This blog has moved..

After being in hiatus for a long time, I have re-emerged. Like a phoenix rises from its own ashes, a new blog has risen from the ashes of this one. And that blog belong to my dear wife. Yes, I have married and have started travelling again. Not as much as in the past tho.

So hop on over to Peacock Featherz – Lifestyle & Travel blog. I’m a “co-contributor” on it and will be writing articles regularly. This blog will be up for a while until I find a place to park my old posts and until whoever land here gets redirected to the new blog.

See you there!

In Hiatus!

As repeated visits may reveal, there have not been any posts to my blog. This is simply because I’m not travelling so often now 😦
But the urge to pack my bags ‘n leave is getting stronger with each passing day! So keep an eye out for interruption of this unintended hiatus.

See you on the other side!

Skip hotel housekeeping service for a $5 daily credit!

For every day you opt out of housekeeping at a Starwood hotel, you’ll get 500 bonus loyalty points or a $5 credit at the hotel restaurant.

A Wall Street Journal story reports that 8.5 percent of Starwood guests take advantage of the hotel company’s “Make a Green Choice” program, which gives rewards to guests who don’t need daily vacuuming, making the bed, and other typical housecleaning services. There’s an obvious environmental benefit when linens and towels aren’t cleaned every day.

Seems like a neat idea. But should the rewards be even more generous? The story mentions that the total cost of cleaning a room at a luxury hotel comes to about $22 a day. So a hotel obviously saves a lot of money when it doesn’t have to provide daily housekeeping.

Instead of a restaurant credit or bonus points, should you get a cash discount on the room rate for opting out of housecleaning services? You’re getting less, so shouldn’t you pay less?

Source: Budget Travel.

Chhota Kashmir

Chhota Kashmir is a park inside Aarey Milk colony, one of the few green patches left in the city. Famous for film shoots in the yesteryears, now it lies in a neglected state with garbage strewn across the entire park. There are few good spots though and I’ve managed to capture them. Waking up at 5.30 am on a Sunday was totally worth it!

2010 Travel Trends

2009 is going to end in a few days. Many changes in the way people travelled were prompted by the economic downturn. The trend shifted from the luxury and customized travel to budget travel or travelling on pennies. Business people preferred tele-conferencing to tele-commuting and regular vacationers chose places closer to home.
The ITB World Travel Trends Report predicted a generally gloomy outlook for travel and tourism in the short term—at least to the end of 2009.

So what’s going to be the picture like for the next year?

According to TripAdvisor, “Americans expect to travel more in 2010 than in 2009. Forty-one percent of U.S. respondents said they plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2010 than they did in 2009 and 92 percent of travelers are planning to take two or more leisure trips in 2010, up from 89 percent last year.”
Source

There’s more. Stacey Meyer, Senior market manager for Orbitz Worldwide says, “Travelers will find plenty of reasons for a Hawaii vacation in the year ahead. We’re already seeing spectacular offers for travel during the first half of the year. With newly renovated hotels right on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, aggressive discounts at 4-star hotels and very reasonable winter airfares, Hawaii looks to be even more affordable for travelers in 2010.”
Source

If Scene Advisor is to be believed, there is one trend which will spill over from 2009. They call it, ‘travelling on pennies’. They say, “Many hotels are dipping into ways to fill rooms, but others are building entire empires on it. Air Asia boss Tony Fernandes is first on the trend with a new Malaysian hotel that offers hotel rooms for 20 cents a night. As one of the newly-coined no-star hotels, Tune Hotel, located near Kuala Lumpur’s airport, offers $0.20 rooms as a part of a travel package. The no-frills rooms come with a basic bed, ceiling fan and a shower, and not much else. Anything beyond those basics – towels, a kettle and air-conditioning – are all additional charges. This type of hotel, similar to low-cost airlines, utilizes a self-service online booking system and the rates are kept low by offering limited service. Keep your eye on this travel trend, as there are plans to have 150 hotels around the world by 2012, with Australia and the UK already in their sights.”
Source

Will Americans travel more? Will travelers get fantastic travel deals? I think we’ll have to wait for 2010. But one thing’s for sure, I’ll keep travelling and providing you with frank, unbiased and personal reviews of every step in my journey.

Goodbye everyone and see you in 2010!

Myths, Legends and Folklore of the ‘Seven Sisters’ of North East India: Tripura

Tripura is named after a tribe “Tipra”, that inhabited the state. Tripura is actually a Sanskritized form of early Bodo name, Tipra by which the aborigines were known.

There are legends and more legends about Tripura, seemingly shrouded in a time wrap. Read on for an intriguing tale of love!

Once upon a time, in a village next to a prattling brook, lived a man named Champarai, his wife Khulumati and their son Nugurai. One day Khulumati found a young girl floating on the water. She summoned Nugurai who plunged into the waters and rescued the girl. Khulumati, took a strong liking for the girl who was called Nakhapili.

As time went by, young Nugurai found himself drawn to Nakhapili. Very soon, even Nakhapili became attracted to her saviour. Nugurai’s parents who were looking for a bride for their son, soon agreed to accept Nakhapili as their daughter-in-law.

On the wedding day, the whole village joined the celebration. As the priest conducted the rituals, Champarai’s cousin reached the venue. He was accompanied by his wife and daughter. This girl identified Nakhapili as her step-sister who was believed to have committed suicide by jumping into the river. When told that the bride was related to them, Khulumati and Champarai decided to call off the wedding.

Thereafter, Nugurai and Nakhapili left the house and settled in a neighbouring village. One day Khulumati and Champarai came to visit them. The father pleaded with his son to return while Khulumati’s wrath fell upon the girl. She heaped abuses on Nakhapili who soon broke down. She fell at Khulumati’s feet and wept, saying, “You are my mother… and since you want me to die, die I shall. Bless me that in my next birth I get your son as husband again”

With these words, Nakhapili ran out of the house and jumped from the edge of a ravine. Nugurai followed her. Strangely, Nakhapili moved upwards instead of falling into the ravine. Soon she was up in the sky covered with dark clouds. Nugurai, too, headed upwards. Then there was a thunder and the couple disappeared after that.

Even today when there are dark clouds in the sky and there is thunder, Tripuri villagers fondly remember Nugurai and Nakhapili.

Hope you enjoyed this seven part series as much as I’ve enjoyed compiling it!

Myths, Legends and Folklore of the ‘Seven Sisters’ of North East India: Nagaland

Nagaland is the home of Indo-Mongoloid hill-tribe known as Nagas. The term “Naga” covers many tribes. They are a warrior race, tall, robust, hardworking, brave, self-reliant, artistic, freedom-loving and possess an inborn instinct for color and intricate designs.

Why the moon is so far away from the earth…

Once upon a time when the earth was still young, the Aos say that the moon lived very close to the earth. It even used to be a playmate to the children. Very often it stayed within reach, near the eaves of the roofs and watched the people of the village go about various activities.

When the women husked paddy, the long poles used for this purpose would accidentally hit the moon and when it cried out in pain, the women would burst out laughing as though it was a big joke. Even the children, taking the cue from the women, began pelting the moon with pebbles, ash from the hearth and even cow dung. And when the moon cried out in pain and tried to cover its face, the children found it very amusing and this became their favourite pastime.

When such infliction went on for some time and appeared to become regular, the moon decided to leave the earth and go far away from it where it would be safe from such cruel treatment. That is why; the Aos claim, the moon is so far away from the earth. And they explain that the dark spots on its face are the marks of ashes and cow dung spattered on it by the cruel children of the earth.

This irrevocable distancing of the moon from the earth has become the subject of many a folk song. One particular song is in the form of an imaginary conversation between earth children and the moon where the children plead with the moon to come down to the earth and be friends again.

Source: Adapted from The Book The Ao-Naga Oral Tradition, By Temsula Ao

Come back tomorrow for more Myths & Legends from Tripura.

Myths, Legends and Folklore of the ‘Seven Sisters’ of North East India: Mizoram

Mizoram lies in the southernmost outpost of North Eastern India, the land of the Blue Mountains. Evergreen ranges of Mizoram hills boasts of blooming exotic flora and dense bamboo jungles. Gushing rivers and sparkling waterfalls criss-cross these hills and its plunging gorges. The Phawngpui or ‘The Blue Mountain’ is one of the highest peaks.

Do you know why Mizo houses are built on stilts?

Once upon a time, a heavenly creature swallowed the moon and the whole earth was plunged into darkness. Chaos reigned. Goddess Khuazingnu was worried about the future of creation. To protect them, she put a couple from each human clan and representatives of each species of animals into a pit and sealed it with a huge rock called the Chhinlung.

Some generations later, the goddess opened the mouth of the pit. Droves of humans emerged and she closed the Chhinlung for she reasoned there were enough people on earth. Among the people who emerged was a powerful man named Thlanrawkpa. He was named king and to celebrate he planned to host a feast, later to be known as the Thlanrawkpa Khuangchawi.

He, however, forgot to invite his father-in-law, Sabereka, who was furious and caused thunderstorms that washed away all the earth of the village, leaving behind only rock. The legendary rain is said to be why a traditional Mizo house is built on stilts, to avoid such calamities.

Source: Paper titled Myth & The Mizo World View, presented by Lalnunziri Chhangte at the International Seminar on History of Religions.

Come back tomorrow for more Myths & Legends from Nagaland.

Myths, Legends and Folklore of the ‘Seven Sisters’ of North East India: Meghalaya

Meghalaya, a Sanskrit word meaning “the abode of clouds”, is endowed with a rich variety of flora and fauna. Of about 17,000 species of orchids in the world, around 3000 varieties are found in Meghalaya. A botanical wonder, the pitcher plant, an insect eating plant is found in the district of Jaintia hills, West Khasi hills and South Garo hills of the state.

Today I present to you a heart-rendering and emotional story of a mother’s love for her child.

A young woman called Ka Likai lived with her husband and baby in the village of Langjiriteh. When her husband died, Ka Likai’s entire attention was on her child.

She found it really tough to earn enough and married again to take care of her child. Her new husband, though, was selfish and brutal. He was jealous of his step-daughter because his wife paid her more attention. When he found out that Ka Likai had married him so that it would be easier for her to take care of the child, he was determined to harm her. He refused to go out to work, but forced his wife to go everyday. When she was not at home he bullied and ill-treated the child.

One day Ka Likai had to go on a long journey. This gave the step-father an opportunity and he killed his step-daughter. When Ka Likai returned, she was surprised to find her husband in a better mood. She noticed the child’s absence and asked about her. But the husband answered that she was playing and dispelled the mother’s misgivings. She sat down to eat without any suspicion of evil doing.

After Ka Likai had her supper, she took out the betel-nut basket to prepare betel to chew after the meal, as was the custom of the land. It so happened that the murdered child had been left in this basket which the mother saw. She wildly demanded to know the meaning of this awful discovery, whereupon the husband confessed his crime.

The terrible and overwhelming revelation came as an immense shock to the mother. She was stunned with grief and disbelief. She rose from the seat, ran to the edge of the precipice and threw herself into the abyss. Her fall caused a waterfall famously known as the Nohkalikai Falls, or “The Leap of Ka Likai” in the local language. The moans of the Falls are said to be the echoes of Ka Likai’s never-ending anguished cries that one can hear even today…

Come back tomorrow for more Myths & Legends from Mizoram.

Myths, Legends and Folklore of the ‘Seven Sisters’ of North East India: Manipur

Manipur is the land of rich valleys surrounded by beautiful hills and lakes, a land of gentle people full of laughter and joy. Manipur means the ‘land of gems’. This north-eastern state was described as the land of gold or ‘Suvarnabhu’.

Many legends tell us the origin of Manipur. One of the legends is that Krishna requested Shiva to keep a watch while he danced the Ras with Radha and Gopis. Parvati on seeing Shiva protecting a particular spot was curious to see what Shiva was protecting. On her insistence, Shiva permitted her to see the Ras. She was so enamored by Krishna’s dance that she decided to perform the Ras with Shiva. Shiva searched for high and low for a beautiful and secluded place for dancing the Ras with Parvati. He saw Manipur surrounded by mountains and its beautiful valleys covered by a sheet of water. With his trident, he stuck the mountain ranges making a path for the water to flow out. The valley of Manipur emerged and Shiva and Parvati danced on it.

Come back tomorrow for more Myths & Legends from Meghalaya.