travel diaries: hiking through the horton plains

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Rama Arya

There is a deafening silence as I enter the Horton Plains in the wee hours of the morning. Above me, the silver sun is still trying to find its way back into the sky. It is not an easy task.

A thick blanket of mist and cloud engulf me, the golden blades of montane grass, and the sand-spattered 3.5-billion-year-old Precambrian-era boulders. Every now and then a slight drizzle kisses my upturned face. I peer through the mist, strain my ears for another human sound. A footstep, laugh, threads of a conversation. All I can hear is my own breath. I look at my phone. There is no signal. Continue reading →

the sigiriya frescoes: king kassapa I and his 500 damsels

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Rama Arya

477 AD. Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

29-year-old Prince Kassapa was filled with a deep burning desire to be king. So deep, it seemed to completely engulf him. To be the ruler of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka’s ancient historical spiritual heart. How wondrous would that be!

And he would have been. Could have been. Except for one problem. His mother was the non-royal wife of Moriya King Dhatusena. The rightful heir to the coveted throne was his young half-brother Moggallana, offspring of his father’s chief consort.

Not to be deterred, Kassapa I, also known as Kashyapa I, decided to lead a palace coup with the help of Migara, the army commander who had a personal grudge of his own against the king. Young Moggallana, meanwhile, managed to escape, and took refuge in South India.

When Kassapa demanded to know the location of his father’s treasury, his imprisoned father responded saying Anuradhapura’s water tank was his one-and-only treasure. Miffed on hearing this, Kassapa had his father entombed alive.

For the rest of his life, Kassapa’s subjects and rivals, as well as the local Buddhist monks, would call him Pithru Ghathaka Kashyapa meaning Kashyapa the Patricide. It was a label he would not be able to shake off even after death.

In a bid to start afresh, away from public disgrace and the threat of a possible future retaliation by Moggallana, Kassapa moved his capital 75 kilometres south. Here, deep in Sri Lanka’s tropical plains stood a 180-metre-high monolith volcanic rock pillar with unhindered 360-degree views for miles on end. Continue reading →

11 memorable experiences only to be had in turkmenistan

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Rama Arya

Tourist number: 1933.

It is the early hours in the morning of 1 October, and I am at the gleaming falcon-shaped marble-encased airport in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan. I ask the official at the visa counter what does this line on my entry stamp mean. He explains that 1,932 tourist visas had been issued in 2023 before mine. I am 1,933rd. This does not include the 3-to-7-day transit visas, by-the-way.

With a silly grin plastered on my face, I tell him he has no idea how much it means to have that sticker on my passport. Many months of planning and three back-to-back flights, from Goa to Muscat to Dubai to Ashgabat, and I am finally, finally here.

I guess my enthusiasm is contagious. The otherwise poker-faced official gives a little smile and wishes me a happy stay. I respond with a beaming grin.

Outside, shifting lights on the airport’s facade recreate a falcon’s flapping wings. Continue reading →

travel guide: turkmenistan’s 3 legendary unesco-listed treasures

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Rama Arya

For a history buff, Turkmenistan is what wish-lists are made of. Its historical sites comprise three of the greatest world cities of the past which served as the capitals of some of the region’s most powerful empires in the ancient and medieval world, namely, the Great Seljuks, Khwarezmshahs, and Parthians.

All three of these cities are UNESCO World Heritage Sites today: Merv in the south-east, Konye Urgench in the north, and Old Nisa near the capital Ashgabat.

Welcome to my travel guide on these legendary metropolises’ fantastic histories and breathtaking monuments. Places very few visit, in one of our world’s Least Visited Countries. ❤

MERV: ‘QUEEN OF THE WORLD’ AND CAPITAL OF THE GREAT SELJUKS

Coronation of Seljuk Sultan Ahmad Sanjar [r. 1118 – 1157]; Jami’ al-Tawarikh by Rashid al-Din, Tabriz, Persia, 1307 AD.

Often described as ‘the wandering city,’ Merv is Turkmenistan’s grandest UNESCO World Heritage Site, both in scale and age: 1,236 hectares [including the buffer zone] and 4,500 years. Listed in 1999, it is also the oldest and best-preserved oasis city along the Silk Road in Central Asia. Continue reading →

travel diaries: from bamyan to herat via the minaret of jam

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Rama Arya

Be still, dear wild dancing heart! I chide it that it’s being ridiculous. I am no novice traveller. I have travelled all my life, been to countless countries, places many have not even heard of.

“But this is the first time to the Minaret of Jam,” it whispers gleefully.

Yes, true. And I let it dance away, and smile at it fondly. If it were not for this crazy heart of mine, I would be leading a pretty dull life.

Dear reader, I am about to start a 7-day road trip across Afghanistan’s remote heartland to see its most glorious treasures, including the 12th Century Minaret of Jam. The latter, the very reason why I had travelled all the way to Afghanistan in the first place.

It will take me one-and-a-half days through nothingness to reach the minaret, and then another one-and-a-half days off-road driving to reach civilization, namely Herat.

Here’s to once-in-a-lifetime journeys! ❤ Continue reading →

the story of qutub minar

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Rama Arya

Prologue

Perhaps it would be more apt to title this post: Stories about Qutub Minar. As in plural.

Apart from being Delhi’s most iconic monument, it is steeped in multiple stories and a whole lot of firsts, making it unlike any other in the city. To top it, it is not the handiwork of any one ruler or dynasty, but is a collaborative effort spanning 800 years with even an East India Company officer adding his own bit to it—a Bengal-styled chhatri perched on top of the tower, which was thankfully brought down twenty years later.

So, here are Qutub Minar’s most famous stories. The spunk behind its stones. 😊 Continue reading →

india travel shot: shimla’s toy train

Image

Imagine—a cross between a train and a car, a rail motor car as it is called, hurtling over towering Roman arched bridges and through tunnels dug deep into dense rocky hills, past pristine forests and verdant valleys. 103 tunnels and 969 bridges to be exact, of which the world’s highest multi-arch gallery bridge is one. Every now and then it stops at quaint railway stations in little villages. Care for a bite?

The fantastical contraption in the image above, straight out of the pages of British Raj in India, is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Mountain Railways of India’ since 2008. No trip to Shimla could be deemed to be complete without the inclusion of a journey in it in the itinerary. Not 120 years ago. And not now. Continue reading →

the complete travel guide to the hidden gems of jhalawar

Posted on September 12, 2022 by Rama Arya

24 blog posts. 5 weeks of travel. A road trip of a lifetime.

What better way to end my Rajasthan series than with a travel guide on Jhalawar. Off the tourist radar, choc-o-bloc with hidden rarely-visited gems, and a laid-back vibe. It is screaming out to be explored. But since there is so little known or publicized about it, it ends up, unfortunately, getting sidelined, and fortunately [for the traveller] offers an opportunity to explore Rajasthan in a time-warped state. The way it used to be.

Here’s Jhalawar’s story and sights, written with valuable inputs from Mahijit Singh, the direct descendant of its Rajput rulers, who still lives in Jhalawar, in Virendra Bhawan. And guess what, his home is a homestay! But more of that later in the post.

Here’s wishing you happy travels in Jhalawar. 🙂 Continue reading →

chittorgarh: stories of valour, jauhar, and gods

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Rama Arya

“I long not to visit Ganga Sagar, Rameshwar or Kashi. It is only for Chittor that my eyes are always thirsty.”

Rajasthan’s folklore and ballads are filled with mention of Chittorgarh. Take this one as well for instance:

“If there is a fort to be reckoned with, it is Chittorgarh. The rest are mere fortresses.”

It was not just the bastions, masonry, and structures these lines referred to, which were of course mighty, but also its men and women and their unshakable grit.

Considered one of Rajasthan’s most formidable forts, Chittorgarh was famous for its sophisticated military architecture, wealth, and heroic rulers. It served as Mewar’s capital from the dynasty’s founding in the 8th Century to 1553 when Udaipur was established, and continued to be used until Mewar became part of independent India.

Despite three sieges over 1,300 years, Mewar’s rulers always managed to regain control of it. Whilst most other Rajput kingdoms surrendered to the Mughals, Mewar and Chittorgarh stood firm. When it did go into an alliance it was, more often than not, on its own terms.

The fort complex, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprises seven city gates, 65 historical buildings, four palaces, 19 large temples and 20 water bodies [there were 84 back in its heyday to meet the needs of its 50,000-strong army for up to four years] spread over 700 acres, 590 feet above the ground. A village is enclosed within its walls since medieval times.

Let me take you on a virtual journey through Chittorgarh, filled with stories of valour, jauhar, and gods. 🙂 Continue reading →

the glories of mewar: impregnable kumbhalgarh and exquisite ranakpur

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Rama Arya

There was an invincible grandeur associated with the Kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan, of which Udaipur was the capital. Traits which reflected in not just the larger-than-life personas of its rulers but its impregnable forts and exquisite places of faith too.

Deep in the wooded Aravalli Hills are two such places: Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur. Whilst one is a fort of a king remembered to this day for his valour and indomitable spirit, the other is a temple carved out of marble to give shape to a divine dream, with the blessings of the same king.

The route leading to them is treacherous in parts, cutting through the dark, unlit, uninhabited jungle in the form of a rather worn-out pot-holed narrow road. At others, it rises and falls in tune with the hills, passing tiny hamlets and endless herds of livestock. But the rewards for this journey are priceless.

Come, let me show you Maharana Kumbha’s Mewar. ❤ Continue reading →