Make A Splash

Silva in Portuguese means ‘wood’ and true to its name, silvassa has beautiful boulevards lined with trees. This quiet little town is the capital of dadra and nagar haveli; here you can choose to loll in the sun or just relax under the shade of its many trees. Though small in size, silvassa offers an amazing range of outdoor and adventure activities. For starters, you can hike and trek through its queit forests. Then make a beeline for the damanganga reservoir for a spot of watersports. You can paddle in the waters; or ride water scooters, aqua bikes and speedboats too. Dudhni is a breathtakingly beautiful place along the damanganga river; it offers riveting views of the water spread over madhuban dam. It’s a great camping site with modern convebniences where you can enjoy life at the river’s edge and even cook your own meals.

Oakley Thump

Oakley’s thump is the coolest converged product that combines fashion with technology in a unique way of its own. While audio players have been built into watches, headphones and cell phones, thump is the first audio player to be built into sunglasses. The thump is made out of lightweight durable plastic and is hence suitable for use all day long. The lenses can be flipped up, making it possible for the shades to be used indoors without skipping on listening to your favourite music. The earphones are well-placed and highly adjustable. They can be rotated, extended or raised to fit any ears without much discomfort. The controls are placed on the two arms of the shade.

Buttons on the left side are for volume control while those on the right are for volume control while those on the right are for other controls. Songs are played back either in the order they are copied or alphabetically. There are also some pre-configured equalisers to be cycled. A non-removable lithium-ion battery provides the necessary juice for keeping the audio player running for the claimed six hours. Oakley’s thump isn’t for shallow pockets.

Land In Colour

You will find some of the brightest colours you can imagine in the clothes worn by its women. Some of the grandest architecture and most intricate artwork in its forts, palaces and painted havelis. You will find colourful festivals in each of its desert cities, and an aura of history enveloping its daily life. You will definetly lick your fingers after sampling its rich cuisine. A famous name the world over, Rajasthan is a destination that draws the traveler back again and again. Perhaps wildlife is something that is not immediately associated with Rajasthan. However, the state has some magnificent wildlife parks such as ranthambhore and sariska, where you can have personal encounters of the scary kind with tigers. The kumbhalgarh sanctuary, 84km from udaipur, houses leopards, wolves and chowsinghas. This, together with many known and unknown gems, makes Rajasthan an excellent tourist destination.

Skoda Octavia Combi

To put it very lucidly, this is a skoda Octavia with a preponderant boot. Which seems daft at first, considering that the hatchback version has a big enough boot to swallow most standard – sized cows, but this is for those who want to carry around mutant superbovines of doom. And it looks sweet, a good reason to buy one. You get the combi in two versions: the luxurious L&K trim with the 1.9 diesel engine, or mental RS, with a turbo charged 1.8 and superb handling, though there’s also a rock-hard ride. Of the two, the L&K would probably make the best sense, because you’d get an even better long-distance express than the Octavia hatch, and lots of equipment to go with it. The RS sounds nice, but if you want handling, go for the hatch.

Myriad Flavours

Punjab, an indo-iranian word, literally means ‘the land of five years’.Historically, the area west of Punjab was under the influence of the Persians, east was the heartland of Indian civilization, south had a heavy arab accent and north had a huge turko-mongolian influence. Mny great religious movement such as Buddhism, Sikhism and a number of sufi schools of thought in islam, which found world-wide appeal, grew in the fertile plains of Punjab. This ethnic and religious diversity is reflected in the cultural mosaic of modern Punjab. Anandpur sahib, the ‘city of bliss’, is one of the holiest places of the Sikhs, second only to amristar. Amristar or’a pool of nector’, its main city, is shrouded in an ambience of calm and houses the famous golden temple. Patiala was once a land of kings and princes, of royal pageantry and splendour. Among the several landmarks in the city are the numerous parks, forts and palaces that dot this city, where life goes on at a gentle pace. IIn the bazaars of its cities, you would find many treasures such as the famed juttis or the must –have phulkari embroidery.

Smoky Highlands

What strikes you immediately about this state as you cross through vairangte, the first mizo township, is how lush and thick the forest are. Teak, bamboo, the hill roads are lined with dark green foliage and when the clouds descend to touch the treetops, it makes a pretty picture. It is almost ironical that the laidback town of vairangte, where life seems to yawn lazily, is also the place where you are required to produce the inner line permit to enter the state. The hills here are dotted with timber houses and gardens with orchids, geranium, begonia in full bloom. Spires of quaint churches rise into the smoky air to add to the charming ambience of this small town where it is common to spot young men strumming their guitars on street corners.

Hills And Vales

Driving down a dirt track, the air nippy, and yellow sunlight filtering through what your guide will describe as the ‘densest forest in the world after the amazon,’ the silence will strike you as much as the scenery. Those who visit the kanger valley national park in chhattisgarh say that here, away from the sounds of human civilization, time stands still.

This valley, which is over 30km long, is one of the most biologically diverse regions in the country, and heaven on earth for nature lovers. The park is named after the kanger rivar that spans its length, and on whose banks stand some of the more popular tourist spots-the kotamsar, kailashand daudak limestone caves. The river spills over an incline, and collects in a pool, culminating in the magnificent tirathgarh falls in the course of its journey.

The valley, the floor of which is a dense jungle, is home to a range of wildfire, including tigers, panthers, cheetals, sambars, barking deers. . etc.Kanger dharha and bhainsa dharha, a crocodile park, are two scenic picnic resorts that attract many naturalists