March 22, 2016 Events and Festivals, India

3 places to visit this Holi

Holi

Holi, or ‘Basanth Utsav’, a festival of  colors in India,  is celebrated every year  at the end of winter on the full moon day (Poornima) of the lunar month (Phalguna). It usually appears in the months of February or March. Everyone comes together to drown all differences in the mist of colors. As per the legend, it celebrates the saving of Prahlad and burning of his wicked aunt Holika.

On this day, kids and adults splash coloured powder called ‘gulal’. They sing and dance fervently. Balloons filled with coloured water are thrown at each other and is considered part and parcel of festivity.

3 places to visit this Holi
Holi
Image courtesy

Across India, this festival is celebrated in different ways.

Punjab – The Holi Festival is celebrated as Hola Mohalla, on the day after Holi. Nihang Sikhs, a martial sect among Sikhs, display their martial arts’ skills in an exhibition of their prowess in various skills like horse riding, sword fighting, tent pegging, archery etc. Mock battles are held to display their fighting skills.

-The Holy Duels of Hola Mohalla

Madhya Pradesh– the Holi Festival coincides with the unique tradition, the only one to be held, in the districts of Nimar and Jhabua, in the country. This is the traditional Bhagoria Haat Festival. ‘Haat’ means market and Bhagoria means to run away. This is a traditional festival in the Bhil tribes of these districts.

It is basically a marriage market where young boys and girls flock, select their partners and run away together only to come home some days later. They are then proclaimed husband and wife by the community elders. It is a very lively and colourful festival and is worth a visit.

Bhagoria – Festival of love

Barsana, UP– If you are in UP, India, then participate in the traditional Indian festival of Holi and the unique way it is practiced at Barsana, the birthplace of Radha, Lord Krishna’s favourite gopi – Lathmar Holi. Women beat up men with sticks in Lathmar Holi in Barsana, India.

So, if you are in India do visit these 3 places during Holi.

You may like to read 11 Delicious treats on this Holi

March 21, 2016 Interviews - travel bloggers

Interview with #travelblogger Paul Johnson

#travelblogger Paul Johnson

Friends, let me introduce you to #travel blogger Paul Johnson.

  • He is Director at The Dedicated Partnership Ltd. – promoting tourism.
  • He has been Voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
  • He is a Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine.
  • He has been Voted #1 most influential travel blog in the world in independent research conducted by Travelocafe.
  • He is also a Winner of ‘Best Travel Blog’ in the Travelmole Web Awards.

Me:  For the readers who don’t know about you, please could you introduce yourself and your blog?

  • Paul : My name is Paul Johnson and I am a travel blogger and Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog (http://www.aluxurytravelblog.com/ ) – I am full-time with the site, have been running it for more than 10 years and working in the travel industry for about 30 years.
#travelblogger Paul Johnson on a land rover trip
Paul on a land rover trip

Me: What was the motivation behind starting this blog?

  • Paul:   I love to travel and have long since had a fascination in all aspects of the luxury travel industry. When blogging first came along, the few travel blogs that were out there all seemed to focus on backpacking and budget travel so I saw this as an opportunity to do something different.

Me:     How do you fund your travels?

  • Paul : Travel is my work (as well as a pleasure!) so I work on paid advertising campaigns with travel and lifestyle brands when I travel.
#travelblogger Paul Johnson with family

Me:     How did you come up with the idea of writing exclusively on luxury travel? And, what is ‘luxury’ for you?

  • Paul:   It was simply a niche that wasn’t covered but where my own personal interests lay. You are right to ask what is luxury to me – that last bit of your question is an important point since luxury can be very different things to different people. For me, it is all about service – the element of surprise and the ability of those providing travel services to anticipate your needs (perhaps even before you realize them yourself!).
Interview with #travelblogger Paul Johnson
Paul at the Berlin Wall

Me:    It seems you are foodie with delicious recipes for your readers. Tell us about favourite cuisines across the globe?

  • Paul:  My favourite cuisine is Thai – I just love the clarity of the flavours and the variety in Thai dishes.

Me:   Which are favourite travel destinations?

  • Paul:  Although I love travelling, and have been to many amazing destinations, my favourite location is in fact home.
#travelblogger Paul Johnson and family

Me:    Where is your next travel destination?

  • Paul:  I am next heading for the island of Crete in Greece to do some work for a luxury hotel and resort there.

Me:    Name the hardest things/setbacks that you experienced through your blog?

  • Paul:  One of the hardest things to do for me was to know when to ‘take the plunge’ and go full-time. I was already running a very successful internet marketing company for the tourist industry so it was hard to justify putting all my time into the blog. When Google made some changes to their algorithm that affected my other work, though, this decision was made easier for me. I just wish I’d taken the leap of faith sooner!

Me:   Any tools you can suggest that bloggers could use in their first year?

  • Paul: Aside from the obvious of using the likes of WordPress and social media channels, I’d recommend Buffer for scheduling, SumoMe to help build your mailing list and Hootsuite for attending to Twitter.
March 20, 2016 Weekly photo challenge

Dance

 

There’s rhythm and motion all around us.

Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind.

IMG-20130109-WA0019

Swaying of the leaves of the palm trees are more like dancing.

When you see the trees swaying to the tune of a gentle breeze….think of it as a dance in your honor.

Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening Heaven ~ Rabindranath Tagore

While we are enjoying the swaying of the palm trees…… Put on your dancing shoes and you too can sway to this song.  Enjoy. 🙂

*/This post is inspired by WPC Dance. A photo of something that appears like dance to you whether it is objects, animals, or people. Try to capture the rhythm in their movement./*

March 16, 2016 Weekly photo challenge

One Love

One love
one love

Love is all around me

And so the feeling grows

One love
Flower with a butterfly

 

It’s written on the wind

 It’s everywhere I go

one love of the skydiving team
skydiving team in a formation

The skydiving team in a formation depicts one love. I had for a long time been thinking on one love and I came across this beautiful song by Bob Marley.

One Love! One Heart!
Let’s get together and feel all right.
Hear the children cryin’ (One Love!);
Hear the children cryin’ (One Heart!),
Sayin’: give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Sayin’: let’s get together and feel all right. Wo wo-wo wo-wo!

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love!);
There is one question I’d really love to ask (One Heart!):
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner,
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own beliefs?

One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart!
What about – ? Let’s get together and feel all right
As it was in the beginning (One Love!);
So shall it be in the end (One Heart!),
All right!
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Let’s get together and feel all right.
One more thing!

Let’s get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (One Love!),
So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One Song!).
Have pity on those whose chances grows t’inner;
There ain’t no hiding place from the Father of Creation.

Sayin’: One Love! What about the One Heart? (One Heart!)
What about the -? Let’s get together and feel all right.
I’m pleadin’ to mankind! (One Love!);
Oh, Lord! (One Heart) Wo-ooh!

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Let’s get together and feel all right.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Let’s get together and feel all right.

~ Bob Marley

 

The above song on  One Love  is dedicated to all.