Forts I Saw

 India has so many forts, and I have seen a few impressive ones, including Fort-palaces which were like cities once. One in France was Mont St. Michael, in Northern France-Brittany- along similar lines. The ones in the U.S. were unimpressive, and small.

Jaisalmer and Jodhpur are probably among the impressive ones I remember, along with Jaipur's Amber Fort. Golconda is also nice to visit.

Others would be Sinhagad near Pune, and one in Kolhapur that I forget the name of. Bekal Fort on the West Coast of India was good too. Have seen the Agra Fort and Delhi's Red Fort and Purana Qila (ruins, mostly) also.

I only saw Solapur's fort and Gingee Fort in Tamilnadu from a distance. While passing by on road trips.

I think Milind Gunaji has written a book about Maharashtra's Forts too. Should read it some day.

Memories of Memorable Occasions

A screensaver from the hotel we stayed at in Udaipur -above. 

Below- Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

A gathering of musical minds- a group I am part of-above

Below, a meetup at my niece Miskil's place, Mumbai, May 2023.

A scenic place on way to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.

Below, at an event organised by Prestige University, with Mr. Karthikeyan, IIML alum and entrepreneur.

Mt. St. Michael, France above, and at a Jigoku in Beppu, Japan, below.

Miners- coal mines, Kothagudem.

 This is a collection of many memorable occasions, visits, meets.. pictorial.

Countries I am Aware of

 I became aware of England due to the language that they left behind. Vilayat meant England. There were a few Anglo-Indian families too, when I was growing up. Not sure if there are too many left. But in college days, USA was definitely the dream destination for many. I applied for an M.S. too, but managed to go there later for a Ph.D.- not in engineering, but Management. During stopovers in Europe, visited Greece, Italy, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany (West at the time), and Holland. France more intimately, thanks to Anne, a friend from Brittany we met at Clemson. 

Many years later, I have met people from Sri Lanka (have a good friend Samudrika there), Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, S. Korea, New Zealand, Dubai, Sharjah, Australia, England, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China ( I have a couple of friends there), and so on. 

I am yet to visit Down Under (Covid stole my thunder), and a few countries like China, and South America and Africa. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I had friends from Iran, Nigeria and Portugal in my Ph.D. program, and also from Turkey, and a colleague from Venezuela at Greenwood where I taught.

That is not a bad score! Yes, I know there are around 190 countries, but I am just one person..

1987 Eurail Trip

 I first went around Europe with friends in 1987. Kind of DDLJ tour, by train, though Kajol was absent. There were 4 SRKs instead. We started at Frankfurt, and went around to Amsterdam, Belgium, parts of Germany, France, South of France, Pisa, Rome, Venice and passed through Luzerne and visited William Tell's hometown. The proof of travel..

Pics From the Past 3

 Part 3 of the pic-fest.

Diaper ad?

Halebid- Belur carvings.

Street shopping..

European Odesseys

I had two of these. Some pics-

 The Eiffel Tower, and the Eurail Pass that got us there-

 Tintin country. And fooling around at a sandy beach in Europe (below).

 Gondola=Venice and on a train.

 Marseilles- that Bond-ish feeling! Heidelberg, below.

 Rome, and Chateau D' If, above and below.

 Leaning at Pisa, and straightened at Mt. St. Michael, France.

 The Roman fountain, and postcards..

 Mostly Greek, with mythology as the central theme. picture perfect, below.