town is home to some of the exquisite stone architecture blended with intricate wood carvings.

Taste of London

By Shubham

A lot of people wanted food from this restaurant, and so it took me a good 20 minutes to get out of there with food in my hands, and those 20 minutes were for this microscopically tiny plate of little strands of crispy-fried pork. It was like a golden fried piece of heaven. It had been deep-fried, thus the bacon had gotten crumpled up, but the flavour of the bacon had been retained. There was an almost silky, foreign taste of the oil used. It wasn’t anything in particular. My first guess was olive oil, but it was somehow tangier than that, with a hint of almost a peppery taste in it. One more plus point was that this one wasn’t too salty at all, which is generally the problem with bacon – usually the salt overrides the taste of the bacon. This was, as previously stated, like a crisp-fried piece of heaven.

My 12th Amarnath Yatra – Trip Report and Pictures , Part 2

By Naresh Sehgal

We get up at 5.30 AM. It was very cold outside. Around 6 AM we came out of tent to proceed further to Holy Cave. We took a bucket of hot water for Rs.50 from Tentwala and wash our face and hands etc. We did not take bath as we were so tired and weather was very cold. We took a cup of tea and stood in the line for Darshan. After Aarti, Darshan started at 7:30AM. Around 8.15 AM we reached in holy cave .All the atmosphere was filled with the Jaikare of Bam Bam Bhole. We forget all our tiredness and body pain after Darshan. We were feeling so energetic. I got very emotional after Darshan. A full size ice lingam was in front of my eyes. As I already mention that this was my 12th Yatra to Holy cave but this year ice lingam size was the biggest I have ever seen. We spent around 40 minutes in the Holy cave and offered some rituals. We came down from the cave. As we had not taken lunch and dinner yesterday, we were very hungry. We took one prantha each and tea from the Bhandara and started journey towards Baltal. It was around 9.30 AM. There were frequent traffic jam on the ways due to heavy rush. At 3:45 PM we reached at Domel and went to Barfani sewa mandal Bhandara. We took lunch there and rested for night at there.

बुद्धं शरणम गच्छामी ………….आइये सारनाथ चलें।

By Mukesh Bhalse

साथियों, इस श्रंखला की पिछली पोस्ट में आपने पढ़ा की वाराणसी के प्रमुख मंदिर तथा रामनगर फोर्ट घुमने के बाद हम लोग होटल के…

Ranthambore – Meeting the king of the jungle

By Saurabh Gupta

इस बार हमें 2 नंबर गेट से प्रवेश करना था और इस बार ड्राईवर व गाइड भी समझदार लग रहे थे उन्होंने हमें आश्वासन दिया की वो हमें इस बार बाघ दिखा देगे . वो रास्ते मै अपने अनुभव बता रहे थे थोड़ी देर बाद गणपति का मंदिर भी दिखा जिसकी बहुत मान्यता थी मंदिर के बाद जंगल मै प्रवेश किया, लगभग १० मिनट गाडी चलाने के बाद ही ड्राईवर और गाइड आपस मै बात करने लगे और उन्होंने गाडी बहुत तेज दौड़ा दी, हम कुछ समझ नहीं पाए लेकिन कुछ बोले नहीं, ५ मिनट बाद ही वो बोले की कैमरे निकाल लीजिये क्योकि सामने ही एक बाघ था जो पानी मै आराम कर रहा था,

उन्होंने बताया की ये मादा है,हम सभी बहुत रोमांचित महसूस कर रहे थे क्योकि हम बाघ के बहुत नज्दीक थे, अभी १० मिनट ही हुए थे की पीछे से वन अधिकारी की जिप्सी आ गयी जिसमे वो खुद नहीं था लेकिन उसके कुछ गेस्ट थे उसकी जिप्सी आने के सभी जिप्सियो को वहा से जाने का इशारा कर दिया गया, हमारे ड्राईवर ने भी गाडी आगे बढ़ा दी

हमने उसको मना किया की वो ऐसा क्यों कर रहा है तो बोला कि अधिकारी साहेब ज्यादा देर खड़ा नहीं रहने देगे इसलिए थोड़ी देर बाद घुमा कर वापिस ले आऊगा बड़ा गुस्सा आया और मैंने उसको बोल भी की हम लोग पैसे खर्च करके इतनी दूर सिर्फ बाघ देखने आये है तो उसने बोला की आप इसकी शिकायत कर सकते है। 15 मिनट बाद हम वापिस उस्सी जगह आ गए उस समय वह सिर्फ 3 गाडी थी जिसमे एक अधिकारी की और बाकी 2 भी खास लोगो की ही थी। देखकर फिर गुस्सा आया की वो खुद क्यों अभी तक वहा है लेकिन किसी को कोई फ़र्क नहीं पड़ा और लगातार उनकी गाडी ही बाघ के सामने रही।

Makkah – Performing the Hajj pilgrimage – 4

By Taher Kagalwala

Tonight, though, the crowds were huge, and we had to really hunt for a good place in which to relax. Our successful location of a nice spot turned out to be a not-so-nice one after all as a police van landed within 15 minutes and started blowing all the on-board horns and sirens. In tandem with them, foot-soldiers began to ask everyone to get up and take themselves elsewhere. We got up, moved a little way off, and waited for the police car and the troops to move before returning to the spot where we had lain a few minutes earlier. This kind of ritual was repeated once, but we managed to remain at the same spot for a few more sessions of prayer. In between, a Saudi guy came and handed over a pizza pack to Dr. Naheed. We all partook some of the pizza and found it hot and fresh. I also visited the Al Baik outlet (to buy some chicken) , but returned as the queues were very, very long.

At about half past two, we left Mina and returned to our hotel in Makkah.

गढ़वाल घुमक्कड़ी: भविष्य बद्री

By Vipin

देवभूमि गढ़वाल के कुछ छिपे हुए रत्नों को तलाशती तीन दोस्तों की कभी ना भुला पाने वाली रोमांचक घुमक्कड़ी की दास्तान…जिसमे हमने कुछ बेहतरीन नज़ारे देखे, कुछ अनोखे और सोच बदलने वाले अनुभवों से गुजरे, कुछ खुबसूरत दोस्तों से मिले, कुछ बेहतरीन ठिकानों पर रात गुजारी और बहुत कुछ सीखने को मिला…

1 sunil kumar गौरी से वो मुलाकात व इकाकुला का हसीन समुद्र तट !

Very well written about Bhitarkanika .
2 rjnivah Andaman and Nicobar – Around Port Blair

Really enjoyed reading this detailed Port Blair itinerary—it nicely captures both the sightseeing and relaxed moments like Wandoor beach and Chidiya Tapu. The mix of history, nature, and local experiences…
3 armaan Andaman and Nicobar – Around Port Blair

Really enjoyed reading this, it feels like a well-paced and genuine travel experience rather than just a checklist. The mix of relaxed beach time, museums, and a bit of trekking…
4 Abhinandan Sharma Delhi to Nepal in my Honda City!!

Great post. Planning to take my Honda city there soon. Was not sure if i can take a sedan there.
5 Abhinandan Sharma Delhi to Nepal in my Honda City!!

Great post. Planning to take my Honda city there soon
6 skapa ett binance-konto Splendid winter rendezvous in Ooty

Can you be more specific about the content of your article? After reading it, I still have some doubts. Hope you can help me.
7 구글 아이디 구매 Kushinagar – Where Buddha breathed last

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8 Market Street current weekly ad Jaisalmer – Top 10 things to see and do

You've captured something special by balancing the famous sights with quieter moments by the lakes. That rhythm of busy mornings and slower evenings feels like the real Udaipur, not just…