Just About Everything

The festive season has begun! Tomorrow is Shashthi, and Kolkata is all set for Durga puja. Durga puja is one of the most popular and much awaited festivals of West Bengal in India. One has to be in Kolkata to experience this festive mood! I set off this morning to catch a glimpse of some of the well-known pujas in North Kolkata. Here are some of the many Durga puja pandals that I saw today. I will post some more in a couple of days. Durga puja is the time when I look forward to seeing creative pandals with unique themes, artistic idols, and so much more, and as usual Kolkata does not disappoint.  Happy Durga pujas!  Telenga Bagan Durga Puja 2015 Ceiling of the pandal J M Park, North Kolkata Durga puja Kumartuli puja  Kumartuli Durga idol The theme was earthquake and army helping out Kumartuli N Kolkata Puja Durga idol Beniatola Durga puja 2015 ...

 Temples in My Son ,Vietnam In this post I continue with Vietnam , here is another UNESCO World Heritage site from Vietnam. My Son (pronounced MeSoan) Sanctuary, is located near the village of Duy Phú in Quảng Nam Province in Central Vietnam, The temple complex is surrounded by two mountain ranges. These ancient Hindu temples were constructed between the 4th and the 14th century AD by the kings of Champa in Vietnam. The temple complex used to house more than 70 temples where deities of Krishna, Vishnu, and Shiva were worshipped (majority of the temples were Shiva temples) Unfortunately except for a few, most of these temples are in ruins now partly because of the carpet bombing during the Vietnam War. It is indeed quite strange to find these ancient Hindu temples in Vietnam. I tried to look up the history and the origin of these temples and found that this region's unique culture was influenced by Hinduism; it is believed that Indian traders introduced Hinduism to this...

Halong Bay, Vietnam Here is another beautiful place that should not be missed if you are in Hanoi. I found out from Soma, who visited Vietnam last year, that Halong Bay in northern Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered one of the natural wonders of the world. It has thousands of beautiful limestone karsts in unusual shapes and varying sizes. I had no idea that Vietnam had so many beautiful places, I was aware of only a few touristy places but this is something! Halong Bay is around 170 km from Hanoi and is accessible by road. From Halong harbour, one needs to get into a boat in order to go into the core area. The bay has around four floating villages inhabited mostly by fishermen.The unusual beauty of this bay is because of the limestone islands with thick vegetation and unusual shapes rising out of the ocean. Many of these islands are hollow and house large caves with stalactites and stalagmites. Some of the islands are inhabited, and provide hotel fac...

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi Stage This is something so unique that I had to share it. These water puppet show pictures are courtesy Soma who travelled to Vietnam last year, and that is when I came to know of the water puppet show. I will share a video that is more detailed, she did not take too many still photos, and hopefully when I post the video it will give you an idea of how beautiful this show is! The origin of this water puppet show dates back to the 11th century; villagers would use this traditional art form to entertain when the paddy fields were flooded with water. They made use of the water to innovate this traditional form of puppetry into this water puppet form. And now the same art form is such a world famous water puppet show! The puppet show tells some beautiful stories such as, the love story of a phoenix pair, the story of emperor Le Loi and the tortoise God of the Hoan Kiem lake, and many more such stories depicted so beautifully that ...

Shenandoah Caverns  Shenandoah caverns are located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, USA. It was opened to public in 1922. The best part was the accessibility to the caverns. What would have been a long and perhaps not to easy to trek route, was made easy by an elevator. Yes, there was an elevator ferrying people to the entrance of the caverns and back! The elevator took us down 60 feet and there we were at the entrance of the caverns....our tour lasted an hour, and it was simply amazing! I did not know how the 1 hour passed. The different kinds of natural formations were absolutely amazing! Every time we entered a cave there was something different, it transferred us back to a completely different world! I have never seen anything like this before. I enjoyed every bit of the tour. Formation in the caves  Extensive deposits on the walls Beautiful cascade! Capital Dome formation ...