Not that diary

  A few weeks ago, with moderate encouragement from my sister, I found myself at the seaside town and health resort of Varkala in Kerala. After an hour’s taxi ride from Trivandrum we found ourselves at Papanasam Beach (Paap = Sin, Nasam/ Nasham = Destroy). There are two legends about this beach. The first is that Brahma (creator of the universe in Hindu mythology) instructed a Pandyan king to build a temple here to wash away sins. The second legend is that Narada, at the request of some pilgrims who confessed wrongdoing, threw his valkalam (piece of cloth) and it landed here where pilgrims now come to dip in the holy waters. This post is about the sandy beach and the lovely surroundings which you cannot miss. A more tongue-in-cheek take on Varkala is saved till my next post!   If slowing down is what you need (and I sure did) then this was the perfect place for it. Luckily we arrived towards the end of the tourist season so ...

Recently I had chance to visit the historic seaside town of Brighton on the south coast of England again. In continuation with the theme encountered in previous visits, this springtime visit culminated in chucking rain as well. Brighton's history and its fancy Regency past is the stuff of books and paintings. However this post is dedicated to the kitsch shop facades in Brighton's city centre. A shop for Friends: This shop below is clearly not selling carcasses: Continuing with the theme some shoes for the serious veggies. Initially this shopfront made me go 'Whaaat' (ala  TheLydiaBennet of LBD ) but then it clicked - shoes made without leather or animal skin. If fact, it shouldn't have surprised me at all. It is not uncommon for some Hindus in India to wear non-leather (canvas/ cloth-based or faux leather) shoes. In fact I can count a few family members who are pretty serious about this and extend the principle to bags/ purses too! This...