Orchha Report

 A trip to Orchha in Sept. 2024 brought us to this beautiful resort by the Betwa river called Bundelkhand Riverside Retreat, run by a member of the erstwhile royal family. The fort is a short walk or tuk tuk ride away. The pics speak for themselves-

Conquering Gwalior

 Forts are meant to be conquered, and this one changed hands many times, from Qutbuddin Aibak to the Mughals, British and Marathas. Gwalior, I am talking about. Now it houses many precious artefacts that give us a glimpse of that history. 

Gwalior Fort and Beyond

 I visited Gwalior Fort for the first time, among other things. Thanks to some work at the Prestige Institute there. Gwalior is a historic city, and a nice place to spend some time in. By road, also crossed Shivpuri, the hometown of Manuja Seth, a former student I met at NMIMS Bangalore. Also met one of my fb friends, Indira Sharma, who is a faculty member in the HR/OB area at Prestige. She and us (my colleagues Dr. Chandrashekhar and Dr. Sohni Roy) went around the city in some spare time we had. The Director, Dr. Nishant Joshi, took good care of us too.

Pics from the outings.

Tanhaji- Film Review

Competently made historical with a few liberties taken from the story we heard as kids. Which is OK, cinema is a different medium, and exact replica of history may not make for a good visual depiction.

I was somehow a bit disappointed by the depiction of Shivaji, though I understand the pic is not really about him. His character in the film comes across as indecisive and weak, or rather, too dependent on others to decide on important issues. Maybe it would have helped if one of the characters had listed his immense contributions in a short speech or interaction. Not sure why Tanhaji is spelt with an 'h' too- the correct way to spell it would be without an h, as Tanaji, according to me (and Wiki).

But these small  quibbles apart, it is good to see one of the significant Maratha warriors, a right hand of Shivaji, getting his due. A couple of famous dialogues in Marathi add to the zing, such as 'Gad aala pan Sinh gela' (we got the fort, but lost a Lion in the process)- by Shivaji, referring to the death of Tanaji in the process of capturing Kondhana. The fort (near Pune) is now renamed as Sinhagad or the Lion's fort in Tanaji's honour.

Jaisalmer in Pictures

Barring the victory tower from Chittaurgarh, the rest are from Jaisalmer area, the sand dunes being about 30 kilometres away from town, and the lake right in the town. The place I am posing in front of is called Vyas Chhatree.