Living with the Babongo Pygmies of Central Africa in Gabon

Madagascar- A Paradise in Retreat……………Ramdas Iyer

Blogs are a great means of describing in detail what the writer wants to convey in an environment where word count is not a factor. This write-up elaborates on my recently published article in Forbes Woman Africa (FWA), Jun-Jul 2017. There is little doubt that Madagascar is one of the final frontiers for the discovery of new fauna and flora. But the amazing cultural traditions of this country is something the reader also needs to be made aware; a ...
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Meditating my way along the Silk Route and Holy India.

I have attempted herein to combine my travels to historical places along the silk route along with my practice of meditation which melds seamlessly through wonderful places touched by Buddhism, Hinduism and nature. Without a historic perspective, these travels do not mean much. The great history behind these places increases their value as a destination and an appropriate location to meditate. Spanning a time frame from 500 BC to 2012 AD, I have within the ...
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In the Footsteps of The Beatles to Rishikesh, India

It was a grey and rainy day when friend Mark Riesenberg and I crossed the long suspension footbridge, Ram Jhula, hanging nearly 200 feet above the Ganges into the wonderful valley of Rishikesh, early last month. The river Ganga, both a spiritual and life giving resource had finally descended here to make its journey through the plains of India, after traveling from the glaciated peaks of the Himalayan ranges. I had met Mark in my gym in New ...
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Congo- A Traveler’s review of its Brutal and Bloody History

Growing up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan,the mysteries of Africa have always played in my mind and fantasies. Growing up in India, tales about fabulous Indian kingdoms, tigers and rope tricks written by the likes of Rudyard Kipling, were less exciting to me than that of Africa. Lee Falk, who created the 'Phantom" comic strip was also a hero of mine. Written in 1936, he culled all the interesting stories that came out of Africa from French and ...
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Of Mines and Men in the Alaskan Wilderness, Alaska

All these years I had dismissed mining and prospecting as a dirty business constituting the back end of a shining industrial society. My recent trip to Alaska opened my eyes to the history of mining in remote regions where men either toiled for a fortune or just to pay for their next meal. As a traveler who primarily highlighted the natural history and geography of a region, I feel pressed this time to celebrate the industriousness and challenges undertaken by ...
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Kazan: Legendary city of Genghis Khan’s Golden Horde

As the train was getting cold, our conductor was shoveling coal into the furnace that kept our carriage warm. Since this coach was cut off to be picked up by another train, a coal furnace was provided for each carriage. This was a non-elite passenger train that connected Yekaterinburg to Kazan, the capital of Tartarstan. My fellow passengers was a young family of Tartar Muslims coming home to Kaza ...
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Searching for Oriental carpets along the Silk Routes of Iran

I asked the owner of Kashmir Emporium in Madras, India, the home of my youth, about Kashan and the origin of the design of my very first oriental carpet bought from him. This was in 1986, when Kashmir was one of India's leading producer of fine carpets, honed from the traditions of Safavid era Persia and improved upon by the artisans of the Mughal court. As a young man living in the United States heaven was listening ...
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Traversing the Pamir-Alai High mountain range in Tajikistan

In the spring of 329 BC, Alexander the Great's conquests brought him to the river Oxus, which today forms the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan at the city of Termez( in Uzbekistan) He was on his way to India and beyond. Having crossed the Oxus and captured Bessus ( murderer of Emperor Darius of Persia), Alexander took fresh horses and set off for the royal capital of Sogdiana, Marakanda (Samarkand). From Marakanda, Alexander marched north to the river Jaxarte ...
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In Search of the Tomb of Songtsang Gompa, Tsetang, Tibet

The spread of Buddhism in Asia, first through the Silk Route to China and Japan and by Buddhist Emperors of India to SE Asia, who sent missionaries by trading ships, are fascinating subjects that lay the foundation of early religious and political history of Asia. Having visited almost all the great centers of Buddhism in Asia I wish to discuss two areas, Tibet and Mongolia, that came into the fold of Buddhism only after the 7th century, almost 800 years ...
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Funeral Traditions of Zoroastrians In Iran and India

In my earlier blogs, I had written about funeral practices in Mali and Indonesia. These articles had more than 16000 visitors each. Therefore I decided to present here yet another interesting funeral practice of Persian Zoroastrians of Iran and India( Parsis) .I have always been fascinated with Persian culture, especially the age of Aryan migration from the central Asian steppes region into India and Iran. Despite the perceived difficulties of travelling in Iran in 2014, I applied for a ...
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