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I Stepped Off a Bus in Una With No Plan: A Solo Female Traveler’s Story of Small Sacred Discoveries

 Summary A spontaneous stop in Una, Himachal Pradesh turns into a quiet walking journey through gurudwaras, street art, and everyday life. This solo walk  reveals how unexpected places can offer grounding, simplicity, and spiritual calm. A Small Sacred Pause When you step down from the bus at the Una bus station, as a female solo traveler, with the travel plan mostly spontaneous, to get your bearings, walk to Gurudwara Sri Damdama Sahib.                          This is more of a small room at the Indian Oil Petrol Pump. It is said that Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, the sixth spiritual teacher of the Sikhs, came here and rested in the garden. Here you can ground yourself spiritually in solitude and leave energized. Walking Route                                Then walk a little further towards the road above on your right. You will se...
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Monsoon in Dharamkot and McLeodganj: Cafes, Pine Trails, Music, and Moonlit Himalayan Walks

Three girls someone would have surely asked what others were wearing."Very casual sporty, jeans",I replied. On the way we stopped for food and coffee, enjoying rain amongst monsoonish lush green piny hills and black slate d roofs.                   We checked into an almost vacant travel hostel that they had previously stayed at. An Evening Walk to Once in Nature Cafe  Then a long evening walk downhill amongst grafitti walls and stairs and an equally photogenic stray dog to find Once in Nature cafe. Selfies with wild daisies and cafe lights in the background as dusk turned into dark. The cafe has an outdoor and a roofed area with walls and pillars painted with dragons, giant mushrooms and sunflower.  The stage wall is painted with Saraswati with sitar, swan in water, bird and a large banyan tree. Definitely order the Bhagsu cake which we must have ordered atleast four times till the last order. The menu is basically vegan Israeli di...

A Morning in Tashi Jong: Monastery, Art and Conversations in the Kangra Valley

Summary Tashi Jong is a small village, a flourishing haven of Tibetan art based in Drukpa Kagyu tradition of Buddhism. Tashi Jong From Baijnath chowk or bus station, take a bus that stops enroute Tashi Jong.This is a small village, a flourishing haven of Tibetan art based in Drukpa Kagyu tradition of Buddhism.At the foothills you are greeted by a roaring stream, bright yellowish-orange and  white flowered trees in April,snow-capped mountains, white patches of clouds in the blue sky. A bridge over it connects to nearby houses.Locals are seen offering prayers in the morning at the small temples on the bridge.You will find autos to take you uphill to the monastery if you have time constraints.You can always choose a leisure walk back  after having visited the monastery. Inside the Monastery Prayer Hall                                                   ...

Kangra and Baijnath

If  you  get up before the rest of Kangra,you will be greeted by hornbills and cute donkey in the streets.Get into one of the numerous buses going to Baijnath. Where the bus stops for a while because of the morning  dairy vehicles, marvel at the staue of Shiva and Parvati on the terrace of the temple. In the bus, groove to retro Bollywood songs  with the view of water and trees .As the bus is nearing the Baijnath bus station, you will see the thirteenth century AD Siddhanath temple on your right, which you must return to later, for its magnificent beauty, peaceful vibe and bearing witness to local people performing Hindu religious rituals . The brown-coloured friendly  mountain dog, who frequents that area, makes a wonderful host to liven up your day. Do carry biscuits for him.

Baglamukhi mandir and Kangra

Now that your travel companions have reached the Una bus station, head back there geting an ice-cream in the afternoon heat. There you could wait for a bus to Kangra or more practically(too hot to be sweltering for longer than twenty minutes for a bus) split a prepaid taxi bill for approximately four thousand rupees.Ask the cab driver to take you to baglamukhi temple, kangra mata temple and to drop you at your hotel.Enjoy the view of the white clouds against the clear blue sky , trees of different greens and multicolored temples. Baglamukhi mandir is mostly crowded so wait in queue for the darshan. Dwar (temple doors) close around 6 pm for devi shringar when you will have to sit wherever you are in the queue till the dwar open again.You can get hindu ritual pooja in the temple grounds,click some pictures,buy forest honey, home temple supplies, incense from the shops within the premises.                             ...

Guide to a budget photography family-friendly Kaziranga national park safari experience

Kaziranga national park is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Assam, India located on the banks of the river Brahmaputra.It boasts of a rich biodiversity. When to go: The park is not open throughout the year, but only from November to April.  During April, Assam is hot. How to reach there: The closest airport is at Guwahati at a distance of almost 228 km.  Roads are well-maintained. How Kaziranga tourism project started: By Lord Curzon on the insistence of his wife, Baroness Mary Victoria Leiter Curzon, in 1905. Jeep Safari: The park is divided into three zones: Western range, Eastern range and Kohora (Central) range[known to provide maximum wildlife sightings]. Navigate the beautiful terrain offering a view of hills, marshes and forests in a jeep for two hours.   What sets it apart: Among all the Indian national parks I have visited, this graced me with the maximum display of biodiversity. In a span of two hours, I saw the one-horned rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, ...

Books and AI(Artificial Intelligence)

Credibility: I am Dr. Aashna Gill, a conservative, cosmetic, aesthetic endodontist (dental specialist) . My second book SANDS: Love-themed contemporary fairytales, illustrated poems and prose has been on UK and USA Amazon bestseller list twenty-four and twenty-one times respectively under contemporary poetry.  Best amazon bestseller ranks: United Kingdom : 1st USA: 1st Australia: 2nd India: 6th Formats available: kindle ebook, paperback and hardcover. French and German translated kindle ebooks and paperbacks are also out. linktr.ee/draashnagillauthor I published the original book at zero cost.    Since few days, I have been fascinated with learning to use AI. My creativity outlet is my published book. Works in progress include Spanish and Bengali translation. I am treating the Spanish version as an entire new project in terms of included art. In my books, each poem has a unique illustration or artwork, hardcover containing some of  mine and my illustrator Gurseera...