Are you one of those Indians who haven't visited the Taj Mahal yet? Well, you are not alone. Most of us are caught up in the rat race that leaves us no time to even make that pending annual pilgrimage trip, leave alone travelling or exploring the country! But the Go-UNESCO challenge aims at changing just that.

The challenge is open to anyone who has the desire to travel and encourages people to visit the country's 28 UNESCO world heritage sites before the yearend. Now, that's a challenge indeed, more so for those have full-time jobs. However, careful planning of the itinerary and managing one's leaves can change that vouch participants from Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Trivandrum and Hyderabad who have already struck off some sites of their list.

Badami, Aihole may enter world heritage hall of fame

ByRaju S Vijapur; Deccan herald; April 14 2012

Badami and Aihole in Bagalkot district are all set to get the World Heritage Site status. If things go as planned, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) may declare Badami and Aihole, known as the cradle of Chalukyan architecure, as the new World Heritage Sites in the State.

The Dharwad Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has prepared a dossier, seeking extension of the World Heritage Site status, given to Pattadkal, to these towns too. The dossier will be submitted to the Director General of ASI, New Delhi, and later it will be forwarded to the UNESCO through the Union Culture Ministry.

“Pattadkal temple complex is one of the only two World Heritage Sites, the other being Hampi, in Karnataka. Considering the universal value and artistic splendour, UNESCO accorded the World Heritage Status to temples at Pattadkal way back in 1982.

Pattadakal, a Chalukyan legacy

By Aruna Chandaraju; Deccan Herald; April 10 2012

Travel: Aruna Chandaraju visits the World Heritage Site of Pattadakal, which, along with Badami and Aihole, makes for one of Karnataka’s best-known tourist triangles.

I was a fatiguing eight-hour journey from Bangalore on roads which were good, bad and indifferent, in gloom-inducing rainy weather, but the beauty of Pattadakal was worth the toil. Aihole and Badami were also near by to continue our exploration. Besides, the skies cleared up, so the rigours of the journey were forgotten in no time. We decided not to get too bothered by the importunate beggars and trinket-sellers we encountered.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pattadakal, which represents the high point of Chalukyan art, has a complex of several Shiva temples and a Jain sanctuary, all said to have been built around the eighth and ninth centuries. Situated near a small village close to the Malaprabha river, together with Aihole and Badami, it makes for one of Karnataka’s best-known tourist triangles. Since we were here to do the touristy thing, we started off with Pattadakal.

'We quit our jobs to tour our country in 3 months'

By Priyanka Dasgupta; The Times of India; march 25 2012

Aniketh MJ and Sulesh Kumar quit their banking jobs in Bangalore to go on a budget tour titled titled From Tigers to Tombs across 28 UNESCO enlisted heritage sites in India. We follow them on the heritage trail after their visit to the Konark Sun Temple.

When these two 24-year-old boys from Bangalore decided to quit their jobs as bankers to explore their own country, it was quite a surprising move. The reason was that they wanted to embark on a budget tour of all the 28 UNESCO enlisted heritage sites in India to create awareness among youngsters. Having completed their visit of the Konark temple in Odisha, Aniketh MJ and Sulesh Kumar are now in Kolkata and waiting to visit the Sunderbans on Friday.

Aniketh, who has taken a sabbatical from his job in a multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm, is a wild life enthusiast. He had travelled to various places in Europe, North America, Africa and South-east Asia before he realized that he hadn't explored his own country. Sulesh, in contrast, spent his childhood in West Asia. He felt almost like an alien when he returned to India for his undergraduate studies. Though he did study a lot about India, he could not feel an emotional connect with his homeland once he was back. Sulesh, like Aniketh, quit his job as a banker to concentrate on preparing for civil services exams.

Philately lovers' date with Unesco sites

The Hindu; March 12 2012

Narendra Nayak, a philatelist from Udupi, displayed a collection of 300 stamps on the subject of world heritage sites at the monthly meeting of the Dakshina Kannada Numismatic and Philately Association (DKPNA) held in the city on Sunday. The stamps were about places in India which had been recognised as heritage sites by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) sites.

The stamps included one from Sri Lanka with an error. It was withdrawn after it was issued. The stamp has a map of Sri Lanka and India highlighting places of importance to Buddhism. It mentions Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, and Lumbini as being in India. While the first three named are in India, Lumbini is in Nepal and not India.

The other stamps in the collection included the Jantar Mantar of Jaipur, Kaziranga National Park, Fatehpur Sikri of Agra, Humayun's Tomb, Red Fort, Pattadakal, and the Rampur Raza Library in Uttar Pradesh. Although Mr. Nayak had been collecting stamps since childhood, the set of stamps based on the Unesco theme had been collected over the past one year. Narrating the incident that spurred him into collecting such stamps, he said he was walking on Malpe beach when a Dutch couple asked him where they could see Unesco sites in India.

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