Archive for the ‘travel India’ Category
best picture – Slumdog Millionaire
Of all movie recommendations for 2008, the first I downloaded was Slumdog Millionaire.
From Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting …, comes the story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.
Actually, I don’t think the trailer does the film justice.
The movie does remind me of Trainspotting, Boyle using “edgy, upfront” music.
The cinematography is mostly fantastic capturing the chaos, horror, laughter and vibrancy of modern Bombay effectively. In many ways it reminds me of my favourite book, Shantaram. (The film adaptation starring Johnny Depp has been delayed, by the way.)
Bottom line, you should rent Slumdog Millionaire.
It’s an entertaining and heartwarming love story on one level. And a complex film aficionado’s triumph on another.
book – Scream And Run Naked
The perfect book for Rick McCharles?
An author friend strongly recommended Scream And Run Naked – Lessons from a Neurotic’s Journey to Nepal by Alison Arnold.
It’s on the top of my “to read” list.
photos – Jain festival, India
BBC is my favourite photo site.
Check their excellent 3-minute audio slideshow of an Indian religious festival held only every 12 years. The world’s tallest monolith statue is annointed with tumeric, water, milk and flowers:
BBC photos – Audio slideshow: Spectacular Jain festival
{High speed internet connection recommended.)
The Jains are the ultimate proponents of non-violence.
travelogue – India Cheap and Best!
A puffed-up poet named Charles March Blackride wrote to challenge the “comprehensivity of my India reportage”, and my sanity. He may have a point.
A couple of weeks Quit, the bubbling vat of my India experiences is starting to congeal. …
For the complete travelogue & photos jump to the permanent webpage in Rick’s travelogue archive. 
» highlights of my months in the Raj
travelogue – some concerns – India
From
Subject: McCharles
I beg your forgiveness if I am overstepping my slight acquaintanceship with your Mr. McCharles, but having just scanned his most recent email from India, I’m somewhat disturbed. His letters are getting longer, more frequent and, dare I suggest, possibly manic-depressive. McCharles would appear to be on course to declaring as one of the very mystics he rightly ridicules. Perhaps one of you who understands him better than I should alert him that he is Kurtz.
My apologies, once more, if this electronic mail is an over-reaction.
Sincerely yours,
Charles March Blackride
travelogue – there is no God and mccharles is Her prophet – India
Nehru called India “a madhouse of religions”.
“Spiritual tourists” like me are certain we will discover secrets here in a country where we can’t even find the train station. This is the land of saints and sages. Six million sadhus can’t be wrong. …
For the complete travelogue & photos jump to the permanent webpage in Rick’s travelogue archive.
» Brahma Kumari, ISKcon, Baha’i, God
travelogue – the story of my experiments with truth – India
… “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” is Gandhi’s autobiography. A tale simply told.
Gandhi was a normal boy, a little rebellious. He stole money, smoked, ate meat — then repented, submitting a written confession to his father.
Some years later he became the impossible, a truthful man. He said he had “no regrets about any word spoken or written”. A lawyer for 20 years, he never lied. How about that? …
For the complete travelogue & photos jump to the permanent webpage in Rick’s travelogue archive.
» Auroville, Osho, Dharamsala
travelogue – Vinoba – India
“I am a man who belongs to another world than this, one that may seem very strange. For I claim that I am moved by love. That I feel it all the time.”
– Vinoba Bhave
Who is this crank?
Naipaul called him a “fool-parody” of Gandhi.
I found him magnificent. …
For the complete travelogue & photos jump to the permanent webpage in Rick’s travelogue archive.
» Gandhi’s ashram
travelogue – Gandhi – India
Gandhi’s “Village of Service” ashram is in Sevagram, the very heart of India. We were greeted warmly by Rambhau. Smiling, he handed us the daily schedule …
For the complete travelogue & photos jump to the permanent webpage in Rick’s travelogue archive.
travelogue – that aching gap – south India
I couldn’t stop grinning. The terrain strange, wild, beautiful. Giant granite boulders heaped inexplicably among green plantations and meandering rivers. …
For the complete travelogue & photos jump to the permanent webpage in Rick’s travelogue archive.
» Hampi, The Ramayana, Hell for taxi drivers, begging
