Miles and Experiences

Godavari - from the hills Kushavarta Kund and Brahmagiri hills I donot know why and how, but I develop some sort of connection with rivers. My connect with the Godavari river extends back into my late teenage years while on my regular travels to and fro my engineering college in Chennai and my home town Bhubaneswar...when the Coramandel Express roared into the bridge on the Godavari at Rajahmundry.  Everytime, I used to lie down at the lower side berth of the train and feel the vastness of the river with the metallic sound of the train engines  and the reverberating rail bridge filling the space in between. Once the train reached the bridge, I would see people throwing coins into the river, whose majestic width extended beyond five kilometers from Rajahmundry to Kovvur. Locals believe that making a wish while throwing a coin into the river helps fulfill wishes. Sometimes, faith has strange manifestations. Often, faith and logic don't walk the path together. ...

The Portuguese christened it, the French fought and lost for it and the Brazilians love it.  Apparently, this barren mountain, about 400 meters tall and made up of quartz and granite is believed to be about 600 million years old. There are a few places in Rio whose names are almost synonymous with the city itself. The Sugar Loaf (Pao de Acucar),  situated right at the mouth of the Guanabara Bay at the Urca district of Rio, is one of these.   With an interesting name, credited to the originality of the Portuguese of the 16th century (due to its resemblance with the traditional sugar loaf), the mountain finds itself in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. Extensively popular due to its deep historical and cultural significance, international movies shot here, the cable cars and the exquisite Brazilian sunset moments, the Sugar Loaf mountain, along with  the shorter peak Morro da Urca represents the Rio sentiments to it's core.  Two cable car syst...

Not so long ago…during the second half of 19 th century and the first half of the twentieth century, there lived a baroness with the name Marguerite M. Baroness van Brienen (more popularly known as Lady Daisy) in the Hague. She was rich, needless to say, and owned the country estate of Clingendael in Wassenaarseweg. Lady Daisy loved Japan and sailed to Japan several times and every time she visited Japan,  she brought back to the Netherlands rare Japanese plants, lanterns, sculptures and little bridges. She preserved them and converted a small part of her huge estate into a Japanese garden (“Tuin”) during the beginning of the 20 th century. To this day, this garden is preserved and loved by locals and admired by every visitor. However, this garden is extremely fragile, and considering the historical significance of this garden, it is opened to public for 2 weeks during autumn (October) and 6 weeks during spring (April May). If you are in the Hague duri...

The Churches of Old Goa are among the most beautiful in India and rank quite high globally in their historical significance. These UNESCO world heritage monuments include the likes of Basilica of Bom Jesus, Se Cathedral, Church of St. Francis of Assisi, The Church of our Lady of the Rosary, Chapel of Santa Catarina,  The Church of Divine Providence; and last but not the least, The Ruins of the Church of St. Augustine. Each of these monuments are adorned with beauty, history and myths which have attracted tourists and researchers alike from around the globe. This post is about the St. Augustine Church, or shall I say, it's ruins. Built during the late sixteenth century on the Holy Hill by the Augustinian Friars, St. Augustine Church, during its full glory,  was rated amongst the top Augustinian Churches in the world. But History has its own way of structuring the past and by the mid of 19th century, the Church was abandoned post eviction of different religious ord...

They should be in their sixties, though I might be wrong. On one summer evening, when we were trying to track the tram number at Sint Pieters station at Ghent, we had met them. They were standing in front of us in the queue and had just taken their tram tickets from the machine. We were still trying to figure out the best way to reach the City Center or Korenmarkt. A bit of hurried morning research, while, was enough to inform us that Korenmarkt had almost all the important landmarks of the historic town, was not enough to inform us the best way to reach Korenmarkt. "Can we help you" - asked the gentleman, with a very warm smile. And the same question was asked by the lady to EM...and she had really kind eyes. Not only they helped to get the tickets  from the machine, but also informed us that we could join them as they were going to the same location.  So Tram number 1 was it. The tram took about 15 minutes from Sint Pieters station to Korenmarkt...The couple...

For hours together, I sat there...thoughtless...it was miraculous...to see the Bhagirathi meet the Alaknanda... Bhagirathi with full force and intensity getting absorbed into the calmness of Alaknanda...giving birth to the Ganga. Its rightly said, you are never the same after the dip in the Ganga...how it happens...will always remain an enigma to me... Take a ride on NH7 from Rishikesh and keep following the track of the Ganga up into the Himalayas, before she is known as the Ganga...and that might turn out to be the most powerful journey of your life...Know her as Mandakini...as Alaknanda...as Nandakini...as Pindar...as Bhagirathi...as Dhauliganga. One post is not enough when I talk about the Ganga. Many more to come on this.

It took me 17 years to meet two of my engineering batch-mates recently. In Houston. While  having some really authentic Tex-Mex with AG and BK, I could still feel a level of comfort and ease...the freedom to talk anything...the freedom to make fun of each other with a certain sense of mutual enjoyment...notwithstanding the prominent greys and thickening glasses. A few moments spent together...but within those few moments...we knew...we could connect to a certain period of our past which was incredibly charming and spicy...like the food we were having...in that great city. While countries and jobs  changed, and expectation from lives kept evolving, yet something stayed miraculously intact...a bond which we shared and hopefully will continue sharing. A bond which has been nurtured by the strength of it's early foundation. Many times, when we say goodbye to someone, we do not know when we will get a chance to meet the person again, if at all. I am yet to meet at least...