Author Archives: Varya

From the rural lands of Chettinad we flew to the major industrial and teeming city of Mumbai, formerly known by the British as Bombay.  Two opposite ways of life.  … Read more »

The community of the Chettiars community in Tamil Nadu South India is unique.   But not without some similarity elsewhere:   Think of the uber-wealthy of New York in the… Read more »

Traveling through the state of Tamil Nadu in Southern India is a visit to the past in the form of ancient Chola Empire temples while at the same time experiencing… Read more »

Combining the spices of South India with the more subtle tastes of Europe, Puducherry is unique in India for its French flavor.   It still has a good sized population… Read more »

Madras/Chennai, the same and different.  Since I first visited and lived in Madras many years ago It has actually changed less than other parts of India. The sidewalk shops and… Read more »

In our recent travels together, Bill remarked a number of times as we drove through city streets that it was impossible to capture in words the sense of life and… Read more »

Before I began considering a trip to NE India, I had not heard of Guwahati, whose suburb contains Dispur, the official capital city of the State of Assam.  Guwahati seemed… Read more »

The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve is best known for its one-horned white rhinoceros.   I personally think that although we are told there are 148 tigers now within… Read more »

I had earlier remarked that I thought the grey atmosphere around Kohima might not be fog but smoke.  I was proved wrong today when after our full morning of outings… Read more »