travel - Comfortably Numb

Travel: Thotlakonda, Andhra Pradesh

History on a hill Thotlakonda in Andhra Pradesh is today a hazy hark-back to its glorious Buddhist traditions It’s a hot day, a very hot day in fact. The sun glares down mercilessly and I`m glad of the foresight to have carried a hat. There is a strong breeze blowing, though, carrying…

Travel: Indian Tourists: The Way We Are

Nightmare tourists on steroids When on holiday, we desis know just how to jump from being bindaas to crass. I read of the incident that happened last month where the Royal Caribbean International line had to refund passengers after 1,300 Indian men from a gutka company came on board the Voyager of the Seas for…

Travel: Dambulla Caves, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka`s Dambulla Cave Temple stuns the viewer into an awed silence. Of late, I have broken a long-time habit, that of reading up on a place before I visit it. Because, when you go someplace you know little or nothing about, the visual pleasure of what you come across is underlaid with…

Travel: Seven Things to Marvel at in New Zealand

Seven Things to Marvel at in New Zealand From natural beauty to fabulous food and unique local culture, this island country is pure magic The amazing waterbodies The deep blue of Lake Wakatipu; the ice-blue Waikato River With 4,25,000 km of rivers and streams, 4,000 lakes and over 200 underground aquifers at last…

Photo Feature: Kiwiland Calling!

All photographs by Sheila Kumar. Images are subject to copyright. The Southern Alps, freshly dusted with snow after Cyclone Gita. A symphony of colours. Big sky country. The Pacific Ocean in all its shimmering glory Lake Benmore at Omarama. The NZ troika: cows… . …bales…

Travel: Milford and Marlborough, the Sounds of New Zealand

Speechless in the Sounds A strong ice-tipped wind is blowing through the Fiordland in New Zealand`s South Island when I board the launch that is to take me through the Milford Sound. This is big sky country and the gigantic, chubby clouds moving at a rapid clip overhead makes for a most dramatic sight….

Travel: Zen Sites in Sri Lanka

Walking the path to Zen Where I take a trip to three well-preserved heritage sites in Sri Lanka and learns some lessons for life along the way Ritigala, deep inside very dense forests (`Strict Nature Reserve,` announces a signboard), ringedby the high and dense Ritigala mountain range, is not the most…

Travel: Chikmagalur, Karnataka

Theres a lot more in coffee country than just coffee. We discovered it on a trip to Chikmagalur, Karnatakas coffee county. It really is a lovely drive down to Chikamagalur from Bangalore, all 251 kms of it. The two main reasons for that is the national highway being a good road for the most…

Travel: Looking for that clear day

On a clear day….. It is the nature of the footloose traveller to muse, to ponder, to introspect. As one of the tribe, I find myself thinking deeply about one set of four one-syllable words that hold in them much hope, despair and patience. On a clear day. This was the leitmotif of my travelling…

Travel: Chamba, Himachal Pradesh

Riverine rhapsody Chamba sits pretty besides a rushing Ravi and is quite one of Himachal`s prettiest spots. It is the river that captures one`s attention, arrests one`s eye, holds one totally in thrall. A swathe of icy blue touched with silver, it rushes with an audible roar past Chamba on its way to…