Hagia Sophia Museum Istanbul

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Europe, Turkey

Hagia Sophia Museum Istanbul (32)

It was 1st of April what we have popularly known as April Fool’s Day but this day was not just any ordinary April fool’s day for me. This is the very day I got to see Hagia Sophia ticking it off from my bucket list. If I ever wanted to visit Turkey then it was for two reasons once would be to witness Friday prayers at the Blue Mosque and second would be to visit Hagia Sophia.

The moment the door of the airplane flung open, I felt the Istanbul air. It was windy and the cool breeze was hitting my face like a thousand needles. Honestly, I never expected Istanbul to be so cold in April. It was brief stopover thus I had to make most of it; I hurriedly rushed to clear immigration counter and looked out for the board with my name on it. I had booked my airport transfer shuttle to not lose even a minute trying to figure out my transport options.

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Daytrip to Chilka Lake from Puri

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Odisha, Travelogues

Daytrip Chilka Lake Puri (33)

For quite some time during my childhood, we used to live in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and that means regular train travel since air travel was simply out of the question. One of the highlights of the train travel was when the train traveled right next to Chilka Lake. We as a family did quite a few trips to Puri but somehow always skipped a trip to Chilka. Forever I wanted to see the Dolphins and of course the charm of a long boat ride.

Every time the train would pass Chilka Lake I would peep outside the window trying to get a good look at it. Since only a small portion of the lake can be visible from the moving train thus the beautiful scenery would just zoom past. I would wish that someday I would get the opportunity to see the lake for real.

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Daytrip to Raghurajpur Village

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Odisha, Travelogues

Daytrip to Raghurajpur Village (36)

The first vacation that a Bengali family usually takes would be either a trip to Puri or to Darjeeling. For my family, it started with a planned trip to Darjeeling in the mid-1980’s. All the bags were packed and I was super excited especially to see Tiger Hills which I thought was a hill full of tigers back then at an age eight nothing could be more exciting. We reach the station to board our train only to find out that all trains to the hills were canceled due to recent agitation by some political parties.

Not to disappoint us my father made an impromptu trip Puri as an alternative. I still have some faintest memories like the beach, the railway station where a couple was fighting (the wife not happy with the choice of train seat) and the sweet meat selling vendors. Not to forget the sumptuous lunch cooked by my mom which included chicken, mutton and of course tons of fish. Yes, back then most families cooked their own food while staying at one of the several holiday homes. This was also a trip where my grandmother was also with us which I believe was the only time she had accompanied us during a vacation.

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Baolis (Stepwell) Of Delhi

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Delhi, Travelogues

All the Baolis (Stepwell) Of Delhi

It took me three years to complete this project. Some may call me an eccentric but I really do not care for me it’s more important to have a complete story than to have a half cooked and half imagined blog. For the last three years, I have been on a quest to locate all the visible Baoli’s of Delhi. I did my initial research and could only find a mention of a couple of them from multiple sources. None had a total compilation of all the Baoli’s of Delhi. So it became my quest to have a comprehensive list along with all the necessary details and last but not the least their exact location on the map so that anyone can easily locate them on their smartphone maps.

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Sick of tourist hotspots? Try these five places

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Travelogues

Sick of tourist hotspot (4)

There is a reason that tourist hotspots are so popular; after all they are the places that are seen to be ‘must visit’ areas – whether that’s the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Empire State Building in New York or The Colosseum in Italy. However, sometimes the best places to explore are a little more off the beaten path. Sometimes it exciting to visit these places as they seem like secret untouched havens, and sometimes it’s just the fact that there aren’t any people around! If you’re sick of the same old tourist hotspots, try these five places instead.

 

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A Prison With A Biblical History

by Subhadip Mukherjee, posted in Europe, Italy

A Prison With A Biblical History (15)

I had to reach home early as promised to my wife and as the clock struck 6 I dashed out of the office rushed to the basement to get on my motorcycle for a quick ride back home. Guests had already arrived at the house and I had been warned to reach as soon as possible. As I exited the main gate I was frozen cold with the sight that was in front of me. A huge procession of people across Park Street some dancing to the tune of a makeshift DJ atop a truck while some just dragged on. I got off my motorcycle only to realize that the procession was starching beyond my visual range in both the directions.

What I failed to understand as to what the people were celebrating since there were neither any gods neither any political flags. Upon asking one of the participants I was told that they were celebrating Bhim Jayanti which was actually the birthday of Dr. B R Ambedkar. The section of the procession which was passing in front of me constituted people from the cobbler community. From them, Dr. Ambedkar was like a messiah thus all the festivities.

The concept of a community-specific celebration or a place of worship is not that a new concept and this I got to know during my trip to Rome. My daughter was very much tired after walking for quite some time and she requested to rest somewhere. I found this quite place behind Capitoline Museums overlooking Roman Forum. It seems not many people come to this side and tourists after visiting Capitoline Museums either go towards the Colosseum or enter Roman Forum directly.

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