Peering into the Past
The most fascinating journeys are those that lead you backwards – in time – step by chipped, cracked, crumbling step. If you manage not to trip or slip through the cracks, a world of wonder awaits you. These are places that tease and tantalize, excite your imagination and challenge you to reconstruct a remote and distant past, often from stray fragments left behind serendipitously. The clues range from ruins of ancient settlements to remnants of prehistoric pottery, faint cave etchings to fragmented mosaics, scarred sculpture, maimed statuary, shattered structure. If you happen upon something whole and undamaged, you have hit jackpot!
Come, peer into the past for rare glimpses of ancient sites ranging from Abu Simbel to Alexandria and Angkor Vat, Bukhara to Borobudur, Delphi to Esfahan and Giza, Machupicchu to Minoan ruins in Knossos, Pompeii and Petra to Persepolis, Samarkand to Shiraz and Yazd. The articles on these pages are not impressionistic pieces, but backed by research into their provenance.
Abu Simbel – Nubian Rubicon (2008) - Aswan is a neatly laid out town, the southern-most in Egypt. It reminds me so much of Shiraz in Iran. Leisurely, graceful, clean and its streets flanked by bursts of bougainvilla blossoms. It was once at the cross roads of the silk route and is…
Acre – Ancient & Strategic (2010) - No, not a measure of land, but the name of a port town immeasurably vital to a succession of empires once upon a time. Acre, relatively obscure today, was a coveted city in its heyday, thanks to its location on the edge of the Mediterranean.…
Alexandria, Bibliotheque Antique (2008) - When Alexander, the Great founded Alexandria, some 2300 years ago, the Nile delta splayed all over, stretching for over 180 miles all the way to Port Said. Alexandria was the star of the Hellenistic world under the Ptolemaic kingdom for a thousand years, one that…
Alhambra, Moor’s Last Sigh (2006) - Entering the Alhambra is like stepping into an enchanting Arabian Nights tale. My first glimpse of the Alhambra is at that magical sunset hour – around 10 pm; that is when the sun sets in the Iberian peninsula in July. While entry into Alhambra is…
Angkor Wat – Marvels of Kamboj (2009) - When you visit Angkor Wat, make sure you arrive by the river route. That would be a fitting tribute to an ingenious ancient civilization that flourished and dazzled primarily because of its unmatched ability to harness water, that elixir of life. In an unfortunate…
Athens & Antiquity (2008) - The origin of the city of Athens is an interesting story. Cecrops, a Phoenician came to Attica where he founded a city on a huge rock near the sea. The gods at Olympus decided that the city should be named after a god who could…
Bagan’s Parade of Payas (2006) - The Mandalay-Bagan cruise in the Irrawaddy is the highlight of any trip to Myanmar. Flanked by sculptured mud-banks sprinkled with stupas whose steep spires rise skyward as if in prayer, the river is tranquility personified. The boat glides gracefully. Sunrise on the Irrawaddy is a…
Baku – Pillars of Fire (2006) - Baku is a bustling oil town on the shore of the Caspian, its coastline studded with oil rigs, platforms, tankers, refineries, the works. Baku’s legendary `Pillars of Fire’ were nothing but gas fields which could not be capped and hence burnt away. Local people began…
Bhaktapur and Patan, Newari Aesthetics (2012) - Patan and Bhaktapur, two former imperial capitals of Nepal are Unesco World Heritage sites. For 200 years between the 14th and 16th centuries, Bhaktapur became the most powerful of the three Malla kingdoms of Nepal. Exquisite Newari architecture using wood and metal worked into intricate…Bimbetka Caves -Where the theatre is the drama - As you drive from Bhopal to Bhimbetka, the forty- five kilometer stretch is the first hint of the drama that awaits you. The lustrous broad-leaved evergreen jungle abruptly gives way to vast plains carpeted by lambent meadows and lush shrubs. For miles, there is no…
Borobudur and Prambanan – Surviving Mt. Merapi (2011) - Mount Merapi (mountain of fire, in Javanese) looks enigmatic, almost benign, as though it were a guardian angel watching over its favourite ward. A placid plume of smoke curls out of its top like an agarbatti. Yet, as late as October 2010, this live and…
Bukhara – A Sepia Portrait in the Desert (2003, 2013) - Bukhara is a sepia-tinted portrait come alive for more reasons than one. It is one of those cities where time seems to have stood still for centuries. The present graciously defers to the past and its glory, leaving little room for incongruities. And Bukhara is…
Chalukya Charm – Badami, Pattadakkal, Aihole (2023) - As you drive through the dusty plains of northern Karnataka, dun-coloured rocks and boulders, some as big as hillocks line up on both sides like sentinels. Chalukya kings were captivated by these boulders that they decided to turn them into works of art. Burrowing the…
Chettinad – Ethnic Elegance 2023 - As you drive south from the swaying emerald rice paddies of Tiruchy and Thanjavur peppered with magnificent temples, the land becomes less lush and even arid in patches. Don’t let the apparent aridity fool you though. Karaikudi, the main town and the villages surrounding it…
Crete, the Cradle of Minoans (2009) - One hundred and ten kilometres from Santorini lies Crete. A powered catamaran takes one to Heraklion in northern Crete, site of the largest Minoan palace excavated so far. The Minoan site in Knossos in Crete is the product of the singular efforts of a British…
Cusco – Inca Splendour (2009) - The little girl selling alpaca scarves and painted calabashes is insistent that I buy at least one. She does not know I am good at fobbing off persuasive salespersons. But she has tricks up her sleeve. She asks me where I am from. India? She…
Delphi for Navel-gazing (2008) - “Navel-gazing could make you dizzy” warns Nikoleta, our guide, tongue-in-cheek as we peer into what seems like a deep chasm overgrown with thick shrubbery. We are at legendary Delphi which, ancient Greeks believed, was the ‘navel of the earth’. We ignore her remark and go…
Egypt – Treasures of the Desert (2008) - Ascending the gateway to the other world is not for the weak-kneed, literally. You have to bend in half and crawl your way first down and then up, groping the walls on the sides of the very narrow passageway. There is no stairwell, just a…
Esfahan – City of Dancing Minarets (2004,2013) - Whoever said “Esfahan nesf-e-Jahan” (Esfahan is half the world) evidently knew what he or she was talking about. Located in the heart of the vast Iranian desert, this town is truly a jewel in Persia’s Islamic crown. It is an architectural symphony born out of…
Florence – Agony & Ecstasy (2009) - You’ve heard of intelligent machines, but have you encountered any? Well, you would, at Roma Termini station. Every time you ask for a ticket to any destination on Trenitalia, the vending machine invariably displays the most expensive train and ticket options. For instance, when you…
Ghent, Fetchingly Flemish (2003) - It was a rainy morning in November when I boarded a train from Brussels Zuid to Ghent St.Pieters, just half an hour away. Ghent not being on the usual tourist map – that honour goes to Bruges, the lace-making, adjacent Belgian town which is a…
Hampi, Ruined, yet Regal (2019) - So near, yet so far. Hampi teased and tantalised, for decades. Finally I made it to these magnificently regal ruins on the banks of the legendary Thungabadra. Perish all preconceived notions about Hampi. It surpasses your wildest your imagination, grander than anything you conjured up…
Jericho, Biblical City on the West Bank (2010) - Driving through the wastelands towards the proverbial nadir of the earth may not be everyone’s idea of travel, but that’s what we embark upon when we undertake our journey to biblical Jericho, a couple of hours’ drive from Ramallah, the Palestinian capital. It is a…
Jerusalem – A Mosaic of Religions (2010) - Jerusalem is a mosaic of three major religions, myriad religious denominations and a multiplicity of races, and a melange of cultures. The city is a magnet for students of history as it is for the devout who throng to its holy shrines and sacred sites.…
Khiva, Museum City of Central Asia (2013) - Did you know where algebra (we love it or hate it, there’s nothing in between) got its name? From Al Khorezmi, short for Abū ‘Abdallāh Muḥammad ibn Mūsā Al-Khwārizm, a Persian scholar born around 780. He is credited with popularising the use of the decimal…
Krakow, Schindler’s Town (2017) - Krakow, the imperial capital of Poland for five centuries from 1038 to 1611, has often been compared to Prague, Vienna and Budapest on account of its baroque splendour, but for me, the most endearing images of this city are those of Kazimierz, its bustling, bohemian…
Kyoto & Nara, Imperial Japan (2013) - The room is achingly bare, except for the tatami mat on the floor. A large tatega window with frosted glass panes covers an entire wall accentuating the starkness. The window looks out onto an even starker courtyard where the only ornamentation is the gravel on…
Lepakshi (2020) - Lepakshi is a non-descript village in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, some hundred kilometers from Bangalore. It sports an ancient temple of stone, as do many in the Deccan, known for its artistic sensibilities. The temple itself is modest, compared to Hampi although both were…
Luang Prabang, Land of Lotus Eaters (2007) - At the confluence of two mighty rivers, the Mekong and the Nam Khan lies a quaint and picturesque town that belies the notion that the east and the west can never meet. Luang Prabang, the former imperial capital of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos…
Machu Picchu – Enduring Inca Mystery (2009) - Mist, mystique and mystery are the defining characteristics of Machu Picchu, the Inca ruins in Peru, the latest addition to the list of new world wonders. Tucked away in the Andean heights, perpetually draped in gossamer clouds and concealed from the prying eyes of treasure-hunters…
NALANDA – POETRY IN RUINS (1999) - Even the sun seems to linger wistfully behind the altar which must have once supported a giant statue of the Buddha, but is now bare and exposed to the cobalt skies. Its golden rays cast a cascade of chiaroscuro patterns on the votive miniature stupas…
Persepolis: History etched in stone (2004, 2007) - The taxi glides smoothly on the gently curving six-lane highway leading north from Shiraz in southern Iran. The barren Zagros mountain range is to my left while fruit-laden orchards dot the right flank. Even at this early hour, there is heavy traffic on the road;…
Petra – Poetry in Stone (2010) - Petra, derived from the Greek word meaning rock, is a rather pedestrian appellation for a dazzling ancient city painstakingly carved out of sandstone and hidden away in a labyrinthine rocky gorge deep in the Arabian desert. A pink jewel in an otherwise arid landscape, Petra…
Pompeii & Herculaneum – Lost Cities of the Roman Empire (2005,2009) - August 23, 79 AD. The day dawned bright and sunny as usual and seemed full of promise. Pompeiians went about their daily business of administering, conferring, trading, praying etc, blissfully unaware of what destiny had in store for them. So, they were totally unprepared when…
Pragpur & Garli, Heritage Villages (2014) - On a weekend, we drove from Andretta where I was learning studio pottery, to Kangra Fort and then to two picturesque but deserted villages, both straight out of a period film. Richly embellished, dilapidated, they remind me of Miss.Havisham’s. But they were not always like…
Pushkar- Desert Divine (2009) - Pushkar, congested, crowded and dirty by day, is magically transformed by evening. Come dusk, the quotidian makes way for the exotic, exciting and mystical in this temple town sacred to Hindus of all denominations. The ghats, swarming with bathers and seekers of salvation, become bereft…
Ranakpur, Filigreed Stone (2019) - Metal, we know, is malleable. Did you know that Ranakpur sculptors could make stone dance to their tunes, making it malleable and ductile, extruding it, bending it, coiling it and shaping it at will? How could they coax such fine filigree designs on something as…
Samarkand, Splendour Non-Pareil (2003,2013) - The drive from Bukhara to Samarkand takes just under four hours and the highway is world class. It was not always this easy to reach this beautiful city. Some of the earliest European impressions of Samarkand come from Don Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, Ambassador of…
Santorini – Surreal & Stunning (2009) - Watching a program on the mythical continent of Atlantis on the National Geographic channel, where a ruby-red sun is swallowed by a topaz-blue caldera against the backdrop of whitewashed houses perched on a spectacular cliff, you’d be forgiven for wanting to teleport yourself there at…
Schizophrenic Rome (1982,2005,2010) - Visiting Rome can be a schizophrenic experience. The city is a modern metropolis striving to establish its contemporary identity in a largely antiquated and often crumbling edifice of immense historic value. The sprawling cityscape is dotted with gorgeous ruins and exquisite monuments – familiar images…
Shiraz, Poetic City of Persia (2003, 2007) - Solemn and sombre, the women stand silently around the slab sheltered by an ornate blue-tiled octagonal pavilion. Without exception, all heads are wreathed in black headscarves, revealing little of the tresses underneath. As I draw near, I find that some of the women sport trendy…
Sri Lanka – Priceless Buddhist Heritage (2003) - The flight from Chennai to Colombo is a kaleidoscopic experience. The plane cruises along the emerald coast of the Indian peninsula where waves flirt with beige sands, their pearly froth sketching an undulating design along the shores. Through the scratched panes of your Airbus 320…Stepping Back in Time – Step wells of Delhi - Concealed behind expansive bungalows surrounded by lush green gardens and an occasional high-rise apartment complex, this archaeological treasure reveals itself only to the determined seeker. Agrasen ki baoli is an ancient stepwell right in the heart of the national capital, on Hailey Road, just a…
Toledo, Spanish Splendour - How does it feel to step into a sepia portrait? You will find out if you visit Toledo, Iberia’s Rome, Damascus and Cairo, all rolled into one. Just an hour away from Madrid, Toledo’s labyrinthine alleys and cobbled streets may also remind you of Stockholm’s…
Venice, Dowager Queen of The Adriatic (2005) - When was the last time you were in a city without road traffic? Not encountering a single car, bus or truck is perhaps the most appealing aspect of Venice for the jaded city-dweller hoping for a getaway from petrol fumes for a few days. That…
Xian’s Warriors of Clay (2005) - Beijing West railway station is as crowded as Chennai Central railway station, but is much grander and more orderly. Passengers are not allowed on the platform until a few minutes before departure. People stand patiently in queues in front of the gates without shoving or…
Yazd, the original home of Zoroastrians (2005) - Driving through the streets of Teheran, the Iranian capital, during the evening peak hour is an excruciating experience, especially if you have a train to catch. “Have oil, will drive,” seems to be the motto of Teheranians. There is an endless stretch of Paykans before,…