PHOTOS

indiaunravelled

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Our beautiful host and dear friend Meena invited us to her home for Diwali. The Lakshmi puja was magical. We brought lotus flowers and sweets and all made offerings and received blessings. A very special puja and feel blessed to take our group to our friends home on this auspicious day 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Namaste and happy Diwali to all our Indian friends. May Goddess Lakshmi bless you with abundance and prosperity 💕💖

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Raising our glasses.... well, test tubes for a final toast on our Dasara Festival trip. After a visit to this wonderful UNESCO World Heritage site we made our way back to Chennai to part ways after 16 fabulous days together. Two have already left for weddings and yoga training and we missed you girls as we continued without you.
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What a wonderful journey it's been. Thank you for choosing us for your Indian adventure.
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Day by day posts coming soon. Seems I live too much in the moment to get posts of our days together up each day 😘🤣 Will have to learn to make time so we can share our journeys as they unfold.
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With deep gratitude to our guests, @Raviram our local Operations Manager, our invaluable partner @Indianvistas, all of our guides, drivers and hotel staff along the way that made it so special.
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What was the restriction on the amount? I forgot sorryA special thanks to my husband @varislux. Without you, none of this would be possible.
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~Catherine
Namaste 🙏🏻

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Temple offerings at Shiva Temple in the Peacock Trail walk with Lakshmi from @storytrailsWe couldn't ask for a more wonderful host and story teller 💕

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Last night's torch light parade on the eve of the Dasara Festival. The police of Karnataka put on a wonderful finale.
Love this pic I snapped with Varis' camera in my frame 📷

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On our way to our dear friend Zubir's wedding today. An honour to share in their special day 💕

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Lovely Lyn meeting our local herd of donkeys. I think they like her 💕

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Checked in and waiting for the last of our guests for our Dasara Festival to arrive. Very excited to get this trip on the road! So many experiences and adventures to come over the next couple of weeks 💕So blessed to share our love of India with our guests.Namaste 🙏🏻

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Mysore is preparing for the Dasara Festival and the first of our guests has arrived 💕 A little textile shopping last night. Not letting the rain dampen our spirits or keep us indoors!
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All over the world people are crying out for rain so we accept it as the blessing it is 🌧️🌨️🌧️

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Ever dreamed of learning to cook delicious Indian dishes for your family and friends?
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Being able to prepare all sorts of traditional recipes from several areas in India?
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Our Cooking and Cultural Trip including a celebration of the Holi Festival in the sacred city of Mathura departs late February 2020. 16 days of exploring India learning to cook in three different states, that means three completely different Indian cuisines!
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Cooking is not all this is about but it's an integral part of this journey. You will also visit Agra to see the Taj Mahal, Delhi to explore the sights and dine in a 200 year old restored haveli (mansion). Starting in our home city of Mysuru you'll visit ancient temples, villages, artisan workshops. The list goes on!
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DM for more details. Namaste 🙏🏻

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All over India you can hear the tinkle of glass bangles that millions of women wear as part of their every day dress 💕 From simple to dazzlingly embellished, the choice is endless!
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Red and gold are worn by brides on their wedding day and there is a colour to compliment any and every outfit.
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Wandering through markets is a fabulous and fun way to get amongst the locals and witness every day life in India 🇮🇳
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Join us on a slow travel journey to discover this wondrous country and her people. You can go home making music as you walk too 🎶🎶🎶
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Happy Monday lovely people 💖
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Namaste 🙏🏻

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Exploring Mumbai so we can ensure the best possible experience for our travellers on our Ganesha Festival trip this time next next year 💕It's the people that make India so amazing, but you can't ignore the rather spectacular Gateway of India. This pic snapped from the Taj Mahal Hotel where we will spend four nights in this fabulous city.Sitting in a very cool bar overlooking the famous Queens Necklace right this moment! We hand pick all of our hotels and experiences with you in mind.Register your interest now for this once in a lifetime experience 🙏🏻

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Our dear friend and business colleague Mona from @indianvistas braved the crowds and the chaos to get right in amongst it for Ganesha Virshajan with me last night. Hot and tired but so very happy. Feeling blessed 🙏🏻 Krishna and his fabulous team from @realityindia we can't thank you enough. We had the most wonderful experience of this very special festival and look forward to bringing a group next year to share the magic with our customers 💖Namaste

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Hanging out and helping Dad in the family textile store. This little back street has 30 or so textile shops. It could drive a girl crazy!While I was choosing fabric Varis went for a wander. This young man was very happy to pose for a snap. Love his hat 👌The back streets is where it's at. Discover India with us. Our philosophy of slow travel creates moments of magic everywhere you go 💖

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A trip to India is all about the people you meet and how they warm your heart 💕This group of little girls took me by the hand and showed Varis and me through their local temple, explaining the names of all the deities and making sure we didn't miss anything.Afterwards, we played together on the street. They had these wonderful wooden spinning tops and were so expert with them. Me not so much but I had such a wonderful time trying! They kept showing me how to do it and when I managed to make it spin they cheered me and jumped up and down with glee!Come with us on a journey to meet the beautiful people of India. They'll steal your heart too ♥Namaste 🙏🏻

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During the Ganesha Festival it is customary to visit people at home where they celebrate the festival with various rituals honouring Lord Ganesha and his mother Goddess Gowri.
We were very fortunate to be invited to several friends homes to witness their devotion and receive blessings 🙏🏻✨💕 These are the kinds of experiences we share when you travel with us. Our Ganesha Festival trip for 2020 will be released within a week. Drop a comment below or send a message if you'd like to be added to the list of interested travellers. We'll be starting off in our beloved Mysuru before we head to Mumbai for the finale of the festival and then to a nearby beach side location to relax for a couple of days before it is time to go home.
We are only 3 days into a 10 day festival so expect lots more posts from our favourite Hindu Festival 💖Lesser known than Holi or Diwali this festival is held toward the end of the monsoon season. It offers lots of opportunity to get out and meet the local people and share heartfelt moments with them.Namaste 🙏🏻
~Catherine

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My man and my ride 💕Srinivas is my favourite autorickshaw driver. He's been ferrying me around Mysore for years. A safe and courteous driver, and a good friend. Always so well presented. They just passed a law that all drivers have to wear a uniform now which is a rather drab khaki. Happy that on festival days they are allowed to dress as they wish.Srinivas is just one of a team of autorickshaw drivers that we have worked with for years now in order to be able to provide safe drivers for our customers when they are with us in Mysore.Every festival I buy him flowers for his auto. He always turns up with it sparkling clean and adorned so beautifully.How blessed I am. Namaste 🙏🏻
~Catherine

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Happy Ganesha Chaturthi 🙏🏻 May Lord Ganesha shower you with blessings and enlighten your path through life 💕💖 This is our temple at home.
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Lord Ganesha was a gift from our local Operations Manager Ravitej's family. His mother Goddess Gowri is made of clay and was a gift from Suma Lata who hand painted her beautiful face, a local artisan we had the privilege of meeting last week.
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How blessed we are to call India our second home and share in the beauty and mystique of this wonderful festival where devotees of Lord Ganesha pay homage and welcome him into their home for the next 10 days to receive his blessings 🏵️🌺🌸 Namaste 🙏🏻

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New sign at Mysuru Railway Station. We love Mysuru too ❤️

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The highlight of our artisan workshop walking tour is a visit to our friend @arun_yogiraj workshop. He is a sculptor working primarily with stone. His work has to be seen to be believed. Five generations of his family have carved their place in history and their sculptures will be admired by people for eternity.In spite of this, you could not meet a more humble man. No matter how many times I have visited his workshop over the past five years, it never fails to take my breath away. Varis and I feel honoured and privileged to watch him and his team bring stone to life 💕Yesterday his father invited me to to pick up a hammer and chisel and have a little tap at the Nandi that is currently taking shape. I must say I was surprised by how good it felt to make the smallest mark on the stone.
Imagine how it must feel to create such awe inspiring work. To carve away sometimes literally tons of stone or marble to reveal what he already sees inside. A true visionary artist of our time. Arun, we are forever in awe of you. ~Catherine

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The Ganesha Festival starts next week. My favourite Hindu Festival 💕🙏🏻 Just a little bit excited!
Lord Ganesha is the most loved of the Hindu Gods. Next week pop up temples will appear on the streets all over India.
People invite him into their homes and offer worship in the form of prayers, the offering of food, flowers, incense, and sweets. This worship continues for 10 days.
On the last of the festival Lord Ganesha is taken to the nearest body of water such as a river or lake to be submerged. This action of purification prepares Lord Ganesha to return to his heavenly abode having been present in devotees homes for the duration of the festival. Accompanying him on his journey to the immersion point are his devotees drumming, chanting and dancing through the streets.Most commonly the idols are made of plaster of paris causing a huge pollution problem when 100`s of 1000's of deities are submerged in India's water ways.There is definitely a change happening with people moving toward more environmentally friendly clay idols but the plaster of paris ones far out number them.
This lovely family in Mysore spend four months every year making clay idols. The majority of their customers still want them painted, but it is a really big step in the right direction and it is wonderful to see them getting more orders every year.
Our Ganesha Festival trip for August 2020 will be released very soon. We will be sponsoring a pop up temple in an under privileged community in Mysore. The idols are expensive and although collections are taken up in neighbourhoods not all communities can afford an idol and the necessary items to perform the daily worship.
Next we go to Mumbai where the festival is celebrated in the grandest fashion. In spite of the hype of this festival our philosophy of slow travel remain. After the colourful chaos we'll take a quiet break by the beach to relax and absorb the whole experience.This family will be making our Ganesha idol for us. May Lord Ganesha bring them many blessings and enable them to continue this important work for the community of Mysore.
Namaste 🙏🏻
~Catherine 💕