An Indian Bureaucrat's Diary

Mahabalipuram

Site of a lost City

On 26th December 2004, the killer Tsunami waves struck the shores of Mahabalipuram. When the waters receded, there were rumours that they had left behind some statues, rock carvings and remains of what could be the work of human hands.
All this stirred up expectations. Once again, archaeologists, historians and scientists began wondering whether there indeed was an ancient city which now lies buried under the sea.
The Archaeological Survey of India and the Indian Navy have just completed joint underwater excavations for this year. Alok Tripathi, a Deputy Superintending Archaeologist from the Archaeological Survey of India, and leader of the expedition team, told the media that the Tsumai had given Mahabalipuram a lot of publicity but nothing in terms of archaeology.
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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.

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A Tropical Paradise

This part contains some rare photographs of the Jarawas.

I have devoted this part to the different tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Group of Islands because this is the only place in the world where the world’s only surviving Paleolithic age people still survive.
You can also see some of the world’s oldest existing primitive tribes.
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The Volcano and some remote locations

Some one asked me how many days can one spend in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The answer is simple. They are so good, you could spend your entire life time.

I have written about some islands close to Port Blair (the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands) in Part I of my blog on the Andamans: http://indianbureaucratsdiary.blogspot.com/2007/12/andaman-and-nicobar-islands-i.html

In this Part II, I am writing about some distant places north of Port Blair;
about the NicobarIslands and about the only active volcano in India.
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A Tropical Paradise – an overview

Have you ever dreamt of a holiday in a tropical paradise amidst waving palms whispering to the oceans; laze around on numerous sun kissed beaches; watch beautiful and colourful marine life; see the only live volcano in India which can still throw up volcanic ash; meet primitive tribals whom time has forgotten; and where time stands still?
Visit the Andaman and the Nicobar islands.

These are actually two groups of islands in the Indian Ocean to the east of India separated by the 150 km wide and deep ten-degree channel which has kept the life forms and cultures of the two groups of islands distinct.
The two groups of islands together form the Indian Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Its capital is Port Blair.

These islands are actually the peaks of a vast submerged mountain range extending from Myanmar to Sumatra.
This cluster of 572 islands, of which only 38 are permanently inhabited, lies like a broken necklace over 800 kilometres of the Indian Ocean.
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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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The Holy Sagar Island

When I was a young student in Calcutta, I often heard about Gangasagar (also known as Sagar Island, Sagar Deep or simply Sagar).

There is a popular saying that you can visit all the places of pilgrimages again and again, but you can visit Gangasagar only once.

I fancied Gangasagar was a small mysterious place which would come out of the oceans every year on the annual ‘Makar Sankrati’ festivities held there on the 14th January.
(Don’t ask me how an island can come out of the oceans and later disappear – because no one could ever explain this to me).

I first visited Gangasagar in 1986, to watch the Hailey’s Comet zoom past in the pristine early morning sky there.
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The southern most
of Adi Shankaracharya’s
Four Dhams

Rameswaram is a small town on Pamban Island – an island in South India – separated from the Indian mainland by the Pamban Channel.

Rameswaram is the place used by Lord Rama to cross over to Sri Lanka (Ceylon).Rameswaram is one of the four Char Dhams established by Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century A.D.

A pilgrimage to Varanasi (Kashi) – famous pilgrimage in North India – is considered incomplete without a pilgrimage to Rameswaram.
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