Tag Archives: UNESCO

Today is Holi: the much-loved Hindu ‘festival of colours’. In India and Nepal, Holi is celebrated for a night and a day: starting on the full-moon evening of the month of Phalguna or Phalgun on the Hindu calendar. This usually falls somewhere between the end of February and the middle of March, according to the […]

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Sometimes, it would be nice to have a tour guide. Someone, for example, who speaks English and the local language, and who knows where the ticket-office is. Someone who can give you an idea of what to expect, and can tell you a bit about what you are seeing. If I had been willing to […]

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Kumbh Melas are among the largest religious gatherings in the world. According to the BBC News, which published pictures of the 2001 Allahabad Kumbh Mela taken from space, that particular mela was “probably the largest human gathering in history”. The more recent mela in Allahabad (Prayagraj) in 2013 attracted an estimated 120 million devotees over […]

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“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – The Buddha The end of the year – according to the Gregorian calendar is drawing near… Of course, the more you travel, the more you realise that many […]

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Riding the rails is magic! I love travelling on trains – all trains. There is something special about the rhythmic rattling as you hurtle through a landscape, being both part of the countryside and cocooned from it. How much more special is the rail experience when you are on a first-class scenic express train, travelling […]

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