Faces of India - 215

Young smart student at Gurukul of Sri Sri Ravishankar in Bangalore. 

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here.

Portugal Sights

Day 6 - The morning was well spent doing the walking tours in Evora. The highlight of the day was visit to Bone Cathedral in Evora. From Evora we drove to Lisbon, where everything was going as per plan. During the walks my husband got pickpocketed; somebody flicked his wallet. There will be a more detailed post on this later.

Day - 7 We continued our tour of Lisbon. It is a beautiful city

Faces of India - 214

A happy co traveler after quenching his thirst caught doing some funny stunts for his friends. I stole a shot. 

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here

Spain Sights

Can't believe 5 days of my Spain travel is over! The days were hectic with lots of drives and sightseeing.

 Day 1 - Barcelona mesmerized us with its pleasant weather! The walking tour sapped us of our energy but not not our enthusiasm for the touristy sights. By the time we completed our dinner and hit the bed we didn't realise we were wake for whole 24hrs!

Day 2 - It was a long drive from

Vacation in Spain and Portugal

I will be on a short vacation, holidaying in Spain and Portugal. 

16 days of travel planned for the countries, 

it is hard to do justice to the two countries in such a short span. 

As usual my itinerary is dotted with several world heritage sites. 



I will be updating details of my trip in pics as and when possible. 

I have planned some autoposts, 

please show some love for my blog in

Faces of India - 213

A NH roadside coconut water seller! Can’t remember how many times these people have quenched our thirst on hot sunny days travel! This post is with sincere thanks to many such sellers. The pic was taken during my recent trip to Coorg. 

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See more here

Sunset in Harangi Backwaters, Coorg

Some of the sky shots I took in the evening I spent at Harangi backwaters, 

when I was hosted in a camping trailer. 







.



.



.




SkyWatch Friday

A Retreat for Holistic Wellness

While I was at ashram of Sri Sri Ravishankar, I decided to get a medical check up done. By the grace of God I don’t have any ailments, so it wasn’t any routine check up procedure which has different kind of tests. I went in for a special kind of Ayurvedic technique of diagnosis, the Nadi Pareeksha. Nadi meaning pulse, Pareeksha meaning diagnosis; as the name implies the doctor diagnoses the

Consumers Demand, Apps Deliver

PK(alien, a character in a Bollywood movie) did the mistake of traveling several light years and landing on Earth without familiarizing himself with the ways of life here! Had he updated himself with apps which would have had info regarding language, currency, cultural facts he wouldn’t have had to face the hardships shown in the movie!



In the past one year the habit of apps has crept into

Sri Sri Ayurveda Centre, Bangalore

Most of us today are engaged in a lifestyle where businesses, communication, travel etc have become less tedious compared to what it was say half a century back. Thanks to modern gadgets! Unfortunately instead of easing life it has made the world more competitive, complex, and stressful. Several stress related diseases have crept into our lives and they are ruining lives from a very early age.

My Gurukul Experience

‘India doesn’t teach you what you want to learn 

but it teaches you what you need to learn’ 

Gurukuls have a very unique system where student gets knowledge by residing with the teacher. The main objectives are self control, development of character, social awareness, integral development of personality, propagation of purity and preservation of knowledge and culture. The system had slowly

Faces of India - 212

Cooks I met at Shri Shri Ravishankar’s ashram. I saw a group of them near the ashram’s dining hall. I was hesitantly looking at them, thinking what wonderful subjects they would make for my FOI series.
Seeing the camera hung on my neck one of them asked” You do photography?”
Of course I do, I replied. Can I take yours?
Immediately there was a chorus: Yes please do.
They grouped them selves

My Stay at Shangrilas' Rasa Ria Resort and Spa

For 3 mornings I woke up looking at South China Sea! Who would want to get up from that luxurious lap, the ultra cozy room of the resort! I was at Shangrilas' Rasa Ria Resort, Kota Kinabalu. But then the delicious spread of breakfast tempted me to rush up. They have food catering to all tastes, palates and nationalities. It was not for the food alone but also to get a good seat for the view of

A Night in Camping Trailer

Abroad, particularly in US of A, camper vans are used to get off the beaten track, reach out to unexplored destinations, halt at site and then continue the journey to a new destination the next day. Camper vans are motor vehicles with in-built facilities for accommodation (toilet facilities included), overnighting and cooking, and most important of all you can travel as family. Reading all this

Mt. Kinabalu Botanical Garden

After casting several longing looks at Mount Kinabalu and its peak touching the skies we headed for a trek in Mount Kinabalu Botanical Garden. The botanical garden is home to several species of flora and fauna. While it was easy to capture several varieties of flora, the different species of fauna eluded me completely. The frogs were croaking nonstop but inspite of all my efforts couldn’t really

Mount Kinabalu, Borneo, Malaysia

That is Borneo’s roof Mount Kinablu, standing majestically, in fact growing little by little at the rate of 5mm per year. Having a height of 4095m it is ranked 20th most prominent one in the world in terms of topographic prominence! This site also has the honor of being the first Unesco World Heritage site of Malaysia! The mountain is home to several carnivorous plants and beautiful orchids.

A

Sapi Island, Malaysia

Sapi Island or Sapi Pulau (Cow Island) as it is called in Malaysian language is a popular and attractive beach activities oriented island. Its almost white sand in the beach and crystal clear jade colored water stunned me. We went there on a Tuesday morning and found the beach teeming with tourists and locals, the population of beach lovers can be overwhelming on a Sunday I thought! It took us

My Orangutan Encounter

The rainforest of Borneo, Malaysia is home to Orangutans. Orangutans are large gentle creatures and you will be surprised to know 98% of their DNA matches with us humans. (Probably the other 2% is that of violent streak which is present in humans!!! You can read more about them here.) Poachers target these gentle animals, often killing the mother to catch the baby orangutans and later sell them

Faces of India - 211

 A sadhu outside a temple in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu. As I zoomed into his face his eyes seemed so sorrowful that I didn't have the heart to continue focusing on him. I can't understand how people end up in this state. Is it really in a quest for peace of mind?

Faces of India, a series through which I intend to portray the various characters of my country whom I met during my travels. See

Washington Apples

Received with thanks from WashingtonApples.com a box with 6 varieties of apples! The apples arrived in an impressive packing in a sturdy box. It was like an explosion of sweet smell as soon as I opened the box. The 6 varieties lay neatly arranged waiting to be bitten, chewed and relished.

Apples have been always a part of my family’s diet, but I never gave notice to the varieties! Whichever