Who has not heard of the vale of Cashmere, with its roses the brightest that earth ever gave its temples, and grottos, and fountains as clear as the love-lighted eyes that hang over their wave. - Thomas Moore, Lalla-Rookh   Expecting machine gun bunkers, I was pleasantly surprised to just stroll out from the airport in Srinagar into any other Indian town except with air-the fresh, soft alpine! I am...

As Swami Vivekananda reminded me (on a poster I found on a wall in Pondicherry), “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached!” My goals for any trip are to always discover new ideas, new places, colors and textures, and upon these to meditate and ruminate until my consciousness is recharged and I feel as though I might levitate a few inches off the ground. Such was my state...