Top 10 (Ten) Honeymoon Destinations of India

1.  Manali: Manali, "Land of the Gods” is the popular tourist destination located in the Northern state of India - Himachal Pradesh. Manali is a romantic and beautiful hill resort nested in the lap of the majestic Himalayas. It is a splendid destination for a honeymoon. Fruit orchards, splendid mountains, deodar and pine forests, caves and temples all around in Manali makes an excellent destination for a honeymoon.

Best time to visit: April to June and post-monsoon during the months of September-November.

   2.     Munnar: Munnar is a misty and lush green hill station situated on high ranges of the Western Ghats in “Gods Own Country” - Kerala. It is a refreshing place to visit at most times of year and is located in Idukki District of Kerala. Munnar has cool climate, calm atmosphere and is surrounded by the scenery hills and greenery, which attracts the honeymooners throughout the year.

Best time to visit: during the months of September-May.

3.     Shimla: Shimla is one of the most famous hill stations and popular honeymoon destinations of India, located in the state of Himachal Pradesh . Shimla has pleasant climate and picturesque green hills with snow peaks, which attracts the most of the honeymooners.

Best time to visit: during the months of September - December and April – June.

4.  Ooty: Ooty is one of the most popular honeymoon destinations in South India, located in Tamilnadu. It is also known as "Queen of the hills" and is surrounded by Beautiful hills, and Botanical Gardens. Ooty is the short-form used for Ootacamund, is nestled in the Nilgiri Hills or "Blue Mountains".

Best time to visit: during the months of April - June and September - November.

5.     Kodaikanal: Kodaikanal, which means “A Gift of the Forest”- located in the Palini Hills of the Western Ghats of Tamilnadu. Kodaikanal is referred as the princess of Hill stations. It is surrounded with deep green valleys, waterfalls, lakes and trekking trails, which makes it an ideal honeymoon destination.

Best time to visit: During April - June and September – October.

6.     Mysore: Mysore is an ideal honeymoon destination of India which provides a sense of serenity and peace among the beauty of its palaces, temples, gardens, lakes. It is situated in the state of Karnataka – India.

Best time to visit: during the months of March – June.

7.     Goa: Goa is one of the most popular and romantic honeymoon destinations of India, located in the state of Goa. Goa is renowned for its beautiful beaches, heritage buildings, greenery and churches/temples.

Best time to visit: during the months of September – May.

8.     Coorg: Coorg or Kodagu is one of the popular hill stations surrounded by beautiful landscapes in the majestic Western Ghats of Karnataka state. Coorg has many tall hills and is also concerned as" Scotland of India".

Best time to visit: during the months of April – November.

9.     Darjeeling: Darjeeling is another top most honeymoon destinations of India located in West Bengal.

Best time to visit: during the months of April – June.

10.    Lakshadweep Island: Is a beautiful destination with islands and romantic beaches.

Best time to visit: during the months of November and May.

Kumbh Mela 2013 | Accommodation | Important Dates

Kumbh Mela (India) is the greatest pilgrimage and biggest festival in the Hindu religion. This event is a combination of both religious and cultural spectacle which occurs once in 12 years. Attracting crores of participants from all over the world to take a dip in the holy waters of Ganga, Yamuna and the mystical Saraswati to vanish their sins.

Maha Kumbh Festival or Maha Kumbh Mela 2013 is speculated to be one of the biggest and largest congregations in the mankind history. As per records, around 70 million people attended last Maha Kumbh.

The Mela alternates between Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years. The one celebrated at the Holy Sangam(the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati) in Allahabad is the largest and holiest of them.

Kumbh 2013 will be for 55 days, but Kumbh 2001 was for 44 days. The following are the more auspicious days to have a dip in the Sangam, more than a crore people expected in these days.

Important Days of Kumbh Mela 2013

Makar Sankranti	14.1.2013
Paush Purnima	27.1.2013
Mauni Amawasya	10.2.2013
Vasant Panchami	15.2.2013
Maghi Purnima	25.2.2013
Maha Shivratri	10.3.2013

The credit goes that the demigods had lost their strength by the curse of Durväsä Muni, and to regain it, they approached Lord Shiva & Lord Brahma. They directed all the demigods to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Vishnu (full story on kumbh mela) and after praying to Lord Vishnu, he gave some instructions to them to churn the - Ksheera Sagara (primordial ocean of milk) to receive amrita (the nectar of immortality). This required them to make a temporary agreement with their arch enemies, the demons or Asuras, to work together with a promise of sharing the wealth equally thereafter.However, when the Kumbha (urn) containing the amrita appeared, a fight ensued. For twelve days and twelve nights (equivalent to twelve human years) the gods and demons fought in the sky for the pot of amrita. It is believed that during the battle, Lord Vishnu (incarnated as Mohini-Mürti) flew away with the Kumbha of elixir spilling drops of amrita at four places: Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik.

Accommodation at Kumbh:

Rahi llawart Tourist Bungalow35 M.G. Marg, Allahabadph.: 0532-2407440, 2408374 Fax : 0532-2408461E-mail : rahiilawart@up-tourism.comKumbh Fair tariff : (Effective from 01 January, 2013 to 10 March, 2013)

Rahi Triveni Darshan, 
Yamuna Bank Road , Keedganj
Ph.:0532-2558646
E-mail : rahitrivenialahabad@up-tourism.com 
Kumbh Fair tariff : (Effective from 01 January, 2013 to 10 March, 2013)

Sangam Tent Colony 
Triveni Road, Maha Kumbh Mela, Allahabad. 
Phone: 0532-2501227

Happy Hop Around India...

Travel Time

The Theory of Relativity couldn't have been explained better than this.

Get this.

You may think - a road is a road and distance is distance and that it takes the same time to cover the same distance - no matter which road you're on. But I'll have you reconsider your theory shortly. Let me show you how.

Let's look at some of the popular roads of India:
1. Bandra-Worli Sea Link Road - a bypass through the sea.
2. Khardong La Road - one of the highest motorable roads in the world.
3. Stilwell Road - once the most expensive road in the world.
4. Grand Trunk Road - one of the oldest roads in the world.
5. Magnetic Hill in Ladakh - one of the strangest roads in the world.
6. Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway - one of the easiest roads in the world.
7. Rohtang Tunnel Road - the longest tunnel-road in India at 10,200 feet elevation.

Geography. Landscape. Weather conditions. Speed limit. Magnetic forces. Unforeseen and uncontrollable forces.  And the driver's disposition towards driving. All contribute to the variation in driving speed and experience.

Now picture this....
1. Bandra-Worli Sea Link is an 8-lane cable-stayed bridge road which is 5.6 kms long and serves as a bypass to the Mahim Causeway, through the sea and is built to reduce travel time by 20 minutes between Bandra and Worli. Though the road may facilitate 60-km drive-speed, the traffic-congestion still brings the vehicles to a grinding halt for more than 15 minutes at both ends. It is one of the best roads in the world and still can't expect to reach on time.

2. Khardong La Road is perched atop a 17,600-feet high mountain in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir. Speed is secondary on this road - safety comes first. With all the perennial snow and ice mountains, finding a road beneath the sheets of snow is top priority.

3. Stilwell Road - also called the Ledo Road, was named after U.S. Army General Stilwell and was built during the World War II as an alternative to the Burma Road which was cut by the Japanese Army. In terms of construction costs, this road was once the highest in the world! It's the zigzag that will make you dizzy if you attempt speed on this road.

 





4. Grand Trunk Road - one of the oldest and longest roads in the world which connects Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This route was first initiated during the Mauryan Empire  and was renovated and extended during the 16th Century by Sher Shah Suri of the Muslim Sur Empire who took control of the Mughal Empire in 1540. Now this road would be ideal for high-speeds in most parts of its entire length.

 

 

5. Magnetic Hill in Ladakh - thousands of curious tourists visit this area to check this strange behaviour of this mountain/hill which is 27 kms west of Leh in Jammu & Kashmir. Tourists who visited this place at 11,000 feet altitude, have reported that this hilly area has magnetic properties which are strong enough to pull vehicles uphill. If this theory is fake, then why do aircrafts increase their altitude while flying over this area? As it is this hilly landscape is not speed-friendly and then this magnetic force which has a mind of its own?

 

 

 
6. Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway - they say you can drive on this road with your eyes closed. There is some reality to that - though should be attempted literally! This is almost a straight road that runs north to south without any deviations. During the day, you would barely see any traffic on the road. And the highway is 4-track road. You can easily cover this 570-km drive in 7.5 hours during the day in a car as opposed to the 12-hour drive in the night. Well.....I did!

7. Rohtang Tunnel Road - the current longest road tunnel of India which is at 10,200 feet altitude under the Rohtang Mountain Pass in the Pir-Panjal Range of the Himalayas on the Leh-Manali Highway. The tunnel is 8.8 kms in length and is supposed to reduce driving distance of 60 kms between Manali and Keylong.

 

By this theory, you ought to know better than to apply the same formula of distance, time and speed to all geographies alike!

Pix courtesy: Wikipedia, Placeforholidays, Tinsukia.gov.in, team-bhp, walkthroughindia.

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi is also popularly called as Vinayaka Chavithi or Vinayaka Chaturthi. This festival is celebrated on the birth day of Lord Ganesh, the first son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. Ganesh is revered as an avatar of both Shiva and Vishnu. Vinayaka Chavithi is celebrated in the month of September on Shukla Paksha Chaturthi in Bhadrapada masam (as per Hindu calendar). 

The festival is celebrated for 11 days. This festival is celebrated all over India especially in Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Banglore in  Karnataka, Chennai in Tamilnadu and Hyderabad and Vizag in Andhra Pradesh. On this day, Lord Shiva has declared that his son Vinayaka as superior to all the Gods. This festival celebrated with full enthusiasm and ardor.

There is an interesting story regarding the birth of Lord Ganesh as per the Indian Mythology. Goddess Parvathi (wife of Lord Shiva) created a small kid’s idol with sandalwood paste which she uses for her bath. She gave life to this small idol and made him to guard her door while she is taking her bath. Lord Shiva came to meet Goddess Parvathi, Ganesh who didn’t know Lord Siva didn’t allow him into the place. Shiva became angry upon Ganesh and cut off the head of child and he entered his house. After he came to know about the kid from Goddess Parvati  he fixed a elephant head in place of Ganesh head and gave him life. From this day Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated as birthday of Lord Ganesh.

On this holy day people bring Ganesh idols and pray to the idols of Lord Ganesh both in the main streets and in the houses. These idols are made from plaster of paris or with mud. People pray to these idols from 1 to 10 days. On the 11^th day of this festival, these Ganesh idols are submerged in to lakes, rivers or the sea. This 11^th day of the festival is called as Anant Chaturthi. In the procession on the way to submersion of the Idol’s people raise slogans and chant “Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pundhachya Vashi Larshi Laukar Ya” (Ganesha , come again early next year) in Maharashtra , Ganesh Maha Raj Ki, Jai ( Ganesha, victory is yours) in Andhra Pradesh etc....

On this day people decorate the idols with flowers, sandalwood powder, kumkum, grass, leaves, fruits of the season etc. Special sweets like laddoos and modakas which are favorite of the God’s are prepared and offered to God. God is worshipped with 21 blades of Druva Grass, 21 modakas, and red flowers. On this day no one should see the moon because the fable in the Indian mythology. On his birthday Lord Ganesh crammed his belly with modakas and was riding on his mouse. The mouse seeing a snake faltered and Lord Ganesh fell down and his belly which was crammed bursted out spilling all the modakas. Ganesha stuffed all the modakas back into his stomach and tied his belly with the snake. By seeing this the moon in the sky starting laughing heartily, which annoyed Ganesh and he cursed moon that anyone who looks moon will invite bad luck. Since then people refrain from looking at the moon on the festival.  Lord Siva revoked this curse on request from the God’s  and altered it, with whoever see the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi.

"Ganapati Bappa Morya, Pandhachya Vashi Larshi  Laukar Ya"

                             'Bolo Ganesh Maha Raj ke Jai'