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Nominations for Seven Natural Wonders

Please nominate some Indian treasures for new seven natural wonders . My nominations are Sundarbans and Himalayas.
One can very well ask why so, these are wonderful creatures but not that special to be listed in 7 wonders. My answer is why NOT. I have not seen such unique natural creation like these two in my lifetime, one is typical mangrove forest(largest in world) with wonder creature of nature - The Royal Bengal Tiger and another the best among mountains, highest pick of the World, lovely natural beauty with green valleys.
I have to find some pics of these trip and soon modify this post.

Victoria Memorial : Kolkata

I have passed though the nearby roads, but never seen the inner beauty; have been to the garden once, but never felt to enter the great architectural beauty of modern Kolkata, Victoria memorial. Built in 1921(Started in 1906), by W Emerson in the Indo-Saracenic style, this landmark is considered one of the remarkable monuments of today’s World.

It was made on the honor of British Queen Victoria, who was an Empress of India and a ruler par-excellence, a person close to the hearts of Indians. Unlike other governor generals she helped the natives, understood the grievances and concerns, and taken effective measures.

It looks quite like the Taj Mahal. The white marbles it is made up were came from the same quarries in Rajasthan that supplied the Taj, to the similar main dome, octagonal domed chattris, the high portals, the terrace, the domed corner towers, and the correspondence in the function – both were conceived as memorials to Expresses, Victoria Memorial is evidence of W Emerson’s great admiration of the Mughal masterpiece.

Finally last weekend I happened to witness the inner beauty of this majestic architecture. The paintings, galleries, and the Calcutta museum is something noteworthy, but nothing compare to the Mahal. I liked some of the painting of British painters, on Kolkata; some initial photographs of small townships of Kolkata, some of them are world class, but neglected like nothing, kept open in the hot and humid weather decades after decades.

In the main entrance the gigantic lions (one of them is in the picture below, which is edited in picasa and a part of my virtual series)and in the back the gate and the extremely well maintained greenish garden (which is considered the heavens for couples in Kolkata) are fascinating to watch, a beautiful experience. Specially the view from the balconies of the main building is really enchanting(picture above).

The entry fee Rs 10/- for Indian nationals, but 150/- for foreign nationals. I liked this concept, because Rs 150/- is less then 2GBP, 3Euro, 4USD, which is cheaper than entry fee of any castle or museum. But what I don’t like is the way it is documented and maintained. One foreign traveler was looking to some information in the board in the entrance, but was very unhappy with the outcome. It was some general guidelines to keep the premises clean, not to walk on the grass of the gardens etc. Its simply funny because every visitor expects some historical details in the entrance. What more surprising to me is photography is not allowed in the gallery (museum). May be it is because the flashes of cameras damage the paintings or because of the security reasons photography is prohibited here. We really don’t know how to promote tourism; don’t have the mentality to make something different. The concerns for this landmark has equally expressed in Ananda’s Blog, where he describe the mishandling of 'Angel of Victory' (as can be seen in the photo above, atop the dome). After fifty years of independence why there is no big architectures like this, why the initiative has not taken or we don’t have that projection. Because of we lack our vision; we prefer to work with our personal and self centric goals.

Feeling Homesickness

British church in Kharagpur

I have seen Europe quite a lot, starting from UK, Scandinavia, Central Europe and Greece of course. But I haven’t seen many places in India, which are not only worth visiting, but some of the bests in the world.
My home towns are Kharagpur and Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. I am going to India for a month and eagerly waiting to see my homeland. I live in Kolkata, but my place of birth is Kharagpur, 130 km away from Kolkata. My parents are still living there and I still feel absolute peace in this small town.
In the above picture, look at the natural surroundings of the British church in Kharagpur. There is no din and bustles of traffic, so not polluted like big metros. One section of Kharagpur is well maintained because of the planned Railway Colony. These establishment was done by the British and still holding its majesty. But the other part is quite congested.

Small Villages between Kharagpur & Kolkata

While I drive from Kharagpur to Kolkata, it gives me immense pleasure, not because of the smooth road, not for coming back to big metro, but mainly for enjoying the typical country nature of Bengal. The changing landscape, kaleidoscopic nature of soil, small villages, green meadows, and yellow crop fields captivate me. That’s the reason poet told “ Chaya sunibir santir neer, choto choto gram guli” , the English meaning is somewhat like..

“In the midst of wide stretched meadow
Small villages in the lash green shadow
Where blows the gentle mild breeze
We find there absolute peace.”

The veil of emotion is torn once I enter the majestic gigantic second Hoogly Bridge of Kolkata, which lies over the sacred river Ganga. This bridge is called Vidyasagar setu, named after the prophet of modern Bengal. The former old Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) is still popular for its unique architecture, but the new one is simply superb. These two bridges are the gateway of Kolkata, the crowded, congested metro city of Eastern India – which is often know as city of joy, for its charming lively nature, despite of having many poor and slams.

Vidyasagar setu - Kolkata

The reason being, I am writing this post is I am traveling to India next weekend and eagerly waiting to see my home towns after a long time. It will be quite hot and humid, the scorching heat may create some problem, but still I am happy to fly back for three weeks. Will not be able to post regularly during my visit to India, but obviously will drop some interesting photos from India after my visit to the great nation.

What Europeans think of India

Well, it’s almost two months here and in this month I have not been to many placed in Greece. Mainly work and life balance. While talking to some of my colleagues here, I tried to find out what they think about India and I was surprised to know some interesting points, especially Kama sutra. I had no idea that it could have been one of the major points that can come in one’s mind. If I have been asked to tell about India, I could have never told about this as it is quite common and trivial. But its not in deed and one can never know what people is going to like, what they are pondering or taking into consideration. Here is a small list; I have not given the names as some of my colleagues may not like it.

This concept came in my mind from one of my Bulgarian friend, who asked to guess me what he can think about India. I thought about the following ten points.

Huge population, Big Country
Ancient Civilization
IT and outsourcing
Religion and Secularism
Poverty and pollution
British Rule and Mahatma Gandhi
Himalayas, Thor Desert, River Ganges, Rain Forests, Wild life
Age old Temples and majestic sculptures
Kashmir and conflict with Pakistan
Cricket and Veda, Sanskrit language

But I was wrong. Totally wrong. We were in car with my Russian and Bulgarian Friend and both of them have told Kama sutra comes in their mind first while thinking about India. Then comes the Gandhi family and assassination of Rajeev Gandhi and Ancient Civilization. My Russian colleague told two different points. The river Ganges and burning dead bodies besides it, communicating through boat in the rivers and his wife thinks about the traditional dresses, Sharee and Bindis of Indian women.

After having this conversation, I though to discuss this topic with some other colleagues and here go the short version of it. I am not distinguishing persons by their nationality; rather it’s just for having a conception about what different people from different countries in Europe things about it.

Greek friend in Project: Colour of Textile, dresses, Elephant, Population, Religion
Greek friend in our team: Cow, Rail Network
Polish manager of project: IT, Kamasutra, Big population, Mahatma Gandhi and Kashmir – Conflicts with Pakistan, Cast and religion, poverty
One colleague told about Bollywood Movies and Gandhi family in addition

So there are some common things like domestic and wild animals. They think we all have lot of siblings and the tradition of having many children is still going in India. Sometime they ask about the security and whether of India, but its so big that I can not summarise in any particular topics. When they know that we have more than 50 languages in 29 States they feel lost. Sometime surprise to know that English is official language of India and Arrange Marriage still the major method of marriage in India.