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

How often does someone get a chance to hang out with a king and a queen together? How often someone spends few days in a grand palace in the cusp of enchanting hills? Well, it did happen to me when my wife came home from office one day and told me that we should take a trip to Mussoorie, the beautiful hill-station in Uttarakhand. Thrilled as I was, I readily booked the flight tickets to Dehradun , as Mussoorie doesn't have an airport. It's about 30 kms from Dehradun and 60 kms from Dehradun airport. Paintings by Vijender Sharma, Delhi The journey in the Kingfisher flight was little tiresome as there was a halt in Delhi for about 5 hrs. Instead of hanging in the Delhi airport, we took off to the DLF Promenade mall in Vasant Kunj, had lunch and walked to the DLF Emporio mall near by. Surprisingly apart from the regular consumerism driven products we also came upon many beautiful paintings on display. Having feasted our tummies and eyes we went back to the airport to catc