Much has been said and written about Gujarat and Gujaratis, especially since the ascension of Modi as our Prime Minister. Yet, for most outsiders, Gujarat is still a monolithic state with 60 million Gujarati speaking people. However, for a lot many of us Gujaratis, especially those still living in Gujarat,…
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Malaysia is hot. Malaysia is humid. Malaysia is also a newly built, petrodollar driven – moving to petro yuan driven, fast growing, steel and glass megastructure filled, automobile centric, multi cultural, pluralistic-islamic country of 3 million people. However, this relatively newly minted country, with its glitzy buildings and ritzy lifestyle…
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A tour of the 180 year old Mangaldas ni Haveli. A merchant house built in World Heritage city Ahmedabad.
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Paris had a fair number of musicians playing some really soulful music in its streets. I don’t know whether its that musicians are attracted to Paris or that Paris evokes music from its residents. Here a guitarist takes a short break from playing the guitar on a perfectly cool September evening in Paris.
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Our next stop on our four day trip around Bangalore after visiting Sravanabelagola and Halebidu or Dwarasumadra was at the Chennakesava temple at Belur. Chenna means handsome and Kesava means Vishnu. The temple thus, was built as the temple of Handsome Vishnu. The Chennakesava temple was built by King Vishnuvardhana in…
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s After visiting the Sravanabelagola Jain temple, we went to our next stop on the itinerary – the Hoysaleswara temple at Halebidu. We reached the temples complex on a road through beautiful green fields, lakes with coconut trees hanging by its sides and dirt roads that ensured we went slow…
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One of my earliest memories of Sravanabelagola was of a huge – almost impossibly high idol. I also remember watching the Mahamashtakabhisheka on television and also how huge even the toes of the idol seemed against my puny self back then. Essentially, for most of my childhood, Sravanabelagola was the…
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The city was very chilly – even in October. It sent shivers through my bones even though it wasn’t snowing. I couldn’t tell if that was due to the altitude or due to the fact that I spent most of my time in the open. I had the best time…
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