RoustAbout

Orcha is a small village 18 kilometers from Jhansi but during the time of the Mughals it  was the capital  of Bundela kings of the region.  It was much later that that Laxmibai and Jhansi became famous during the first war of Indian Independence. Orcha is a small village – divided into two by the main road. On one side is the more bustling part which includes the famous Raja Ram temple while the more stately palaces are on the other side. The river Betwa flows quietly past the palaces and forms the other axis. Passing through the rustic scenary of 21 st   century Bundelkhand the sudden sight of these grand 17 th century palaces are truly astounding . The temple of Raja Ram means more to the local pilgrims and many sadhus add colour to this small place. The palace complex is remarkable with two huge palaces – the Raj Mahal and the Jehangir mahal. Today they are mute, but three hundred years ago the lives of the residents of these palaces were intimately intert...

Mother Teresa's memorial The immigration officer at Aleksander the Great Airport studied my Macedonian visa and consulted a page on his desk and shook his head. He consulted his colleague in the immigration officers ‘cage’ next to him, but she didn’t have the answer he wanted and he went to consult the Immigration Police booth behind him. An officer dressed smartly in blue uniform came up to me, asked me to sit on a bench and disappeared into his cubby hole with my passport. While the line of passengers at the immigration desk grew rapidly shorter I wondered whether I was being denied entry as an Indian in the land of Alexander, for bringing an end to Alexander’s world conquering campaigns two and a half thousand years ago! Soon the officer came back and asked the immigration officer to stamp my passport – my paperwork was in order and I was free to get into the land of Phillip and his more illustrious son. The Old Stone Bridge Macedonia is a small country of a little over 2 ...

Flame of the Forest Patnagarh was once a princely state, but is now a small town in the district of Bolangir in Western Orissa. Even though there have been three ministers from the erstwhile royal family in recent times, the region clearly hasn’t benefited too much from their interventions in the state government. The forty kilometer drive from Bolangir (where we were staying) to Patnagarh was resplendent with ‘palash’ trees in full bloom. Even though I was familiar with the flower, prinicipally through its reference and use during ‘basanto utsav’ in Shantiniketan, it was only here that I realized why it is referred to in English as the ‘flame of the forest’.  Women Carrying Mehula flowers Bolangir is one of the poorest districts in Orissa, part of the infamous KBK districts, where hunger deaths, distress sale of children were reported during Rajiv Gandhi’s time as prime minister of India. Since then many hundreds of crores must have been provided as development assistance t...