If you are visiting India this year and you want to learn a few things about the country then it is always a good idea to read something about the place. These books will give you an idea of what India is all about and prepare you for your trip to India. I have compiled some of the best books to read before travelling to India. I don’t recommended you carry all the books listed here so why not get yourself a kindle fire and buy the kindle edition of these books.
India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Nine Lives by William Dalrymple
Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
2 States: The Story of My Marriage by Chetan Bhagat
Eat Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by
An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India by Shashi Tharoor
I hope you liked the list of some of the best books to read before travelling to India. If you have your favourite then feel free to list them below in the comments.
Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu and one of the four metropolitan cities of India was the third most visited city by foreigners after Mumbai and Delhi in 2007. According to the source 8,30,620 domestic tourists arrived in Chennai in March 2011 in addition to 29,558 tourists who visited Mamallapuram. Now I guess you just realised how popular is this tourist destination.
Chennai is popularly known as “Gateway to South”. It has rich cultural and traditional importance. The city is the perfect blend of old and new where the modern beliefs and conventional ways coexist in harmony. Both domestic and international tourists are attracted to this amazing city. Chennai has so much to offer to tourists that many revisit this place again.Lets take a look at some of the best places to visit in Chennai.
Places to visit in Chennai
Fort St. George Fort St. George is a place of pride for the people of Chennai. Built in 1640 AD, Francis Day and Andrew Cogon of East India Company were the supervisors of this project. This fort houses St. Mary’s Church along with a museum. It is said that this house solemnised the marriages of Robert Clive and Governor Elihu Yale, the founders of the Yale University in the USA.
The Marina Beach It is the second longest beach in the World. It has a wide sandy foreshore. Another important attraction on this beach is the Anna and MGR Samadhis, the memorials of the most popular former Chief Ministers of the State. University of Chennai, Chepauk Palace, Senate House, Presidency College, aquarium and Ice House are all located on this beach drive.
Kapaleswara Temple This is the 8th Century Pallava Temple. The ‘Gopuram’ or the tower of the temple is in Dravidian style of architecture. There are bronze idols of 63 Saivaite Saints and the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is located at Mylapore “Myil” means peacock and ‘Oor’ means town.
Guindy National Park This Park is the only Wild Life Sanctuary which is situated within a city’s limits. If you visit this awesome National Park you also stand a chance to visit other surrounding places like Raj Bhavan, Indian Institute of Technology, a Children’s Park with its own mini zoo, Snake Park, Memorials to Gandhiji, Rajaji, and Kamaraj. The Anna University of Technology, Central Leather Research Institute as well as the country’s finest Race-courses.
The High Court The high court of Chennai is the second largetst judicial complex in the world. The domes and corridors depict the Indo-Saracenic architecture.
Sri Parthasarathy Temple This is a Lord Krishna temple. Originally built by the Pallavas, this temple was later modified by the Chola and Vijayanagara Kings.
Valluvar Kottam This is a memorial built in the shape of the temple chariot in the memory of Tamil Poet-Saint Thiruvalluvar. A 33m tall life-size statue of the saint has been installed in the chariot. The auditorium at Valluvar Kottam can accommodate about 4000 people and is believed to be the Asia’s largest auditorium.
Birla Planetarium The Birla Planetarium at Kotturpura is the most modern planetarium in the country. It was constructed in the memory of B.M. Birla, one of the famous industrialists of India. Nearby is the Periyar Science and Technology Museum useful for young learners.
Anna Nagar tower park: Image by Aravindan Ganesan
Kalakshetra Kalakshetra was founded in 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale encourage and revive interest in Bharatanatyam. Bharatanatyam is the classical dance form of the state.
MGR Film City The film city has various film shooting locations and settings. It also has dubbing and recording studios. It was set up by the Government of Tamil Nadu and is located in Tharamani area.
Connemara Public Library The Library is located at Pantheon Road in Egmore. It is one of the well known National Libraries.
Crocodile Bank It is a research centre run by Romulus Whittaker .Crocodile Bank is about 42 kms from Chennai near to Mamallapuram. Varieties of Indian and African Crocodiles are reared and bred in this crocodile bank. There are about 6,000 different species of crocodiles and a snake farm is also present in the same area.
Amir Mahal Amir Mahal belongs to the Royal family of Arcot. It was established in 1789 and then later it was possessed by Arcot Royal family.
Anna Nagar Tower It is the highest park tower in Chennai located in Anna Nagar Park. It also has a special cyclic stairs.
Anna Zoological Park It is the biggest zoological park in South East Asia. It is the house for tropical mammals, birds and reptiles.
Groping in India is nothing new. Nothing has changed since the Delhi gang-rape, no securities have been provided in Delhi or any other metros in India. Women continue to get groped on India’s public transport.
The way they do it is by deliberately touching body parts and pretending that it is an accident in the crowd. The most common parts where women are likely to be touched are the bottom and the breasts.
In western nations; when someone sits on the seat next to you, they will try not to touch you at all. But in India, it’s completely opposite. When a man with bad intent sits next to you, they will cosy up to you and deliberately touch you. In these circumstances, you will need to shout at the man to stop touching you. There are good people all around and many will want to help you.
Many of these men do it on purpose as they know that they can get away with it without being caught as the victim do not raise any voice against them for the fear of reprisal. Plus in a male dominated society as India’s, it’s usually the woman who gets the blame.
Watch some of these videos and you will get an idea about the plight of women being groped in Delhi the capital of India. Women travelling to India either alone or in groups are advised not to travel on public transport particularly the busses in Delhi and Mumbai.
It’s not just the buses; women are groped in broad daylight especially in crowded places. I remember once when I was about 15 years old, I was walking in narrow lanes of Chandni Chowk – it seemed as if every man who passed by wanted to touch me. In one incident when I was only 11 years old I was at the Railway station in Patna, a man came up to me, touched me and ran away. Incredible it may sound; this is ground reality of India. You might wish to read about the sexual harassment of Michaela Cross, a 23 year old American student on a study trip to India. Sometimes, you wonder if Indian men are the worst types of men on the planet.
My advice to those women travelling to India alone or otherwise MUST not get on these public transports. I rarely use these buses anymore. Hire an auto-rickshaw or a taxi and sit on the back seat. Always stay on the side of the road where you can see the traffic and the people coming towards you so you can keep a tab on things happening around you. There is a chapter on how to deal with groping in my book “India travel survival guide for women” if you really wanted to travel on these public transport.
Recently I watched a movie called Limitless starring the gorgeous Bradley Cooper and I thought that it great. The story shows Eddie (Bradley Cooper) as a struggling New York writer unable to make any inroads in his writing career. On day, he meets his sister’s ex-boyfriend who tells him that he is dealing in this medicine called NZT-48 that allows one to use their brain to full capacity. The boyfriend gives him a complementary sample pill. As Eddie walks backs to this flat he takes the pill. Something happened to his brain and he was fully able to use his brain to the max. While still under the influence he wrote an excellent novel that his publisher loved.
But then the effect of the drug ran out and he went to see his sister’s ex-boyfriend so that he could get some more. But while he was there in the flat some people from the underworld comes looking for these smart pills and kills the dealer. Eddie escapes but finds the hidden stack of the NZT-48 pills which he takes and walks away after calling the police.
He starts using these pills! He realized that he is able to use the pill to remember and recall past experiences and events, has great powers to deduce information, learn and analyze, do advance mathematics and have increased eye-hand coordination. The story continues showing that he uses his brain to full capacity and confidence with the aid of the pills and becomes very rich.
I read about this amazing smart drug. I found that the way NZT works is by increasing norepinephrine and serotonin neurotransmission. It also elevates receptivity and synaptic transmission in certain parts of the brains particularly between the hippocampus, the amygdale and the striatum. This causes improved brain function, hand-eye coordination and muscle memory and reduce the need for rest i.e. sleep.
I wanted to see if there was anything like this smart drug legally available in the market. I discovered that there are a few “smart drugs” available that makes you utilize your brain to the max. Guess what I have some news for you!!
I have found a pill similar to NZT-48. And it’s not coffee pills!
It’s a medicine available in India and many parts of the world. Please don’t get me wrong! I am not a druggie or anything, I just happened to see the movie Limitless and thought it was a brilliant movie and whether a smart drug NZT existed or not.
I discovered Modafinil – Made in India
I searched the internet and found a few smart drugs. The one drug that caught my eye was called Modafinil (manufactured by Sun Pharmaceutical Ltd) a prescription drug used for narcolepsy and sleep apnea. I walked into the numerous pharmacies in my area and asked for modafinil. Many of them said they didn’t have any. I was losing hope! I thought modafinil was some kind of internet scam and no such smart drug existed. I thought I will make one more attempt. So I walked in this medicine shop and I asked for modafinil. The chemist nodded his head and gives me a strip of modafinil and told me it was 200 mg. I bought a couple of strips. It cost me about 100 Rupees (1.5 U.S. dollars). I had no idea why I bought and what I was going to do with it but went back home with it.
Anyway at home I searched online for Modafinil…
Here’s some basic information on Modafinil and what it does.
Sleep disorders are very common amongst adults. There are some sleep disorders that make it hard for people to get to sleep and there are other disorders that make it hard for people to stay awake. The difficulty of staying awake is usually brought on by disorders like narcolepsy and sleep apnea. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that occurs when your brain cannot regulate your body’s sleep cycles. As for sleep apnea, this is a condition where your upper airways are obstructed, which causes the person to have difficulty breathing in their sleep. People are usually unaware that they have this condition because they are asleep when it happens. But what it ends up doing is it causes them to feel sleepy during the day. Then they’ll have trouble staying awake when they are at work or school. Sometimes people who work varying shifts at their jobs will also have problems with wakefulness as well. Fortunately, there is a drug called “modafinil” that can improve wakefulness in those who have these kinds of sleep disorders.
Modafinil is a drug that promotes wakefulness. Nobody really knows exactly how it works but what scientists have concluded is that the chemicals in the drug have a way of disrupting the dopamine neurotransmitters of the brain. This disruption causes a person to become restless when they would normally want to go to sleep. In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration gave their approval to using modafinil to treat patients suffering from narcolepsy. In 2003, the FDA gave further approval to use modafinil for treating patients with sleep apnea and shift work sleep disorder. Modafinil can only be obtained through a doctor’s prescription. There are a number of medical conditions and other medications which can negatively interact with modafinil. That is why the drug is not recommended if you are pregnant, currently taking prescription medication, suffer from allergies or are suffering from an illness or disability. A doctor is the only one that will be able to determine if modafinil is safe for you to take or not.
Most prescription drugs have side effects to them and modafinil is no exception. One positive side effect that patients have experienced is an improvement of their short-term memory. This likely gets improved because their newfound wakefulness allows them to concentrate and remember things better. However, there are a lot more negative side effects that come along with this drug. Some of the most common negative side effects are headaches, nausea, anxiety, and nervousness. These side effects won’t necessarily need medical attention because you can treat them with over-the-counter drugs. But make sure you let your doctor know about which over-the-counter pain relievers you are taking because they could still interfere with the modafinil. There are also some less common side effects that you may experience from this drug which includes dry mouth, skin redness, vomiting, heartburn, muscle stiffness, runny nose, high blood pressure, diarrhea, and insomnia. Again, these side effects won’t occur in most people but if they occur in you then you’ll need to see a doctor right away.
If you are going to take the risk developing these symptoms then you should take modafinil in situations where you absolutely have to stay awake. For example, many nations throughout the world are issuing modafinil to their troops as a way to keep them awake on important missions. As you may know, many soldiers go on missions where they develop sleep deprivation because they have no time to go to sleep. This makes them drowsy and unable to focus completely on their mission. In a military setting, soldiers have to be focused at all times or else it could cost them or their comrades their lives. Therefore, modafinil has been issued to troops as a way to help them stay awake and alert. In the United States, the drug has only been issued by the Air Force to airmen who are flying jets or doing something else which requires all of their cognitive functions to be on full blast. It is not a commonly prescribed drug in the military, though, because of the side effects. That is why it is only used for critical or covert missions.
I did more research on modafinil and guess what it’s a widely used smart drug…
As I read more about this smart drug, I got to know that in recent years, modafinil has been used as a smart drug by lot of people from all walks of life. Those who want a type of drug that enhances a person’s cognitive function so they can concentrate and focus better. I also read that the US military uses it during combat situations. Like previously mentioned, modafinil has been found to improve people’s short term memory and help them focus more. So what a lot of people are doing now is taking modafinil without a prescription just so they can get these cognitive benefits. This is what is known as “off-label” prescription use, which is illegal to do. The majority of the people using modafinil for this purpose are students in college. We all know that students have a lot of stress with their job and schoolwork. When it comes time for them to study for an exam, they usually pull all-nighters and try to remember as much information as they can in a short amount of time. Modafinil is used as a way to help them do this. But since doctors won’t prescribe modafinil as a cognitive enhancer, these college students usually end up purchasing it on the streets or through some foreign pharmaceutical company over the internet.
As you can imagine, there are a lot of dangers in taking pharmaceutical drugs like modafinil without a prescription. People who don’t have their health evaluated by a doctor first are putting themselves at great risk if they take modafinil. These risks go far beyond the normal side effects of taking the drug. The severe side effects you could experience includes blood in the urine, chest pains, irregular heartbeats, kidney problems, shortness of breath, yellow skin, yellow eyes, and increased weakness and tiredness. Yes, that’s right you could actually become more tired from a drug that is supposed to keep you awake. So if you are using modafinil as a smart drug then you are putting your health and overall comfort level at great risk.
Fortunately, modafinil is not an addictive drug like so many other pharmaceutical drugs on the market. Even though its biochemical mechanisms are very similar to many addictive stimulants, there have been few reports of people getting addicted or dependent on modafinil. The only time people get addicted to modafinil is if they overdose on it every day in order to sustain their enhanced cognitive function and wakefulness. Otherwise, the withdrawal symptoms of modafinil are basically insomnia and anxiety. You should be able to deal with those without too much trouble, especially if you’ve experienced those side effects while taking the drug.
Modafinil can be obtained under the brand names Provigil, Alertec, and Modavigil. Different countries have certain restrictions on the drug. In the United States, its availability is restricted because of its potential to be addictive. This is why it is deemed a schedule IV controlled substance in the United States. However, most other countries don’t legally restrict it nor do they consider it a controlled substance. It is merely a prescription drug you can get like any other prescription drug. Regardless of where you live or what your intended use of it is, you should always ask your doctor if modafinil is suitable for you to take. If not, you could suffer dire consequences.
Here’s my modafinil experience
If you are wondering if I tried modafinil or not then YES I did 🙂
Modafinil with chai
One morning I thought I must try this. After reading on many papers and publication I came to conclusion that it was a genuine drug used in India and widely available in many parts of the world then it has to be safe. One morning after having a cup of my morning tea (chai)I decided to have a pill. After having one nothing happened for half an hour. I was getting really disappointed at this stage. But some tingling sensation started. I lost track of time. I had no idea what the time was, I just kept on doing things without taking a break. I was in my most productive self.
As far as I am aware you are allowed to import and even modafinil to the USA and UK. This means that you can buy them in India and take it your country. You can even buy modafinil online. But you need to be careful when buying modafinil on the net. You could be buying fake medicines or something different altogether. But I strongly suggest you think twice about using it. Everyone is different; it could have adverse effect on you. Best advised stay on coffee.
Modafinil side effects
Here’s a list of side effects of modafinil from a reputed website.
So you have it. If you don’t need it, don’t try it. Talk to a doctor if you need modafinil.
I am not saying you come to India to buy modafinil or buy modafinil online. This article was for information only. I don’t think I would be using this medicine. However, I will continue to do some reading about it. If you do take modafinil, could you share your thoughts here please?
Medical disclaimer:
This article is for information and entertainment only. I am not a doctor or pharmacist so any information here on Modafinil cannot be relied upon. No liability will be assumed for the use of this article. Anything you do is therefore strictly at your own risk.
Initially when I started my travel blog it was hosted on HostGator on shared hosting plan. It went well like my other websites but one day, they sent me an email (this is about 3 years ago) that they had temporarily removed my website from their shared hosting as it was taking a lot of resources. They will put it back if I do a few things hence I must message them if I wanted the site up. I sent them a message asking them what I had to do get the website up and running. They messaged me back a few things that I had to remove a plugin and had to add a caching plugin. After I had done all that, my site was up.
However I knew that I had to move my web hosting before I could do anything!
I contacted a few blogger friends and one of them was able add my website to her dedicated hosting. The hosting went well (for about 1.5 years) till a few weeks ago. She told me the site had grown and was not able to continue hosting my blog.
I then went into panic mode and looked for alternative hosting. I knew that it had to be minimum a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or at least a reseller.
I went on the web and searched and read website hosting reviews for hours and hours. I had helped a few of my friends set up their blogs. I had bought their hosting on eBay some of which was from the UK. I contacted the UK based company (which I had bought on eBay) and they were happy to give me a “managed” VPS for that included the following below.
4 CPU Cores 4 GB Ram 80GB Diskspace 80GB 2000GB Bandwidth and a fully managed cPanel
The price looked appropriate and cheaper than the bigger names. They responded quickly to all my questions and I thought that I had found my hosting.
I went and bought it after giving it a thought for at least 1 week.
They migrated the site and everything looked alight for 10 days and then things went pear shaped.
The website was down for hours and when I contacted them many times they kept asking me what I was hosting on the website. They fact is that they could not handle the website. I kept getting emails in my inbox that they server was configured properly and had failed.
The final straw was when my website was down for one entire day and when I messaged the hosting company, they had no idea what was going on and they rebooted the server. That didn’t bring the site up…
I have grudges against this company. In fact, I have a couple of small websites hosted on their servers. They staff had been appropriately responded to my questions, it’s just that they were not able to host my website which they didn’t want to admit.
I knew that it was time for me to find another web hosting company. Someone from Facebook ground recommended SiteGround.
I then spent an hour reading their website, SiteGround hosting reviews and comparisons. For example this one, Siteground vs Hostgator. A lot of people had written good reviews about them.
I talked to one of their staff via their chat. They told me the kind of hosting was needed and was assured that the site would be migrated to their hosting.
I then bought the WordPress hosting plan (their higher plan). I didn’t even have to send them the ticket. As soon as I signed up, there was a question asking me if I needed to transfer anything to their servers. If yes then I should complete a form which I did straight away.
Funny thing is that the previous hosting sever was down and I had no access to the cPanel. Luckily I had a copy of the complete backup. I sent SiteGound the copy.
Guess what…
After competition of the website migration form, I got a message from SiteGound in about 30 minutes that the website had been transferred and all I had to do was change the Domain Name Servers (DNS).
Which I did ASAP…
I checked after 4 hours later and the site was up…
SiteGround WordPress Review
Let’s take a look at what SiteGround actually offers…
Geeky SuperCacher- their own cacher plugin rather than the usual ones making your website faster.
Free Cloudflare CDN makes your website load faster in any part of the world by caching its content and distributing it over multiple data centers. When foreign visitors access your website, our CDN delivers the content much faster from the data center closest to them.
And a host of other things and support…!!
So all in all, I have am very satirised with SiteGround. I highly recommend considering their services if you have a travel WordPress website and want to save yourself a agony. Click here to find out more about SiteGround.
