Category Archives: India I’m not sure what impressed me most: the artistic beauty; the architectural complexity; or the mind-boggling age. Mahabalipuram (Thirukadalmallai, Mamallapuram), one of the oldest cities in India, is a coastal town on the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu, and home 40 ancient monuments and temples dated to the 7th and 8th centuries. UNESCO- listed […]  India! The heat, the crowds, the colours! And, the intricately beautiful – and historic – architecture. All my previous forays into this vast and varied country have been in the north (see: Weekly Wanders India), where turbans and Mughal palaces and mausoleums are commonplace. In the south, French, Portuguese, and British influences are still much […]  When I spend time in the crush of Indian streets, rubbing shoulders with holy men and drinking masala chai with the locals, I always come away with some new realisation about myself, or the world. My first visit to Varanasi was not my first trip to India, but it was revelatory. Most of my time […]  The Ganges River is India’s lifeblood, flowing 2525 kilometres (1570 m) from her source in a glacier in the Himalaya, across India and Bangladesh, and into the Bay of Bengal. The river is sacred: personified as Ganga Ma, mother to humanity. Hindus worship Ganga Ma as the goddess of purification and forgiveness. Some places along […]  India is a real experience in sensory overload. That is true of all the places I’ve visited in the country, but especially true in Varanasi. Varanasi – previously known as Benares, Banaras, and Kashi – is considered the spiritual capital of India. It is one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities, and has been […] |
|
