Today’s Mamallapuram is purely a tourist town and one of the major attractions around Chennai. The East Coast Road has made it easily accessible – just about an hour from the city. Unfortunately, the entire strip is now a mess of restaurants, resorts, amusement parks, people, discarded plastic and chaotic traffic. At one time you could see the Bay of Bengal almost all the way to M’puram, but, there is so much development that the ocean is glimpsed only as you get close to M’puram.

Mamallapuram itself was getting run down over the last decade with very patchy efforts at keeping the monuments preserved. This has changed in the last few years with the Shore Temple being included in the UNESCO heritage project. The surroundings have been made much nicer, but, there has been a lot of wind and water erosion on the temple carvings with many of them having undergone loss of detail over the years. Sort of too little, too late, but still, better than nothing. Be prepared to fight you way through clutches of gypsies, beggars, guides, snakes charmers and so on, all of which is an essential part of the experience and not to be frowned upon. The whole thing would be bland without them. A nuisance, but harmless.

Courtesy: http://wikitravel.org/en/Mamallapuram#b

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‘Nilgiris’ means Blue hills Mountain it is one of the most important tourist’s spots. The word niligris came from Silapathikaram. It is also called as Greenland. Niligris have number old varieties of plants from Europe and South Africa,Nilgiris temperate climate also attracts visitors from all over the world. The main cultivation is plantation Crops, are Tea and Coffee. Potato,beet root,and other vegetables. niligris receives rain from South West Monsoon and North East Monsoon. The economy of the Nilgiris district is based on horticulture crops like potato, cabbage, carrot, tea, coffee, spices and fruits.

Courtesy: http://nilgirihills.in/

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Amritsar Massacre: This place noted for its most notorious massacre under British rule. It is 400 meters north of the Golden Temple. The British General Dyer was the Lieutenant Governor of the province in 1919. He banned all meetings and demonstrations led by Indians against the economical set back by World War I. On 13 April 1919, pilgrims poured into Amritsar to celebrate the Baisakhi festival, a holiday in the Sikh calendar. In the afternoon thousands of people gathered at Jallian Wala Bagh to celebrate the Baisakhi. This ground surrounded by high walls on all sides has only a narrow alley for access. General Dyer personally led the troops to the sight and ordered his men to open fire without any warning. It resulted in the death of 379 and injured more than 1200. India was outraged by Dyer´s massacre. Gandhiji, called for a nation wide strike and started the Non-cooperation Movement, which became an important mile stone in the struggle for India´s Independence. Today this ground has been changed to a park and it has a pleasant garden. There is a narrow path between the houses which leads to the lawn of the park. At the entrance there is a memorial plaque which recounts the history. There is a well on the north side in which many people who tried to escape from the bullets were drowned, and remnants of walls have been preserved to show the bullet holes. At the east end of the garden there is a large memorial built in memory of those who died here.

Courtesy: http://www.amritsar.com/Amritsar.shtml

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Ahmedabad is the hub of trade and commerce in Gujarat. The commercial importance of Ahmedabad makes the city an important travel destination in India. Besides being home to a number of important industries, Ahmedabad also has a number of majestic monuments, which remind us of the great historical and cultural past of the city.

Ahmedabad was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency during the British rule but remained the most important city in the Gujarat region. Over a period of time, Ahmedabad established itself as the home of textile industry and earned the nickname of “the Manchester of the East.” A rising centre of higher education, information technology and scientific industries, Ahmedabad continues to remain one of the important cultural and commercial centers of western India.

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Located in what was historically known as the Awadh region, Lucknow has always been a multicultural city. Courtly manners, beautiful gardens, poetry, music, and fine cuisine patronized by the Persian-loving Shia Nawabs of the city are well known amongst Indians and students of South Asian culture and history. Lucknow is popularly known as the The City of Nawabs. It is also known as the Golden City of the East, Shiraz-i-Hind and The Constantinople of India.

Courtesy: http://www.lucknowonline.com/index.php

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Thus giving a feast of ancient and ethnic culture of the tribals amalgamated with Mother Nature; to the eyes of the beholder. Among these Kuntaala and Pochera waterfalls are prominent.

Kuntala Waterfall is the highest waterfall of Andhra pradesh. About 32Kms from the district centre and 12Kms from the village NerediKonda nestled in dense forests is The Kuntaala Waterfall.

According to the popular and prevalent local belief Kuntaala Waterfall got it’s name after Shakuntala, the beloved wife of King Dushyanth who fell in love with each other and were mesmerized by the scenic beauty of the surroundings. The locals also believe that Shakuntaala used to bathe by the waterfall.

River Kanda flowing through the dense forests; at this point comes gushing and falls from a height of 45metres.One has to experience the sight of water splashing down with such a force that water below turn into whirls.

Courtesy: http://www.nirmalcity.com/kuntala_water_falls.html

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Ganga trickled forth from Lord Shiva’s locks and its bountiful water revived the sons of King Sagara. In the tradition of Bhagirath, devout Hindus stand in the sacred waters here, praying for salvation of their ancestors.

Courtesy: http://www.gmvnl.com/newgmvn/districts/haridwar/

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Courtesy: http://khajuraho.thecolorsofindia.com/khajuraho-history.html

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These waves brought water with them. The receding waters left infertile foothills and the shelving shores of inland sea, the lakes of Kashmir today . Kashmir was an expanse of water and the first people who ever lived had homes in water, and indeed some still do ! Islands of land surfaced in time and people migrated . Theories have been postulated to explain this evolution. A massive volcanic eruption made a crater in the mountains and drained the water. Earthquakes in Kashmir are common and the bye-products like ash from lava is present in mountains. Kashmir could have been a mighty glacier in ice-age and earthquake split open a gorge , ice melted and drained away.

Courtesy: http://www.kashmir.net/history.php

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Located in the Krishnaraja Sagar dam site in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya district, the Brindavan Gardens is at a distance of 24 Km. from the famous cultural heritage centre of Karnataka – the city of Mysore, and 143 Km. from Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. The Krishnaraja Sagar dam is built across the river Cauvery, one of the principal rivers in South India. The Cauvery rises in the hills of Brahmagiri – in Talacauvery, Kodagu District in the Western Ghats and traverses Eastwards in Karnataka for about 320 Km. before entering Tamil Nadu and finally joining the Bay of Bengal. The dam is named after Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV during whose rule the Chief Engineer, Sir M. Vishveswaraya engineered the construction of the dam. The River Cauvery below the giant dam divides the garden into two parts.

Courtesy: http://horticulture.kar.nic.in/brindavan.htm

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