Photo Tales

Pictales: Rum, Road and Running.

I got curious when they told me that this is the palace in which the Maharaja of Travancore had signed a document which proclaimed that Sunday would be a holiday for Government staff. The Summer palace in Peermade. Great! My guide asked me whether I wanted to stay there for a night. The only other soul would be an old caretaker whom I was supposed to appease with a bottle of rum to get the permission. When I thought about … Continue reading

Frozen in Amber: The Woods are Lovely…

…Dark and Deep. The news series, ‘Frozen in Amber’ is a journey through my travel pics. A picture. A memory. A ripple in my heart. You pay a fee at the forest office in any ecotourism spot in Kerala they will provide you a tribal guide. “You have already paid for the man. No tipping needed,” the officer at Chinnar forest division warned in whispers taking us out of the earshot of our guide. We nodded. The 3-hour trek inside … Continue reading

A journey like a dream

The writer explores more of Palakkad. He is on his way to Silent Valley, er..no… he takes a deviation on the way. I don’t exactly remember who suggested to me this route: Mannarkadu-Agali- Anakkati-Coimbatore route. But all the while I was driving, I was thanking him profusely. The roads were all bathed in thick white mist. I drove very slowly down through the unexplored villages and strange places which would be etched in mind for a very long time. It … Continue reading

The Many faces of Seetharkundu

The writer is split into two places at the same time – the one which unfurls before his eyes now, and the one he saw ten years back. This is Seetharkundu, 8 kms away from Nelliyampathy, 52 kms away from Pallakkad, where it is believed that Seetha Devi and Lord Rama spent a long time during Threta Yuga. No visit to Nelliyampathy is complete without this mountain top view from Seetharkundu. I was last here ten years before with my … Continue reading