Corals of Andaman
When I was a child, we had received a bunch of big corals from a family friend who had come to India after serving in the Andaman Islands. No, not the kala pani as you would have thought but in defense services.

A sea horse tries to hide behind a coral.
Those six corals were big, around one and a half feet in length and of different ‘designs’. I was told by my father, there was life in them before and now they were dead. That made the …

This Alive is Awesome series is impelling me to go deep down the memory lanes and relive the stories associated with it. There are so many incidents and stories that I find it difficult to choose from. However, here is something that I thought I must share with you all.
What is an adventure for you? Doing something which a common man/ woman / child does not do? Something which your folks do not want you to do but you still find fun in it? Whatever is the reason, …

Making merry in the middle of La mer
From time immemorial the vast expanse of water, that we call the sea, has held the human beings in awe. From then till now and I am sure into the future, our visits to the beaches or cruise on a boat will never stop. Such is the attraction of water.
I am no different. I love going to the beaches, I love cruises, I love island hopping boat rides.
I had signed for this much touted island hopping trip in Krabi on one of my …

Once upon a time there lived two brothers on the eastern bank of Bumbungan river in Philippines. This region, normally was a green zone with water issues and so life went on happily. On a particular year drought hit and the effects were devastating.
Nothing would grow on the soil. People had to go hungry and eventually became ill. All flora and fauna apparently vanished. Everyone prayed for rains, so did the two brothers. No avail. Eventually the elder brother died of illness and thirst. The younger one took it upon …

Cliff jumping in Mauritius – An Alive is Awesome Experience
Only the day before I had witnessed a purely South Indian festival of Thai Poosam in the exotic island called Mauritius. I was exhausted after the festival and later driving round the island with some friends.
When I woke up next morning I was as fresh and energetic as ever. I was poring over the map to look for some off beat places when I spotted Sept Cascade. Literal meaning is 7 waterfalls. It sounded interesting. I checked with hotel reception. …

Recently there was a furore in sections of print and non-print media about India being a Banana Republic and People of India being mango-people. Well, whatever be the truth, Mango or no-mango, it is always a great fun going bananas in the sea.
Scene is set in Calangute Beach, Goa. There are plenty of activities to be done. Para-Sailing in the sea, inflatable of many shapes and sizes tied to boats etc. What took my fancy was this long inflatable contraption tied to a boat. There were sitting places …

Have you ever bathed in front of 100s of people with full clothes on? No, I am not talking about taking a dip in any pilgrimage site or any sacred river, but in a dangerous rock falling zone where every single person present there prayed for safe journey!
It happened to us during our recent Trip to Uttarakhand. We had completed our Treks to Valley of Flowers and Hemkunt and now wanted to visit Badrinath.

Do you see one wheel of the bus hanging? It was that dangerous to drive.
This was a …