Any trip to Mysore and its vicinity cannot be without developing a relationship with the mighty Kaveri,revered in the south on par with the Ganga maiyya of the northern India. For us who started the whole trip by landing at the Royal Orchid hotel, situated inside the Brindavan gardens right behind the mighty wall of Krishnasagar Dam, it was to be a total love affair with the sacred river.I post a photo blog of Kaveri in its various moods and of the lands that it nourishes with its bountiful waters (even now,inspite of the obstructions in its way via dams and the resultant TN/Karnataka water di...

  As we drove from Mysore towards Halebidu we were still going by our travel brochure and referring to the place as Halebid.Sounds very anglicized,doesn't it? The guide later told us that the local name Haalu beedu actually means -the destroyed city. The drive was through lush green countryside and to a Gulf resident all that green was bounty enough.When the taxi came to a halt I wondered if we had reached.There was the usual clutter and run down chaos of a small Indian town.Trinket and picture postcard sellers swarmed momentarily but gave up quickly.Quite unlike the persistent (and annoying) ...

Disclaimer: Whatever I write below is not meant to condone the attacks on Indian students.The effort is to present the whole picture and not the narrow breast beating of our national channels. It is the season for bashing it seems.While some hoodlums are up to targeted bashing of Indian students in Australia (mainly Melbourne) we in India are up in arms as a nation to bash an entire nation and its population as racist. Our media, that has trouble finding reporters to send to some not-so-remote parts of the country to report on the problems of these regions, seem to have no trouble sending shri...

Its hot outside. How hot? Its hard to describe really.The newspapers continue to show the temperature in the high thirties but outside it feels like 50 atleast.Its a furnace out there. The birds, that I feed each morning, do not come down from the tree if I arrive any later than 6.30 A.M. The leaves of the trees look pale and listless and one day of missing the watering results in the quick demise of all but the hardiest plants... The expatriate laborers,mostly from the sub continent, toil outside still.Not for them the luxury of retreating to shade. They continue to dig, pour concrete, clea...

                                              He observed He took a few lessons from a human He went solo He decided that computer usage is totally overrated and exhausting  ...

What do you do when you lose many seats in elections that you expected to win? You do some rethink and evalaute your poll strategies,right? Wrong,....., wrong,that is if you are a Mayawati. If you are the Behenji of the Dalits, their only source of hope and succor, then you go on a virtual rampage.......after all protection of the rights of the downtrodden is no small matter. In the first few hours after the less than happy poll result you sulk and blame the Muslims first.Even though you do couch your words in a little bit of nicety by saying,'hamare Muslim bhaiyon ne haamara saath nahin diy...

I knew it was too good to be true...........all this media drivel about a huge mandate and  'neeli pagdi waale 'sardar ji having a free hand now in building his government and enforcing his policies............ The Left was junked, no doubt, but in our land we do not have a shortage of those who can play the spoiler. What has happened after the polls makes the pre-poll dramatics of various UPA and NDA allies look like child's play...... Those who celebrated DMK's substantial win in TN can now sit and watch the cunning master at work. His wish list of how many cabinet/ministerial berths he want...

The majesty and grandeur of India’s timeless festivals has to be seen to be believed.I got these pictures in an email and I just have to share these with everyone. With gratitude and thanks to the site responsible for these pictures. I hope to be there amongst the crowds one day. The majestic elephants The traditional drummers The faithful gather The temple elephants come out to a rapturous welcome The tourist join the faithful for a unique experience The elephants in all their finery surrounded by the crowds...

The much awaited results of the mammoth Indian elections are coming in as I write this and, regardless of what the final tally is, the writing is on the wall for BJP. The Lotus has wilted and it will take a very long time for it to revive (if ever).   Congress supporters celebrate The wily and wise Indian voter has not only snubbed BJP’s brand of politics but also realised that not voting for BJP was not enough….voting the other big national party (Congress) in with a good margin was essential for the nation to move forward. So why did the Lotus wilt? First and foremost, I think people have...

                   1) The security gets in place.This chopper circled over the track virtually the whole time.             2) The spectators (mostly the royal family and their guests) appear on the balcony of the VIP tower. 3) The grid girls ( Gulf Air airhostesses) are in place.Mind you she is standing there in 45+ temperatures. 4) There is frantic activity in the team 'pits'.    5) The crowd awaits the action. 6) The roll out begins.   7) The equipment gets in place. 8) The cars get in place.I over zoomed so this picture is not very clear.The yellow car is Alonso's and the red one behind it...

    Like the last 5 years, this time too, the Formula One fever gripped Bahrain.Without a doubt it is the biggest event on Bahrain's calendar.I attended the last two days (the first one when the pole position is decided and the GP 2 race takes place and then on the day of the grand finale.) All of you who follow the event would already know that Jenson Button won the race and Vettel and Truli took the other two positions.So, I will spare you the details of the race and just post a photo blog from around the circuit to give an idea of the atmosphere that prevails.Here goes.                     ...

Disclaimer: There is no old horse in this story.And there aren't any tricks involved either. I chose the title simply because it was the 'catchiest' phrase I could think of! :) This particular saga has its genesis in my total and 24x7 embrace of the magical world of the web.I started as a hesitant computer user way back in 1998 and for years remained a mere net surfer and email sender.Chatting with friends and family on yahoo messenger remained my 'peak, computer related' achievement. I was happy with what I had achieved and appreciated the world of internet because thanks to it I could now go...

It is time to hit the road again……….in this case the King’s Highway .Now I know that Jordan is a monarchy but this particular road has nothing to do with the present day King or his predecessors from the Hashemite dynasty. We used this road from the time we were heading for Mount Nebo till Petra. This highway is the world’s oldest continuously communication route (as per the tourism brochure that I have)! Abraham , a common patriarch of Jews, Christians and the Muslims who passed through northern,central and southern Jordan would certainly have used this route on hs journey from Mesopotamia ...

If Mount Nebo was a spiritual place, a place of pilgrimage from antiquity, Kerak Castle and its surrounding areas take us to the 'battle zone'. These were important areas in the Crusader route since Jerusalem is not that far from here. The Crusades in simplistic terms are defined as the action by Christians (travelling from far away Europe) to liberate the Holy Lands (specifically Jerusalem) from the Muslims who controlled it at that point in time. The Arabs/Muslims also identify defense of their lands and their faith as the motives behind these conflicts. In real terms the Crusades were m...

That fact that the riots in Gujarat  happened  is undeniable and this is a fact that India has to live with on its conscience just as it has to live with the fact of the burning of the train at Godhra, the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir, the demolition of Babri masjid in Ayodhya, the killing of Sikhs in Delhi  and many many other incidents of communal nature that have occured on its soil. The Gujarat riots were horrific enough but more damaging than the riots are the myths and exaggerations that were spun around it.Some so called social activists (like Teesta Setalvad and he...