Shalu Sharma's Blog

By Nell Cook. In 2013 I visited India and loved the country so much I was inspired to write a novel. What prompted me to visit this amazing country? Well, it began with my passion for yoga and a desire to visit the country where the practice had been established around five thousand years ago. I’d been planning my trip for two years when life threw a curveball at me. I was given a bombshell diagnosis of kidney cancer just five days before departure. I emerged from the initial shock determined not to let fear get in the way of my adventure of a lifetime and boarded the plane to New Delhi. My treatment could wait until I got home – I had an incredible country to explore! I survived my adventure and cancer and emerged from the whole experience with a burning desire to write a fiction story inspired by what I’d experienced. My goal is to entertain and also to get the messages out there that; If you’re faced with a frightening diagnosis, don’t give up hope. You do have the courage to take t...

This is a story of my friend Rishabh Oberoi who went to the Kumb Mela this year. This is the part 1 of his visit to the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj (previously known as Allahabad). Part 1: The World Largest Religious Gathering of People on the Bed of Sangam I believe Indian culture is the most colorful and diverse culture on the planet. From the world-famous food to the way people look and dresses; our languages , music, art, dance, architecture and even way to serve food is different every 100 kilometres throughout the country. One place where you can really see the diversity and complexity of this culture is the Kumbha Mela . On the train to Prayagraj On the 7th of February, me and my holy friends embarked in an adventure to the wildest and most sacred fair of India. Of course, and like most Indians of my age, we were clueless about the real meaning of it and that’s why we started our ‘discovery journey’, to remove all the misconceptions in our mind related to this PURE, WILD and BE...

Most of us go on holidays for the kids. They are the ones who have the most fun. I have therefore decided to create a travel diary and journal for kids so that kids can write about their experiences while they are on holiday. Travel diaries are great things as it allows them to write down what they will be doing, what they expect, what they will be eating, what they want to do and so on. In this travel diary for kids , there are pre-filled questions (one of its kind) for them to write in the lines provided and I have included plenty of spaces for them to draw what they see and even paste photos if they wish.  My travel diary/journal for kids is now available on all Amazon stores. My Travel Diary: Travel Diary and Journal: (Travel Diary for kids) Here are some of the things kids can do in their kids travel journal: Personalise their diary Think of safety Prepare and plan ahead Write down contact and emergency phones numbers Write in the prefilled travel and holiday related questions E...

I have always loved to travel and travelling alone never bothered me. I had been to Australia, I had seen most of Europe, and because I wanted to my next trip to be somewhere new, I decided that I would travel to India . A few of my friends cautioned me that I might not want to travel alone and that I should perhaps travel as part of a tour group, or go with companions. At the age of 37, I was no stranger to travelling alone and I loved immersing myself into new cultures and meeting new people. I was a savvy traveler and had my mind made up; I was going to visit India.

Manuela, my friend from Colombia describes some of her best moments of her stay in India. Those who don’t remember who Manuela is, well she’s a girl from Colombia who decided that she wanted to live in India . You can read about her arrival here and about her adventures in Chandigarh .

My friend Natalia from Brazil was recently in India where she happened to visit the Taj Mahal along with other places in India. She sent me her account of her visit along with some of her photos that she took on her visit. This is the personal account of her visit to the glorious Taj Mahal . I hope you will like it and I hope her story will convince you to visit this amazing Indian monument of love.

You will remember that my friend Manuela arrived in Delhi from Colombia . Now she leaves Delhi to live in Chandigarh the capital of Punjab ! She describes her leaving of Delhi and experience of Chandigarh in her own words. An interesting account. Proving why Chandigarh IS the City Beautiful Even thought India is becoming a really popular destination for people from all over the world, not a lot of travelers know about Chandigarh . Of course you’ve all heard about chaotic Delhi ; Mumbai and Bollywood; the Holy city of Varanasi; Jaipur, the pink city; and all those ‘European’ paradises spread over the huge country like Shimla -also known as ‘the little Switzerland’- Pondicherry -‘the little France’- Kasol -the unnamed Israeli territory- and Goa , the party destination, where you can see the entire world hanging out together, especially on its famous Christmas and New Year’s parties… Would I make it to Goa on this December 31st? …

My friend Manuela writes about her experiences in India. She talks about coming to India and settling in Chandigarh. Read to find out more about her Indian fairytale. My own Indian Fairytale by Manuela Osorio Pineda From the very first moment I placed my feet in Indian lands, I had that strange but fascinating feeling of being walking in two different countries at the same time; not between a ‘rich’ and a ‘ poor ’ one – although the economic gap is so huge you can almost touch it- not between a ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’ country – although gender equality is still a utopia as in most regions of the world- and not either between a religious divided country, although the conflicts involving the beliefs differences can still be felt in some parts of the vast subcontinent.

By Marie McCarthy This is another installment from my e-book, Travels in India, the tales of my first trip to India in 2011. In this segment, I’m in Jodphur, taking a day trip to buy a dhurry and search for the tradititional Bishnoi villages. * * * I had seen photos of the Bishnoi traditional villages near Salawas and wanted to have a look. Prem had never been there and got directions from the hotel. As it turned out, it would have been better to have gone on one of the two or four-hour Bishnoi village jeep tours that the hotel could have arranged. I didn’t see anything like what I’d seen on the internet, but I had an interesting day all the same. I wanted to visit Salawas because I’d read on the internet that Salawas is known for weaving dhurries. I wanted to see them being made and of course to buy one or two. Salawas was close to the Bishnoi villages and only about 25 kilometers from Jodhpur. There were no road signs for either the Bishnoi villages or Salawas,...

by Marie McCarthy The main attraction at Jhunjhunu is the beautiful Rani Sati Temple. The center of the main building is five stories with three-storied wings on each sides, all colonnaded. The building is painted pale green. The temple is behind another gateway within the complex and looks like a mansion. Typical of so many places in India, there was a garbage dump next to the parking area, just across the road from the temple, where bony holy cows and skinny dogs nosed through the refuse, looking for something edible. Rani Sati Temple in Jhunjhunu

On the Way to Jhujhunu by Marie McCarthy In March of 2011, I made my first trip to India. I was not a backpacking, college aged woman. Rather, I was in my last decade of work before retirement. Adventure is not just for the young. Sometimes you’re better able to appreciate things when you have a few more years of life experience under your belt. As I nearly always travel alone, I had engaged the services of an Indian based travel agency, which had an itinerary of Rajasthan which covered all the places I wanted to visit plus a few I hadn’t heard of. I was traveling in a private car with a driver, which I thought would be prudent for my first visit. I could stop or change the itinerary as I wished, and my driver would not only keep me out of trouble, but he would be my personal ambassador. I could ask him anything and everything I wanted to know about life in India, the people and the culture. Having been invited by Shalu to share some of my travel stories here on ShaluSharma....