Jim Ankan Deka | Music, Photography and More

It took me almost four years to come out of my mundane, humdrum existence and start my five months journey in the North-east of India on June 12, 2015. I always believed in a quote by English writer and philosopher Gilbert K. Chesterton - "The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see." After visiting many places as a tourist, I wanted to see the world through a traveller's eyes. Yes, today I travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape me. My journey began in Meghalaya, a state in the North eastern region of India. Living Root Bridges in Mawlynnong, Asia's cleanest village (photo: Jim Ankan Deka) Khasi Heritage Village in Mawphlang (photo: Jim Ankan Deka) The Sacred Forest in Mawphlang (photo: Jim Ankan Deka) View of  the city of Shillong from the Shillong Peak (photo: Jim Ankan Deka | camera: Samsung Galaxy S4) A view from the Nongsder village (photo: Jim Ankan Deka | camera: Samsung Galaxy S4) Morning view in...

Road to Mudumalai National Park (photo - Jim Ankan Deka) "If you want to see tiger, go to a zoo; not a tiger reserve!" Says Nitesh, one of the officials of Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu. It was a bright sunny day when we reached the entrance of Mudumalai National Park. We already had rooms booked at The Nest Inn, a small but clean resort in Masinagudi (one of the five ranges of the wildlife sanctuary). The 180° panoramic view from the resort was actually astounding. The cool green background reminded me of my hometown in Assam of North East India. After checking in, we thought of going through the travel guidebook. First destination on the menu was the Moyar River, a tributary of Bhavani river which originates from a small town called Moyar along the Masinagudi. The moment we reached the river, which was actually very close to our resort, we got the stench of human excreta. What we thought to be a clean forest and animal destination, ended up becoming the lav...

I was kind of little reluctant about my trip to Dehradun, because I had just over 24 hrs at hand. What could I have accomplished in one day, trying to travel the beautiful land of the Gharwalis on the foothills of the Himalayas. But being a travel addict, I had to give into my passion. So my travel partner Parmita and I booked the tickets from Bangalore and reached the Jolly Grant Airport on September 21, 2013. Though we went to Mussoorie before, we had little clue about Dehradun. And as this was more of an unplanned back-packing kind of visit, we did not even book the hotel in advance. So, after reaching the city, we looked around and checked into a neat hotel - Hotel Doon Castle . The hotel was clean and what we found out was that, the 'Queen rooms' are far better than the 'King rooms'. Clean toilet, decent food and less charges - 3 things a traveler looks for before choosing a hotel. Doon Castle did provide us with all of those. Though we would have loved to re...

Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple is a 1000 year old temple. The original temple, identified as one of the oldest temples of Karnataka, dates back to the 9th century A.D. The temple is dedicated to the Lord Shiva. There are three temples within the temple complex - Arunachaleswara, Uma Maheshwara and Bhoga Nandeeshwara. The other portion of the temple houses a large indoor water pond, called Sringeri Teertha and has rock cut steps on which 100,000 lamps are lit thrice a year on main festival days like Deepavali. Below are few pics of the temple. Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Temple Entrace (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple (© Jim Ankan Deka) Sringeri Teertha (© Jim Ankan De...