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...

My father was not exposed to education (educated till 2nd standard), can't even read. I choose to share because he himself an interesting case study of social & financial wisdom. Events took place in the backdrop of rural India. Let's start. "Do work as your own", my father always tells me. For him, work provided a reason to survive. He was born in 1953 and lost his parents early in childhood itself. Soon after he started his career working as a shepherd merely to get two times meals in a day that to staying away. He took his first annual pay of just 140 INR from the herd owner. In the year of 1974, he formally joined as a Steelman (staff) at nearby Sugar factory (Aska, Odisha) drawing an initial monthly pay of 90 INR (1080 rupees annually). He retired in 2014 with an in-hand monthly salary of 14000 INR. That is so less, his annual pay of that was 1,68,000 but he invested 1,60,000 solely on my education that year apart from sustaining a family. That brings the que...

           (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...

 Tales of South series holds short stories of my solo motorcycle ride throughout the southern India. Though my personal experiences, it's not really about me, it's about SOUTH India, its kind people, unique culture, customs, beliefs, food and biodiversity. Through this series, you will have a glimpse of how unique is this region in India as well as in the entire world. Preface to 'An act of kindness' It's been little more than 270 km since I started from Hyderabad with a tiny halt near the roaring Krishna river. I was completely wet as it was raining most of my journey. Due to the heavy rain from the last few days, the water bodies in or around southern Andhra were either full or overflowing by causing a flood-like situation. Many lower lands even suffered from floods. An act of kindness I was riding high, slicing the air, grasping the chill. Just crossed Kurnool district of the state Andhra-Pradesh and rolling somewhere on the Kurnool - Ongol highway. My body was a...

  (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...