October 2008 Desktop Calendar Wallpaper

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

This month's calendar is from Leh. View of Namgyal Tse Mo Gompa from Shanti Stupa in the evening hours.

September 2008 on India Travel Blog

Monday, September 29, 2008

Here is looking back at major posts this month on India Travel Blog. September was mostly about postings on Tamil Nadu, and a few book reviews.

* Kanyakumari part I and part II
* Photo-Essay on Padmanabhapuram Palace
* The pond at Padmanabhapuram Palace
* Book Review: Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge
* Book Review: The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

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Book Review - The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Author: Paul Theroux
Publishers: Penguin Books
Pages: 342

Theroux's book on his epic train journey is now one of the most celebrated travel books. Theroux begins his journey from London, travelling on Orient Express to Iran and further to India, Srilanka, Myanmar, South-East Asia, Japan, Russia and back. The long journey took him three months, taking him through some prettiest regions to a few depressing ones too. And the landscapes changed considerably over time, from hot desert climes of middle-east to freezing temperatures in Siberia.

Theroux epitomizes the old saying in his book, all the time trying to tell his readers that the journey is more important than the destination. Indeed, the book is more about the journey, where he talks in detail about his fellow passengers and the changing window view from the train, while he talks very little about the destination where he spends his days between journeys.

Theroux's book may not seem all that special in the days when every tom, dick and harry talks about Round The World travel and gap-year, but it stands unique in the fact that he made his journey by train, and the book is not much about the destinations. His writing style is very readable, keeping the reader travelling with him all the time. A worthy read, but one might also wonder if the book was worth all the fame it has acquired.

India Travel Blog on Twitter

Saturday, September 27, 2008

In case you prefer to see new posts via twitter updates than RSS, India Travel Blog is now on twitter. Follow indiatravelbog to see new posts and to get other updates

Posts from Tamilnadu

I made a 10-day trip to Taminadu in March-08, travelling to Madurai, Kanyakumari and Thanjavur. The reports from these places is now complete, with the last post on Padmanabhapuram Palace. Here is a list of all the posts.



* Madurai - I
* Madurai - II
* Madurai - A multilingual communication
* Kanyakumari - I
* Kanyakumari - II
* The pond at Padmanabhapuram Palace
* Photo Essay on Padmanabhapuram Palace
* Thanjavur

Friday Photo: Room of the Lamps

Friday, September 26, 2008

The room where the lamps are kept. In Shashur monastery, Keylong, Himachal Pradesh

Photo Essay: Padmanabhapuram Palace

Thursday, September 25, 2008

On a fine sunny morning, I took a local bus from Kanyakumari and arrived at the leafy environs of Padmanabhapuram Palace. The area around the palace is thickly covered with coconut groves on all sides, and sunlight hardly reaches the ground except where the landscapes are interrupted by tarmac.

The entrance to the palace is predictably surrounded by eateries and souvenir shops. Buying keepsakes is not something I am used to, but nevertheless, ingenious use of coconut shells to create monkeys and Ganeshas succeeded to garner my attention. A short inspection of the surroundings, and I zeroed in on an ancient looking eatery for breakfast.



The dosa at the breakfast place, served with a red chutney with plenty of coconut(do they ever make anything without coconuts in these parts?) was delicious enough for me to go for a second helping. And I was fed with another dose of coconut by a tender coconut vendor at the doors of the palace.



The palace dates back by 400 years, when it was built by the renowned Travancore king Marthanda Varma. But its glory days lasted less than a century, as his successor Dharma Raja decided to move his capital to Thiruvananthapuram. Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram? I think Travancore kings loved long names!

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The first sight of the palace is unfortunately the least impressive. Soon after I walked through the entrance, I was beginning to doubt if the trip was worth the effort.



The first hall - a courtyard where the king met his visitors - has been praised to no end by palace guides on location as well as the guidebooks, but doesn't leave a big impression. A lamp, a chair supposedly gifted by a Chinese visitor and a plain stone bed hardly make a mark.

But proceeding further, impressions of the palace change as quickly as it was built up. The mantrasala - the discussion chamber of courtiers has an impressive display of light and shade created by wooden window grills. The colorful windows have placeholders to store perfumes that spread in the room when the wind blows in. The dark and hard flooring of the room and rest of the palace have a superb finish that almost match marbles in their finesse.



The palace has an army of employees serving as tour-guides, whose services are included in the entry fee. A few years ago, a guide would escort each group of visitors through the palace and explain it all from beginning to end. That meant, in days when there are lot of visitors, people had to be rushed through the palace so that everyone can be attended to, and leaving most tourists unhappy. The Kerala archeological department worked on an ingenious solution to the problem: now they have placed two guides in every section of the palace, filling the palace with guides who stay put in their location and brief the tourists. Each section of the palace has clearly marked directions aiding the visitors to find their way through the maze of halls and rooms in the palace.

Walking further from Mantrasala, the arrow marks lead me to the long dining hall where Brahmins once dined in hundreds, thanks to the benevolent king. Huge jars and cauldrons stored at a corner of the hall tell the story of food that was probably cooked in tonnes.



First floor of the dining hall gives excellent view of sections of the palace towering with maroon colored tiled roof, sloping steeply. Walking down from here to a pooja hall called 'mother palace', I am once again impressed with ornate carvings of wood, smooth flooring and airy windows with wooden bars. A pillar with intricate woodwork charms me with its carvings of plantains and floral patterns.







Further ahead is Upparika Mahal - the four-storied tower that served as the king's quarters. A narrow staircase leads up to the king's bed room in second floor. Further up is a room with frescoes that is out of bounds to visitors. Kerala Archeological Department has closed this room to help preserve the paintings, but how-ever, tourists are always told that the rooms are under renovation. A few poor quality copies are kept in the palace museum, but they are barely good enough to indicate that the originals are excellent paintings, and leave you with a longing to see them.



I pass from here to the airy women's quarters, and then to the long corridors of guest-rooms that now host some beautiful old paintings of the life and times of Marthanda Varma. The paintings - including coronation of the king, a plot to kill his majesty, war scenes - are well preserved, even when the brand new tiny wooden labels under the paintings have already fallen off!

Just besides the guest-rooms is a green open area with lush grass and tall coconut trees, and a pond at a corner of the palace. I spent a long time standing in a balcony overlooking the pond, observing the fish in the water and a cormorant feeding on them(Here is a separate story on the pond).



The signs helping visitors to find their directions lead me from here to Navarathri Mantapa and Saraswati Temple. These are carved from stone, a significant detour from the wooden structures in rest of the palace. The Mantapa, the place for performances in the palace, is adorned with carved pillars and a floor that is polished well enough to create reflections.



I had almost lost track of time and was engrossed in the impressiveness of the palace. I realized having spent many hours inside only when the signs leading out of the Mantapa took me back to the entrance, indicating end of my trip. Hunger pangs then lead me out of the palace, and further down the road for yet another helping of the delicious dosa.

Padmanabhapuram Information

Visit to the palace is best done as a day-trip from either Kanyakumari or Trivendrum.

How to reach: To get to the palace, take a Trivendrum bound bus from Kanyakumari(or the other way), and get down at Thuckalay town. You can hire an auto-rickshaw from Thuckalay to the palace, which is 3km away.

Nearest major train stations are at Trivendrum and Nagercoil, and the nearest airport is at Trivendrum.

Book Review: Ancient Futures

Monday, September 22, 2008

Author: Helena Norberg-Hodge
Publishers: Oxford University Press
Pages: 224

Ancient Futures is a book on Ladakh's cultural and social atmosphere, its environment and changing face of Ladakhi civilization with the influence of modern world.

Hodge, director of International Society of Ecology and Culture, and founder of Women's Alliance of Ladakh is an long time visitor to Ladakh. She has been vocal about sustainable development and preserving cultural values in the region. In this book, she writes about her own experiences of spending many years in Ladakh, the change she has been seeing since the time Indian Army built a major presence in the region and tourists thronged in large numbers.

The book has a good preview of Ladakhi culture, their way of living, the attitude of the people and their economic system. It is rich with personal experiences of the author from the days when Ladakh was still a secluded place to the times of modernization. Sometimes the book appears as though the author is working with a one pointed agenda to say that everything Ladakhi was good and the onslaught of 'bad' modernization has made irrecoverable damages. But nevertheless, it is hard to deny the facts she puts forward about the problems that come in with change. It is a well written, readable book and is worth picking up, for anyone who is interested in the life, culture and geography of Trans-Himalayan regions of India.

Kanyakumari - II

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Continued from Kanyakumari - I



Back at Kanyakumari, getting to Vivekananda Rock Memorial is an effort. I am not the only one headed that way; there is an army of pilgrims waiting to get to the place where the highly revered monk meditated. There is a queue to get tickets for the boat, another to get into the boat, yet another to buy tickets to get into the island once you alight from the boat. The boat itself is packed tightly. Sitting inside, I feel like chickens transported in their cramped cells. The contractors who run the boats, who prefer to call themselves as a 'Shipping Company', enforce the passengers into wearing life jackets, but it is a pointless effort. It is impossible even to get out of the boat in case of an accident: on the top is a metaled roof which prevents your exit, and seating and the thick crowd of people around you prevent you from rushing out through the passage. The island is bustling with tourists and it is hard to get a quiet moment. Surrounded by the sea, it is a beautiful place where I wished to spend the whole day, but changed my mind quickly and returned to mainland.

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The rock memorial blends well with its surrounding, but the Thiruvalluvar statue in the neighbouring rock doesn't. Unlike the structure of the memorial which merges smoothly with the rock, the statue feels out of place, rising suddenly and steeply from its base. It's built by binding many pieces of rock into one, and their ugly joints are visible from as far as the mainland. The rock is littered with broken boulders, and silvery metal pillars installed at its base to provide lighting add to the ugliness. I am surprised to see a seemingly half cooked product from the same person - Eknath Ranade - who elaborately planned and worked for the Vivekananda Memorial.

That afternoon, I take a stroll in the leafy environs of Vivekananda Kendra. The Kendra is a spiritual center setup by Eknath Ranade, the person who worked on establishing the Vivekananda Memorial. The large 100-acre campus has a small forest where I spot a few peacocks running around. The campus adjoins a quiet sandy beach, which I could have all for myself for a long time. Its peaceful environs were motivation enough, the next morning I checked out from my hotel, and moved into the campus.


View Larger Map
Interactive map of Kanyakumari. Zoom in for details. Click on the placemarks to identify each location.

I spent most of my remaining time wandering within the town, not missing sunrise and sunset everyday, looking for peacocks in Vivekananda Kendra or having moments of solitudes at the beach. The sunrise, sunset, pleasing breeze on the shore and the superb greenery kept me in Kanyakumari for longer than I initially planned. I kept postponing my return for a couple of days, but eventually had to leave and make a long journey back home.

Kanyakumari Information

Needless to say, Kanyakumari is the southern tip of mainland India. It is also the confluence of three seas - Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. On the southernmost tip is the Kanyakumari Temple. Said to be 1000 year old, it is a popular pilgrimage destination. Vivekananda Rock, a large boulder jutting out of the sea, is the place where Swami Vivekananda meditated during later part of 19th century. The memorial for the monk built on the rock attracts pilgrims in drones. Vivekananda Center near Kanyakumari Temple, a museum that has frames portraying the life of Vivekananda with pictures and stories is ignored by most visitors but is worth visiting.

Being a cape at the southern edge, you can witness both sunrise and sunset over the sea. Both are not to be missed, especially in winter days when you can see colorful sunsets.

Padmanabhapuram Palace, once the abode of Travancore Kings is an hour by bus from Kanyakumari. Take the frequently available bus from Kanyakumari to Thuckalay, from where the palace is 3km ride on auto-rickshaw. On the way is Shuchindram, 15 minutes by bus from Kanyakumari, which has a Shiva temple with a tall gopura, adjoining a large tank.

The Vivekananda Kendra, located in a 100-acre leafy campus conducts multi-day meditation courses. Call them to find out the dates and book ahead.

Accommodation is in plenty in Kanyakumari, but can often get booked out with pilgrims arriving in large groups. TTDC Hotel is worth staying it, so is the quiet Vivekananda Kendra.

Friday Photo: Gathering

Friday, September 19, 2008

Women watching Cham Dance at a festival in a monastery in Keylong

Kanyakumari - I

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

My bus from Madurai to Kanyakumari heads southwards passing through the vast plains of Tamil Nadu. Summer has not yet set in, and there is pleasant breeze coming in from the window. Strong sun brings in a bit of discomfort whenever the bus halts, but nothing close to reminding the scorching summers. The grass is green and stretches endlessly to the horizon. There isn't much habitation on the way and my views are not interrupted by human settlements.

The plains seem perpetual as we progress south, and there is little change in the landscape. Occasionally, flat grassy tracts gives way to towns and villages and farmlands but quickly returns to the same terrain. Once in a while, palm trees spring up in small clusters to break the monotony.

A few hours in the bus, we are close to Tirunalveli, when clouds start gathering in the distance and the weather becomes distinctly cool and moist. Driving under the clouds, we are surprised by an unexpected drizzle that eventually picks up into a steady rain. We are now in hill station like weather, and the cool wind lulls me into sleep.

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When I open my eyes, it seems like a completely new world. Rains have stopped. The earth is now fresh with wetness after the rains, and blades of grass are decorated with water droplets. There is some change in landscape too - there are tall hills rising at a distance, with their ridges barely visible in fog. Driving through flat unchanging terrain for many hours, the green hills rising one behind other are a welcome shift.

I kept wishing that we pass through these mountains and descend into the sea side town of Kanyakumari, which did not happen. But driving through the foot of the hills and beyond them, we go past green plantain orchards and coconut groves as we approach Nagercoil. The coconut trees fill me with an anticipation of sea. At the edge of Tamil Nadu, the region has a distinct Keralan feel, with its sparsely spread housing, a few small shops selling nothing more than gutka packs and candies, all under the expanse of coconut trees. “We will reach Kanyakumari at 4pm,” the driver had told me earlier. We keep the time and arrive at 4.10pm.

Kanayakumari is a small town bustling with tourist infrastructure and pilgrim attractions. The eastern side of the town facing Bay of Bengal is lined with hotels advertising sea-facing rooms. Restaurants crowd the streets trying to appease every kind of pilgrim, serving food varying from South Indian to Punjabi, Gujarati, Marwari and North Indian. The southern tip, the end of mainland of India, hosts the Kanyakumari temple and bathing ghats that get crowded in the morning with pilgrims and tourists from every part of the country. The western shore is quieter, with fishing villages, catamarans on the shore, and a church that dominates the landscape.

Later in the day, I head to the quieter western shore to watch the sun go down and paint the sky red. Local government has built a tall and ugly tower adjoining the sea to view sunset, which seems to find no takers. But further ahead is a beautiful expanse of rocky shore ideal to sit and while away the time as the sun makes his journey down the horizon. Next to the rocks is a small beach laden with catamarans of fishermen who have called it a day. The same waves that collide into the rocks with a roar gently diffuse into the beach and retrace into the ocean timidly. The sky is cloudy and it appear as though the sun may not show up for the evening, but just a few minutes before the time of sunset, clouds make way to reveal an orange ball that changes the hues of the sky.



A few dozen of people who have gathered to witness the sunset leave soon after the sun goes below the sea. Tourists and their few vehicles gone, the sky turns from orange to dark in a few minutes. In the ensuing quietness, there is no sound but of the waves bouncing off from the rock. I lie on a boulder for a long time feeling the cool wind blowing into me, immersed in the moment and indulging in the pleasing environment.

Back in the town near the southern tip, I am disturbed by the glistening lights by the shore that is a contrast to the place I have left behind. But far away from the shore, Vivekananda rock and the Thiruvalluvar statue in the ocean are lit up and look beautiful. A strong eastern wind livens me up and forces me to spend some time there, listening to the barrage of waves.

Next morning, I wake up just before sunrise and hurry to the sea shore. Expecting crowds similar to the sunset hour yesterday, I am a bit of put off to see a large crowd near the confluence - almost a thousands of people! A quick survey shows me that there are people from all over the country – traditionally attired farmers from places as far as the Hindi belt, turbanated Punjabis, well dressed families from Mumbai and the local South Indian crowd. The acclaimed diversity of India has converged to see sun come up over the confluence of the seas.



It takes some time to locate an empty place, but I manage to find one close to the shore. But within minutes of my arrival, the crowd swells further and every inch of space around me is occupied. Hawkers too, are already up and walking around selling trinkets, trying to take advantage of the gathered crowd. A fake pearl necklace attracts a woman sitting next to me.

“How much?” she asks the vendor.

“Two hundred,” says the vendor, and he hands out the necklace.

A serious round of bargaining follows. The lady wants it almost for free while the vendor is hoping to pull off a big profit. She pretends she is not keen on the necklace, but the vendor is an expert seller and is not giving in easily. The woman gives a tough first quote, trying to bring the price down by a steep ninety percent.

“I will give twenty rupees,” she says flatly. I am surprised by her confident quote. From two hundred to twenty? I need to learn some negotiation skills from her.

The vendor pretends to be angry at her and rises his voice. “You won't get anything for that price,” he says thrusting the necklace into her, “this is original pearls, have a look at it.” He then takes a lighter and puts the necklace in the flame. “See, this is original, not fake; you can see it doesn't burn.”

The woman is not impressed and has no intention to increase her quote. The vendor is playing a loosing game, and the price suddenly comes down to fifty, and soon after that to thirty! I am impressed with the woman's ability to get the price down, but the lady herself has no plans to revise her quote. The sale did not happen.

Just when all this exchange is over, sun comes out, gloriously lighting up the eastern sky, shooing away the morning cold and bringing in warmth. Within minutes after the sunrise, it is already bright and harsh, bringing end to the romance of the morning. The best moments were before the arrival of sun when the sky and the seas looked dull blue as the light spread slowly all over.



Later in the day, I take an hour long bus ride towards Kerala border, to Padmanabhapuram Palace. The journey to the palace itself is a rewarding one. There is greenery and plenty of water all around, and earth looks live and beautiful. A canal filled with fresh water runs along the road. Green paddy fields spread far and wide to one side, and to the other side unfold plantain orchards and coconut trees. Towering far away are Travancore Hills covered in a thin layer of grass. It was appealing enough that I traversed the same road again the next day, relishing on the scenery.



The palace is located in a picturesque village, in a leafy environ with dense growth of coconut trees around it and views of Travancore Hills at a distance. The palace itself looks ordinary from the front, but once inside, unveils ornate wood carvings, beautiful windows with wooden grills, and tiled roof. The insides boast of a long dining hall where the Brahmins once ate free, a three-story tower where the kings lived, well lit courtyards for the women, a stone temple with a theater and a beautiful pond in a green arena. It is a haphazard but charming structure built by the kings of Travancore 400 years ago, and most of it is still maintained intact. The upper floor of king's living room has some pretty frescoes, but now out of bounds for visitors; I had to be satisfied with poor photocopies displayed in the palace museum instead. (More on the palace in a separate post)

Continued in Part II

The pond at Padmanabhapuram palace

Monday, September 15, 2008

On one of my gallivanting trips in the peninsula, I was wandering the lenght of Padmanabhapuram Palace in TamilNadu-Karala border and came across a small pond trapped between the palace walls on three sides and lush greenery on the fourth. Its clear waters, spread of lush and tender grass around it, its beautiful setup at the edge of a coconut grove and views of Travancore Hills far away in the east together pulled me towards the pond. Walking around the pond, I found a balcony that opened straight above its waters, and spent a long time indulging in the placid atmosphere.



Standing on the balcony, I could see deep into the pond's clear and transparent-greenish water. It was live with fish of many sizes and variety. There were big black ones with half a feet long plump body that swam lazily in a corner. And a smaller kind stayed together and moved in a school of few hundreds, staying close to the surface. A Little Cormorant dominated the tank, policing the place from end to end in a nonchalant manner and occasionally diving in and coming out with something in his beak.

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When the cormorant dived, I could still see him inside the water. His legs moved back and forth quickly and his neck straightened like a spear to aid swift motion. I could see all that he did when he dived in - the fish that he chased, the ones he managed to catch and the ones he had to let go. He made a quick dive to replenish himself just after I arrived, surfaced immediately, flapped his wings and flew into a rock surface where he settled down comfortably.

He seemed to be planning a long hour of leisure on the rock and in no hurry to get back to the water. He knew that the fish in the pond are going nowhere, and he can consume them one by one at his own pace. He perched comfortably on the rock and spread his wings wide open to let them dry in the sun. Cormorants lack oil secreting that help most waterbirds to keep their wings dry. They have to resort to conventional way to dry them – by getting out of the water and spreading them in the sun. After a good session of swimming, they take a clumsy flight to the bank by flapping their dripping wings, spread them wide open for some time for drying in the sun before flying away.

Life must be good if you are a cormorant in these parts. He kept his own leisurely schedule perched on the rock and seemed to have nothing to bother about. I stood still in the balcony watching him, hoping that he gets back to water soon to work on the remaining fish in the pond, filling himself up by making good use of a time when he is having all the pond for himself. But he was relaxed and took it easy, preening his wet wings and inspecting the pond that he seemed to own.

He must have spent a good fifteen minutes making fashion statements in preening and drying his wings. Just when I was getting impatient and looking forward to some action from him, he jumped into water and started scanning the pond for lunch. I was excited and looked forward to some underwater fish chase and fast action sequences. But to my disappointment, he headed straight to the area covered with weeds and disappeared under them.

He would spend a lot of time under water each time he went into weeds, leaving me in anticipation and keeping me guessing about where is he going to resurface next. He always came out with something tiny in his mouth and would swallow it contentedly after coming back up. What he had in his beak was too small for me to see with bare eyes, but whatever it was, he seemed to be finding a lot of it under the weeds, as he made frequent dives and never came back empty.

This went on for a long time; he had an appetite that wasn't going to be satiated easily. He continued his routine, relishing in his find under the weeds. There definitely seemed to be an endless supply of food somewhere down there. Besides what he was eating, he did not even bother to look at the school of small fish that moved around the pond in a slothful manner. For such good supply of food, it was surprising that he had no competition and had the entire pond all for himself. It must be a lavish life, being a cormorant.

I did not have to wait for a long to figure why he donned the whole pond by himself. In a few minutes, another one of his fellow beings flew in, perched on the roof of the palace and surveyed the pond to check if it is habitable for him. He seemed to like the place; after lingering for a moment on the roof, he decided to fly into the pond. What happened next was something I wasn't ready for. He dived into water, but was met mid air by the our old fellow who was unwilling to share his abode. The fight and the pandemonium that ensued next hardly lasted a second. It was a swift encounter as the birds quacked and collided with each other, trying to push each other with their beaks. The intruder retreated immediately, leaving the pond with its rightful owner and allowing peace to prevail. The mystery of his dominance was thus resolved.

Another fifteen minutes of order remained as our old cormorant continued to have good time diving down the weeds and taking mouthfuls. Exploring for more, he swam into a bunch of weeds right below my balcony, giving me closer and clear views of his shining dark back. This time when he dived, I could see a little of what was happening among the weeds. He disturbed a school of very tiny, barely visible fish that haunted the weeds and picked them one by one at each dive. Another mystery was resolved.

There wasn't a moment of dullness at the pond. Soon he had enough of the tiny fish and scoured the pond for more, stumbling on the school of fish swimming tardily in the opposite corner. There was a sudden infusion of life in the pond. The school sprung into action and swam away quickly, chased by the fast moving cormorant. It split into two groups in the pandemonium and the action that ensued lasted no more than a second or two. The cormorant got closer to the less lucky of the two groups and pounced on them. Next moment it was all over. Our bird was back on the surface floating easily as he always did, a trophy of victory locked in his beak. After all that fast drama, once again peace prevailed in the tank and life continued as usual: the school had regrouped, cormorant returned to its usual uneventful dives. It looked as if nothing had happened in the last minute.

The amount of complexity packed by nature in such a small region amazes me. The tiny fish probably depend on the weeds to survive, and the bigger fish are likely to survive on the smaller ones. The cormorant gobbles up the fish and population of all life is kept in control. The water itself is recycled and replenished to support all this life by vaporization and precipitation. And the complexity is carefully planned to ensure that the system never breaks. The cormorant keeps rivals at bay, ensuring sustenance of aquatic population. And yet it seems so simple and beautiful to someone seeing it from outside the system.

Friday Photo: Pashmeena Goats

Friday, September 12, 2008

Ladakh

Thursday, September 11, 2008

It has been a little more than a day since I returned from a long journey traversing the mountainous regions of Ladakh. From the moment of return, I have been my laziest best and have been trying all I can to postpone everything that needs to be done. Not that I am recuperating from fatigue, I have been as fit as I can be. But a sudden end to a long travel puts the mind off the guard it has maintained all along - to ensure to stay fit and active, to manage body's health properly and to make best of the timeout. Now at home, none of it is necessary and the guard is dropped. I can afford to relax, postpone things that are not imperative and put the couch and pad to good use.

But this is not a state I would really like to linger in for long. A few lax days can lead to a few more, and then some more, making it harder and harder to return to activity. Even writing this post has been an effort that I have managed to make after a few postponements. Now, why haven't they worked on a system that can automatically convert thoughts into words and upload them on the computer? I need one such thing right now.

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The two month long Ladakh trip was rewarding in many ways. There were ups and downs - downs when I figured that one of my lenses stopped working in the beginning of the trip, and my tripod gave away at later part of the journey. But the highlights overshadowed these minor troubles. Besides spending time in a region of unfamiliar people, culture and landscapes, the journey genuinely helped me better myself, look at my own self and introspect my ways. The simplicity of the people of the region and the ease with which they take their daily lives amused and impressed me, and compelled me to learn from them. Besides, I learned to travel better and make the most of it, ignoring the inevitable problems and annoyances that are essential part of long term travel.

The Trans Himalayan landscapes of Ladakh are another thing that I looked forward to indulge in. There was much to see that is unique to the region - immense brackish water bodies trapped amidst the mountains, glaciers lazily drifting down and feeding the rivers, sudden burst of superb greenery in the middle of desert landscapes, streams running down the slopes wherever you see,.. It is a land that surprises the visitor at every turn.

Despite the delight of travel, it was a disappointing tour for the photographer in me. Even when the weather remained sunny, clouds remained comfortably settled on mountain peaks for almost the entire season. Opportunities weren't many, and weren't properly utilized even when they did show up. I goofed up right at the beginning of the journey by forgetting at home some small but critical equipment needed to make good landscape images. The fact that one of my lenses gave away half way through the journey did not make things any better. Yet, there are plenty of images that I have brought back to document the journey. Here is one to begin with.



Needless to say, though it takes a few months before I begin, India Travel Blog will see a detailed log of all the experience from Ladakh. In fact, I am looking forward to doing a lot of writing from the few notebooks I have filled up in writing my journals.

Friday Photo: Raindrops

Friday, September 05, 2008

Quick Update

Monday, September 01, 2008

My long travels in the Trans Himalayas are nearing its end. It has been a delightful two months in Ladakh, and it has gone swiftly. Currently in Manali on my way back, and logging in after a good two weeks, I am still a week away from getting home.

It has been eventful two months with some insights to Tibetan Buddhism, Trans Himalayan and Himalayan landscapes, biking, walking and struggling with other means of transport, huge lakes, high passes, tall mountains, apricots, apples, ever-smiling people and much more.

It will be another week before regular and frequent postings resume on India Travel Blog. Thanks for having been patient and dropping in regularly.

September 2008 Desktop Calendar Wallpaper

Here is the desktop calendar wallpaper for September 2008, from Skandagiri near Bangalore. Click on the image to get 1024x768 version.