(Sanskrit – Śrāvastī; Pali – Sāvatthī) To my parents. The curiosity to know about the genesis of Sravasti played on my mind from childhood. I had to explain the spelling and meaning of my name to most people. If I did not have to explain, then it had to be a Bengali...
The taxi driver was excited to know that we were Indian tourists! He phoned his mother from the car to tell her that he had Indian passengers! She welcomed us, excitedly. That was something new to us. Indian tourists are not always liked in most countries. So, I was...
We had gone to visit my aunt one evening, and there was Meshomoshai, my uncle, sitting in his room and making a pencil sketch of a bald old man, with the most strikingly large pair of eyes which seemed to be looking straight at me…or right through me…! I don’t know...
It was my 10th birthday. A big affair. I was quite excited from the moment I opened my eyes, for obvious reasons. That excitement doubled-tripled-quadrupled when I saw the gifts in the evening. Everyone knew I loved reading. So, at the end of the awesome birthday...
His ‘floating hair and flashing eyes’ have always fascinated me. I went in search of Him in some known and unknown nooks and corners of Nepal, the land of the ‘Lord of animals’ – the Pashupati. Pashupati is an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He is depicted with 5 faces,...