Nov 302016
 
Hindu Temple Festival Parade Bali Indonesia

Apsara Spotting: Temple Festival Parade Bali Indonesia I was in my carb induced coma when I overheard it seems there is a traffic jam in front.  Lazily I opened my eyes but when I looked on the road, along with my eyes my mouth also opened and my jaw remained a prisoner of gravity.  Right in the middle of the road, on the sidewalk and almost in every direction I could see Apsaras.   I must be dreaming I told myself and tried to close my eyes, but my neuromotor coordination hit rock bottom, partly due to what I was [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Aug 252015
 
Travel Tuesday: Hanuman and Priest

  Hanuman & Priest  So we return to  Travel Tuesday picture after a long time.  The image was clicked at Sitaram Bagh Temple in Hyderabad when I visited the same on the 180th anniversary of the temple. The temple is dedicated to Lord Ram and was actually built by Marwari trading family from Rajasthan, who still are trustees of the Sitaram Bagh Temple.  I have totally missed all the craze around Bajrangi Bhaijan the super hit Salman Khan Movie but brwosing through some pictures when I came across this picture of Hanuman ji and a priest, I could not [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Feb 162015
 
85 Feet Tall Shiva Idol in Bijapur Karnataka

Second Largest Shiva Idol is 85 feet tall and in Bijapur Karnataka Small town India never fails to amaze me. While the big cities are busy building theme parks, malls and multiplexes the mofussil India has its own way to keep the locals busy. Now Bijapur in Karnataka even with all its historical treasures from the erstwhile Adil Shahi Sultanate is not your typical touristy town. Once we were done with the mandatory ruins and tombs like Ibrahim Rauza and Gol Gumbaz etc. we asked our driver if there is anything else to visit, so he said there is [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Feb 092015
 
Ramayana The Game of Life Shattered Dreams : Book Review

Book Review: Ramayana – The Game of Life Shattered Dreams The epics are called epics because they are epic in every sense. I don’t make any sense?  Right? Well what to do, I started this post to write a review of Ramayana- The Game of Life , Shattered Dreams book 2 by Shubha Vilas. But how do you review an epic you were raised  on, as lullabies by your doting granny? When you heard story of Rama as a toddler, read about him in Amar Chitra Katha, saw him in Ramleela in the neighborhood and later on TV.  So Ramayana [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Apr 172013
 
Book Review of Business Sutra By Devdutt Pattanaik

A Book Review of  Business Sutra-Devdutt Pattanaik Now you may wonder why I am doing a book review of Business Sutra by Devdutt  Pattanaik  in desi Traveler, a travel blog.  Now since desi Traveler loves all things desi  and as I have spent my share of life energy chasing Luxmi  while being a corner room critter for US companies I thought I would be able to do some justice to this wonderful book. In Business Sutra Devdutt Pattanaik takes you on a mythological journey using symbols, stories and rituals to relate to how we look at doing business and [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Oct 032012
 
The Sacred Center of Hampi Temple

The Sacred Center of Hampi Temple – Where History and Mythology Live Together A Guide and Tourist at  Sacred Center of Hampi Temple   The sacred center of Hampi temple is where most of the religious and tourist action happens. Right in the middle of a Bazaar (crafts village like a flea market) you can see the main Virupaksha temple from miles. After passing through the bazaar, dodging the aggressive vendors trying to sell you things and more aggressive beggars trying to sell you heaven in both present and afterlife, you reach the sacred center. There is a small camera fee you need to [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Sep 272012
 
A Rare Ganpati

A New Beginning for desi Traveler- A family travel blog from India Desi Traveler has moved to own domain http://DesiTraveler.com from the earlier hosting on BlogSpot. I was convinced by various blogs and blogger friends that this is the way to go. I am also told that it will have some hiccups in the beginning but then everything will be OK. So I was wondering what to write for our first blog post on our own domain and then I remembered the beautiful post by Arti about Ganpati celebrations as this is Ganpati festival now.  So I thought what could [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Oct 092011
 
Around Bhongir Fort Part II

Bhongir Fort On The Rock This is the second post in the Bhongir Fort Series Here is the earlier post about Surendrapuri the museum of Hindu Mythology We parked the car next to the house of Sri’s friend and decided to walk up to the Bhongir fort. Sri’s friend actually works in USA, and was not aware that we are visiting his ancestral home with an American. The ascend to the fort is very steep and within less than 5 minutes I was panting and remembering all the aloo parathans, pizzas and burgers that I have gulped down for [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Oct 082011
 
Around Bhongir Fort- Surendrapuri A Museum of Indian Mythology

A Museum of Hindu Mythology: Surendrapuri We have been living in Hyderabad for some time and I have visited the Golconda fort many times. It has been one of the default historical spot for us to go whenever we were giving a guided tour to our guests both from India or my colleagues from US. Our CTO Tom has been to India many times and he is probably equally familiar with the city of Nizams by now if not more than me. So when this time Tom was in town me and my colleagues were in dilemma what to [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]