Gypsy at Large

“Both the communities (Hindu and Muslim) love Hindi serials and movies; but whenever something happens in India, reverberations are felt here in Bangladesh.” This simple statement coming from the priest of temple in Sylhet underlines the intertwined fate of the people of the two countries that were part of the same political entity once upon a time. It was this intrigue that lured me to travel to Bangladesh in this sweltering motherless heat. After fending off the questioning looks of friends and family members, as I applied for visa I was confronted with the familiar question – “Why Bangladesh?” I said, “Tourism.” The official looked unconvinced but I was not denied the visa. Apart from tourism was motivated me to go to Bangladesh that I wanted to visit a land which was within India not even a century ago. And since a visa to Pakistan will be hard come by, considering my family’s history deeply steeped in Indian defence forces, I zeroed in on Bangladesh. The circuit of Shil...

The scene was straight out of the Jungle Book, a dense forest teeming with all sorts of insects and other living beings, humidity threatening to dehydrate you slowly but surely. And thus began our adventure to trek to Nongriat village, roughly 70 kms from main Shillong town. In short we were gearing to play Mogli without Bagheera to help us out. We hit the road from Shillong at around 9.30 am. (Even if you are not a road journey person, do it for the scenic beauty of it). It is the beginning of April and the monsoon season is knocking on the door. Shillong belongs to the state Meghalaya, literally the abode of clouds. So as the sun goes up in the sky, the clouds descend on earth. At Cherapunjee, the erstwhile “wettest” place on earth, the clouds shadows the Noakhali waterfalls and the green valley is turned white. We continue our onward journey as the car drives through series of clouds. We were being told the village would not have anything to much. So we made a pit stop had...

Certain human creations need to be celebrated as common treasures owing to the impact they had in shaping their existence. Democracy is presently the most prevalent form of government around the world. And it is in the Acropolis of Athens that democracy is considered to have been born and nurtured. Earning the moniker of "the Cradle of Democracy", the pillars at the barren rocky hill have seen a lot. Goddess Athena overlooking the city of Athens The Parthenon has a Temple of Athena, the Goddess from whom the capital of Greece derive its name. Designed to be in harmony with nature, this UNESCO Heritage site, does not have straight line rather all curves. The monumental structure was built in the 5th century BC to commemorate the rulers win against the Persians. The structure has survived through 25 centuries through wars, fires and what not. The structure, in all probabilities, would have seen Aristotle, Plato and Socrates contemplate fine prints of their ...