Yoga Festival in Goa

Goa, in December , is about all-night partying, love music bands, and unlimited food and drinks. But this year, try something different, says Times Life, a Times of India Sunday Supplement. Instead of hitting the usual party scene, detoxify and rejuvenate your mind and senses by attending India's first and biggest toga festival, Zambhala. This two-day event (December 21-22) promises to bring together 70 of the best yoga experts, spiritual teachers, practitioners and healers from all over the world. Apart from yoga sessions, the festival also promises to have activities like Sufi whirling. Shamanism and workshops on different meditation techniques, crystal healing, chanting, past-life regression and star-gazing.

Gulmarg, Kashmir Valley

Gulmarg, the closest to Srinagar, is a cup-shaped meadow of rolling grassy slopes. There are heritage hotels and alpine huts, cozy places of retreat. Temperatures plummet in Gulmarg even in summer evenings. The gondola cable car is a tourist attraction in its own right, but it really comes into its true elements in winter, when the slopes are blanketed with snow and Gulmarg turns into one one vast skiing resort. Skiers form the bulk of visitors to Gulmarg in winter, From Kongdori, at an elevation of 1300 feet higher than Gulmarg, limitless ski runs are possible, weaving between fir trees, to 3 km below.Gulmag holds plenty of thrills for the absolute beginner. Ski runs of 400-500 meters are connected to Poma ype ski lifts. The skiing season starts when there is sufficient snow, usually around the middle of December. Gulmarg comes into own in the four months of winter - mid December to mid April. During this time, Gulmarg experiences at least 2 feet of snow, usually more.

Gulmarg is 53 km from Srinagar along the Baramulla Highway. One of the most beautiful resort towns in the Kashmir Valley, Gulmarg is surrounded by thick ir and deodar forests on three sides, and the peaks of the Affarwat tower above Gulmarg. The most pleasant aspect is that from virtually any point in Gulmarg, you can see the rest of it. During summer, you can take a walk or a ride on horseback around Gulmarg, acros the grassy meadows and the road that runs around the resort for 7 km. 

From May to September, the temperature during the day in Gulmarg seldom exceeds 25 degrees Celsius. At night, light woolens are usually required. October and November are cold during the day - moderate to heavy woolens are necessary. During December to April, temperatures, especially during the night, are well below freezing. Heavy woolens are a must. Walking shoes are necessary throughout the year.  

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

The construction of Taj Mahal, a marble masterpiece, is credited to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who erected this mausoleum in memory of his beloved wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in AH 1040 (AD 1631). Her last wish to her husband was "to build a tomb in her memory such as the world had never seen before". Thus emperor Shah Jahan set about building this fairytale like marvel. The construction of Taj Mahal was started in AD 1631 and completed at the end of 1648 AD. For seventeen years, twenty thousand workmen are said to be employed on it daily, for their accommodation a small town, named after the deceased empress-'Mumtazabad, now known as Taj Ganj, was built adjacent to it. Amanat Khan Shirazi was the calligrapher of Taj Mahal, his name occurs at the end of an inscription on one of the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghyasuddin had designed the verses on the tombstone, while Ismail Khan Afridi of Turkey was the dome maker. Muhammad Hanif was the superintendent of Masons. The designer of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. The central dome is 187 feet high at the centre. Red sandstone was brought from Fatehpur Sikri, Jasper from Punjab, Jade and Crystal from China, Turquoise from Tibet, Lapis Lazuli and Sapphire from Sri Lanka, Coal and Cornelian from Arabia and diamonds from Panna. In all 28 kind of rare, semi precious and precious stones were used for inlay work in the Taj Mahal. The chief building material, the white marble was brought from the quarries of Makrana, in distt. Nagaur, Rajasthan.

For photos of Taj Mahal, click here

Pushkar Camel Fair, Rajasthan

Pushkar Camel Fair will be held from 9th to 17th November 2013. Groups of camels, herders and traders begin to appear from out of the desert and set up camp in the dunes around Pushkar. On the dunes, the gathering of camels will reach maximum size by the 9th. There will be lively discussions as groups of vendors and purchasers meet around their animals and negotiators help to arrange deals. The best prices are achieved in a year when the monsoon has been good. This is the best time for photography and the time when you may move around and observe the scene most freely. The fair is traditionally a great meeting place where even marriages may be arranged. Aside from the camel fair, the Pushkar Fair would mean the town, temples and bazaars will become more crowded. The colourful fairground attracts huge crowds with stalls, street vendors, sideshows and giant wheels. The whole event wears a great festive spirit.

Hotels in Jaipur

Jaipur is a very popular tourist destination with the domestic and the overseas tourists alike. No wonder, then, that there are hotels and hotels in Jaipur to suit every segment of tourists. You have high-end five-star hotels and heritage hotels to affordable and budget hotels. Jaipur Marriott, ITC Rajputana, Taj Rambagh Palace, The Oberoi Rajvilas, The Raj Palace Grand Heritage Hotel, Fort Chandragupt, Jai Mahal Palace, The Lalit Jaipur are all luxury hotels. Some other prominent hotels in Jaipur are: Rani Mahal, Umaid Bhawan Heritage House, Samode Haveli, Jas Vilas, Royal Heritage Haveli. 

Jaipur, the Pink City

Jaipur is designed in accordance with Shilpa Shastra, an ancient treatise on architecture. Jaipur follows a grid system and its largely pink palaces and monuments have earned it the sobriquet of 'Pink City'. Today, the city has spread beyond the walls of the old city and continues to grow. It is set for an exponential growth, with the Mumbai-Delhi industrial and freight corridor running along the outskirts of the city planned for a huge expansion. However, a government decree ensures that the walled city maintains its pink look. Beautiful gardens and parks and attractive monuments, once the haunts of the royalty, are still to be found everywhere. Traditional craft like jewelry, metal work, enameling, tie and dye, pottery, leather work, stone carving, and miniature painting, patronized by the rulers in the 18th century, continues to thrive to this day. The city is today a unique synthesis of the traditional and modern. Besides being the capital of the State of Rajasthan, Jaipur is also a bustling trading center. The new city has spacious roads dotted with upmarket luxury showrooms and the old city abounds with congested streets, bazaars and artisan's quarters. Providing a stunning backdrop to the city are the ancient forts and palaces which create a dramatic picture of a bygone era. 

Jaipur has the ancient downtown areas of the Badi and Choti Chowpar, and the Johari Bazaar, that were the mainstay of local jewelers, who account for a large part of Jaipur's economy. These markets retain the old-city feel with their crowded streets, narrow bylanes and crimson buildings from the time when the town was literally painted pink. Today, of course, there are a lot of new areas that have come up conforming to contemporary tastes of living with their modern architecture. 

The choicest place for shopping with locals and tourists alike is the Hawa Mahal market neighboring the two Chowpars for block printed fabrics, accessories, silver ware, puppets and other traditional souvenirs. Eating and outing is as much a custom with the Jaipurias as with their other north Indian counterparts.

Jaipur has an international airport that is just 7 km from the city. It is 260 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. Jaipur is also well connected by rail and road. There are trains from Delhi and other parts of the country. The Shatabdi Express from Delhi (under 5 hours) is an excellent rail option. Other rail connections to Jaipur are from Bikaner, Jodhpur, Udaipur, hmedabad, Secunderabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai. There are regular bus services from Delhi and other north Indian cities including those in Rajasthan.

Places to see:

Hawa Mahal:

A multi-storey imposing red wall of over 140 latticed windows and balconies was built in 1799 by the poet-king Sawai Pratap Singh to enable the queens to view the city processions and revelries in privacy from this airy viewing gallery.

City Palace & Sawai Madho Singh II Museum:

Covering about one-seventh of the old city, this exemplary blend of Rajput and Mughal architecture houses the seven-storey Chandra Mahal (Moon Palace). The complex has a museum which displays jewelry, costumes, arms, chariots, howdahs, palanquins, shawls, carpets, rare manuscripts, miniature paintings and several other items from the royal collection. A very special exhibit worth seeing is the stately outfit of Sawai Madho Singh I, who was 2 meters tall, 1.2 meters wide, and weighed 250 kg.

Jantar Mantar:

This is the largest of the five observatories built  y Jai Singh II in norther India in the 18th century.

Amer Fort Complex:

The original capital of Jaipur State, then called Amer. The famous Sheesh Mahal or the scintillating 'Mansion of Mirrors', Sukh Niwas or 'Palace of Pleasure', frescoed facades of Ganesh Pol, the 'Auspicious Entrance', carved marble columns and arcaded corridors of the halls of public and private audience. These were the stuff that the royal dreams were made of and inspired generations of Mughal emperors to send their artisans to imitate.

For photos of Jaipur, click here