The young Ganges and distant Gangotri glacier We all need to return to the source sometimes. It’s where you can reconnect with those deeper aspects of yourself that life and navigating it can disconnect you from. What better way of doing this than a real source of transcendent significance, in this case of the sacred […]
The Ganges at Gangotri In my final post of this travel blog ‘Works Still to Do’, I was preparing myself to return to the UK to resume university project work, the work I had been engaged upon for much of the latter period of my life until leaving to commence my Pilgrimage in November 2019. […]
“Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat, only thou and I and never a soul in the world would know of this our pilgrimage to no country and to no end. In that shoreless ocean, at thy silently listening smile my songs would swell in melodies, free as […]
Before the Road to Salvation, there was always a road to somewhere for me, as journeying has pretty much always been my life’s imperative, perhaps as in the words of the song ‘I’m a roadrunner baby’. That said, much of this travel was consequent on the work I did across most of my life, which […]
The Cochin saree that accompanied me on all my Pilgrimage temple pujas throughout 2020 I arrived into Delhi on 19th November 2019 and spent a few days there adjusting to the immense change in my circumstances. The last time I had been in the country was back in March of that year, and that […]
Trimbakeshwar Mandir temple and Laxman Jhula bridge It’s time to leave Rishikesh. For these last few weeks I have realised that the work I came here to do, in whatever capacity, is done. I have documented life here since my arrival at the beginning of April, and my sorrow at the inevitable progression of the […]
Maha Ganga, Mukhba Temple Sahdev Rana, my trusty driver and guide (1) and I left early Friday morning to drive to Gangotri, source of the Ganges and one of the famous Chota Char Dham Pilgrimage destinations sacred to Hindus. We had been here before, back in October 2020 when the restrictions imposed at the pandemic […]
It’s 1st May today and this marks my fourth week anniversary of arriving here from Sri Lanka. May Day traditionally marks the first day of summer and throughout the UK Morris and maypole dancers will be celebrating with the time honoured pagan festivals. In York where I have lived for many years, there are always […]
During the long period of the Indian lockdown across the summer of 2020, my home became an attractive hotel on the edge of town along the Badrinath Road, called Hotel Sixties Greenhills. Here I might be found many a day sitting in the garden restaurant, reading or contemplating the issues of the day. And thence […]
The Ganges at Rishikesh Rishikesh lies in the valley of a gorge of the still young River Ganges in the first low foothills of the Himalayas in the northern state of Uttarakhand. It has an ancient pedigree as a sacred pilgrimage location, home to many temples, particularly those dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is described […]