Upon hearing a great piece of music, my music guru Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang” was fond of quoting Kabir: mann mast hua tab kyon bole? (Why open your mouth when the mind is filled with bliss?) I am often at a loss for words in the midst of Iceland‘s landscape and Kabir serves me well there….
This installment of Panjim Promenade puts the spotlight on Tobacco Square (Largo do Estanco in Portuguese). The Tobacco Square is bounded by the General Post Office, the São Tomé chapel and Casa da Moeda. What is now the General Post Office originally started out as a depot for trading tobacco whence the name of the…
The Church of Nossa Senhora de Saúde (Our Lady of Health) in the village of Sancoale, Goa, was built in 1606 and destroyed in a fire in 1834. All that remains today is the shell of its façade. It enjoys a delightful setting by the Zuari river, and the ruins provide clues to what must…
The Strandir coast of the Westfjords in Iceland exudes a melancholy air. Desolate, remote beaches lined with piles of driftwood washed up from Siberia only add to this sense of foreboding. Veiðileysa is a small inlet just before crossing the pass that leads into the next fjord Reykjarfjörður. Fog moves in less than an…
The crater lake Ljótipollur (“Ugly Puddle”) in the central Highlands of Iceland was formed in an explosion in the 15th C along the Torfajökull Volcanic System. “The name in Icelandic has the contradictory meaning of “Ugly Pool” and could be explained by geothermal activity and murky water shortly after the eruption, of which there is…
