Tag Archives: India

The first day I was on Dal Lake – the centrepiece of Srinagar in the North Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), I felt like I was in a dream – or a Monet painting (see: Floating in a Dream). The air is hot and thick. The stillness is punctuated by the plunk of boat oars in the water, […]

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It was like a dream – indeed, a dream come true! Kashmir had been on my ‘list’ since long before my first-ever trip to India, but opportunities had never quite lined up for me. The beauty of the landscape is legendary. The land itself – the valley running between the Great Himalayas and the Pir […]

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It was hot. And dark. And chaotically noisy. And, I loved every minute of it! To a non-Indian, a Kathakali dance performance can best be described as a Punch and Judy show on steroids. One of India’s many forms of regional classical dance, Kathakali is unique to Kerala on India’s southwestern Malabar Coast. After spending a […]

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I’ve said it before: being on and around the waters of Vembanad Lake in Kerala, South India had a soporific effect on me (see: On the Kerala Backwaters). The heat – and the haze that the heat produced on the water – and soft chugging of the motors of the river traffic had me feeling like […]

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The heat; the soft chug of the motor; the sun glinting in the hazy sky and off the water; it was one of those iconic ‘Pinch me!’ moments. I was finally on the backwaters of Kerala in south-western India. The backwaters are a network of more than 900 km (560 mi) of waterways, stretching north-south […]

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