Just About Everything

It has been almost a year since I visited  Sri Lanka, and I am yet to complete my Sri Lankan travel posts L … I thought I would, before resuming the posts, pause and instead share pictures of the delicious and glorious food we had at Sri Lanka. We were lucky to have our Sri Lankan friend who was our host with us, and he ensured we tasted homemade Sri Lankan delicacies. What a time we had! Here are some pictures of the lavish spread we enjoyed at every meal...the first picture is on Christmas day last year, and the food was a mix of Sri Lankan and continental cuisine . Down below are pictures of our regular meals...yeah...that's correct, we consumed THAT much :) Sri Lankan cuisine is quite similar to South Indian cuisine but there are subtle differences, and each region has its own unique way of cooking, and that’s what makes it so unique! I don't remember the names of all the items but some of them are: Kottu Sour fish curry Dhal curry appam, idiyapp...

Ahiritola durga idol I am posting from my archives some of the popular Durga pujas from North Kolkata. Creativity as usual is at its peak in Kolkata during this time. These Durga puja pandal pictures below are of Ahiritola, Ahiritola Jubak brinda, Kumartuli Sarbajanin,Kumartuli park, Nabin pally, and Nalin Sarkar street Durga pujas. Kumartuli park created a space like Durga pandal; it was awesome! Ahiritola Durga Puja 2019 Ahiritola Jubak brinda durga puja Kumartuli sarbajanin Durga puja  Kumartuli park Durga puja-space station-brilliant Nabin pally Durga puja 2019 Nalin Sarkar street Durga puja 2019

I wish you a bright, prosperous, peaceful, and awesomely happy  Diwali. May the light always shine upon you. I am taking a break from my travelogues to post a little something on Diwali:)  In my subsequent posts, I will post some of the Durga puja pandals that I loved.  Even though it is delayed....  I would still love to share those...some of them are so unique  and out of the world, it makes it all worthwhile:) On the occasion of Diwali, here is a paragraph from a Scottish prayer that I love.  May the blessing of light be on you -Scottish  Prayer May the blessing of Light be on you Light without and light within, May the blessed sunlight shine on you And warm your heart till it glows like A great peat fire, so that the stranger May come and warm himself at it, And also a friend. And may the light shine out of the two eyes of you, Like a candle set in two windows of a house, Bidding the wanderer to c...

Dambulla, the Golden temple Dambulla cave temple complex (the Golden Temple) in Sri Lanka is a World Heritage Site dating back to the  first century BCE. Dambulla has one of the best preserved cave temples in Sri Lanka. The five main caves have exquisite paintings and beautiful statues. Dambulla is located around 160 km from Colombo, and is well connected by road. It took us around 5 hours to reach Dambulla by road. After resting a bit we set off to see the cave temple complex. Our plan was to do Dambulla caves first, and Sigiriya first thing in the morning the next day. We started for the caves around 5 pm which was quite late.The temple complex is open until 7 pm, but it is best to do the caves during daylight hours since climbing down may get a bit difficult with less or no light. This place is a must visit if you like ancient structures, paintings, and sculptures. There is a bit of climb involved...around 360+ steps to reach the caves, but believe me you wo...