The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, the arts, the sciences, and culture.
I visited Ghum and Darjeeling with my family. It was a wonderful trip. We enjoyed the scenic views of the Himalayas, the tea gardens, and the toy train ride. Ghum is the highest railway station in India and has a famous monastery. Darjeeling is a charming hill station with a rich cultural heritage. We had a memorable time there.
We went to the Paryavaran Mela in Ranchi and saw a lovely Chhau dance in the evening. Chhau binds together people from different social strata and ethnic backgrounds with diverse social practices, beliefs, professions, and languages. This semi-classical dance form originated at the royal court of Saraikela, now in Jharkhand. However, increasing industrialization, economic pressures, and new media are leading to a decrease in collective participation with communities becoming disconnected from their roots.
Settled more than 6,000 years ago, Erbil Citadel is thought to be one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in the world. The Citadel, which rises some 30 meters above the plain, is surrounded by a lower town that developed in the modern city of Erbil. The Erbil Citadel, locally called Qelat, is a tell or occupied mound, and the historical city centre of Erbil. Over the millennia, the Erbil Citadel has taken shape, each generation building new structures on top of those of the previous generation.
Kolkata’s Durga Puja is India’s official nomination for the 2020 edition of the UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Durga Puja is not only a religious festival, it is the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengal. Though predominantly originated in the Hindu ritual and legends, the Durga Puja celebration cross cuts the communal divide in many of its attributes. It is an epitome of harmony across caste, class, creed and religion.
Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Mediterranean cuisine. It slowly made a delicious journey from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the shores of the Bay of Bengal, where it got the exotic transformation.
The Kumbh Mela — the largest congregation in the world — sees world gathering of saints, pilgrims, devotees to take holy dips in the sacred confluence of the Ganga, the Yamuna, and the mystical Saraswati. Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse and purify ones’ soul of all sins. Recognized by UNESCO as India’s ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’, Kumbh Mela never ceases to amaze and its amazement is always felt in the grandeur of it being the largest religious-cultural festival in the world.
The Sé Catedral de Santa Catarina, known as Se Cathedral, is the cathedral of the Latin Rite Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman and the seat of the Patriarch of the East Indies. It is located in Old Goa, India. The word Sé is Portuguese for See. An episcopal see is, in the usual meaning of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Deserving every reason to be called the ‘Queen of Beaches’ in Goa, Calangute Beach is a paradise for nature lovers holding the spectacular beauty and charm. The beach reflects the unique Goan culture with a glorious view of the landscape serving as a perfect retreat for visitors. It is also the biggest beach of North Goa and ideal for witnessing the beauty of palm and coconut trees against the locale of the magnificent Arabian Sea.
The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state of India. The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. During the Gupta period (5th and 6th centuries CE), many more richly decorated caves were added to the original group. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta, considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, have had a considerable artistic influence. The caves were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.
I was travelling to Ranchi from Kolkata. I saw traditional Bengali masks were being displayed at the departure terminal of the Kolkata airport. It’s a nice way to promote the ancient craft of mask-making in Bengal. Throughout the world, masks are used for their expressive power as a feature of masked performance — both ritually and in various theatre traditions.
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