ROAD TO NARA

A Traveller’s Lessons from two decades on the ँ Road

by Narayan Kaudinya

Few years ago while swimming in the river Tungbhadra in Sringeri, I met an Indian data Scientist who had left his job in the US to work on the Indian River systems. As we spoke while floating in the river conversing about culture and civilization, it that time when i realized something very commonplace, and the impression of its true meaning changed something in...

22/04/2020

Comments 133

Guidance: Ways to grow, Health for Life Tips, Yogic Studies

19/12/2022

About Kashmir, A Tale of Keepers and Rowing a Shikara to a Friend’s Wedding in...

Learning how to row was the most profound, useful as much as useless, but one hypnotic skill that arrived...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 81

13/11/2021

When a wedding arrived Magically in Rajasthan

It was a time of peerless freedom. I was a young Yogi travelling with a backpack, pen, diary and...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 139

28/09/2020

When a wedding found me travelling in Mumbai

It was then my first visit to Mumbai. And hence everything i was laying my eyes on went deeper...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 158

27/07/2020

To a Monsoon Wedding and a Rare Feast –III

After Kaushik and I experienced our first monsoon thunder, together under this Divine Tree, I knew that home was...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 74

27/02/2016

The Wedding Song

In her wedding dress that one day she stopped counting years I met J uncle on a very...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 31

19/08/2015

Jaimaal – The Wedding Song

An image of my parents wedding in 1982 I met J uncle on a rainy very cold january morning this...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 29

28/05/2023

Mind, Meditation and Expectations

Not so long ago, it seems, i used to be able to meditate. A beautiful, silent, transparent state would...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 34

15/03/2022

The Curse of A Tale: And Why each mother should make her child first, a ...

Sound is important. Anyone who takes on a story takes on the responsibility of passing it on. A.K Ramanujan,...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 55

06/03/2022

Lore of the Light: A Brief History of Nine Planets in India- ४

It was a short journey and my first to Ujjain in Central India. The city of time itself. I...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 57

23/10/2021

Turiya and RamaKrishna: Who Are You?- ११

Nara commentates … First called is Svante, alittle five year old sannyas aspirant, and subodhi, his mother. Ramakrishna tells him to shut...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 63

24/07/2021

The Road will Tell you- III/VII

It rains as i write this, mad heart, be brave. Continuation from Call of the Now and Life and...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 80

20/05/2021

9 Ancient Yogic Ways to fight Corona Pandemic

When flood comes, the fish eat ants. But when water dries, the ants eat fish. – Theory of Life, Virus will be...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 62

A Land Devoted To Light

Published by Narayan Kaudinya

India that is Bharat* is the oldest living civilisation on Earth, and to even our surprise we at times get tired of celebrating so many festivals that arrive week...

24/10/2022

Comments 77

Ancient Travellers, Announcements and Celebrations, Enjoy the Paintings

Why Do I Like Gandhi?

Published by Narayan Kaudinya

Because he was an admirable Walker, to start with. 2nd of October is imprinted in each Indians heart. Not only because it is M.K Gandhi’s birthdate. But to us...

02/10/2022

Comments 65

Ancient Travellers, Gujarat, Health for Life Tips

The Legend of Frederick Pahari Wilson: British Raja of Harsil Garhwal

Published by Narayan Kaudinya

Pahadi Wilson was truly a Raja now, and the first thing a Raja does is mint coin in his own name. These are great Collector items today. He built...

10/07/2022

Comments 48

Ancient Travellers, Garhwal, Uttarakhand

Life Of Verrier Elwin: Past and the Present Of the Tribal Cultures In Central India: A Photo-ethnographic Essay

Published by Narayan Kaudinya

Elwin’s research work in India took place at a critical period leading up to the Indian Independence from British rule. Verrier Elwin first met Mahatma Gandhi in 1928 at...

27/02/2022

Comments 34

A Photo-Ethnographic Study, Ancient Travellers, Explorers and Documentarians, Madhya Pradesh, Narmada River, Oral Stories from Rural India, Tales from Rural India

31/01/2023

30 Moments that I was Grateful for in 2022: Last Visual Notes of the Year

January of 2023 is going to get over today. And for once I wanted to take out time to...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 33

21/08/2022

Road to Kali Ka Tibba Chail; One monsoon day around Shivalik Hills in Solan: A...

When the migration ended. Pluto and I decided to spend our last day here. Walking for an hour or...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 44

17/03/2022

Last Few Days of Winter from my friend Rinku’s Home, in Naggar- Himalayas: A...

You know I love Delhi for its years old rich history, but more often than less, it has only...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 43

24/07/2021

The Road will Tell you- III/VII

It rains as i write this, mad heart, be brave. Continuation from Call of the Now and Life and...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 80

22/06/2021

Call of the Now – I/VII

Image : Looking over river Shyok entering into Pakistan, from the last remaining Tibetan Monastery in the Gilgit-Baltistan Region....

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 66

24/11/2020

The motorcycle, Dalai Lama and the Meal – I

Few years ago, I was travelling with once upon a time a beautiful friend. And like all great friendships...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 108

Enjoy the Paintings, Guidance: Ways to grow, Philosophy, Yogic Studies

Mind, Meditation and Expectations

Not so long ago, it seems, i used to be able to meditate. A beautiful, silent, transparent state would arrive from somewhere; I presumed this was meditation. Now, nothing...

Mother Ganga, Uttar pradesh, Yogic Studies

The Phenomena Of Mind or Conquering The Internal Nature: Raja Yoga

Since the dawn of history, various extraordinary phenomena have ben recorded as happening amongst human beings. Witnesses are not wanting in modern times to attest to the fact of...

Enjoy the Paintings, Haryana, Myanmar Burma, Non-Fiction, Yogic Studies

My Ten Strange Days of Meditation at an Age Old Vipassana Centre: A Complete Guide On The Final Answer

It was 1ST February 2007, when I first wrote this article. Fifteen days after, when my supposed vow of silence ended. That was my maiden spiritual experience of living...

Central India, Indian Subcontinent, Mysticism, Turiya and Ramakrishna: Conversations around self- A Photo Book, Yogic Studies

Turiya and Ramakrishna: The Science of Breathing

The first act of Life as soon as we come out of mother’s womb is, we inhale. Maharaj Ji asked me to sit straight and take one deep breath,...

Ancient Life and Research, Guidance: Ways to grow, Madhya Pradesh, Mysticism, Oral Stories from Rural India, Yogic Studies

Lore of the Light: A Brief History of Nine Planets in India- ४

It was a short journey and my first to Ujjain in Central India. The city of time itself. I was almost strolling when on the ghats of Shipra river...

Turiya and Ramakrishna: Conversations around self- A Photo Book, Yogic Studies

A Brief History of Ancient Temples in India: The Secrets are in the conversation- ३

I had just arrived from visiting a temple in Uttarkashi with my Guruji in Uttarakhand. He is from the state and well versed in the ways of temple building...

Ancient Life and Research, Guidance: Ways to grow, Motivation and Inspiration, Turiya and Ramakrishna: Conversations around self- A Photo Book, Yogic Studies

Turiya and RamaKrishna: Who Are You?- ११

Nara commentates … First called is Svante, alittle five year old sannyas aspirant, and subodhi, his mother. Ramakrishna tells him to shut his eyes which he does, instantly, with full obedience, tight and very still,...

Delhi, Making of The Capital, Quantum Mode: Walking in Delhi, Turiya and Ramakrishna: Conversations around self- A Photo Book, Yogic Studies

Yogmaya : The Sacred Power that witnessed New Delhi – १

It was sudden. A day of change. Something shifted. Paradigm. Light. Its been months that I had known where to look yet It took time to find. Because it...

Ancient Life and Research, Enjoy the Paintings, Making of The Capital, Mysticism, Tales from Rural India, Yogic Studies

Truth, Evil and the Sun

When we reached Gopeshwar that night, Gana seemed speechless. But Neel looked at him with satisfaction giving an expression like then he has seen. We sat around fire, while...

Ancient Life and Research, Guidance: Ways to grow, Health for Life Tips, Yogic Studies

5 Ancient Secrets of Yogic Wellness – III

A long time friend and astrologer, who works as an Engineer in California has cautioned that the next 10-15 years is going to be very tumultuous for the world....

08/05/2022

The Pond of Saraswati and Meeting With the Brahma Kamal : Nara on a four day trek to...

Continuing from FINDING Brahma Kamal: The Divine Flower Seat of Brahma: Nara on a four day trek to Rudranath...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 96

24/04/2022

FINDING Brahma Kamal: The Divine Flower Seat of Brahma: Nara on a four day trek to...

They say, “once you decide what you really want, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 41

12/12/2021

Days in the Hidden Valley of Mandal and a Small trek to Ma Anusuyadevi Temple : A...

While studying culture and ancient practises in the Higher Himalayas.Continuing from Pandava Forest and the Brahma Kamal : The...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 79

04/12/2021

FINDING Brahma Kamal: The Divine Flower Seat of Brahma: On a Rainy Night from Delhi...

While studying culture and ancient practises in the Higher Himalayas. Continuing from Pandava Forest and the Brahma Kamal :...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 60

26/11/2021

Pandava Forest and the Brahma Kamal: The Nights of Change in the Higher Himalayas &...

But before finding Brahma Kamal, Nara had to go through the forests where Pandavas once roamed. Pandavas! The...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 118

06/08/2021

Remember me with a Lotus: Memoirs of heaven and birds in Kashmir- IV/VII

Narayan, do you know why I am here today? I kept my silence. I couldn’t see my father when...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 179

10/04/2022

Turiya and Ramakrishna: The Science of Breathing

The first act of Life as soon as we come out of mother’s womb is, we inhale. Maharaj Ji...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 77

06/03/2022

Lore of the Light: A Brief History of Nine Planets in India- ४

It was a short journey and my first to Ujjain in Central India. The city of time itself. I...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 57

26/09/2021

Truth, Evil and the Sun

When we reached Gopeshwar that night, Gana seemed speechless. But Neel looked at him with satisfaction giving an expression...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 46

11/05/2021

HYPNIC PICNIC : 5 elements Wind and Water published in Rare Journal

The journalist had been following my journey here on the Road to Nara and later found herself ecstatic on...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 11

16/10/2020

Life is only breath. Every other thing a distraction.

The night before was dedicated to red Hibiscus flowers. They ended inside the fire place while praying for the...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 39

15/09/2020

In Life’s darkness. Mother is light.

In these ongoing paralysing times of helplessness, while doing nothing; close your eyes. Think of water, a river. And...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 54

22/01/2023

Lost In Yellow: Visual Notes of Evenings Spent Wandering Along River Yamuna and Old...

Much like Lost in Translation I had been wandering, walking for a Research Project in Delhi; One of the...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 25

30/10/2022

A Celebration for the Sun: A Brief History of Chhath in Paintings and Images

I had not decided to celebrate today. But nature pulled me in. For last few months I had been...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 44

11/08/2022

Making of a Capital : A Short Travel Poem and a Photo Essay

And now we move to the rhythm of this restlessnessOn these streets many people dead they drive with recklessness...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 45

06/02/2022

Home and the World : Walking around New Delhi and Old in January ’22

Even though every day, slowly months and years seem to pass as fast as they arrive; January is special...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 50

04/12/2021

FINDING Brahma Kamal: The Divine Flower Seat of Brahma: On a Rainy Night from Delhi...

While studying culture and ancient practises in the Higher Himalayas. Continuing from Pandava Forest and the Brahma Kamal :...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 60

07/10/2021

Yogmaya : The Sacred Power that witnessed New Delhi – १

It was sudden. A day of change. Something shifted. Paradigm. Light. Its been months that I had known where...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 9

25/09/2022

Ten Hard Truths a Student Must Know For Life

Last week while taking a round in school, I felt someone is sobbing somewhere. I tried to find the...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 70

08/09/2022

NATURE and What We Humans Can Learn From the Inner Life Of Trees?

"If you want to walk in the moonlight, you might have to draw your own moon. If you...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 85

28/08/2022

Mine Against the World of Elon Musk: Some Secrets on High Performance and Thoughts on...

For most of us, our understanding of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) is drawn more from science fiction than...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 55

23/10/2021

Turiya and RamaKrishna: Who Are You?- ११

Nara commentates … First called is Svante, alittle five year old sannyas aspirant, and subodhi, his mother. Ramakrishna tells him to shut...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 63

05/06/2021

How I found my self ? And sooner my strength- I

In the silence of the night, the only sound that started coming was of the rain drops dropping, infrequently...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 54

20/05/2021

9 Ancient Yogic Ways to fight Corona Pandemic

When flood comes, the fish eat ants. But when water dries, the ants eat fish. – Theory of Life, Virus will be...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 62

28/02/2021

Born to Run

The first half of Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography makes some things abundantly clear: He had no natural ability to play...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 42

22/02/2021

Technique, and how must, can we learn one ?

Its amazing by how much we can get done simply by trying. Whether its writing, finishing a complex film,...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 17

Enjoy the Paintings, Life at School

What Children Dream?

Last Week when our projector abruptly died. We were in the middle of a focused class learning about the Human Body System. But the sudden death of our computer...

Health for Life Tips, Life at School, Motivation and Inspiration, Travel and Life Tips

Ten Hard Truths a Student Must Know For Life

Last week while taking a round in school, I felt someone is sobbing somewhere. I tried to find the source of the sound. Up and below as it lead...

Life at School

How Pandemic changed the Reality for Children? Corona Diaries from School

Its been over three weeks since our small school opened. Two years later; Seeing things coming close to a world more open, towards unafraid times again is nothing less...

Life at School, The Capital

Vandy and her Wonders

Day 6 I called Vandy again, out of love. To show our solidarity, that school is behind you, that we are with her in this hour of anxiety and...

Life at School, Motivation and Inspiration

Many Children and a School for Life

Anyone who in coming weeks, months or years comes across this post, must know that we are always on a look out for someone who is happy and wants...

Bruce Lee, Life at School

A Digital mind

The world has long gone past finding comfort for humans. Comfort seems secondary. They might only say it has only started. Facebook and Google will leave no stone unturned...

Two Days To Many : Few Days to the Angkor Wat Photo Festival in Cambodia

by Narayan Kaudinya

The newest feeling when you arrive in a new country, and not really to visit or to travel but you are invited. You are a fellow finding a story for a prestigious organisation. So active and pumped up i was that I had been walking everywhere for last two days in Siem Reap. But did not really reach anywhere. Concurrently It took me two days to understand that there are parallel roads running together through the Siem Reap central market, they looked very much alike. As it took me two days to understand two important Khmer words like Susrai/hello and okun/thank you, even though i am better with languages. I finally decided to rent a cycle with city tyres i.e. thicker than ususal as it was the best option I found then. And lord, it gave me wings. Today, I spent all day roaming around the outskirts of Siem Reap. Touching rural parts, unpaved roads, fields, seeing houses and realising the difference or the similarity with the huts there are in my country villages....

A Journal of Animal Stories In The Last Ancient Fair Of Nepal

by Narayan Kaudinya

“There is no other no other culture on earth that worships a woman as a goddess. And has gone to lengths, to make her happy, satisfy her with whatever means a man could imagine. Honouring her, doing little things, like this fair to keep her happy, may be to create another excuse to celebrate, however irrational it may be. Because you see, someone told me on this journey, that if in a family, a woman is happy everything will be favourable. Our goddess needs to happy, at any cost possible” GADHIMAI FAIR : A Journey through the culture of Nepal A sparrow woke us up. After travelling for three days overland, from Delhi to Kathmandu; changing buses including sharing a seat for seven hours with a goat. Through the night, travelling in a time travel bus I was transported from a civil society to a town living thirty years back. A town darkened by the moonless night, wearing a layer of fog only dissected by the headlight of a second world war Mercedes truck....

28/05/2023

Mind, Meditation and Expectations

Not so long ago, it seems, i used to be able to meditate. A beautiful, silent, transparent state would...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 34

30/04/2023

The Doors to Spring

I haven’t been walking enough since I came from South India. It was bereft of Spring and felt winter...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 47

19/03/2023

Smile Professor Einstein : The story behind Einstein’s most iconic ...

Smile for the camera, Professor Einstein! When the photographer Arthur Sasse asked physicist and scientist Albert Einstein to smile...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 26

31/12/2022

The Colours of November : A Photographic Journey

Second last month of another year will be done soon. December knocks or not it has arrived. Many a...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 51

24/11/2022

What Children Dream?

Last Week when our projector abruptly died. We were in the middle of a focused class learning about the...

by Narayan Kaudinya

Comments 76

Man’s Search for Meaning

by Narayan Kaudinya

When I returned to Ishbar that night, Shiban seemed speechless. But Dr Kaul looked at him with satisfaction giving an expression like “then he has seen.” And soon the moment came to explain to him what he had seen. We sat around fire, while waiting for the food to arrive. Open your ears, said Dr Kaul and he began speaking like reciting an over practised hymn. “The men in the east, he said, are trees; those in the south are flocks of animals; those in the west are wild plants. Last, those in the north like ourselves, who cried out while they ate other men, were the waters. When the collective sound of chewing filled the air, he started explaining about eating. The act of eating is a violence that causes what is living, in its many forms, to disappear. Whether grass, plants, trees, animals, or human beings, the process is the same. There is always a fire that devours and a substance that is devoured. This violence, bringing misery and torment, will one...

One Monsoon in Rural Bengal- II

by Narayan Kaudinya

After hiding under the monsoon tree i had thought of home and had felt at that moment home is calling. Bengal had become love filled for me because of Kaushik. I was living, moving in the rural country around his village as he wished to. We reached his home thinking i will take the evening bus to Calcutta but the moment we arrived at his place it started drizzling and it did not stop raining for next four days to come. Here I am writing from Kaushik’s village home in Jhargram. Its night. Light has come after nine hours. I have cooked six packets of maggie with peas and potato. We both will eat it all tonight. Kaushik has gone to get McDowell’s for himself. Its my last night. We are partying. Meanwhile, I posted that letter to M.Something happened. Let me share this. it was magical – I am fortunate to have spent a memorable time during west Bengal monsoons. The blue sky behind the clouds had slept and drizzling took a break from firmly falling...

Travelling through Rural West Bengal in Blazing Indian Monsoons- I

by Narayan Kaudinya

Monsoons are coming, Or are they ? They say that this year it’ll not rain but the skies are going to weep. Clouds have arrived two weeks early. Even the universe knows, that this time children are angry, they are not participating in anything. All are quiet and vulnerable.Few years ago, i travelled through Rural Bengal once in majestic Indian Monsoons. Being there it felt like my soul grew while in only seeing the earth showing her abundance, her happiness. So much went inside me then that i had to write a letter to a friend who sat far. Not to tell her as such, but to learn myself what was going. Clouds have arrived, I knew it ended right there with this photograph. I realised home is calling.Silda Football Ground Rain was never far behind. This happened to be that moment of my journey. This tree felt home away from home. Travels have not been too comfortable but its liberating to learn that i could come to west bengal at this time. Clouds don’t seem to...

One night at the Indo-Pakistan border

by Narayan Kaudinya

As Corona and the bats are the rhetoric of the year, i remember one night that came and crossed all expectations of mysticism and fear that will always go together, found me at the lonely town of Rajasthan with Pakistan. – The day was done by the noontime. After a whole day of chasing a manganiyar singer, I finished my interview with an old tribal song as i requested Veeru’s great grandfather who sat under a neem tree looking up at a bird. I left Veeru’s beautiful white wall, red lined home in a hurry. I was leaving for Tanot, barely even a town, 120 kilometres away from Jaisalmer towards Longewala- and visit Tanot temple situated right at the border of India and Pakistan. I rented a Suzuki bike for three days. and left for the wilderness. It was all fine till a point but after Ramgarh, the road transformed into something like riding a snake. A snake slithering across, passing through the dunes of the oldest Asian Desert, that has forgetton the horizon between...

The Great Indian HitchHike to Remember

by Narayan Kaudinya

I could well be passing my worst night. I had missed my fastest express to home, and was barely left with enough money to buy tickets again. Evening was around, I decided to reach the highway and do what i had never done. I started asking passing by truck drivers for a lift. As time passed and no one stopped, uneasiness was creeping in. I hadn’t done anything like it before. But I kept telling myself that if nobody stops I will rest at a temple or the next dhaba i may find. After a considerable time suddenly a big truck passed and seemingly started slowing down. It must have stopped 100 meters ahead. I ran. It looked strange at first sight for such a big thing stopping, for me!! It was a sixteen-wheeler trolley. Empty. I got in. There was only one small, frail person, the driver sitting. He was lanky, and looked too young to be driving anything like this. Also he looked grim, bit sad and may be in shock. Apart...