Indian Tour

2003-11-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

The other towns I have visited are places which I visit quite frequently because of their proximity to my home town Bombay.

One such city is Pune. We have a house in Pune and its a perfect weekend get away. So when i was in Bombay I used to go to Pune very often. Its a very peaceful city with nice weather and good crowd. There are many universities in Pune and thats why the city is filled with students from all over the world. I like going off to Pune on the weekends when Im in Bombay. It's a good break from Bombay life.

Well those are all the places i have visited so far. As and when i visit more I will certainly get back here and tell you more.

Until Then..
M.

2003-11-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Nation's Capital City - Delhi

I've been to Delhi a couple of times. Its a nice city but it's not better than Bombay (my city). The shopping in Delhi is pretty good. There are a lot of places of historical importance in Delhi such as the Red Fort, The Qutub Minar, The Lotus Temple, etc etc etc. These are very beautiful monuments.

If you go to Delhi don't miss the sound and light show in the Red Fort and be sure to visit all the monuments and temples because their architecture is simply super!

Ive heard that the party scene in Delhi is good but I've never experienced it myself so i wouldn't know but what i do know is that the party scene in Bombay is much much better.

Don't ever visit Delhi in the Summer which is around April to July its tooo hot. Any other time of the years its pretty pleasant. The temperature in winter goes down to around 35F.

2003-10-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

As we are talking about Hill Stations, let me tell you about another one I've been to which was up north. The name of the place is Mussoorie. And this time I had not gone with my parents, I had gone with my Cousins and Friends :-). The best part of this trip was (I know what you are thinking - that it wasnt with my parents, But NO. Although that was one of the different parts it wasnt the best part) that I decided to go on the trip at the last minute. My friend's school was in Mussoorie and she was going with my cousin for her graduation.

Mussorie is almost like Ooty. The main difference was the height of the two places. Mussorie is at a greater height than Ooty and in Mussorie the clouds are almost always down. Especially in the Mornings and Evenings. If i kept my room window open I'd be living in the clouds. My room overlooked a beautiful valley and it had a small balcony which also opened into the valley. My favorite part of the day used to be day dreaming in the balcony and yes listening to my favorite soft rock or classic music.

The shopping in Mussorie was great!! the only thing I didnt like about the place was the moths. You know the creepy flying insects!0 They are harmless but they are very creepy, there were none in my room but there were quite a few in other selct places. But that didnt dampen my spirits!

Horses - I Love Horses. I did a lot of riding in Mussoorie. Khee Ma SiDaam Yaaee - That is 'Im riding a big black horse' in Thai language. My friend had a friend who was from Thailand and she taught me how to say that :-).. guess what Yet Meg is ;)

Check Mussoorie out here

Till next time,

M..

2003-10-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Agra is in the North of India, Goa is Mid West and Rajasthan is North West. Let's go South now.. I havent been to many places in the South of India.Actually I've only been to 2; both of which are hill stations - Ooty and Coonoor (yeah i know they sound funny, but they are more beautiful than you can imagine!!)

Ooty and Coonoor are a 45 minute drive away from eah other. To get to Coonoor we (I was holidaying with my parents) took a flight to Coimbatore(hope I spelt that right) city and then drove drown to Coonoor. That Drive was one of thee Best Drives in my 18 years (I stopped keeping track of my age after 18 years :-)) of life. Just talking about drives another beeautiful and on the list of my best drives is the drive from Boston to Montreal in Fall.

Anyway, back to Coonoor. The drive was beautiful!! The road was narrow, it was surrounded by tall bamboo trees on both sides.. It was Such a Pretty Sight!! And there were small villages on the way!! I Just Love the whole 'small village' atmosphere.. The villagers are so cut off from the 'big world' and they live such a simple life. I would love to experience it sometime!!

Once we got to the hills the views were of the tea plantations. Its so beautiful! Green fresh plantations on never ending hill slopes.. All you can see is greenery! And to accompany the beautiful sight was a slight drizzle of rain.. I was listening to my favorite Rod Stewart Album (I love classics) and gazing at the heaven surrounding me..

We spent a week in all in both the places. Did a lot of trekking and sight seeing. Pops played golf. Became very good friends with the Hotel manager and his children and got free food :-).. and Ofcourse did a lot of chilling in the beautiful surroundings with good music ..Overall I had a great time.. !!

Check Ooty out here

Till next Time,
Chao..
M..

2003-10-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

When anyone thinks India, the first thing that comes to their mind is the TAJ Mahal which is one of the seven wonders of the world. It's also known as the crowning glory of India. Taj Mahal was built by the King Shahjahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz. The Taj Mahal is the greatest symbol of love on this planet. It is said that queen Mumtaz on her death bed asked her husband to build a symbol of their love and Shahjahan accepted her request and built one of the greatest monuments in the history of civilization.

The Taj is truly a splendor!! My mom told me that the Taj was studded with precious stones which were later robbed off the monument. When I visited the Taj I couldnt imagine how much more beautiful the monument would look if it were studded with precious gems. To view some of the pictures of the breathe taking monument click on the following link

They say that Shahjahan hired the world's best architects and craftsmen to work on the Taj Mahal and after the palace was finally built and studded with precious gems it looked Marvellous!! Simply Super!! Shahjahan did not want ayone to be able to replicate his palace and hence he cut off the hands of the architects and artisans who had worked on the palace. Oouch!! Ofcourse he compensated them very generously.. But well, that was cruel I think! Anyway, his mission was accomplished as no other monument built after that came anywhere close to the Taj Mahal.

I wish I could see the Taj in its original state. When I visit such kind of grand palaces and places of historical importance my head tries to go back hundreds of years and imagine what life of the people of those times would be!! At such times I wish I had been born in those earlier days which are now history.. Well! maybe I was!! I believe in reincarnation!!

M...........

2003-10-10T16:31:00.000-07:00

Jodhpur was a lot of fun. We went sight seeing, did a lot of shopping and visited restaurants which serves exotic rajasthani food. The Hotel we were living in was called Karni Bhavan. It was a palace converted into a hotel. It had a very Rajasthani feel to it. The Rajasthani people are very hospitable and we got along very well with the staff of the hotel. What made our stay very interesting was this secret pathway we discovered which went underground starting from the first floor. This secret pathway started from our room which was on the first floor. We did not try to go into it and see where it ends up because it looked very scary and it seemed as though no one had used it in a very long time. When we asked the hotel staff about it they told us that the Kings had their secret ways of getting out of the palace and escaping in the event of any surprise attack by an enemy.

The hotel used to organize these rajsthani nights for us where in one area of the hotel they had created a village atmosphere and every night we used to have a bonfire and some excellent rajasthani dance and music performances by the locals. This used to be followed by the delicious meal made of traditional rajasthani spices.

After spending a week in Rajasthan we headed back home with great memories of the amazing land of Rajasthan. After a couple of months the family crisis resolved itself in an unbelievable way and this lead to a tremendous increase in our faith for the God - Ram.

2003-10-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

The main reason I keep visiting Rajasthan is because of this spiritual place called Ramapeer. All there is in this place is a temple which has the tomb of the God Ram. Its a typical Indian small village with no electricity or provisions for water supply. But recently the government of Rajasthan established the above provisions due to increase in the popularity of the temple. I first visited the temple when I was going through a family crisis which was going on since many years and not getting resolved. Then a family friend suggested that we pay a visit to this place and ask the Ram God for his blessings. Although my family and I don't believe in making wishes and wishes coming true we thought we'd give it a shot, but we didn't make any plans for going there. Then the same family friend who had suggested that we visit the temple was going there and we made a small plan with them of visiting the temple and other cities of Rajasthan.

So we went to Jodhpur because that's the nearest city to Ramapeer. After exploring Jodhpur for a few days we left for Ramapeer. When I stepped into the temple I felt a sudden rush go through my body and I experienced a very positive feeling. The temple had many parts to it and after paying our respects to each of the small parts we headed for the main temple which had the tomb of the God. As we knew someone who was a member of the family which is in charge of handling the temple's affairs we didnt have to wait in a line and we were taken straight inside the temple and to the tomb (the entry into this part of the temple is restricted for guests. Guests can only view the tomb from a certain distance and pay their respects). The whole temple had a very good feel to it. I just cannot put in in words. I got an amazing feeling of calmness and positivity, one that I had never experienced before. I can still clearly remember the feeling and my experience. I was sitting down on the temple floor. The sun was beginning to set and the colours of the evening were starting to spread in the clear sky. There was a cool breeze blowing and I had a very clear view of the God's idol. Adjoining the temple was a big beautiful piece of land in which there were deers running around. The sound of the bells ringing in the temple and the whole atmosphere during the Aarti (Indian tradition of paying respect to the Gods and singing their praise) was heavenly! I closed my eyes and asked the God to help my family through this difficult time and help us resolve this family issue amicably.

After the Aarti, it was evening and we headed back to Jodhpur.

2003-10-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

The Rajasthani people are also known for their craftsmanship in items such as furniture, carpets, jewelry, clothes, stone craft, wood work, pottery, puppets, and the list goes on and on. Everything is Rajasthan is very colorful. The local people with their amazing sklills in craftsmanship add a a lot of colour to the desert. Hence shopping in Rajasthan is a pleasure. Everything looks very attractive and appealing. Rajasthan is one of my favorite shopping destinations!

The cities and places I have visited in Rajasthan are Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ramapeer and Bharatpur. Jaipur is the Capital of Rajasthan and is known as the Pink City. To honor the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1876, it was painted pink (the color of hospitality). Jaipur being the capital of Rjasthan has a big city feel to it. But when you are exploring one of the museums or palaces and other places of touristic interests then it takes you back centuries ago when it was ruled by the kings. The beauty of the palaces is mesmerising!! The kings must have had such good tastes and the architects and the builders were so precise and perfect in their work even when there was no technology available!! All this just amazes me!!

2003-10-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

Udaipur is sure on my priority list the next time I visit Rajasthan. Besides Udaipur another city I haven't visited is Jaisalmer. It's known as the Golden City because of the sheer magic and brilliance of the desert. The main attraction of the city are its sand dunes and the night camel safari which explores the desert. I have watched this scene a million times in movies. Try and picture it - Night time in the desert. All you can see are sand dunes for as far as your eye can reach. You are taking a camel safari and the locals are showing you around and telling you tales of the desert. Then you stop for a short entertainment program in which they light a fire in the desert and the local people present their traditional dances. It's one of the most beautiful sights!!

I am extremely fond of Rajasthani music and dances. There is so much rhythm in their music and their dancing, its unbelievable! Their music comprises of all traditional Rajasthani instruments such as the Sarangi, Ektara, etc. These instruments produce sounds which are very distinct and you get to hear these in Rajasthan alone. Everytime I visit Rajasthan I never miss the program of the Rajasthani dancers and musicians. The Music and the dancing match perfectly with the ambience and the whole experience is overwhelming! Even though I have been to many such programs I love to keep experiencing their magic again and again.

2003-09-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

India is a land of different cultures. Each part of India has a culture different from that of the other parts. There is so much to explore and that's what makes the country very interesting. Learning about different cultures is one of my main interests. In this blog I'll be talking about the parts of India that I have been to.

The first and my favorite culture is the Rajasthani culture. Rajasthan is a state in India. It is situated in the North Western part of the country.I love the Rajasthani food, the cultural dances, the music and the colorful costumes. Many kings built their palaces in Rajasthan because of the beauty of the desert. People refer to Rajasthan as the state of Wealth. People say that even today when anyone buys a piece of land or for that matter any property in Rajasthan he finds some amount of treasure hidden in some part of that property.

I have been to many cities in Rajasthan and I have visited the state many times, but still everytime I visit it, theres something more to it that I haven't seen earlier and places I haven't visited.

There are around 32 places of historical and cultural importance within Rajasthan. Each one has its own significance. For exampe the city of Udaipur in Rajasthan is known as the Lake city. The city is named after its founder Maharaja Udai Singh. Udaipur is surrounded by the Aravali Hill ranges. There are five beautiful lakes in Udaipur.The most famous tourist spot of Udaipur is the Lake Palace, which is built in the midst of one of the five lakes of Udaipur. The Lake Palace was built in the 17th centuary by Maharaja Jagjit Singh. I havent visited the city of Udaipur but I have heard so much about it that I know all about the main attraction (The Lake Palace) of this place. I've heard that the Lake Palace is one of the most romantic places on earth because of it's beautiful location. One has to take a boat to get to and fro from the Lake Palace. It's made of beautiful white marble and the site of the white marbled palace in the middle of a picturesque blue lake is breathe taking.

The Lake Palace is now converted into a 5 star hotel. The best part about Rajasthan is that most of the palaces have been converted into hotels. I love staying at such hotels. Each room is so enormous and pretty. I wonder what the best suite in the Hotel would be like and I guess that the hotel managment must have converted the kings room into the most expensive suite in the hotel.

I simply love staying at such hotels. I keep imagining the life of the people who actually lived there centuries ago and I wish that I was one of them in one of my past lives. Yes i do believe in rebirth, well atleast when I am in Rajasthan I like to believe in it!