A Journal of Travel Tales Across 72 Countries
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The receptionist at the hotel in Palermo cannot find our bookings. He fingers our passports nervously and fumbles with the keyboard of his computer. “India? Is it near Sri Lanka?” he asks gratuitously, adding insult to injury. This must perhaps be the first time anyone …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
“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 …