Ira Bakshi
Articles by this Author
Angkor Wat - the Magnificence of a Lost Civilization
- By Ira Bakshi
- Published 07/22/2007
- Cambodia
- Unrated
The “Great Walled City” or Angkor Thom, the capital of Angkor, was built by King Jayavarman VII said to be the mightiest ruler. Spread over ten square kilometres and enclosed by a hundred meters wide moat also home to beastly crocodiles. Four colossal gates, each large enough to allow the Kings procession to pass by complete with elephants, horse riders and a band, faced in all four directions. The Baryon temple is unparalleled in its sheer size with fifty four towers built to represent the 54 districts of Angkor Wat. Each tower has one face on each of its four sides to represent compassion, knowledge, equality and simplicity. The enigmatic heads of the Bayon, It’s labelled its crowning glory, took twenty one years and many hours of labour to build. The Baryon temple is almost as impacting as Angkor Wat, the carving is not as precise as that of Angkor Wat, which was built forty years before the Baryon, but the influence is just as impressionable.
Bhubaneshwar - India’s Temple City
- By Ira Bakshi
- Published 07/29/2007
- India
- Unrated
Lofty temples and rock-cut caves set amidst elegantly manicured parks make Bhubaneshwar a city worth visiting. While history aficionados would rejoice in the architectural splendour of the numerous temples (there are nearly 500 at present), the city offers other sights to hold your attention. A stroll through the fascinating cactus garden, shopping for local handicrafts, a sumptuous seafood lunch at a unassuming eatery. Take your pick.
Phnom Penh - a fascinating blend of the past and the present
- By Ira Bakshi
- Published 08/29/2007
- Cambodia
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Stunning golden pagodas, exquisitely detailed stone architecture, dazzling white temples, serene statues of Lord Buddha placed between tranquil green pools share space with new governmental offices and tree lined boulevards, chromatic slums, crumbling colonial buildings and bustling markets that never fail to enthral and mystify.
Kolkata (Calcutta) - the City of Joy
- By Ira Bakshi
- Published 09/30/2007
- India
- Unrated
An insignificant village, cradled between the Gangetic delta and the River Hoogly, Kolkata was transformed into an important port and trading centre when the British shifted their trade to the eastern belt post 1772. When the British moved downstream to three villages - Kolikata, Sutanuti and Gobindapur in 1686, they laid the foundations for one of the largest cities in India. The British went on to unite the three villages and build a massive post their. In 1707, Kolkata was awarded the status of a separate presidency under supervision of the directors of The East India Company. In 1717, Mughal emperor Aurangazeb's grandson Farrukh Siyar granted the Company duty-free trading rights in Bengal for an annual token amount of Rs 3,000. Over the centuries, Kolkata has experienced mutinies and wars, famines and floods, the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and the Bengal famine of 1943, many intellectual writers and artists have been born in Kolkatta. It’s seen the swadeshi movement and Gandhian Philosophy, passionate Marxists, and communists.
Kuala Lumpur - A great place to start for a truly Asian experience
- By Ira Bakshi
- Published 10/23/2007
- Malaysia
- Unrated
Malaysia’s capital city is a blend of the new and the old and a mascot for the Malaysian Tourist board’s catch phrase welcoming tourists to Malaysia ‘Malaysia truly Asia’.
For a few years now the Malaysian Tourist Board along with Malaysian Airways has been creating campaigns in order to attract the foreign tourist to Malaysia, periodic
‘Visit Malaysia’ years as well as the Shopping Carnival held every year in March and April are some of the strategies used to attract tourists and bolster tourism. Kuala Lumpur or KL as it is popularly known is usually the point of entry for a tourist to the peninsula of Malaysia.