tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194478552012-01-26T23:50:00.987-08:00Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-11497191037859220542012-01-17T21:25:00.000-08:002012-01-17T21:25:54.665-08:00

Is it Abelia? Please help identify .... White Lantana Lantana - Yellow and Orange Lantana - Pale yellow Lantana - Pale yellow, against purple Ganges Primrose (Aystasia Gangetica) Cape Leadwort (Plumbago) Frangipani (Plumeria) Glory Bower / Indian privet / Wild Jasmine Sky Flower Rain Lily - in sun & shade Canna Cape

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-83085267950332607472012-01-11T21:16:00.000-08:002012-01-11T21:16:47.848-08:00

As I mentioned in my other blog, "Idle Thoughts", I didn't travel for almost three years. The blogging took a backseat too. Perhaps to compensate for travel, I developed an interest in photography, specially of flowers. Also, got hooked to facebook, and the whole lot of photos that I took, in the day-to-day life, usually on my cellphone, was shared on FB. For a long time, I intended to share

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-82141542609521288232008-06-18T05:34:00.000-07:002008-06-18T07:56:38.707-07:00

Agra fort is a UNESCO world heritage site. With or without this distinction, it is a landmark monument in the history of India. It was built by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 16th century, and is still an imposing structure after four centuries. It is made of red sandstone, and is actually a small city in itself - a complex maze of buildings, chambers passageways, towers, balconies.Today, quite a

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-27147836236622105802008-05-07T23:08:00.000-07:002008-05-07T23:17:37.071-07:00

Taj stands so majestic, an imposing structure in its white marble, that it never fails to inspire an awe, no matter how many times you have visited it before. Few last pictures of the grand monument, before we move on ....

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-2042911255021336212008-03-24T22:30:00.001-07:002008-03-24T22:41:05.258-07:00

From the base of the tombOne of the minaretsA Bore-wellCupola - it is the leftmost part of the Naqqarkhana structureThe entrance - seen from the platform of the tomb(It was a cloudy winter day, so some pictures got hazy)

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-44704717966590285032008-03-10T02:01:00.001-07:002008-03-10T02:19:38.826-07:00

Entrance of the tombDesigns inlaid in marble with colorful stonesFloral designs hand-carved into marbleAn ornate domeA series of arches ... symmetry!

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-86414287544836334662007-11-04T08:14:00.000-08:002007-11-04T09:08:31.360-08:00

Okay! The picture in the last post is the Naqqarkhana [resthouse] that flanks the Taj at the right, according to the Islamic architecture. And the next few posts are going to be dedicated to the great specimen of architecture, that is The Taj!I might be committing a grave sacrilege, but the fact is that the Taj does not inspire me as a monument to love. However, in beauty, grandeur, architecture

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-64973466821446145082007-11-02T06:42:00.000-07:002007-11-04T09:08:31.361-08:00

This picture comes by the way of introduction for next series of posts. Any guesses?(click on the image for a larger view)

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-42790714415428402022007-10-21T08:04:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:11:58.310-07:00

In one of the posts about my Kedarnath trip, I had posted pictures of wild flowers we saw on our way. I posted the pictures as they were taken - the reason being the context. Pijush had suggested cropping the pictures to focus on the object under consideration. Following this useful input, what I did was crop all the flower pictures, and create a collage of them. An here we are!(Click on the

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-80767545960439823722007-10-17T18:39:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:11:58.310-07:00

The story of this adventure in the himalayas concludes here. We started back from Kedarnath after lunch, and aimed to cover as much distance as possible. We made a stop at the picurusque town of Srinagar, though we could not explore it since by the time we reached it was quite dark, and we started early morning the next day. We had little [and little, in the sense of the word ;-)] compensations .

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-74860465928706026612007-10-12T06:53:00.001-07:002007-11-02T06:11:58.310-07:00

While climbing up, by the time we reached the region of flower-laden slopes, we were too tired to take photos, or even to admire them. But when we were descending, we had just started when we found those flowers. Thus, for the last post in this "series", I have pictures of flora and fauna (though mostly the former) we saw on our way down.

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-91525231792130421632007-10-08T05:30:00.000-07:002007-10-08T06:05:56.749-07:00

I prefer to post pictures either in chronological order, or by logical group. However, the previous post was out of sequence. :-) I had not yet finished with the details of the climb up!The path up ...... by the side of MandakiniAgain ... multitude of waterfallsIn the upper regions, the slopes were full of tiny, colorful flowers!And the mountains stood majesticwith a halo of cloudsBy the time we

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-708680136515388282007-09-29T23:47:00.001-07:002007-09-30T00:12:53.091-07:00

Early next morning, we woke up to a clear day, and caught beautiful views of the snow covered peaks.The sun rising over the Mighty Himalayas A part of the Kedarnath shrine in the foregroundSnow covered peaks in all their gloryThe Temple of Kedarnath As viewed from the backside(It was impossible to get a complete front view)Imposing entrance of the templeHimalayas in the background look

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-12251510189319633002007-09-20T04:36:00.000-07:002007-09-22T04:37:00.151-07:00

Moving on ...Mahadev Falls - perhaps the biggest of 'em allMandakini flows down with forceWe struggle to move up and up (The cluster of shops on the upper left corned marks the center of the 14 km journey)Where'd he come from ...Where'd he go ??Perfect PoseHe stood still and stared at me while I took his snapComing straight from the heavens

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-87522090346413296192007-09-19T00:08:00.000-07:002007-09-20T09:06:19.769-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, we made an overnight stop at Guptkashi. We planned to leave very early morning, so at to reach Kedarnath as early in the morning as possible, so that the climb up would be easier. Guptkashi - still asleep in early hoursWe continued the journey along Mandakini, crossing a few more confluences, like Nandprayag and Sonprayag. As we gained altitude, the vegetation

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-61052839128721592772007-09-16T07:21:00.001-07:002007-09-20T08:57:42.118-07:00

Since we still had some time left from our leave, we thought of making the best use of it, and visiting another place in the area which was still accessible. The only option turned out to be Kedarnath. Although there is a road that goes to Kedarnath from Chamoli, we were advised against using that one, since that was not so well maintained, and could result in long delays if we got stuck there.

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-65459542378166182972007-09-13T11:03:00.000-07:002007-09-20T08:57:42.118-07:00

Early morning, we started from Rudraprayag, which is the confluence of Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers, and continued the journey along the Alaknanda. As we gained altitude, waterfalls and landslides were seen more frequently. Especially after crossing Karanprayag (where Alaknanda meets Pindar), there was a minor landslide every 50 meters or so, and bigger one every 100 meters. There were two or

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-64008350076752646762007-09-10T08:41:00.000-07:002007-09-20T08:57:42.118-07:00

I have a long cherished dream to visit Valley of Flowers. It comprises about 3o sq. km. of area in the Himalayas, which blooms with beautiful and rare flowers, growing wild, for all of about 40 days in a year. A plan to go there finally materialized in August, combining the Independence Day holiday with the weekend, and taking two days off, thus giving us a total of 5 days. The planned itinerary

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-43083616824847013852007-07-07T10:09:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.340-07:00

Well, all the details of the trip have been logged, but I have some more pictures to share.A local kid playing with waterWild flower - I still dont know its name!Vegetation amongst rocks

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-33827473409674249262007-07-02T23:40:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:11.220-07:00

Mridula linked one of my posts on Dharamsala at BLOGBHARTI, where sirensongs provided some insightful (and lesser known) information about Tibet and Dharamsala.Copying this discussion/information here -Sirensongs:The memorial in the churchyard was for the British Lord Elgin, who used to live there and is buried there.You wrote: "it was the first time I had heard about" (all the atrocities of the

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-40823008310852216992007-06-16T07:06:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.340-07:00

TaraWe started another day with stroll in the streets, waiting for the sleepy town to wake up [and provide us with breakfast ;-) ]. We went to the small temple once again - a peaceful and beautiful place, in the not-yet-busy street. The temple has beautiful, miniature paintings of goddess Tara on the pillars, and those of Buddha/Bodhisatva on the wall, all around the periphery. The colors,

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-23518292798118883062007-06-01T23:09:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:11.221-07:00

The exhaustion of the journey and previous day's excursion took its toll, and we were not able to wake up early and go for a walk towards the higher hills, as we had originally intended to. The sun was already up by the time we walked out, and looked for a place to have breakfast. In case you are wondering, we usually prefer to have parantha [a kind if Indian bread] at some dhaba [small eating

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-41797187365397532992007-05-27T04:12:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:11.222-07:00

It is not an unknown fact that Chinese invasion of Tibet forced many people to leave their homeland, many people to lose their belongings, their source of livelihood, or even their lives.Many shops in the town had a sign proclaiming "We do not sell goods Made in China". Some buildings bearing a poverty-stricken look, housing the offices of societies for welfare of Tibetan nationals, requested

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-70414002750075213542007-05-23T09:49:00.001-07:002007-07-07T22:26:11.222-07:00

First GlimpseWe looked for a suitable hotel near the main market. It frequently happens that the hotels in central place in small towns are not ideal, with regard to the facilites and the view their rooms offer, but we have learnt from past experience that it is better to stay in the central places in small hill towns like this. You may get a luxurious room with a magnificent view in a resort in

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-88203203543866077412007-05-13T00:11:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:11.222-07:00

Our long-planned trip finally materialized in the last week of March - to Dharamsala. This was one of the rare times when we had no reservation - neither for stay, nor for travel. We had gathered information from the net about places to stay (and shortlisted two of them), but did not make reservations because the trip stood to get canceled till the very last day.The road distance to Dharamsala is

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-63373634755197561532007-04-08T03:00:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.341-07:00

About two weeks back, we had some work to do in Bengali Market, which is near CP [well, CP is going to remain CP, however much the government tries to rename it to Rajiv Chowk]. The work done, we decided to go to CP for lunch. After the lunch, we just strolled about. Anyone who has been to CP will probably vouch for it - there is no place like CP to shop, and even window shopping is a lot of

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-52789785692906464952007-04-07T10:21:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.341-07:00

By now I have quite a few travelogues waiting to be written down. Hopefully I would get around to doing it some time.In the meanwhile - some glimpses of my recent trip to Dharamsala ...

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-88617137696484995162007-03-15T21:40:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.341-07:00

We happened to visit another flower festival, this time at NOIDA stadium. It was nowhere near as wonderful as the one at Garden of Five Senses, but still ..... flowers are always beautiful!At the entry point of the area marked for the flower show, these animals welcomed us. They were nice, even though a little funny :)Elephant with a garlandA bull (the eyes are blue flowers, not color)The cutest

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1167059036419589582006-12-25T06:42:00.000-08:002007-07-07T22:26:41.535-07:00

After what unintentionally became a long hiatus, I have resumed this tale of my Goa trip. In a long time, I have managed to cover only three days worth of explorations. I don’t know how long is it going to take me to complete this travelogue to my satisfaction. ;-)Goa – Day Three: We decided to spend the third day visiting the beaches in the southern Goa. The southern part of the Goan coastline

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1166628697898774582006-12-20T07:24:00.000-08:002006-12-20T08:30:42.790-08:00

Hmmm ... so foggy winter mornings are upon us now .... and in this weather, armchair travel is all I can feel up to :-)These photos are taken from my balcony while I stood shivering, and got a red nose :-)And this is how it looks from inside :-))

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This photographs was take on our way to chandigarh ... from the moving car.I liked the effect, but for the wires :-(And the diwali crackers .... i managed to shake the camera in the night mode but i liked the way the sparks have come to look like little bubbles ...

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1161671852730122702006-10-23T23:26:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.342-07:00

PreludePerhaps the most difficult part of organizing a team outing is deciding on the destination and the dates. And just how much so, we learnt this summer when our team was raring to go - somewhere, anywhere, away from the scorching heat, away from the grilling schedules. It took a number of "healthy discussions" after which we decided to go to Mashobra, which is about 10 km from Shimla, for an

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1158926250237510612006-09-22T04:49:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:41.535-07:00

In last post, I mentioned that we went to Old Goa, where we saw the huge laterite sculpture of devotee Meerabai. Well, it seems that either I misinterpreted the name of the place as mentioned by the guide, or my memory played up :-)The place that we visited is actually called Ancestral Goa, and it is an open air museum. It houses an art gallery called Big Foot Art Gallery, and is itself sometimes

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1158424542019039942006-09-16T09:32:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:41.536-07:00

We started the next day again with a walk on the beach. We even dared to venture into the water. I use “dared” because the water was rough (as I mentioned earlier) and neither of us knows swimming. There was no life guard, in fact there was no other soul on the beach. We had the whole stretch of the beach to ourselves - it was beautiful :-))Testing the waters In the second half of the day, the

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We woke up early in the morning, eager to go to the beach, and find what it looked like – crowded, like Bombay, or pristine, as we had seen in pictures of Goa, or something entirely different. We walked down the garden and the sandy trail. Red flags along the way warned that the sea was turbulent, and it was not safe to swim. When we reached the end of the trail, all we could see in front of us,

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1156351900161182472006-08-23T09:50:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:41.536-07:00

It is a dream with a large majority of Indian population to enjoy a holiday in Goa, and we were no exceptions. We had some leaves due last year, and decided to utilize them for our dream vacation. So, we spent a couple of months deliberating, deciding, planning and making the reservations. We chose to visit Goa in mid-October, when the monsoons would be at an end and the temperature would have

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1155632023030984212006-08-15T01:44:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:26:41.536-07:00

I had started writing this travelogue quite some time back – just after the trip – and before I had discovered the joys of blogging. We had a simply great time, and my intention was to record that feeling to aid memory in future, as it tends to fade away with time. However, I gave up on this idea shortly afterwards, partly because I was daunted by the enormity of the task (I am inclined to go too

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1153847102841977292006-07-25T09:57:00.000-07:002007-11-02T06:18:42.342-07:00

Garden of Five Senses or Saidullajab Garden is located near Saket in New Delhi. I was interested in visiting it since it had been constructed a few years earlier, but didn’t manage to do so for quite some time. The first time Nitin and I visited the garden last year (during our pre-digital days ;-) ), the spring was almost at its end, so there there were not very many flowers in bloom. However,

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This photo actually does not belong in my travel memoirs. Although the quality of the photo is not good (it was taken with my cellphone camera from a moving car), I found it rather amusing, and decided to post it anyway.Did you notice the man seeking heavenly solace in Holy Father's lap ?

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In July of 2005, we travelled to a place called Chakrata with a group of colleagues. Chakrata is a small village in Uttaranchal, about 100 kms from Dehradun, up in the hills. Chakrata bases a military cantonment, and almost all the activity in the place is driven because of the military presence. It has very limited facilities (there were hardly one or two half-decent hotels); in fact, it is not

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1152089603350289852006-07-05T01:51:00.000-07:002007-07-07T22:29:21.100-07:00

Months of hectic work schedules had tired us out, and the onset of summer just made the feeling worse. To take a break, we decided to visit Nainital on a weekend. A thursday evening saw us take an overnight train to Kathgodam, the last train station on the route to many famous hill-stations, including Nainital, Ranikhet and Kasauni. We reached Kathgodam early in the morning. We could see the

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Neemrana fort palace is about 120 kms from Delhi, on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. It has now been converted to a luxurious hotel. We had heard a lot about the beauty and the grandeur of the palace. One weekend, agroup of us decided to find it out for ourselves. We left Noida early in the morning, in two cars, picking up other friends from Delhi and Gurgaon. It was quite hot, and we encountered a lot

Sigmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08300547373292021313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19447855.post-1138197487521175522006-01-25T05:42:00.000-08:002007-07-07T22:27:32.827-07:00

In the six-and-a-half years that I have lived in NCR, one-and-a-half of them at IIT, I had never seen Qutub Minar up close. The minar could be clearly seen from the roof of my IIT hostel, and I had zoomed right around it numerous times, going to or coming from Gurgaon via Mehrauli-Gurgaon road. But what did this tallest stone tower in India look like from a close distance ? We decided to find out

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