G Sangram

(My rider somewhere in the middle of Thar desert, Rajasthan) Not just travel, I always had this dream to experience our Incredibly diverse country. When I say experience, I mean staying at places for an extended time, indulging in local culture, cuisine, language, customs, beliefs, geography and its people. And I did. I had travelled 25000km all alone across India in 3 phases including 20000km motorcycle(RE Himalayan) ride with an estimated cost of 250000 INR that took 1.5 years to complete that too even working parallelly without a single unpaid leave. Considering the distance and time span, the expenditure is quite low provided that tourism is an expensive affair. This is so low that, a 2-day MAKE-MY-TRIP curated Kashmir plan is estimated to be 40k, a 5-day Kashmir package through a travel agency cost my friend(+wife) 75k, but I had executed my month-long Kashmir exploration in just 18k. Insane right! How did I pull that? The Way I Travelled , is just one out of my blog series Anatom...

           (Google map timeline of my South tour) The Subtle Power of Literacy    Did you ever wonder how literacy makes difference on a broader perspective? Well, then Kerala (popularly known as God's Own Country) might have an answer for you. In India, state Kerala has the highest literacy rate which hovers around 96.2 cents, way higher than the national average of 77.7 cents. Here is a story.    On a delightful morning around Nov-2020, I was hovering on the roof of my PG at Trivandrum, Kerala. The time was atypical as the Coronavirus cases were soaring in the state shutting the vibrant tourism industry of GODS OWN COUNTRY. From the roof, I saw a pedlar wearing a mask selling breakfast on his Luna motorcycle. Upon arrival of a customer, he got down the bike, sanitized his hands, pulled an elastic glove in his hand, handed over the Puttu-kadala curry (a variety of breakfast) and gently put his glove back to its place. he repeated it fo...

 Jasmine City of India     J asmine , a sweet-scented flower also referred to as "Malligai" by the majority of Dravidian people is an important element of Indian culture. But do you know the biggest market of Jasmine in India? Yes, it's Madurai, an ancient temple city known for the glorious Menakshi Amman temple where the famous sweet-scented Malligai has been grown for centuries. References to Madurai’s jasmine is can be traced back to Sangam literature which revolves around 300 BC to AD 300.     In Hindu rituals, pujas or auspicious occasions remain incomplete without the family members decorating their homes with fresh, sweet-scented Malligai. For children, young girls, brides and married women as well as the elderly women, tucking in a strand of jasmine is a part of their beauty, an indication of their personality and a celebration of an auspicious occasion. Once a Soldier, Always a Soldier    M adurai , the ancient city located in the s...

  (Iconic Gandhi statute near Promenade Beach)   I am a huge admirer of any specific civilisation and its customs. In this blog with phase 1, I am going to highlight that only with lifestyle and culture. Followed to which you will get insights of tourist destinations with a short description that will guide you through your travel plans in this unique territory of India.     Phase - 1 (Custom & Culture)   The Union Territory(UT) of Puducherry , more popularly Pondicherry/Pondi, is one of the eight UT’s in India. Consists of four-port districts (i.e. Pondicherry , Mahé, Karaikal & Yanam) which interestingly does not share any border, speak four unique languages, i.e. Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & French. Once administered by France, it’s a french colonial settlement in India and plays a key role in bilateral relations between the two nations .    The majority of locals in Pondi speak a different dialect of Tamil, equally funny as is unique. Oft...