Category: Uncategorized
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Kandy is essentially a hill-station brightly centered in Sri Lanka with its main attraction being the tooth relic temple that is one of the major Buddhist centres in the world. Everyday thousands of beautifully bloomed lotus flowers are offered to the Buddhist Lord while the tooth relic is exhibited only when grievous natural disasters occur.…
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King Kasyapa built his capital in central Sri Lanka on the rock of Sigriya. In a rare case of urban planning he used the Sigriya or Lion Rock, measuring a massive 200 metre in height, on top on which he built his palace. The Unesco World Heritage Site is filled with colorful frescos and paintings…
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The Heritance Kandalama at Dambulla is a luxury 5-star property managed by the Atkins Spence group a microcosm of its surrounds and a hotel that offers noticeably the best of Sri Lanka. Overlooking the Kandalama lake, the hotel was designed by Geoffrey Bawa in the early 1990s, as a landmark project built in spite of political…
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Geoffrey Bawa cuts a pretty picture, as do his buildings. Steeped in architectural merit his works are often lauded as the epitome of Tropical architecture. Using nature to stir up a shenanigan he builds in tune with landscape, that probably is the most important element in his architecture and in effect his architectural practice. Its…
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Looking down over a foot is the Bruder with a look Marking clearing the nice from all the wary disguise Smart and highly evolved he makes an easy crowd Intelligence made to order and passion by the larder Of thought that comes far vision is what it becomes Binding the all by a spell weakest link in the…
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Perched on the rugged Bavarian Hills in picturesque Southern Germany the Neuschwanstein Castle, a 19th century Romanesque Revival Palace plays ode to Wagner and his marvelous compositions. The castle was commissioned of Ludwig II of Bavaria and built largely out of a personal fund. Built on a steep hill and surrounded by other castles in…
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Books, much like people can influence life by cajoling one into thinking, by offering a perspective, by simply entertaining or even at times offering for a change, much needed advice. In over a gazillion titles there are a whole wide range of books to delve into. From humor, to information, from recipes to hard-facts, from entertaining…
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Bursts of colour, impressive graphics and applied intelligence are striking elements in Architect Sandeep Khosla’s body of work that ranges between beautiful homes, snazzy clubs and institutions that are steeped in the highest realms of architectural values. As I headed down to attend his talk, I was very impressed by the alacrity of the design…
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The twinkle in the eye, the twinge of blush on the cheeks and a mirth in demeanor, laughing brings with it a great deal of optimism. Rolling over laughing or even bursting out in joy do much more than sky-rocketing one’s phenylethyleamine levels, take it from a girl who albeit briefly forgot how to even…
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Rising unflinchingly in pure white against the tedious backdrop of Baku in Azerbaijan is the stunning Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre designed by the celebrated Dame Zaha Hadid. With just over 4 buildings built, at the age of 53 Hadid received the Pritzker Prize in 2004, becoming the first woman to not only make her presence in…
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As I work on the foot-path project and write out my umpteenth article on car-free cities I stumbled upon the delightfully compiled and thoroughly analysed walk-score of various cities. While we are all rightly worried about the financial prowess of our cities through very important figures of GDP and the like, also worrying about the…
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Comprising over a hundred mountains that peak over 7200m the Himalayas, literally meaning ‘the abode of snow’ are home to the the world’s tallest peaks and the tallest of them all, the Mount Everest. Apart from the year-round snow, the rugged peaks and enormously awe-inspiring landscape, the Himalayas are also deeply steeped in spirituality. For us…
Vedasri Siddamsetty 