These thick & heavy special wedding garlands are called Kalyana Malai ( कल्याण माला ) in Tamil and are made of mainly rose petals and chopped leaves. To keep them together in this conical shape and to prevent the petals from falling off, they are ‘wrapped’ in threads. You can watch this video how it is done.

After wrapping up with thread some decorative pieces are being inserted.

There are two such pieces of each garland. Mostly, only one piece (more…)

About my recent solo backpacking trip. As I always maintain, my idea of travelling is not counting no. of places but the memories attached to them. Carrying a backpack, wandering, observing, uncertain about next destination (well, mostly) is my way of travel.

This time also it was not a temple trip. But since I was wandering mostly in temple cities of Tamil Nadu, plenty of them happened in between. I also went to craftsmen’s villages to see their art… some of them in dying stages. I chatted with the artists sitting in their mud huts, had coffee with them, saw the tough & harsh side of their lives. I also learnt various intricacies, ingredients and the proper way to do things…. their things.

Below is a glimpse of that trip. Not telling you the names of places. I have uploaded some more photos in Facebook & Picasa and they’ll (more…)

Off late I have been reading a lot about Turkey and enjoying holidays in Turkey is high on my list. Did you know Turkey is one of the very few countries in the world which span across 2 continents, Europe and Asia ? Turkey is vast and its expanse boasts of awesome landscapes and natural wonders surrounded by different seas. It is as great a destination for relaxing beaches on its Mediterranean and Aegean coasts as for some of the world’s most magnificent ancient monuments, not to mention about the mouth watering national cuisine and the numerous festivals making Turkey holidays a firm favourite with visitors of all ages.

Also, Istanbul, the capital city, has been nominated as European capital of culture for the year 2010.

Among the many annual festivals it boasts of, I am more interested in Camel Wrestling Festival in Selçuk. It is similar to Spanish bullfights, the Italians cockfights or (more…)

So, I went on another solo backpacking trip. This time it was interiors of Tamil Nadu where language was as big a barrier as was the place for me. Backpacking to remote places has its own charm & toll. V was apprehensive of this trip but I assured him.
I love challenges and almost had my way until the last phase when some small bloody creatures on this earth defeated me. My ever sharp German knife or any other defense tactics couldn’t defend me from them.

Yeah, I was attacked by Dengue and first 3 days I kept suppressing high fever by taking paracetamol thinking it just another fever. By the time I was back to Mumbai & got my tests done, I was advised immediate hospitalization. Took 2nd & 3rd opinion … no luck… all inhumane torturous doctors wanted to chain me to hospital bed.
Anyway, not going in detail as how many times they sucked blood out of my veins on pretext of checking something or the other and for your info, (more…)

Here is a small video of Flamingos enjoying their feast that I captured on my camera when we visited them recently. I have uploaded it on Youtube. The quality is not that good but then I didn’t have a full fledged video camera with me.

Shot from the barge where repairing work was going on. There was too much of disturbing noise as well, but still you can hear them quacking in contentment.

And I am still travelling, solo, in interiors of Tamil Nadu. These are scheduled posts.
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If you (more…)

In Malaysia, my way of trying a juice was to put my finger on a name and ask for it. I refused to see a dictionary for its meaning or ask somebody who knew English. I wanted to know them by taste.
At times it resulted in disastrous distasteful situations but I was also glad that I could pick up some names. Also, I paid attention when they pronounced the names.

I have tried each one of these and a few more which are not mentioned in this list. My favourite was Jus Tembikai.
The locals were quite surprised to see me (more…)

One of the major attractions of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is majestic Petronas, the twin towers and it is definitely a ‘must visit’ place. People come to Kuala Lumpur with tight schedule thinking they can cover all major landmarks in a day before heading to more ‘attractive’ places of this beautiful country. The travel packages also do not include going up the Petronas in their itinerary. All they do is to take a round and show it from outside.
And I, myself could see Petronas only in my third attempt. Why ?
Because while getting to the Petronas Towers is easy from anywhere in Kuala Lumpur, getting tickets for skybridge tour is not always so easy. If you do not plan, and out of the blue decide to (more…)