Payer Tolai Sorse

Introduction Legends are born when nature cloaks herself in the morning mist of secrecy like the Veils of Isis, where unannouced dangers lurks around every corner, where the crimson red evening sky kisses the blue azure waters of the sea, where small green hillocks poke their head above the placid azure blue waters, where underground rivers gushes through dark caves, where men make love in the day and yet fight for greed at night, where man's imagination hushes up his logical mind, where nature fascinates human even today as it had done hundreds of year before! Welcome to Bai tu long bay! The legend Many many many years ago, when the blue sea kissed the plain lands of Vietnam,lived the happy peace loving Vietnamese people, simple farmers who toiled hard on their land,drank paddy wine and made love. It was a simple yet fulfilling life. But peace alas is like the rainbow. Suddenly pirates from the north ( probably Chinese) attacked the land. The simple people who did not know ...

I had started writing this travelogue a few days before 370 was scrapped,maybe it was destiny ! I have not altered anything in the light of the recent developments,because the perspective would have changed. The problem of writing something which has occurred in the past is that you tend to forget the details,only the beautiful memories or the quirky ones are stored in the hard drive of the brain. So,before these memories are wiped out and replaced by new ones,I thought why not jot down a little bit about the first vacation that I had  planned in my life,a trip to Kashmir with my wife,just after marriage. The worst of times had just passed! Militancy was at it's lowest, tourists and pilgrims were thronging Kashmir in hordes. If you have ever been to Kashmir, you should know that Kashmir becomes a dulhan  in the autumn. But unfortunately our marriage was fixed in the cold winters of January,and so we decided to visit this place in February. In those days, marriage was a si...

 "There is no happiness for him who does not travel, Rohita! Thus we have heard. Living in the society of men, the best man becomes a sinner… therefore, wander!… The fortune of him who is sitting, sits; it rises when he rises; it sleeps when he sleeps; it moves when he moves. Therefore, wander" -Aitreyee Brahmana,Rigveda