Travel Story
It still feels like a dream. I stood at a lovely scenic mountain village of Ladakh and looked up at the mountain top on which stands the majestic guardian and protector of the village. This is the story of the Diskit Village in Nubra Valley. You can’t miss the 106 feet (32 metre) tall Maitreya …
Diskit Village in Nubra Valley: Buddha Purnima Special Read More »
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” These lines from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, remind me of the mighty …
Today on the auspicious occasion of Mahavir Jayanti, I am sharing my recent visit to the Parshvanath Jain Temple of Kolkata, at Gauri Bari, near Maniktala, Kolkata. The temple is dedicated to Parshvanath Ji and Shitalnath Ji. Shitalnath Ji was the 10th out of 24 Tirthankaras (redeemer and supreme preacher) of Jainism and Parshvanath Ji, …
For ages ‘It’ stood on the shore- From where I stood I could hear, the sea waves carrying the sound of blowing conches; The pine branches and the beach winds kissed to ring hundred temple bells. As the sun set, I stood still, looking at the golden dusk that lit thousand temple lamps- ‘It’ had …
Mark Twain had written, “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” Varanasi, also known as Kashi, Benares or Banaras, is one of the oldest cities in the world. The lively and colourful city of Varanasi, set on the banks …
Nainital, at an altitude of 6840 feet, is one of those places in India where people want to visit in the winters for snowfall. Well, even though I visited the cute hill town in Uttarakhand last October, definitely there are more exciting things to do in Nainital in the winter season. Nainital is the headquarters …
Lucknow, the capital and the largest city of Uttar Pradesh is well known for its rich history, culture and heritage. Historically the city was a hub for art, architecture, food and literature. In the past, Lucknow, the seat of the Nawabs, was the capital of Awadh Region, under the Delhi Sultanate and later the Mughal …
I came across the animal ‘Red Panda’ when I was studying in standard three. Yes, I first found it in Walt Disney’s 1967 animated film ‘The Jungle Book’, based on Rudyard Kipling’s famous book (1894). The red panda was called ‘Kichi’ in the story and was a friend of the protagonist, ‘Man-cub Mowgli’. I found …
In 1947, Japanese Buddhist Monk, Nichidatsu Fuji, the founder of Nipponzan Myohoji, a Neo-Buddhist Organisation devised the plan of constructing Peace Pagodas all over the world. He was highly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi. The pagodas were means of promoting peace and also a way of honouring and remembering those who died and suffered in the …
The word ‘Juggernaut’, meaning a large and heavy vehicle and also a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force, was coined in by the British when they saw the Chariot Parade or Rath Yatra at Puri, a beach town in Odisha. This festival is unfathomably grand, with millions of devotees visiting Puri from all across the globe. …
The Rathas/Chariots of Jagannath’s Chariot Parade/ Ratha Yatra at Puri Read More »
