THE ENIGMA OF DEVPRAYAG

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.

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ANTWERP CENTRAL STATION

As deep as I can peep into my past, I always sense very fond and nostalgic memories of railway stations. So many moments of childhood began and ended in railway stations. My love for railway stations continues and whenever I get a chance I don't miss a visit into a station to experience the magical energy of the mixed sound of thousands of fast moving footsteps and eager voices. European settings provide infinite moments to any traveler. Antwerp is no exception too. Like any other European city with a strong medieval connect, Antwerp owns its history and legends. While it may take pages to write about Antwerp, let me restrict this post to the first landmark of Antwerp, its getaway - its very own train station, the Antwerp Central, located in Koningin Astreidplein, in the heart of the city. The brainchild of King Leopold II and designed by Louis Delacenserie, Antwerp Central, with its stone clad structure and huge dome, has s...

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

It is tall, really tall. In fact, it was the tallest structure in the world for ten years from 1880 to 1890. The first time I saw this structure, it took my breath away. It was like an enigma, difficult to believe...unimaginably beautiful and intimidating at the same time. That's how I felt when I saw the Cologne (Koln) Cathedral for the first time, almost a decade back. And, that's how I felt when I saw it again a couple of months back.... It took me some time to fathom the immensity of the exterior of the Cathedral. I had still not got my breath back when I proceeded into the Cathedral and what I saw inside was beyond my best imagination of Heaven. A magnificent Gothic Cathedral with it's tall spires and flying buttresses, intricately carved images of the angels, gargoyles and apostles and the stained glasses...wrapped within centuries of medieval mysteries and history engraved within....following the plan of a Cross or a Cruciform (when viewed from the top). ...

THE YACHTS OF VOLENDAM

There is something incredibly charming about fishing villages. Be it in Europe or anywhere else in the world. Possibly due to the presence of the sea so close...and the rituals of the sea, the fishermen are so adept at. The aspirations of the morning and the catch of the day...and the songs of the sea...of the calmness and the turbulence. Volendam is one such fishing village, located in Northern Netherlands about thirty minutes drive from the Amsterdam central by bus... there are a plenty of them from Amsterdam Central. The village is located on the lake IJsselmeer, the largest lake in the Netherlands. Vollendam means a "filled dam" and that is how it had started by filling an existing harbor and reclaiming the land artificially during the fourteenth century. A separate smaller canal and a new harbor was dug and this how this village was created. During the first half of twentieth century, as a part of the Dutch water management exercise, the water-body, which...

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