http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Dejavu/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Dejavu en-us Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:43:09 +0000 Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:43:09 +0000 Sun is punishing the parched countryside along MaduraiTheni highway. Large tracts of land are left fallow. ldquoVanam Patha Bhumirdquo says Raja the taxi driver. This land gazes at the sky like a hornbill yearning for rain. Farmers rely on rain to irrigate their fields despite the Vaigai dam near Andipatti.We turn left from the highway at Usilampetti. Rajarsquos grandfather Mukaiah Theva http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-400260.html The din of the Sunday market is drowned by loud recorded songs. The Tamil songs resemble old numbers from MGR the movie messiahturnedchief minister who continues to be a defining force posthumously. The tune and tone are the same but these songs are in praise of current chief minister M Karunanidhi who wrote the famous lines for MGR and many other matinee idols and scripted his own success sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Madurai/blog-400256.html lsquoSaddam Beachrsquomdash the signboard with the executed Iraqi dictatorrsquos picture greets visitors to Kavarathi the headquarters of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Similar nomenclature on the other side of the Arabian Sea in Kozhikode in Kerala had hogged news space. The island doesnrsquot come under media radars but for its tourism potential. Despite familiar signposts L http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Lakshadweep/Kavaratti/blog-360689.html Shades of blue span through the horizon. An electric blue lagoon a cobalt sea and an azure sky. From atop Minicoy lighthouse MV Kavarathi anchored off the vast lagoon looks like a paper ship. Tourists try to retrace the long boat ride from the ship to the jetty as the bored watchman regulates traffic on the narrow ladder leading up the tower. Metal halide lamps have replaced oil lamps now showc http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Lakshadweep/Minicoy/blog-360349.html The ship is still swaying. A green line of land is visible through the cabin window. Clockwork flashes from the light house illuminate the predawn grey sea. A public address system tells the passengers to be ready to disembark at Kalpeni. There are no ladders leading to the jetty there is no jetty to land and there is no land. MV Kavarathi is anchored a mile or so off the coast from where mech http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Lakshadweep/Kalpeni/blog-360295.html Earthmovers rest on either side of the road after upturning vast stretches of soil. In a few years travellers would stop here by a bridge over what would be the Left Bank Canal of Indira Sagar Hydroelectric project. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/East-Godavari-District/blog-352616.html Lean rickshaw pullers wait for passengers on dusty alleys illuminated by the evening sun. Loud women in front of vegetable baskets bargain with customers in the small market square. Children in school uniform gather for another round of games before returning home. Peddapuram is just another island of houses in the vast paddyfield green on the way from Rajahmundry to Samalkot until Parimala Jyot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/East-Godavari-District/blog-352610.html The Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus from McLeod Ganj has shed the bulk of its load before it reached the interstate bus terminus in New Delhi. Most of our fellowtravellers had got down at the Tibetan Colony on the northern suburbs of the metropolis. Soon they will dissolve in the urban kettle. But the story of these refugees is the story of the Himachal town called McLeod Ganj nicknamed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Dharamsala/blog-350627.html The snow on the distant mountains has melted. It was a picture postcard at noon when we checked into the hotel by the narrow Beas River in New Manali. Now the mountains look as if sprinkled with bleaching powder. Tomorrow we would discover that snow is neither like bleaching powder nor like cotton pieces hung around the crib on Christmas Eve.Only two categories of tourists seem to ascend to Kullu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Manali/blog-350625.html In the twilight hour chants and chaos reign the riverbanks. Priests are waiting for the last few pious of the day. Vendors sell out flowers grains and earthen lamps to be flown in the river. Policemen keep a vigil on any overenthusiastic pilgrim on the riverside. The Yamuna is deceptively deep on the flank in Prayag where it meets its magnificent sister the Ganga.Prayag aka Allahabad is blesse http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Allahabad/blog-302353.html Three days of rain have painted the delta green. But vast expanses of abandoned paddy field present the real picture the eternal misery of rural Tamil Nadu. Random blocks of vegetable crops stand out. Farmers have been waiting for the Cauvery to flow and the clouds to open up for long. Tamil filmdom has just forced itself into a gesture for farmers. But a day after matinee idol Rajnikanth's publ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/blog-302343.html ldquoThe door of the historic Kamakhya temple will remain closed on Sunday morning for the Anbubachi Mela....rdquo Excellent timing again. But the rest of the Times of India report is encouraging ldquoThe door will reopen on June 25. Over six lakh devotees from across the country and abroad are likely to converge during the fourday congregation atop Nilachal Hills.rdquo So we proceed to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Assam/Guwahati/blog-298700.html It was drizzling at Tawang lamasery as in Bomdila. The 400yearold gompa surpassed in antiquity only by the temple of Llasa the heartland of Tibetan Buddhism is still in slumber. The monks are yet to gather for prayers. The sonorous tune from the gyaling pervades the lamasery. Two young monks shrouded in morning mist blow the short trumpets from a small temple atop an unfinished building in th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Arunachal-Pradesh/Tawang/blog-297496.html Dileep Muktan pulled over his car at Bhalukpong where soldiers watched over every vehicle entering Arunachal Pradesh. After the driver entered his name and car number in the register the army clerk inspected our innerline permits. All clean. Two shops farther a liquor shop awaits us. Arunachal Pradesh was the cheapest of all our destinations when it came to foreign liquor. But what bowled us http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Arunachal-Pradesh/Bomdila/blog-297479.html By the time the beautiful Barna Borat our hostess in the air smiled her customary goodbye at the drenched Guwahati airport we had had enough of the clouds. The ATR from Kolkata was a bit scarier than the usual air journeys. Turbulence the captain had said as I was reliving childhood fantasies where clouds shaped into snow castles prancing unicorns landing eagles and fighting demons. Then we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Meghalaya/Cherrapunjee/blog-296159.html lsquoAt least 199 killed in heat wave in Andhra Pradesh in the past weekrsquo read a story in Tuesdayrsquos newspaper. Resting in Bangalore after two days of travel in Andhra Pradesh we sighed ldquoIt could have been 202 including the three of us.rdquo Four days later in Kochi we were to read another report lsquoKrishnagiriKolar hooch death toll crosses 100rsquo and thank our http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/blog-282587.html They say there are eight traditional gateways to the Mallikarjuna Temple in Srisailam. At dusk we were looking for any. All buses out of this remote temple town were full. Taxis were unheard of on this hill in this season. We wanted to go to Kurnool. But we were ready to go anywhere provided we got seats. Then the advice came ldquoUpar baitna aaram se.rdquo The bus driver was recommending a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Andhra-Pradesh/blog-278330.html ldquoI was full of gratituderdquo I tried to recount my experience two days after we returned from Agasthyarkoodam. Our thighs calves and soles were still stiff but our minds wandering over the breezy mountain. ldquoWe should have spent more time on the summit. It was an energy fieldrdquo said Nazeeb. ldquoI felt like flying in the hard cold wind. My mind was weightlessrdquo said http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Trivandrum-/blog-254977.html Red eyes and white fangs are everywhere. Deft artists paint terrifying patterns on pieces of spathe spread all over the courtyard car porch and living room. Santhosh Kaviyur led me through the kitchen door into the house to meet the host Mohan who quickly invited us to dinner with the artists. The family has had an offering to sponsor this yearrsquos Padayani at the Kaviyur Sri Bhagavathi Tem http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Pathanamthitta/blog-246111.html Vendors and porters were waiting for the morning bus from Shimoga. They climbed over it through the rear ladder and the window sills as they were just boarding it. Travellers wait for sacks of vegetables to be unloaded at the local market. Some do a quick shopping while others take a stroll. As the marketplace comes to life the bus resumes its winding journey through the Ghats.Jog Falls is not in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/blog-225917.html