'Visit to Shahi Jama Masjid, Delhi - a curtain raiser' - by K.J.S.Chatrath

A brief write up with many photos- coming soon on this blog.... ..... ....

'Meet Odisha's celestial beauty in New Delhi' by K.J.S.Chatrath

I was in Odisha on  a short visit about a fortnight back and renewed my admiration for this wonderful part of India. Last week I spent a few hours in the National Museum, New Delhi on the Janpath. On buying the ticket, one passes through a corridor where on both sides are kept some of the finest specimen's of Indian art.

At the end of the corridor one reaches a circular verandah wer epriceless statues adorn either side of it. The first statue that I saw on the right was that of a 'Celestial Beauty' from Konark, Odisha. It dates back to 13th century A.D. Having just returned from Konark I could know the very high level at which there are huge statues of celestial beauties all around the temple.

Take a look.

 As I have been saying 'Odisha is one place you must visit before you die.

And now with a remarkable team of Harvard educated Ms. Arti Ahuja as the Principal Secretary Tourism and the dashing young Nitin Jawale as Director Tourism, Odisha is set to become the favourite destination both of domestic as well as foreign travellers.

Good Luck!

'Odisha- the one place you must visit before you die' by K.J.S.Chatrath

It has become a cliche' to say that you must visit these ten or twenty or hundred places before you die. Having visited a few places across the world, I would say that Odisha is the one place one must visit before one dies.

I worked in Orissa for 35 years and left the state on retirement in 2003, but my hunger for visiting various places in this wonderful state has not yet got satiated.

I am just back after a one week trip to Odisha during which I visited the State Museum and various temples at Bhubaneswar, then the Budhist sites of Lalitgiri, Ratangiri and Udaygiri. And   moving towards Konark, the Chausath Yogini Temple  and ofcourse the Konark temple and the Museum there.

I would be posting many write-ups and photos taken during this visit. But here are just a few photos to whet the appetite.....

 Mukteshwar temple, Bhubaneswar.

 

Lalitgiri.

 Chausath Yogini temple near Bhubaneswar. Each of the 64 'yoginis' sports a different hairstyle.

 Konark.

  Konark.

Thats a tired looking me at Ratangiri.