Wanderink

Rain, rain, Goa way

The sand is gooey in a grainy kind of way, sloshing and squishing under your sole. The forlorn fishing boats under conical thatches look heartrending like beached whales. The famous shacks – the micro capitals of bonhomie, debauchery for some – are shut or totally missing. A-butting folk grunt their protests – you are not […]

The pursuit of happiness

Shangri La is fiction. We know it yet we look for it everywhere. First described by English author James Hilton in his Lost Horizon, it has Tibetan roots – from Shambala, a mythical kingdom as per Buddhist beliefs. Several ancient adventurers from the East and the West, modern day explorers and television presenters have set out […]

Twitripping

Have fun at all coasts. Since I couldn’t come up with any suggestion or tip, I decided to tweet clever to a friend who recently completed a 1000-km coastal drive from Chennai to Rameswaram.  He, also the travel editor with a leading web publication, was giving live updates on his site as well as on […]

Get on the train, buddy!

‘If not the road, then the rail’ rallied somebody against the cramped and sterilised all-whiteness of air travel. I couldn’t agree more not because it was me. The Trivandrum – Delhi Rajadhani Express 12431 I took last week passed by Udupi in border Karnataka and was rushing towards Madgaon in Goa. The land glistened from […]

Where have the (real) pilgrims gone?

  How well and truly have we moved on! Then, the colossal ecological devastation of Uttarakhand which left thousands dead and missing was two months ago! So now it’s time to shun, humiliate and threaten – and charge-sheet – Durga Shakti Nagpal, the brave IAS officer and crusader who went after the sand mining mafia […]

India’s Only One: Bay Island Driftwood Museum, Kumarakom

For many communities by the sea it was firewood. Others – like the Norse – took the relevance up a notch and endowed it with the beginning of life itself: their first man and woman – Ask and Embla – floated in as driftwood. But for the lady who used to drag the weird-shaped stumps […]

Snake Boat Racing League, Anyone?

This is no Thames. The coxswains aren’t second-skinned in Speedo, neither are they mic-ed up on live TV. Their fan bases do not extend beyond the four bunds of their native backwater villages. No frenzied tweeting after contest. No autograph rush, no sponsorship deals to plug protein supplements or aqua gear; not even the state […]

Curious in Kerala: Nature reclaims Kuttanad?

Any place with a captivating degree of scenic lure, the Pandavas have been there before you. Seasoned domestic explorers will agree that the famous five have traipsed over every picturesque mountain and verdant vale, camped across the most spectacular lake and gushing river and traversed every panoramic forest. At least according to local lore. The […]

Curious in Kerala: God, gore, devil and ridicule

The charlatans in Kerala didn’t need toadeaters; the people were too gullible to doubt or too nice to question the power of their potions and mantras. ‘Chathan Seva Madoms’ or shrines that deified the devil mushroomed in different parts of the state promising to annihilate your enemy, bankrupt your business rival or just make life […]