On the road from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, 20 kilometres from Pali (53 kilometres from Jodphur) is a temple dedicated to a bike - a bullet to be precise.

I spent a lot of time in Lucknow, eating. This blog is a round up of the hits and the misses Check captions for details.

This particular aloo ki sabzi is usually served with puris. No onions, no garlic, no other veggies - just a simple aloo with spices and a slightly tangy gravy of medium thickness. The taste is very similar to what is known as Bhandarawale Aloo in North India. Bhandara is an open meal system. A lot of people sit down in rows and are served this free meal comprising of poori, bhandarewale aloo.

Malti’s parents got her married immediately after she played state level hockey for the first time. “People would bet on the number of goals I would score when I played for the Northern Railways. I was pretty good,” she told me, her eyes lighting up at the memory. While showing me her strong calf muscles, she continued to talk about what followed.

I had never thought that a barren desert with endless sand dunes and no signs of civilisation could be so breathtakingly beautiful. After the pace of a city like Mumbai, the engaging and picturesque dunes of Sam seem to exist in a different time. Most tourists here are day visitors but an overnight stay at this extraordinary site is mandatory if you really want to experience the sights and sounds of the desert, the camel ride into the setting sun, the clear skies with a thousand sparkling stars and the local performances of ballads of the legendary lovers Moomal and Mahendra and Kesariya Balam to the soul stirring accompaniment of the narh (a traditional musical instrument) around a camp-fire.

Tucked away in one of the northern most corners of Kerala, about 114 km away from Calicut airport (now known as Kozhikode) is Kannur. Your flight is welcomed by the sight of thousands of lush green palm trees interspersed by paddy fields in small clearings. Formerly known by its Anglicised name of Cannanore, the district was home to the only Muslim royal family in the state of Kerala. This underexposed paradise has a variety of fare to offer travelers with multifarious interests. From sprawling clean beaches, clear backwaters, historic forts at drive down distances, sacred ancient temples, rejuvenating ayurverdic massages and a colourful bunch of people whose lifestyles are immersed in culture, religion and art, Kannur boasts of having a slice of it all.

A gorgeous rising sun from behind the mighty, lush green mountains, the calming ripples on the lake, a cool breeze and a slight drizzle making the green even greener, just the way you’d like it. This would be a very regular beginning for almost any travel story. The reason I chose to sacrifice a more creative opening to this tale is because these lush green mountains, the cool breeze, the lakes and the slight drizzle happen to be in the middle of desert country Rajasthan. Udaipur is very different from the scorching heat and the picture of the barren desert pictures that one usually visualizes at the mention of the state of Rajasthan.