83rd All India and South Asia Rugby Tournament, CCFC Kolkata

83rd All India and South Asia Rugby Tournament

 

1st All India Women’s Rugby XVs Tournament

Calcutta Cricket & Football Club (CCFC), Kolkata

Christmas Day 1872, Calcutta witnessed a strange spectacle, the first official rugby match of the country was played on that day between England and a combined team of Scotland, Welsh and Ireland.

All India Women’s Rugby XVs Tournament 2016, CCFC, Kolkata

144 years later, on 21 September 2016, rugby in India reached another milestone and the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club (CCFC) witnessed the first ever official women’s XVs Rugby match in the country (there have been women’s Rugby 7s match before in the country).

India Gate, a memorial to known and unknown soldiers, New Delhi

India Gate, a memorial to known and unknown soldiers

Rajpath (Kingsway), New Delhi

This was Rajpath – once the Kingsway – one of the greatest ceremonial ways of the world. It was planned as an Imperial Champs Elysees – complete with India Gate, its own butter coloured Arc de Triomphe. But it was far wider, far greener, far more magnificent than anything comparable in Europe.

William Dalrymple, City of Djinns

India Gate, Rajpath (Kingsway), New Delhi

India Gate (originally called the All India War Memorial), the icon of Delhi, stands at the eastern end of Rajpath (formerly Kingsway). India Gate is a memorial to 80,000+ soldiers of the undivided Indian Army who died in the period 1914–21 in the First World War. It is also dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Of these 13,000+ names inscribed on the India Gate.

Hanseswari Temple and Ananta Basudev Temple, Bansberia, Hooghly

Hanseswari Temple and Ananta Basudev Temple

Bansberia, Hooghly

The history of Bansberia dates back to the days of Shah Jahan. In 1656, the Mughal emperor appointed Raghab Dattaroy of Patuli as the zamindar of an area that includes the present-day Bansberia. Legend has it that Raghab’s son Rameshwar cleared a bamboo grove to build a fort, inspiring the name Bansberia.

L: Ananta Basudev Temple & R: Hanseswari Temple, Bansberia, Hooghly

Bansberia was also one of the important villages of the Saptagram (a unit of seven villages), an important port town in medieval Bengal. Its importance in pre-Muslim Bengal was religious, owing to its location at the Tribeni or confluence of three rivers.

British War Memorial, Nathang, Sikkim Silk Route

British War Memorial

Nathang (Gnathang), Sikkim Silk Route

Also see: Familirazation (FAM) tour of the Birding Trail of East Sikkim

The Silk Road or Silk Route was an ancient network of trade routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the West and East from China to the Mediterranean Sea. [Source: Wikipedia]

British War Memorial, Nathang (Gnathang), Sikkim Silk Route, East Sikkim

The original silk route connected China with Mediterranean and past north of the Himalayas, but there were several other routes, which connected the Indian subcontinent with the main silk route. One such route passed through North Bengal and East Sikkim and entered Tibet via Nathu La or Jelep La.

Sikkim’s Silk Route during Monsoon

Amazing views of Mt. Kangchenjunga through the clouds

Also see: Familirazation (FAM) tour of the Birding Trail of East Sikkim

It was still dark and freezing cold and Mt. Kanchenjunga remained behind the clouds, but the white snow on the slopes of Mt Kabru and Mt. Kumbhakarana (or Janu) have turned golden with the rays of the rising sun.

Sunrise on Mt. Kabru and Mt. Kumbhakarna (Janu), Mt. Kanchenjunga is not visible, from Lungthung, Silk Route, East Sikkim

It was an early September morning and we watched the sunrise from the famed sunrise point of Lungthung, on Sikkim’s Silk Route. As I watched the the white massif turn golden, I was reminded of my previous visit to the Sikkim Silk Route.

Panoramic tour of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana

Compilation of Panoramic photos from Hyderabad, Rammappa, Ghanpur and Vizag – Araku

Also see: My collection of Panorama Compilation

Panoramic photography is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as wide format photography. Panorama photos are normally shot by stitching  series of photos with sightly overlapping fields to create a panoramic image.

This blog post contains panoramic photos from Hyderabad, Ramappa, Ghanpur and from the Vizag – Araku railway.

Hyderabad

An amazing mix of old and new

Hyderabad the capital of the newly formed state of Telangana and the de jury capital of Andhra Pradesh is an interesting mix of modernity and antiquity. A major contributor to the It industry, The history of Hyderabad dates back to the late 16th century.

The Charminar, built during the Qutb Shahi rule remains the icon of Hyderabad. Charminar, literally meaning four towers (Char = four, Minar = Tower), is synonymous  the Pearl City of Hyderabad. Standing on a traffic island in one of the the most congested part of the old city.

Panoramic View (with Mekka Masjid) from first floor of Charminar, Hyderabad

Today visitors are allowed up to the first floor of the Charminar, which provides a panoramic views of the old town, including the Mekka Masjid.

Darya Khan Group, Mandu, Madhya Pradesh (MP)

Darya Khan Group, Mandu, MP

Darya Khan’s Tomb Complex, Hati Mahal and Roja Ki Makbar

Also see: Familiarization (FAM) Tour of Madhya Pradesh (MP)

The Darya Khan Group of Monuments is a small group of scattered monuments and tombs located south of the Central Group and north of the Sagar Talao Group in the Citadel of Mandu.

Darya Khan’s Tomb Complex

The Darya Khan Group is located near the Malwa Resort of MPTDC (Tel: (07292) 263235, Email: mresortm@mptourism.com) and is best explored on foot in the early morning (see: map).