Thursday, June 27, 2013

Shantaram - A Review

Just completed reading the book Shantaram and its worth reading. The book is written by Gregory David Roberts, he was an armed robber and a heroin addict. He escaped from an Australian prison to Bombay (Mumbai) and the book Shantatram is all about his extraordinary life of eight years in India. 

The book touches everything from thriller to love story to philosophies, yet it’s a slow paced and movie-like stories with facts. The author is known as ‘Lindsay’ or ‘Linbaba’ or ‘Lin’ in short by his friends and he is also known by the name ‘Shantaram’ in India given by an Indian women. 

He arrived in India with the fake passport in the name Lindsay Ford. Upon arrival he meets Prakabar, a local guide and he visits Prabakar’s village, where he lost all of his possessions to the robbers. Hence, he is forced to live in the slum with Prakabar to shelter from the Indian authorities. 

He led a life in Bombay slum consisting of around 25,ooo slum dwellers, where he opened a small health clinic and provided free medications to the slum dwellers upon fire breakdown in the slum and later dealt with the cholera outbreak. He became quite popular among the slums and the people there loved him so much and he even spoke Hindi and Marathi well. 

Later he also joined the Bombay mafia and dealt fake passports, and involved drugs and weapon trade; went to the war against the Mujahideens in Afghanistan and he too had a love story. He was also involved in the local mafia wars in Bombay. He had friends in the movie industry and he even acted in the Bollywood movies. He has also been to Indian prison in Bombay, where he was tortured physically and later released by the Bombay mafia don lord Abdul Khader Khan, under whom he was working.

The story ends with his plan to go to war in Sri Lanka, where the war has broke between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. The literature is so good that he describes each and every moments beautifully. It’s a book that once you start reading, you don’t feel like stopping.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Simply Bhutan ~ A Living Museum

'Simply Bhutan' is a living museum created in order to showcase the live Bhutanese traditions and cultures. It is located at the Youth Development Fund complex in Thimphu. It can really show you the unseen! It is the first of its kind in Bhutan. It aims at the preservation of Bhutanese culture and traditions and to create awareness among the Bhutanese youth and the tourists. Here are some of the photographs from 'Simply Bhutan', not so good pictures though.

Entrance


Some antique pieces on display

Buddha statue

Liked the innovative idea of Bamboo usage

Group of dancers, Ever ready to show some traditional moves

Picturesque surrounding

Friday, June 7, 2013

Pictorial Tour to Merak (Bhutan)

Yaks (perhaps some kind of Yak breeds) on the way to Merak. May - June 2013.

Buddha sculptured on the cliff

Guru Rinpochhe (Mahaguru Mei Ling)

Entrance into the wild Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary

A nomad woman weaving. Love their culture.

Pasture land for the Yaks and cattle, also for the goats and sheep :) Surrounding bushes comprises of Junipers, Rhododendrons and Abies species.

Merak clustered village

Merak in the dawn right after the rainfall

A view from Merak's highest peak Nakchungla. 3850 masl. A panoramic view.

Rhododendron scrub after crossing the tree line c. 3000m. Liked the background view.

Some unique flowers from Merak, Bhutan

Pleione praecox June 2013 Merak, Bhutan

Rhododendron keysii June 2013 Merak, Bhutan

Meconopsis sp. June 2013

Meconopsis sp.


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