Over 2000 Km by road, in around 10 days. Stunning landscapes, wonderful people. That sums up our Ladakh trip. But how did it actually work? How did we make it happen? Read on to find out! Leh, the capital of Ladakh , is accessible by air and road. Flying into Leh is the easiest, and time-saving option, while the road is the time consuming one, but with the added advantage of driving past some of the most beautiful landscapes in our country. Each option has much to recommend it, and we chose the road for just one reason – altitude sickness. Altitude sickness was one of my biggest concerns, since I suffer from motion-sickness. Yes, I do travel a lot, but that is despite my condition, and, over the years, have learnt how to handle it. I struggled with it when we visited Nathu-La in Sikkim, and wondered if I would be able to manage a week at the even higher altitudes that we would encounter in Ladakh. This was the reason we stuck to a basic plan, of only 9 days in Ladakh, thoug...
In the days gone by , the Shaivite saints used to walk from one temple to another, living on the temple premises, cleaning it up, performing the rituals, singing songs in praise of the Lord, and then move on to the next temple. This way, they managed to visit an astounding number of temples on foot. After visiting the temples in the Thanjavur – Kumbakonam belt, it seems to me that they were wise, for that is certainly the best, and maybe the only way one can see all the temples in the area. The city of Kumbakonam alone has about a hundred temples. One can then imagine the number of temples there are around the city. In fact, for every kilometer in any direction, one comes across at least one Shiva and one Vishnu temple. Every village seems to have a big temple, either dedicated to Vishnu or Shiva. While the Vaishnava temples are well maintained and seem prosperous, most of the Shiva temples, though built beautifully, are in disrepair, and lack funds. Many of them don’t even have enough...