As a kid growing up in India, I would hear about the Dandaka Aranya, Dwaraka, Gandharva, Tushara etc.

But where exactly on the map of India are they located ? How far are they from each other ?

Here is an awesome map that hopes to answer some of that :

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/EpicIndia.jpg

I had some fun going through some of the names - the ones that got me thinking :
- Andhraka (around Krishna basin)
- Telinga (around Godavari )

I belong to this area and those that do know about the socio-political border dispute going on in the State of Andhra Pradesh between the Telangana and Andhra regions. I did not know those names are derivations of names of ancient kingdoms.

Found this interesting piece of information on the Freakonomics blog:

Tomorrow’s date is 7/7/07. If you believe in lucky 7’s (the influence of which we’ve written about before), it’s a good day. During a recent trip to Las Vegas, one casino executive told me that never in the history of Vegas have the hotels been booked so far in advance as they are for tomorrow. I predict that the New York Times wedding page will be pretty full this Sunday — although, are the people who post their wedding announcements in the Times really the type to believe in luck?

What do you guys think? Do you think that numbers drive luck more than time, perseverance and preparation ? or Do you believe that miracles, after all, need to happen once in an unfrequent while to help believe ?

collage of pvr, originally uploaded by arch_rowdie.

Ok, last minute trips will not be perfect,
…but they can definitely thrilling ! and awesome! and all that jazz !

We started off on Saturday 04/14 early morning, literally dragging ourselves off the bed and into the 9 am flight after missing the early bird 7am one (How in the world did Uday think we were going to make that?).

I did not have high hopes for the city but boy was it beautiful ! I looked at several websites trying to plan activities for our 4 day trip before we got there but one got there.. it was pretty much …

good food, good beaches, good time, good weather …
and ..
o yea, bad pirates !

I will let the pictures speak for themselves but I highly recommend a trip to puerto vallarta to rekindle & revamp some of that lost/weary spirit in a relationship.

It was such a nice honeymoon get-away that if two 20-somethings walked around holding hand-in-hand, they will very likely bump into a curious local (or one of the dozen or so savvy timeshare salesman) asking them if they are “honeymooners”.

Needless to say, there is definitely some nice golf courses in the city to attract the “patchy adams” (this city hosted the 2005 world championship) and enough shopping buzz on the streets (downtown is a beautiful mix of restaurants, diamond & silver shops and some upcoming shopping joints) to welcome the “peachy madams”.

Also, the city boasts some 400 odd restaurants, mostly based on the hill slopes, offering some savory menus (mostly seafood)and splendid sunsets for the connoisseur in you to feast on.

The place boasts of the same weather as Hawaii besides the intimacy of a small town, filled with friendly people and good-looking latina singles, making a nice get-away for couples and singles alike !

So I say… pack your bags muchachos y muchachas!
(dont forget your spanish cheatsheets) Get ready for some amazing time in the BBB (beautiful banderas bay) !

collage, originally uploaded by arch_rowdie.

I know you know that we knowingly delayed posting this collage for a long long time now!

I wanted to write atleast a 72 posts detailing every day of my trip to India. It was a beautiful 72 day journey, well spent with family, making little trips to near by places and cities.

The more I went around, the more I realized that I missed a lot more!

It is so hard to look back now and as I was wondering how best to capture the emotional splash of the moment, I realized I had these pictures! Each worth countless words!

So, I chose to post the collage and let you guys comment while I get going with plans for my next quarter in college and another busy 3 months.

To those that I crossed paths with in this trip, it was nice meeting you all. To those that I missed, I will not apologize because I know we will find a chance to meet again in a more meaningful way !

Here is a wonderful video that I came across while browsing last weekend. The video is a careful compilation based on the temples of three of the greatest cities of ancient south India - Tanajavur, Vijayanagaram and Madurai.

Most of the video centered around the times of Raja raja Chola, one of the greatest Chola kings and one of the most ambitious emperors of all time. His plans of expansion, his instruments of war as well as his exploits and, most importantly, his temples and their grandeur are presented in extricate detail in this 50 minute video presentation.

Looking at this video, I know realize how difficult it would have been to plan and build some of these gigantic temples that match some of the world wide wonders in their style and size! Also, it is good to see references to Indian art and the way it was tied to the Indian temple system and how thousands of temple dancers, along with several poojaris, were employed by these gigantic temple systems.

There was an interesting reference to how the game of chess evolved out of “Chatranj”, and why the elephant had such ruthless powers in that game ! Besides, it was nice to see and hear about temples in South-east Asia, especially Cambodia, which were deeply influenced by Indian art and folklore during those times.

Definitely, a worthy watch!

One of the seven wonders of the world the Taj Mahal is often referred to as “the shrine of love.” Located in India, this spectacular palace was built by emperor of the Mughal dynasty Shah Jehan in honor of his wife Arjumand Banu aka Murmtaj Mahal. In 1607 the emperor met Arjumand Banus while strolling the street of a bazaar. The prince was only twenty and his bride only nineteen. They were married five years later. This union was not a popular one, for it was not usual for an emperor to marry for love rather to have a wife chosen for him. Over the course of almost nineteen years this romance stood the trial and tribulations of royal scrutiny and the fight for the throne. In their nineteen years together the couple would bear fourteen children.Unfortunately, Arumand died while giving birth in 1930. Broken hearted at the news of her death, emperor Shah Jehan ordered the most beautiful mausoleum imaginably be built in her honor. This beautiful tribute to his beloved took over twenty thousand craftsman, masons, sculptors and designers from Persia to complete.

We planned this trip a week ahead, was all excited ‘coz we never been to Las Vegas before. But things turned out in a different way. Yesterday (12th) we were looking for some good deals to stay in LV, the best Hotel/Casino.. we even decided which Hotel we gonna stay, but suddenly Uday said ” do you want to start on 13th? ” We never did anything important on 13th, so after exchanging some serious looks at each other, we decided to drop down and plan sometime next month.

Today morning, uday tells me that he would make reservation for the rental car.. my reaction was ” why book a car when we are not going to LV? ” to that he said “not to LV but we’ll go somewhere within the state” .. I agreed to it. Got ready by 12:00 p.m and made a call to Enterprise rent a car center.. to our surprise he said there are no cars available, called back again, but no luck. At this moment I made up my mind, we’d be spending this