The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

From the cannons at Jaigarh Fort, the lattice-shaped windows at Hawa Mahal and the ‘wishing well’ at Jantar Mantar, Melanie P Kumar explores the rosy hues of the city of victory — Jaipur.

While the hopping flight from Bangalore to Jaipur via Ahmedabad is tedious, stepping into the arrival lounge of Jaipur airport is a pleasant surprise. The place is clean, and after having encountered milling crowds at the Bangalore International Airport that morning, it is such a pleasure to walk peacefully with elbow room.

Locating a pre-paid cab is not difficult and the quoted fare is again a surprise, and a relief, compared to the bomb that I had paid to get from my residence to the Bangalore Airport. The cab is a spacious Innova and the three of us travellers sink into its comfortable seats, as we take in our first glimpses of the Pink City. All buildings appear to have the look of palaces, as even the new star hotels seem to prefer the palatial touch.

Unleash the gypsy in you

By Abhishek Raje; TNN; April 19 2012

A challenge pushes you to visit the 28 UNESCO world heritage sites in India in one year

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.

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 It was withdrawn after it was issued.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.

State Luxury Trains Among World's Best

By Rajendra Aklekar; Daily News & Analysis; January 7 2012

Mumbai’s Deccan Odyssey and the Maharaja’s Express have found themselves among world’s best 25 trains in a list compiled by a US-based global rail travel society for being some of the “most luxurious” with courteous staff and best cuisine.

“India has some of the best trains; the list has quite a few from the sub-continent,” Eleanor Flagler Hardy, president of the Society of International Railway Travelers said.

A joint venture of MTDC and Indian Railways, Deccan Odyssey was launched in 2009. It traverses Mumbai, Sindhudurg, Goa, Vasco, Kolhapur, Aurangabad and Nashik. It has been short-listed for its chartered trips covering some iconic landmarks, including Unesco world heritage sites — Taj Mahal, Agra fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Jantar Mantar observatory, Ajanta & Ellora Caves, and CST.

Aug 01 2012 - Jaipur Jantar Mantar gets Unesco World Heritage tag; Abha Sharma; Deccan Herald