Travel and Tourism

A voyage in a traditional canoe or a houseboat through the picturesque Vembanad lake is enough to understand why the south Indian state of Kerala is called the “God’s own country’. 

Lingaraj Jena is a worried man. At 86, he is one of the older fishermen in Berhampura village, an island on the Chilika lake in Odisha. Though he no longer goes for fishing due to old age, he is worried about the opening of new sea mouths; he knows it is not good news for the fishing communities he is a part of that depend on the Chilika for their livelihood.

An aerospace engineer from IIT, Kharagpur, Siddharth Agarwal could have been drawing a fancy salary like any other 25-year-old if he hadn’t followed his passion.

The Bhoj wetland is situated in the heart of Bhopal district in Madhya Pradesh. The wetland consists of two man-made lakes--the upper lake and the lower lake.

Temples in India have always had a water body near its premises. Whether it is a natural pond, a free-flowing river or a man-made tank, the water inside them seem to imbibe the sacredness associated with the temples, thereby becoming an integral part of the cultural, social and religious landscape of that area. 

The Madhya Simhastha Maha Kumbh festival, the religious extravaganza that happens once in every 12 years, was held in Ujjain from April 22-May 21, 2016.

The legend has it that in the year 1321-22, mystic and 14th century Sufi saint 

Forts and palaces of Rajasthan are well known for their water-based architecture, which sustained life and also kept out the extreme summer heat. Though mostly absent from travel itineraries, Deeg Palace in Bharatpur district scores over the big names when it comes to aquatic ingenunity.

The Red Fort, located along the western banks of the Yamuna, was built by Mughal emperor Shahjahan when he moved his capital to Delhi from Agra and laid the foundations of Shahjahanabad, the seventh city of Delhi. Since then, the river has changed course but it’s proximity to the fort ensured that there was abundant water supply as well as protection for the city.

Erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh, like its neighbours Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is a land of tanks. The ‘Cheruvus’, ‘Eris’ and ‘Keres’, as they are known in the respective regional languages, are irrigation tanks dug centuries ago by kings and philanthropists to feed thousands of acres of thirsty paddy fields.