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Day trips to Kashmir’s border towns, Gurez and Keran

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Kashmir was once known for its spirituality — and not for Pakistani militants and infiltrators as in the 90s. It was fertile ground for spiritual movements, be it the Buddhist, Shaivite and Sufi Islamic traditions, during the medieval ages. They knitted the secular culture called Kashmiriyat that preached brotherhood and peace, and which was lost after Partition. So, when the army in northern Kashmir opened a few border towns close to the Line of Control to tourists last year, I made plans to visit. Before these hidden gems are invaded by the curious. From among the many — Machil and Tangdhar, to Teetwal, Tulail, Uri and more — I picked Keran and Gurez: north-west and north-east respectively from Baramulla, the big city near the border with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Gurez   (116 kms from Baramulla) The trip to Gurez is through mountains fragrant with pine. Some of the trees have strangely curved trunks, pointing to their tenacity to cling to the steep and treacherous sides of the gold
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In Grief For Yellowknife (Canada)

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Look what climate change has done! Just a few years ago, The artiste's village of Choglamsar was destroyed in the massive mudslide in Ladakh and now massive fires are threatening the North West Territories in Canada, Yellow Knife, which has been evacuated, Fort Smith, Hay River the Katlodeeche First Nation, Enterprise & Jean Marie River...all have seen residents displaced because of out of control fires. And there are no refugee centres established yet. The fleeing residents are supposed to fall on their own resources, however little they may be, to be able to make the journey to towns like Alberta. But what of their lives there?  I remember visiting these communities on our way to Yellow Knife...we were chasing the Northern Lights and the picturesque little towns on the way made the trip all the more worthwhile. We travelled through Enterprise, Hay River, Edzo, Behchoko, Fort Mackenzie river, the Great Slave Lake, stopping to photograph moose  crossing the highway. I am wonder
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DOPPLEGANGER LIVES

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How does it feel to be someone else? To submerge your identity in another person’s? Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt’s body doubles talk about what it means to be them on and off the camera.   Movies are a form of deceit. What you see on the screen is often concocted to look real. Those big buildings on the screen, could be miniatures, blown up through special effects to look larger than life. Or an actor walking through amazing backdrops, could merely be someone walking across or standing in front of a blue or green screen known as a   chroma, and the backdrop is inserted during editing. In keeping with the deception, that actor performing amazing stunts is usually not the star but his or her body double, but you’re fooled into thinking otherwise. Sometimes the star has clashing dates and the double may be called in to do a scene, with the camera at a safe distance so that the actual identity is not revealed. Occasionally, you do have a close up and still cannot make out the differen
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Down the Brahmaputra

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A cruise on the river reveals its beauty and that of  the State that hosts it “In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.” ... And nowhere is this better expressed than in Assam, with the mighty Brahmaputra as chief narrator. Assam has embraced migrants over centuries, who brought different ethnicities, religion and culture to its fertile shores. Cruises are rare in India. That itself is exciting, so I decide to do one right here rather than book myself into an international one.  I choose a medium- sized ship called the M.V. Mahabaahu , operated by Adventure Resorts & Cruises. I select the downstream cruise that would take us from Jorhat to Guwahati on the river, while enjoying all the on-shore excursions offered by them.   Arriving at Jorhat airport, my cousin Pam and I are picked up and taken to Neamati Ghat, where the big boat is berthed. The M.V. Mahabaahuis is  outfitted like a three- storied bo
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