Jan 062015
 
Delhi Street Art Near Agrasen Ki Baoli

Delhi Street Art: Agrasen Ki Baoli While we were walking towards the Agrasen Ki Baoli just before the entrance to the famed step well of Delhi we found some excellent Street Art on the wall opposite to the Baoli or Step Well. I am not sure who the artists/s are but with this blog post let me salute the street artists of Delhi who are doing their bit to revive the city center in Connaught Place. At this stage it will be good if you check my earlier post about Delhi Street  Art in Shankar Market, Connaught Place before going [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Jan 012015
 
Ganesha In Thailand : Some observations about Ganesha Worship in Thailand

  Ganesha Worship in Amazing Thailand   In India, we see Ganesha the remover of obstacles in every single temple and most Hindu homes. He is considered to the wise one and remover of all obstacles. When I was visiting Thailand more than a decade ago I was happily surprised to find Ganesha being worshiped in almost all Buddhist temples in Amazing Thailand also. Not only in temples, I found Ganesha idols in front of various homes, shops etc. in Thailand. In Thailand, Ganesha is called Phra Phikanet, but his importance is the same as in India.     So [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Nov 172014
 
Elephant Parade Thailand

A creative way to help the Asian Elephants: Elephant Parade Exhibition  India and Thailand share a lot in common right from ancient maritime trade to shared mythology in Ramayana.  Just like India, Thailand is also home to the last few thousand surviving wild Asian Elephants that are very distinct from their bigger cousins found in Africa. No wonder that Ganesha our Elephant headed god is worshiped in both the countries. While staying at Anantara Riverside Resort in Bangkok, I noticed this beautiful golden elephant painted with Buddha all over it.   Suggested reading Ganesha Worship in Thailand   I initially thought [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Sep 232014
 
Varpu or Uruli- Reinventing a Kerala Heirloom

  Varpu: From Ayurveda & making feasts to decorating hotels One of the first thing I noticed in Kerala in almost every single hotel was a round, shallow vessel filled with water and flowers floating on it. Now it was nothing new as now it is a common practice to find such vessels or Varpu in many places in India. But I had no idea that this tradition also started in God’s Own Country. But like so many things Varpu has also undergone a metamorphosis. Originally  Varpu, a large cauldron made from cast bronze was used to make Ayurveda Medicines [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Sep 032014
 
Recycled Ganesha in a Car Museum

Eco Friendly Ganesha in his Recycled Avatar Ganapati is a very special festival of India, as it is not just a festival it also has a strong association with freedom movement of India. But even before that Ganapati Utsav was celebrated during times of Shivaji Maharaj and later Peshwas of Pune. But with the fall of Peshwas in 1818, Ganapati Utsav lost significance as a public festival till revived by Lokmanya Tilak in 1893.  Tilak a well-known social reformer and freedom fighter wanted to shape Ganapati Utsav to bring like-minded people together and use the collective consciousness to fight [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Apr 172014
 
The Man Who Saw Jesus

Making of Jesus in the Backwaters of Alleppey in Kerala Happy yet humbled at our discovery of the ancient Portuguese church in the backwaters of Alleppey during our Houseboat ride, I and Nelson my friend from Portugal decided to explore  some more around the church.  I was pondering of higher questions like divine, god, religion etc. and one thought kept on coming to my mind, “  God made man or man made God? , if God is one, why do we have so many religions? And how come every religion claims  as the only true one? Can there be more than [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…]

Feb 272013
 
Significance of Red color in India

What is the significance of Red color in India ?   Red is a very auspicious color in Indian culture. From the red saree that the bride wears on her wedding day to the red bangles, red sindoor that married Hindu women put in the parting of hair red is everywhere. A wedding invitation card is not considered complete unless it’s colored red on the corners.  In some parts of India housewives will make rangoli of white color in front of their doors but on festivals like Sakranthi they will make a special rangoli with Red as the central [Continue Reading By Clicking Here…]

Oct 062012
 
Pilgrims in Hampi-Following The Tradition

Meeting Pilgrims in Hampi A Pilgrim Lost In Rhythm Divine Young Pilgrims at Sacred Center In last few weeks I have written about the monument, ruins, and temples of Hampi, but I had a feeling that the series is incomplete without mentioning the wonderful people I met in Hampi. Lakhs of tourists from Indian and abroad come to Hampi every year to look at the magnificent monuments left behind by the kings of the years gone by. History has taken its course and where armies used to guard now monkeys hold the fort. The path that queen used 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…]