Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Europe2-Eiffel Tower to the awesome Meteora
Our first trip abroad without Amma and Appa. We missed them terribly at times, but their framed photograph on the table smiled at us from every hotel room we occupied and that made things better. Their absence was compensated by the presence of my brother, his wife and son, who travelled with us through France…
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Trip No.11- In Search of the Magnificent Predator
After the wonderful forest treks and safaris at Chitwan National Park in Nepal and Amboseli National Park & Masai Mara in Kenya, we were eager to visit the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. To view this elusive and magnificent predator in its own habitat was an opportunity not to…
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Asia 1-Land of the Himalayas
Venturing Abroad by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter Nepal, the land of the Himalayas! We had always wanted to visit this great Hindu kingdom, where, in Lumbini, Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) was born and Janakpur, where Sita was wed to Sri Ram. Also the land of the great sherpas – the elite…
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Europe1-Tulips, Waffles & the Eternal City
Venturing Abroad by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter It was to be The Netherlands (Holland), Belgium and Italy the summer of 2018. We had family in Holland and the pull to visit the great city of Rome nearby was irresistible. Amma checked our finances and agreed we could go and Appa…
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Africa1-Land of the Pharaohs and the Nile
Venturing Abroad by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter Mumbai – Cairo – Alexandria – Cairo – Aswan – Abu Simbel – Luxor – Hurghada – Cairo – Mumbai History was always fascinating to us and an interest in great civilizations naturally followed: be it the Roman, the Egyptian, the Indus Valley,…
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Africa2-Kili, Mara and the Great Rift Valley
Venturing Abroad by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter “If you can only visit two continents in your lifetime, visit Africa – TWICE” – R. Elliot And we couldn’t agree more, although it would take more than one lifetime to experience what the great continent had to offer, specs in the universe…
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Trip No.10 – Abode of the Gods: Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag
This was a trip planned for the summer of 2020, with Amma, Appa, my daughter and I to have gone North of the North, to visit the great Kedarnath temple with its stunning backdrop of the Garhwal Himalayas. But then came COVID, and Amma left us in December 2020 succumbing to cancer, and after doing…
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Trip No. 3 – Tirumala and the Twin Cities
Road Trips by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter Our road trips usually begin on a Saturday. So, on 17th December 2016, we set out at 4:30am on our 8-day road trip to Tirupati and Secunderabad. Amma had wanted to visit Tirumala for long, and as we had cousins in Secunderabad, we…
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Trip No. 9 – Of Waterfalls and Magnificent Temples
Road Trips by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter It was 4:30am on a Saturday morning on 21st May, 2022, and Appa, my teenage daughter and I, along with our sarathi, set out on our next road trip to Tamil Nadu. Amma of course, travelled with us in spirit and her smiling…
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Trip No. 1 – The Elephant-headed One
Road Trips by a Family of Four – Grandparents, Mom, Teenage Daughter It was April 2015 and summer was upon us. Amma had recently come out of chemotherapy and was scheduled for radiation therapy, after her successful breast cancer surgery a few months previously. Our new Altis stood outside. She had come wrapped in pink…
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