Photos from a trip to the Qutab Minar

Wayfarers and Pathfinders, being a travel blog, will be incomplete without photos of the beautiful places around the world where the members and contributors go to. Kickstarting this facet of the blog, here is the first photo story of a trip to the Qutab Minar in Delhi. More of these will be posted from time to time. Hope you like them. :)

Of empty handed homecomings

(First published at Sometimes I write, Sometimes I am in December 2008.)

Sometimes traveling is not about the things you bring back but what you leave behind.

The flaming red rhododendron that fell from my hand on a slope near Cloud End. The look in your eyes as we were treated to an October sky pierced with a million stars while the bus rushed down the mountain on its way from Nainital to Delhi. The scarecrow dressed in red and white beckoning us from the lush greenery of Goa and its twin we were to meet some years later in Mukteshwar.

The twinkling fairy lights as the sun went down on an almost magical evening at St Paul da Vence. The old couple carved in wood smiling in a corner of a bar in Dusseldorf, where we drank to the sounds of an off key 'Knocking on Heaven’s Door'. That one dilapidated and nondescript tombstone among the millions in Zentralfriedhof where we stopped to have our little argument. The imagined smell of freshly brewed coffee and warm croissants while we walked along the Seine on a rainy November morning; laughing and loving every bone-chilling second of it. The sounds of the cello from a dimly lit apartment in Vienna that accompanied our walk down the lane, too real to even contemplate carrying it away with us.

Then we arrived in Venice. Here we discarded our sense of purpose, our fatigue and our helplessness while we watched a bleeding city held captive in the unblinking gaze of the television cameras for nearly three days and nights. Appropriately we left behind the first virgin snows caressing the slopes of some unknown mountain peaks as our train hurried away from it all into another long, dark tunnel.

Finally under David’s defiant gaze we immersed in the placid waters of the Arno our admiration, our aspiration, our inspiration, our creativity, our pride, our ego and spent the remaining week of our Roman holiday running after cats and chasing starlings. Thus suitably empty handed we returned home.

In all the places that we have passed by or stayed for a while fragments of our being lie torn, tossed and forgotten. Never to be found again. With every homecoming the baggage sits a little more lightly on our shoulders. And this one consideration makes traveling worth all the effort.

(This is a guest post by Anvita Lakhera. She is a writer and a photographer and blogs at Sometimes I Write, Sometimes I Am.)

Bandra Fort

(First published at Travel Magic in May 2010)

At ‘Land’s end’ in Bandra there are the ruins of an old Portugese fort -  Castella de Aguada (Portuguese: "Fort of the Waterpoint"), also known as the Bandra Fort.

The name indicates its origin as a place where fresh water was available in the form of a fountain (Aguada) for Portuguese ships cruising the coasts in the initial period of Portuguese presence. It was built in 1640 as a watchtower.

The Portuguese, who had established a base in the area in 1534 after defeating Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, built several sea forts along the western Indian coastline. Castella de Aguada was one such strategically located fort, overlooking the Mahim Bay to the south, the Arabian Sea to the west, the islands of Worli to the south and the town of Mahim to the south west. The fort also guarded the northern sea route into Mumbai Harbour.

The strategic value of the fort was enhanced in 1661 after the Portuguese ceded the seven islands of Bombay that lay to the immediate south of Bandra to the British.

After the decline of the Portuguese in the early 18th century, the Marathas became the largest threat to British possessions. Sensing an impending Portuguese defeat, the British partially demolished the fort as a precautionary measure. The demolition would obviate the possibility of the fort being captured by the Marathas, with the possibility of it being used as a forward military base to attack British Bombay.

In 2003, a conservation program was started by Bandra Band Stand Residents’ Trust to save the fort. It was spearheaded by a local Member of Parliament (MP), Shabana Azmi, who funded part of the effort from her allotted funds. The brick arch of one of the gateways on the verge of collapse, and the foundation masonry of the fort wall that was in danger of tidal erosion were repaired. The nearby Taj Land's End Hotel is responsible for maintenance of the fort

The fort is owned by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Included in the fort makeover are the preservation of the natural rock formations, providing pathways, and the creation of an amphitheatre. The architect for the makeover was P.K. Das.

The way up the fort is a short flight of stone steps. Once on top the views all around are worth the visit.

In the south you have the marvellous Bandra Worli sealink and on the north is the Taj Lands End Hotel. The sea in the west never ceases to fascinate. And if you are there early in the morning you shall catch the sunrise in the east!

A Lily pond at the Bandra Fort

Interested? Here is a map to help you get there.

(This is a guest post by Magiceye who is in his fifties and loves traveling, photography, writing and sharing his experiences through his blogs. In love with the city of Mumbai, he has written about a few easy to miss places in and around Mumbai that an average Mumbaikar or even a traveller might not visit. Do visit his blog to become friends with the hidden Mumbai.)