global travel shot: remembering german nazi auschwitz, 70 years on

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When the bus dropped me off at Auschwitz II–Birkenau—a former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp on the outskirts of Krakow in Poland—on a summer day in 2012, I was not sure what to expect.

I was no stranger to scenes of debased humanity, having wandered through the Killing Fields in Cambodia, and explored the corridors of Robben Island in South Africa. I knew I would see pain, suffering, and the manifestation of an absolute ruthless version of humankind. But to what extent and how it was mourned 70 years on in Auschwitz II–Birkenau gave me both the jitters and hope. It still does. Continue reading →

cambodia: the sacred and ugly of divine rule

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Rama Arya

[My below post first appeared as a travelogue in Hindustan Times, one of the largest newspapers in India, on 6 March, 2016 in both its print and online editions. The online edition can be read here]

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From Angkor Wat to the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia reveals that civilisations hold within them, both, the seeds of greatness and those of depravity

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once upon a time, there was a fairy tale called buda-pest

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Rama Arya

“Once upon a time I was young and beautiful. I flirted. I was brash. I was elegant. Time changed me. History scarred me. Will you love me still?”

Lying on the banks of the Danube, the twin cities of Buda and Pest are a bygone romantic fairytale draped in swaths of 60 years of communism, and at present the capital of a nation struggling to find its place in a capitalist world. Budapest demands and deserves delving beyond the obvious as one of Europe’s most popular holiday destinations and beautiful cities; if for no other reason than to just believe in fairy-tales again. Continue reading →

empress sisi’s vienna – today

Posted on July 18, 2014 by Rama Arya

“I am a seagull, of no land,
I call no shore my home,
I am bound to no place,
I fly from wave to wave.”
~ Empress Elisabeth of Austria aka Sisi (1837-1898)

A fervent traveler, the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Sisi, born Elizabeth, the Duchess of Bavaria, was a beautiful, lonely, reclusive woman. An adamant non-conformist and free spirit, she married her cousin Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria (1848–1867) at 17, and spent the rest of her life refusing to carry out the traditional roles of empress, wife or mother expected of her. The death of her eldest child at two, and the suicide of Rudolf, her fourth child, pushed her deeper into her shell. She was assassinated by an Italian anarchist in 1898. Continue reading →

elephanta caves: mumbai’s 7th century shiva temples

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Rama Arya

Trimurti or Sadashiva – The Creator, The Protector, The Destroyer

Some 10 kilometers into the Arabian Sea, off the coast of South Mumbai, is a verdant island covered with five 7th Century rock cut temples dedicated to the Shaiva Hindu sect. Known as Elephanta Island and originally as Gharapuri, literally meaning the ‘city of caves’, its basalt rock hewn temples pay homage to the various forms and legends of Shiva. Continue reading →

medieval squares of eastern europe

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Rama Arya

On my way to Český Krumlov – South Bohemian folk Baroque architecture (18th-19th Century) around the village green of Holašovice

The fairy tale continued as I traveled deeper into Eastern Europe, the castles becoming more romantic, the squares prettier and the churches more quaint. Meandering cobbled streets worn over the centuries, red tiled roofs competing with the surrounding green hills, and the lone church spire characterize these pockets of history frozen in time, many of them today UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Continue reading →

goa travel tips

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Rama Arya

If you planning to go to Goa for that perfect holiday this Christmas, hang out at the beach, chill, laugh, smile without a care…

Do not miss (in no particular order) 🙂 : Continue reading →

a walk through old goa and fontainhas

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Rama Arya

The Indo-Portuguese Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa’s most revered church

I am not too sure what I expected when the cab driver dropped me off in Old Goa by the gates of the Jesuit Basilica of Bom Jesus this morning. Jostled by women selling candles and marigold garlands with the cheerful assurance “aapke prayers bhagwaan zaroor sunega (god will definitely listen to your prayers),” how could I say no to their strategic saleswomanship 🙂 Continue reading →

george III and the kew gardens

Posted on September 21, 2009 by Rama Arya

Some places turn out to be such a pleasant surprise! I had put down Kew Palace and the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens for today. I’d been starting to feel a bit jaded—you know the “been there, done that” feeling and I, therefore, wanted to do something inconsequential for a change. Botanical gardens and palaces seemed to fit the bill perfectly. 🙂 Not too demanding was what I told myself. Continue reading →

cambodia 1: the splendours of angkor

Posted on December 26, 2006 by Rama Arya

I am finally in Cambodia. Every traveller’s utopia. Peace has come to this beautiful yet scarred land after three decades of war and suffering, and a journey to this small kingdom is truly one of Asia’s most genuine adventures.

Present day Cambodia is the successor state to the mighty Khmer empire which during the Angkor Period (9th to 15th Century AD) ruled much of what is now Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. No matter how much you read about Angkor or see pictures of its monuments, the actuality of the place still takes you by surprise. The scale alone of the site is impressive, the detailed stone carvings on its temples only further adding to its incredible beauty. Continue reading →