This post captures my observations of Shimla on my second trip, in autumn (October). My first visit had been in spring (April). My reflections on the first trip appeared in Posts 1 and 2, set mostly on the Mall. They covered the bare minimums of a Shimla visit: the shops, the Ridge, Lower Bazaar, Lakkar Bazaar and Kali Bari. For those staying longer, I recommend the walk described in this post, from the western end of Mall Road (by the Vidhan Sabha entrance) to Viceregal Lodg

In this series, I explore the sights and scenes of Chicago’s Loop. Post 1 described my walk along Michigan Avenue; Post 2 covered State Street and Wabash Avenue; Post 3 followed Clark and Dearborn; and Post 4 was a walk down LaSalle. While the prior posts chronicled the Loop’s north-south streets, this installment turns to its east-west ones. I begin with Jackson Boulevard, walking from east to west. Jackson Boulevard Monadnock Building The Monadnock Building at 53 West Jacks

This three-part essay series records my impressions of Darjeeling during a week-long stay. My mornings were spent on long solitary walks, followed by afternoons on the hotel terrace, reading Kipling while waiting for a sighting of the elusive Kanchenjunga. In Part 1 I took a chukker around Observatory Hill and in Part 2, I walked from the Windamere Hotel, where I was staying, to the Town Hall. I conclude the series with a long, meandering walk from the Windamere to the Old Ce

This three-part essay series records my impressions of Darjeeling during a week-long stay. My mornings consisted of long solitary walks followed by afternoons on the hotel's terrace, reading Kipling while waiting for the elusive Kanchenjunga to reveal itself. In Part 1 I took a chukker around Observatory Hill on the Mall Road. In this post I walk from the Windamere Hotel, where I was putting up, to the Town Hall. The DHR Club at Windamere Before setting out for my walk, I st

This three-part essay series records my impressions of Darjeeling during a week-long stay there. I was in Kolkata at the time, and with May bringing its customary humidity, I took the short flight to Bagdogra and was driven up to the Windamere Hotel overlooking the Darjeeling Chowrasta. I arrived with no agenda beyond reading Kipling, whose works had captured my interest during an earlier trip to Shimla. At the heart of Darjeeling lies the Chowrasta, the town's historic publi

This is the second installment of a two-part essay drawn from my four-day stay on the Mall in Shimla. In Part 1, I described my walk along the pedestrianized tourist stretch of the Mall and the Ridge—the bare minimum expected of a “Mall” excursion. This post explores a few additional sites for those with more time to wander through the area. I use “Simla” when referring to the period when that was the accepted spelling. As mentioned in the previous post, the “Mall” actually u

This two-part essay draws on my four-day stay at the Mall in Shimla. Two books enriched my Shimla trip: Edward John Buck’s Simla, Past and Present (1925) and Raaja Bhasin’s Simla: The Summer Capital of India (2011). Facts cited in this essay are attributed to these works and other sources from which they are drawn. Mall Road stretches about three kilometers, from the Vidhan Sabha in the west to the Marina Hotel in the east. This essay is centered on the busy one-kilometer tou

I travelled from Kolkata to Shantiniketan and spent three days there. This essay recounts what I saw and experienced. Image: Viswa-Bharti Checking-in Shantiniketan is a neighbourhood in the city of Bolpur, in Birbhum district. The drive from Kolkata to Bolpur takes about four hours; the road is serviceable, but the journey is far from scenic: Image: Map of West Bengal Districts My first impression of Bolpur was not favorable. Like the countryside along the road from Kolkata,

In this series, I explore the sights and scenes of Chicago’s Loop. Post 1 traced the Loop’s borders and my walk along Michigan Avenue; Post 2 covered State Street and Wabash Avenue; Post 3 followed Clark and Dearborn. In this installment, I walk LaSalle Street—the last north–south artery in this sequence—before turning to the east–west streets in the next post. N-S Street 6: LaSalle Street City Hall and County Building At 121 North LaSalle stands City Hall—the seat of the ma

This essay explores the sights and sounds of Fontainhas—one of the thirty wards of Panjim, officially Panaji, the capital of Goa, where I spent four full days. It is hard to believe that the chain of forces that brought me to a small café in Fontainhas can be traced to historical events and personalities I know only from books. In 1498, Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and landed at Calicut in present-day Kerala, paving the way eventually for P

In this series of essays, I explore the sights and scenes of Chicago’s Loop. Post 1 outlined the Loop’s borders and my walk along Michigan Avenue, while Post 2 chronicled State Street and Wabash Avenue. In this installment, I head south on Clark and retrace my steps north on Dearborn. N-S Street 4: Clark Street Chicago Loop Synagogue My first stop on Clark was the Chicago Loop Synagogue at 16 South Clark: Most Indians, myself included, have a sketchy sense of who the Jews are

In this series of posts, I am exploring the sights and scenes of Chicago’s “Loop” neighborhood. In the previous post, I outlined the Loop’s borders and recorded my observations along Michigan Avenue. In this post, I continue the exploration on State Street, walking north to south, and then on Wabash in the opposite direction—making, quite appropriately, a loop. N-S Street 2: State Street Gene Siskel Film Center Getting off the Red Line on Lake Station, I walked south on State

This series builds on my earlier essays on Old Town, Gold Coast and River North with an exploration of Chicago's iconic neighborhood known colloquially as the Loop. The name "Loop" is rooted in two elements of Chicago's urban landscape. The first, is its grid layout. Like many North American cities, Chicago is arranged in a simple grid of north–south and east–west streets, making navigation easy even for the most directionally challenged. These two sets of streets meet at tra

In previous blogs, I explored the Old Town and Gold Coast neighborhoods of Chicago. In this post, I explore some landmarks of the...

In post 1 , post 2 and post 3 , I explored upper Landour, which occupies two-thirds of Landour. Now it was time to walk down to lower Landour. Lower Landour There are two ways to climb down to lower Landour from Chaar Dukaan. Somewhat unwisely, I chose the shorter route downhill and the longer one uphill. It is a steep walk to lower Landour: Stop 1: Ruskin Bond's House Regardless of whether you take the short-cut or the long-cut down to lower Landour, you would come across

This post continues from the previous post with the description of my journey around the Chukker (circuit or loop), a 3 kilometer motorable road that circles around the Landour cantonment area. I began my journey in the clockwise direction from Rokeby Manor, the hotel I was staying in and passed the Landour cemetery at the end of the previous post. Chukker Stop 7: Kellogg Church Soon after the cemetery, one comes across the Kellogg Memorial Church: This church forms the nod

Part 1 , explored the charms and history of Rokeby Manor, the hotel I was staying in. I was now ready to explore Landour, of which there are two parts: the cantonment area (where my hotel is) that is higher up and the lower level municipal town. The Chukker The Chukker (circuit or loop) is a 3 kilometer motorable road that circles around the Landour cantonment area, forming the number 8 and is also referred to as the infinity loop. Most sites of interest in the cantonment li

To escape the oppressive Delhi heat, I headed to Landour, a small town situated 1,000 feet above its more famous neighbor, Mussoorie: The Jolly Grant airport, located about 25 km from the city of Dehradun, is a short flight from Delhi. The airport surprised me with its relatively large size, aerobridges and sleek interiors: A taxi taken from the airport drove me through the beautiful Doon Valley: Despite the cab-driver's reckless driving, it took about 2.5 hours to reach my d

This series of blog posts are exploring the sights and scenes of Gold Coast, a luxurious neighborhood of Chicago. Post 1 and Post 2 ...

In this series of blog posts, I am exploring the sights and scenes of Gold Coast, a luxurious neighborhood of Chicago: The previous post...