aka Om Routray
The bus stand in Cuttack has a trademark soundtrack. A nasal voice on a loudspeaker warns you about jadu, kachu, kundia and advises you to use Tarun Ayurvedic’s Scabidol. This morning while we drove past, we heard the same advertisement. The billboards have changed – now there is a Scabidol, Scabigun and etc etc, all of them warning you of copycats. While the world does not need BTex lotion anymore, Cuttack still needs Scabidol on their inner thighs.
I am the wrong person to write about temples. Because, I hate them. Most of them. At least, the ones with deities inside. I am indifferent to mosques and churches. Why? I have never been harassed in a mosque or hounded for money in a church. Actually, no one really cares when you are there in an Indian church. Apart from the peculiar Indian habit of leaving shoes outside, churches here are really nice, calm and friendly places. Mosques have ruled about shoes and head…Continue Reading “About Rajarani temple in odisha and a few others”
This was on our third day in Kashmir. We had been to the mandatory sights in Pahalgam and had just come out of Verinag. The plan was to head to kokernag. Our guide was the local family friend we were staying with. Someone informed him that we could get fresh snow on Sinthan Top. Now, that’s a name that was relatively foreign even to him. So, we asked around for directions and ventured towards the the pass. It wasn’t a peak, it was a pass…Continue Reading “Sinthan Top – The hidden gem of Kashmir”
In recent past, this is the second time that we have got lucky. After two very good homestays in Chail, one of which I written exhaustively about, we got even a better turn of events in Kashmir. However, luck favours the brave. And, in this case, we had stood our ground. From the moment we booked the ticket, everything seemed to go wrong. The flight was rescheduled from an early morning one (8.15 a.m.) to 10 o’clock departure. It, eventually, took off at twelve o’clock,…Continue Reading “Travelling to Kashmir – Living like a local”
Don’t look out of the window and think what a mad man will go visiting a park in this weather. We made the trip months back, I am just getting to write about it now. There are quite a few things that make Mehrauli one of the best tourist spots in Delhi. It has the most magnificent and one of the oldest structures in close proximity and given that it is not on every tourist’s list yet, it is still possible to have a leisurely,…Continue Reading “Rajon Ki Baoli, Mehrauli Archaeological Park”
It is so enticing to visit a city and bypass all the major landmarks. There are those kinds travelers – the off the trail explorers etc. I used to do that at times. Took me 12 years to see Qutub Minar and countless visits to see the Hawa Mahal. When you have ticked off all the offbeat places, the touristy places may just save the day. It is better from the front than from inside. It is extremely crowded. The narrow stairs and the eager…Continue Reading “Hawa Mahal, Jaipur”
After I wrote about the Purana Qila walk with Sohail Hashmi sahab, we have done three more. I have been planning to write about them but the walks are long, filled with interesting tidbits and writing is painstaking. Anyway, this needs to be done and here is a brief narration of the awesome fun that we had and the stories we heard on the walk of Mehrauli Archaeological park. At quarter past eight on a cold January morning, we gathered around the entrance of Qutub…Continue Reading “Adham Khan Tomb & Gandhak Ki Baoli with Sohail Hashmi”