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Ladakh - Planning The Trip

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...

Storming Sewri Part 2 - The Sewri Fort

I first read about Sewri Fort in an article on the various forts in Mumbai. Every time I visited the Sewri Jetty to see the flamingos and other birds, I wondered where the fort was. A friend later told me that it was just off the road we took to reach the jetty. Unfortunately, ardent birdwatchers aren’t always heritage enthusiasts, and I never found company to go to the fort. Much as I love to explore, going into a deserted and ruined fort alone didn't seem the safest thing to do, and the fort remained on my wish list for all these years. When Travel-Logs announced their Sewri Walk, the one place I was keen to visit was the fort. Thankfully, the dates and timings were convenient for once, and I eagerly jumped on to the bandwagon!

Storming Sewri Part 1 - Flamingos

Last weekend, when I asked Samhith if he wanted to accompany me to Sewri, he replied, “But I have already seen flamingos!” I tried explaining that Sewri wasn’t just about flamingos, but he remained unconvinced. I signed up for the Sewri walk by Travel-Logs nevertheless, and dragged him along, remembering a time when Sewri, to me, meant even less.  

Skywatch Friday - Reflections

Book Review: Barfani Baba; To Amarnath, Happily - By Aabha Vatsa

‘ Amarnath’ one of the names of Lord Shiva, implies not simply that He is immortal, but that he is beyond immortality, above the concept of life and death, the one who controls all, death included. That is the very concept behind the holy shrine where He is known by that name. The Amarnath cave is situated in a terrain which is certainly among the toughest to cover, and the idol isn’t just a stone, but ice, or rather, water, which has no beginning and no end; which takes different forms, yet doesn’t lose its character; but above all, which sustains life itself! A journey to the Amarnath cave is thus not simply a visit to a shrine, but one which makes you think of life itself, to ponder on issues of life, death and everything in between. It is this thought that Aabha Vatsa puts forth in her book ‘Barfani Baba; To Amarnath, Happily’.

Birdwatching at Bhandup Pumping Station, Mumbai

Sunday mornings are meant for relaxation... to catch up on some much needed sleep. But when opportunity beckons, even the little chap who struggles to get out of bed for school, is up and awake with the first ring of the alarm, eager to be on his way. Such a long awaited opportunity came our way this Sunday, with the BNHS organising a bird watching trip to the Bhandup Pumping station.

Skywatch Friday - On the riverside

For Skywatch today , is a scene that could be from anywhere in rural India..... a riverside scene.... A cowherd brings his cows and buffaloes to the river... they drink and they bathe... and so does he. I clicked this somewhere in interior Maharashtra, while on our way to the Lonar Crater, but, as I said before, it could be from any part of the country.

Book Review: The Rose Grower by Michelle De Kretser

The 14 th of July, 1789 - A date which would become famous as Bastille Day, a symbol of the uprising of the common man against the tyranny of the monarchs. The date would soon be etched in the pages of history, but in a small corner of France, the date is memorable too... for another reason. On that eventful day , “labourers working in the fields around Montsignac, a village in Gascony, saw a man fall out of the sky.” So begins the novel, “The Rose Grower” by Michelle De Kretser.