Archive for the 'Cities' Category
Travel India Jabalpur
Author: Binoy Gupta
Land of the romantic Marble Rocks
and Kipling’s Jungle Book
When you think of a romantic cruise amongst marble rocks, think of Jabalpur.
And when you think of Snooker, think of Jabalpur again, because snooker was invented here.
Jabalpur is located almost in the centre of India.
It is the first district in India which obtained the ISO-9001 certificate.
This has come into force from April 1, 2007.
The present city dates from the nineteenth century and has wide and well planned roads.
Jabalpur is famous for beautiful formations of Marble Rocks (Bhedaghat) through which flows the holy Narmada River.
read comments (123)Travel India Jaisalmer
Author: Binoy Gupta
The Golden City
Where would you go if you wanted to see sand, desert and sand dunes in India?
It is crowned by a fort, which contains the palace buildings and beautiful Jain temples.
Many of the houses and temples are beautifully sculpted.
History
According to legend, Lord Krishna told Arjuna that a remote descendent of the Yadav clan would build his kingdom on top of Trikuta Hill.
Mumbai – the Financial Capital of India
Author: Binoy Gupta
Mumbai
Where everything is in a hurry
Delhi is the political capital, but Mumbai (Bombay)
is the undisputed financial capital of India.
It also has Bollywood, India’s counterpart of Hollywood,
the world of Hindi films and glamour.
It has the largest port in India.
Mumbai is also the head quarters of all major banks, financial institutions and industrialists.
The Mumbai Stock Exchange is one of the leading stock exchanges in the world.
History
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Travel India Goa – the land of the sun, sand and feni
Author: Binoy Gupta
Goa
The Old Portugese Settlement
Goa is a dream world of fun, frolic and leizure – rolling stretches of silver sands, wonderful golden beaches and waving palm trees.
Travel India Ooty – the Queen of Hill Stations
Author: Binoy Gupta
Ooty
The Queen of Hill Stations
The Queen of Hill Stations in South India is Udhagamandalam or Ootacamund. I find both terms far too long and tongue twisting; and prefer the much shorter term Ooty.
Ooty is certainly the most popular hill station in South India.
Ooty, located in the Western ghats at a height of 2240 metres, is the headquarters of the Nilgiris district where the Eastern and Western ghats meet.
Flora and Fauna
Ooty is full of coffee estates and tea plantations. The dense forests around are full of connifers, eucalyptus, pine and wattle; numerous animals and birds.
Mangalore
Author: Binoy Gupta
the Gateway to Manipal University and Dharamstala
Because of the similarity of names, many people confuse Mangalore with Bangalore.Mangalore is an altogether different city – about 357 kms from Bangalore.Recently, I received an invitation to visit Mangalore.
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Calcutta (Kolkata)
Author: Binoy Gupta
a mixture of the old British Raj and modern India
Calcutta has given four Nobel laureates to the world – Ronald Ross, Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen.
I had my entire schooling and college education in this city.
I also spent the first 15 years of my service life here.
I have been visiting Calcutta at least twice every year.
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Aurangabad & Daulatabad
Author: Binoy Gupta
What is there to see in a small non-descript place like Aurangabad?
You must visit the place to find out.
Two Mughal Emperors visited the region, and they liked it so much that they shifted their capital from Delhi to this region.
The Daulatabad Fort, which is one of the world’s best preserved forts of medieval times, alone would make Aurangabad a great place to visit.
But there is far more to see.
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Madurai
Author: Binoy Gupta
The City of Temples
and the Gate Way to the South
I have visited the 2500 old Madurai City many many times.
The Meenakshi Temple is the largest and most beautiful temple dedicated to any female deity in India.
Madurai is also the gateway to a number of tourist places in South India – such as Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, Kodai Kanal and Yercaud.
Madurai is the headquarters of the world famous Aravind Eye Hospital, which is doing outstanding philanthropic work in the field of eye care.
And the hi-so Taj Hotel located on a vantage spot here is really affordable.
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Jaipur
Author: Binoy Gupta
The Pink City
Prince amongst the cities of India
Jaipur, or the Pink City, is the undisputed prince amongst the cities of India.
Status of Royalty in India – Pathetic
Someone wrote to me enquiring about the present status of the Royalty in India.
There were 547 kings and rulers in India before 1947.
After India attained independence, all these kingdoms seamlessly merged into India.
But the rulers were given privy purse, annual sums of money, as compensation.
They were also allowed to keep their palaces, jewelley, etc. and certain other privileges.
In 1969, Indira Gandhi abolished the privy purse – indirectly snatching away all their rights and privileges.
Overnight, the kings became commoners.
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