12-Jun-2010
Views: 5272
Travel
The foliage has a rich aroma. Many of the herbs, shrubs and trees are valued for their medicinal value. At the same time many of them could be dangerous to touch. A little brush of some unknown herb could cause the whole hand to swell up, as it happened with my fellow trekker.
Tags: Garhwal-Himalaya, Valley-of-Flowers, Hemkund, Ghangharia, Photo-journal, Govind-Dham, Govind-Ghat, flora, fauna, UNESCO-World-Heritage-Site, Uttarakhand
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13-Jun-2010
Views: 3495
Travel
Volunteers or sevadars gather each year as the snow melts in June to clear the trek route. The path is ancient. Crossing over snow and ice is a matter of life and death.
Tags: Ghangharia, Hemkund, trek, Garhwal-Himalaya, Photo-journal, Uttarakhand, Govind-Dham, Govind-Ghat,
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13-Jun-2010
Views: 3745
Travel
Valley of Flowers is a UNESCO world Heritage Site in the Garhwal Himalayas, India. No ponies allowed here. No overnight camping allowed. Therefore the track is clean. It is a pristine place. The locals respect the place a lot for its mystique. Do not touch, pluck, harm or smell a plant. There is no way of knowing which plant/flower/leaf might cause an itch, or intoxication.
Tags: trek, flora, Valley-of-Flowers, Garhwal-Himalaya, UNESCO-World-Heritage-Site, Ghangharia, Hemkund, Uttarakhand
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18-Jun-2010
Views: 3813
Yoga
Spirituality in India boasts a pallette of religions. Incidentally, the term ‘Hindu’ was used by the Arab traders to identify the people living east of the River Indus. Indus came to be known as Sindhu and the term Hindu was born. Uttar Pradesh, a state in the Indo-Gangetic plains had a flourishing trade, and became a political citadel as well. Many faiths and religions have mingled and coexisted in this land. Quite like the rest of India, there are thousands of holy places here, marked with the presence of sages, seers, devotees and mystics, bygone and present.
Tags: travel, spirituality, Uttar Pradesh, Agra, Vrindavan, Govardhan, Barsana, Gokul, Sarnath, Buddha, Vindhyachal, Maghar, Kabir, Allahabad, Pawanagar, Kushinagar, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Salim-Chishti, Deva Sharif, Haji-Waris-Ali-Shah, Naimisharanya, Misrikh, Chitrakoot, Rajapur
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19-Jun-2010
Views: 3180
Travel
A cool canal just outside IIT Kanpur provides the perfect setting for feathered friends to thrive in. The birds seen here are a common sample of the fauna of the Gangetic plains.
Crows, mynas, sparrows, babblers, warblers, barbets, bee eaters, drongos, cuckoos, parrots, tree pies, owls, kingfishers, red wattled lapwings, pink flecked doves, ghughoo, munias, sunbirds, kites, bahmini mynas, robins, orioles, sarus cranes and peacocks are some of the familiar birds in Uttar Pradesh.
Tags: Kanpur, fauna, birdwatching, IITK, Ganga, sarus, North-India, Uttar-Pradesh
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19-Jun-2010
Views: 2880
Travel
The Pandav caves, set at a height with a scenic view of manicured gardens added to the floral bonanza in Pachmarhi in December. The biggest suite of rooms in the Pandav caves belonged to the eldest Pandav - Yudhishthir, the guide said. A side chamber in Yudhishthir’s living area had a seat carved in the wall, and felt great for meditation.
Tags: India, Madhya-Pradesh, Pandav-caves, Pachmarhi, Bhimbetka, stupa,
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Super Slim Pomegranate