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Listicle: 7 cultural festivals we enjoyed around India

India is a large country and each region has its own culture, mostly manifesting in the form of stories, songs, dance, food and art. As Indians, it is impossible for us to know about the culture of each state or even every district in the country. Cultural festivals that happen at different places in the country give us a glimpse into the culture, either from different regions in the country (e.g. Kala Ghoda, Mumbai) or just what is local to the region (Margazhi Utsavam, Chennai). Thousands of festivals happen in India. But we managed to catch some interesting festivals around the country, some of them in places we’d never heard of before. Here are the ones we attended along with the time of the year, so that you too can plan to attend them someday. Continue reading

Listicle: Lake side cities from India 360

India is country with several lakes. Major cities in India have lakes as sources of water. Mumbai has Powai, Tulsi and Vihar. Bengaluru has Ulsoor and Madivala. Chennai has Chetpet, Ambattur and Chitalapakkam. Pune has Khadakvasala and Pashan. But, these are just lakes within cities. Certain localities within these cities surround the lakes instead of the city itself being founded due to the lake. In this post, we look at _ cities whose reason to start, develop and flourish is due to a large natural lake in the centre or to one side. We are also excluding cities where the lake was artificially formed after the city was already founded e.g. Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad, Shibsagar (Assam), etc. While there are several such cities in India, we focus on the ones that we visited in India 360 and can help you with.

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Listicle: 10 sea-side temples we covered

India is a beautiful country. It is also a religious country. Places of beauty are also Kshetras with major temples. Things look especially beautiful if a major temple is on a beach. The sound of temple bells on one side is matched by the rhythm of waves on another. The smell of camphor mixes well with the fresh salty smell of sea water. Here are some sea-side temples from India. This is not an exhaustive list. It is just some temples we have covered during India 360 or other trips.

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10 unique museums in India

India is a country steeped in culture and heritage. It is no wonder that you find museums of all sizes strewn around the country. Some museums come in modest sizes, like Dr Abdul Kalam’s house at Rameshwaram and Lokmanya Tilak’s birthplace at Ratnagiri. But some others are humungous, with multiple buildings and wings. Examples are Salarjung museum in Hyderabad, National Museum in New Delhi, Indian Museum in Kolkata, Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, Baroda Museum at Vadodara, St Andrew’s Archaeological Site Museum in Old Goa and the biggest of them all, the Government Museum in Chennai.

Regardless of the size, one thing about them is common. All of them engage us through a single activity. Things of value are collected from around India and showcased in glass cases or pedestals. These valuable articles are collected either from archaeological sites or from affluent donors or committees who are avid collectors. A day at a typical museum is spent walking between aisles, studying the exhibits and reading the caption or the story attached to the exhibits. These museums are wonderful and each represents a slice of India’s culture. And yet…. !

There are some museums that are an exception. Something about them is extra special. They differentiate themselves from the hundreds of regular museums. In this post, we see 10 such museums around India. Continue reading