Back To Nature

Wake up to hear birds of the twitter merrily. Spend a few quiet, laidback days on a farm. Take an afternoon nap under shady trees laden with fruit. Harayana is all about being close to nature. Experience living on a farm, as part of a new initiative taken by haryana tourism. This first of its kind venture, in partnership with 20 farm owners of the state, allows you to chose from various country holiday packages on one of these farms.

For a glimpse into the rural culture of this state, visit the ethnic resort, Mhara Gaam, in rai in sonepat. Built as an ethnic village of haryana with traditional handicrafts adorning its interiors and folk shows in the evenings, this promises to be a unique experience. Another big attraction of haryana is perhaps also its most known. Each year, the first fortnight of February sees the suraj kund crafts mela take off, as over 300 artisans and craftspersons from different parts of the country come together. Exquisite mirror and lace work, terracotta and metal figurines share with a large variety of trinkets, attracting the five lakh visitors who come here. Haryana has many other attractions such as the historical city kurukshestra and the manicured pinjore gardens.

Festival of hundred drums

Every autumn, after the harvest season, the garos, or achiks, as they prefer to be called, celebrate the festival of wangala. In every garo village, the festival includes goddess of all crops, for a good harvest, and rituals that span four days and four nights. The festival begin with series of prayers and sacrifices that enable soon turns to gaiety as men and women dance to the accompaniment of elongated drums, coupled with the eating of rice cooked from the new crop. The hills literally reverberate as the garos, in tune with the thunder of the drums, take on the avtars of insects, birds and animals.

Sikkim

The world’s third highest peak towers over this state, but that’s only one reason to visit sikkim. Mt khangchendzonga presides over a landscape of snowcapped peaks and hanging glaciers that sit majestically alongside alpine meadows and valleys carpeted with flowers, gushing rivers that tumble in to spectacular water falls, and no less than 4,000 varietes of flowers. This is a naturalist’s heaven. You would imagine that any state so abundantly blessed would be both large and touristy-sikkim is neither. A tiny strip borded by Nepal, Bhutan and china, it has a population of half a million. But the people, though few and far between, are warm and inviting, and no sikkim sojourn is complete without a cup of yak butter tea at a local home.

Archos PMA400

Archos pocket media assistant400, as the name suggests, is a portable media player that also act as a digital assistant. Based on a linux platform, the PMA400 offers class-leading features in a small and compact structure .The PMA400 also has mophun game engine for playing games based on the format. You can also transfer your entire photo album can store around three lakh photographs to be viewed on its small screen. On the audio front, the PMA400 can play MP3, WAV, WMA and DRM-protected WMA files. The PMA400 can be used as a Dictaphone using the built-in microphone. It also has a recording application that can record in MP3 and WMA in real time from most analogue devices. You can browse the internet using the built-in opera browser and sent and receive mails via the integrated e-mail client. A personal information manager lets you schedule your meetings and events just like a PDA, as the PMA400 is based on the linux platform you can customize it by adding new third-party applications or your own.

Silver Sands

Shimmering waters, swaying casuarinas trees and beautiful views of the sea. Chandipur on sea is an enchanting destination. Its beach is unique too –when the sea is at a low ebb, a breathtaking 5 km-wide expanse of fine silver sand is exposed. However, if you really want to enjoy this magically romantic getaway, you need to have more than a weekend to soak in the beauty of the place. All the rivers in the region flow in to the bay of Bengal and hence the views are of swamps, deltas and sometimes even huge lagoons. Just after balasore, the road going to the right leads to chandipur. This road isn’t great shape, but it has fantastic views that only get better as it goes out towards sea.

Wild Card Entry

A jaunt to the sunderbans is definitely not for those looking for a relaxing break. This is one trip that is adrenalin charged and racked with excitement, and also mildly spiced with danger. The sunderbans tigers are known to be man-eaters and there have been cases when fisherman have been taken from their boats. Of course, tourist cruise ships are safer than fishing boats. The cruise to the sunderbans national park can be a fantastic break from the dull routine of urban living. In fact, kolkatans are lucky to have such an opportunity so close to home. The drive is through a lot of traffic for the first few km and then it goes past little shrimp farms. It is also a good idea to buy some prawns on the way back as they are far cheaper here. The cruise itself goes through the dense tropical forests of the sunderbans. If you are interested in birding, remember, the key is in overcoming the geographic and physical hurdles of the area.

Embracing Tradition

Among the dozens of important festivals in assam, bihu is celebrated with the most enthusiasm, and by all assamese, regardless of the tribe, caste, or religion they belong to. The agricultural festival has three stages: bohang bihu, when the people wish for a good harvest; kaati bihu, which marks the cutting and binding of the grain, and magh bihu, which marks the beginning of the harvest. During the revelry, the banks of the brahmaputra come alive with the rhythms of the dhol(drum) and the pepe(flute). Cane and bamboo are used for creating everythinh, from baskets and containers, to even houses. Metal crafts are also popular, and utensils made from bell metal and brass are found in every assamese household.

A Varied Palette

Most travelers equate maharastra with Mumbai, and look no further. Those who do are surprised-and rewarded- by the sheer range of its offerings. Take pune. For years travelers have thought of it as a languid town inhabited by retired folk and oshoites. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the course of an average day in pune, you could paraglide, catch the latest Hollywood blockbuster at a swank multiplex, swap recipes with international chefs, see a centuries-old fort, and wind down with a bottle of wine picked up from the wineries just outside town. Then there’s aurangabad, with one of the most spectacular of which is unparalleled. And for lovers of history, there are the innumerable forts that dot the state-unlike the more embellished forts of rajasthan, these are intriguing for their secret entrances, moats and underground passage ways.