Travel

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover – Mark Twain

Growing up, travel meant visiting our grandparents or relatives and spending time with them. Sight-seeing was only an afterthought and was always done in a by-the-way manner in the cities they were based in.

By the time I started working, both sets of grandparents had passed away, relatives had been scattered all over the globe, and my older siblings were married with their own families. My parents and I still travelled, but now it was with the intention to explore, experience and enjoy new places. Travel began taking an entirely new meaning.

The first non-family trip I undertook was to Vellore, Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry and Chennai in May 1996 with a friend and a Kodak point-and-click film camera. The next trip  was travelling down India’s West Coast from Honnavar (Karnataka) to Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala). It was a trip that saw the itinerary evolving as we travelled. Then, it was a trip to Santiniketan and Kolkata… and so on.

Over the years, travel has become a fun break from routine, a stress-buster, a history lesson, an opportunity to meet new people, a university of learning, a spiritual experience, and much more than can be put in simple words.

Travel has been a re-affirmation of life itself as each trip, and photograph taken during my travels have revealed.

INDIA: Andhra Pradesh

• The grand ruins of Golkonda Fort

INDIA: Gujarat

• The forgotten medieval ruins of Champaner
• The Indo-Islamic mosques of Champaner
• The ascent of Pavagadh Hill

INDIA: Karnataka

• Bijapur: A hidden heritage
• Badami rocks !
• An enchanted evening at the Agastya Teertha & Bhootnatha Temple
• The Pattadakal Temples: Where kings were crowned and villagers dwelled
• Aihole: A UNESCO world heritage site-in-waiting
• Hampi: Where mythology, history and today coexist
• Royal Hampi
• The temple ruins of Hampi – 1: Hazara Rama Temple
• The temple ruins of Hampi – 2: Vittala Temple
• The temple ruins of Hampi – 3: The Krishna, Ugranarasimha and Ganagitti temples
• The Banashankari and Mahakuta temples: Examples of neglect and apathy
• Disappointment @ the Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary

INDIA: Maharashtra

• Bandra Fort: An unexpected mid-week treat
• Pataleshwar caves: A hidden heritage of Pune
• Vishrambaug Wada: A symbol of Pune’s cultural heritage and apathy
• Colour therapy @ Tulsi Baug
• The Elephanta Caves
• A Sunday morning walk in Mumbai

INDIA: Rajasthan

• Dear Rajasthan
• The Bhairon Vilas Palace Hotel
• Forts of Rajasthan – 1: The Junagarh Fort of Bikaner
• There’s something about camels !
• Three minutes with Demoiselle Cranes at Khichan
• The havelis of Jaisalmer
• Forts of Rajasthan – 2: The golden fort of Jaisalmer
• The wood fossil park at Akal
• The abandoned, cursed and haunted village of Kuldhara
• The Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park
• Forts of Rajasthan – 3: Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur
• The creepy & beautiful cenotaphs of Rajasthan
• The Jain Temples of Rajasthan: Bhandasar, Jaisalmer, Lodhrava & Ranakpur
• Forts of Rajasthan – 4: Kumbhalgarh Fort

INDIA: Tamil Nadu

• A visit to Dakshinachitra
• On the peacock trail from Mayilapuram to Mylapore

INDIA: Uttar Pradesh

• By the Ganga in Varanasi
• Dussera in Varanasi
• The Ganga Aarti in Varanasi
• The Ghats of Varanasi
• Getting lost in the alleys of Varanasi
• Sarnath: The birthplace of Buddhism
• Lajawaab Lucknow
• Fatehpur Sikri: Poetry in red sandstone and blue skies
• The Taj Mahal: An ode to perfection and symmetry
• Akbar’s mausoleum: Forgotten, but not neglected, at Sikandra
• Agra’s other Taj: The tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah

ITALY: Milan

• Tears of joy and sorrow in Milan: All in a day’s trip

SWITZERLAND

• Snow in May: Memories of an Alpine rail journey

UNITED KINGDOM: England & Wales

• Colour Coordinated Wimbledon
• The two Cathedrals of Coventry
• The golden city of Bath
• The Tower Bridge of London: One bridge, many photos
• Rains and ruins: A visit to Tintern Abbey
• The Lord’s Tour: A visit to the home of cricket
• Harry Potter for the tourist
• If only stones could speak… A visit to Stonehenge
• Pubs, inns, bars
• When paintings came to life… A visit to Constable Country
• The London Underground
  
• The Docklands Light Railway and the London Docklands
• Blue, green, yellow, red and white…
• A special boat ride…
• Discovering Roman Britain

Museum Treasure: I love museums and I make it a point to visit the museums in the places that I travel to. If the museums are interactive and allow me to photograph their exhibits, particularly their more unusual ones, then they become my best friends. This series is about the exhibits that caught my eye.

• The minbar of Sultan Qa’itbay (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
• Gold, silver, copper, diamond (Sedgwick Museum of Geology, Cambridge)
• The blue fireplace from Turkey (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
• Bust of Rameses II (British Museum, London)
• The Jade Bull (British Museum, London)
• The Shell Mosaic of Verulamium (The Museum of everyday Life in Roman Britain, Verulamium)
• The 3 Saraswatis (Museum at the Padmanabhapuram Palace Complex)
• The golden throne of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
• The Lachish Reliefs (British Museum, London)
• The suit of spades (British Museum, London)
• The gold helmet (British Museum, London)
• The limestone door (British Museum, London)
• Ulugh Beg’s Cup (British Museum, London)
• Jewellery from Tamil Nadu (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
• The Coffee Set (Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai)
• The bearded Rama (Jaisalmer Fort Palace Museum, Jaisalmer)

Travel Shot: This is a photographic series, which showcases an interesting moment from my travels. They could be a monument, a mood, or a person or something else altogether.

• At the Zero Meridian (London)
• Traffic jam on the River Cam (Cambridge)
• Howrah Station and Bridge (Howrah)
• Feeling blue at North Greenwich tube station (London)
• Cross Bones Graveyard (London)
• Brihadeeshwara Temple (Thanjavur)
• The red line (London)
• The Bored Woman of Gloucester Cathedral (Gloucester)
• A wedding in Wales (Chepstow)
• The broken chair (Geneva)
• Graduation day (Cambridge)
• An unusual parking space (Leeds)
• The apology ! (London)
• Heritage Kennel (Ightem Mote)
• St. Mary’s Island (Malpe)
• Regent’s Mosque (London)
• Leonbergers in London (London)
• An… er… village scene (Almatti)
• Sunrise at Kovalam Beach (Thiruvananthapuram)
• Art, music and stained glass (Gloucester)
• The “spooky” organ of St. Pierre Cathedral (Geneva)
• The white peacock (Leeds)
• The Chinese fishing nets of Cochin (Kochi)
• The wandering pianist (London)
• The milk can and the gargoyle (Lower Slaughter, The Cotswolds)
• The snake on the ceiling (Badami)
• A view of Greenwich from the river Thames (London)
• The mechanical clock (Salisbury)
• Durga visarjan (Varanasi)
• 50 shades of grey (London)
• The orange smiley (Pavagadh)
• The floating church (London)

PS: I write because I travel. I do not travel to write. Just saying.