The Gems in our Backyard

Right from the first paragraph of the first chapter of the book I was highly impressed. Something resonated with me. Maybe because this is something I also profess frequently. We always crave for something faraway. We are fascinated by the tales of the exotic, even though we have hardly explored the gems lying in our backyard.

Well did the book hold my fascination beyond the first paragraph. A definite yes. Welcome to Aditya Sathe’s latest book – Incredible India Bucket List.

Here is the first paragraph I was referring to:

Even I have a dream to travel around the world. However, I am fortunate to be an Indian. There are
so many fascinating places in this country. Every place is attractive because of a unique feature.

A civil Engineer and map maker by profession, Aditya Sathe is passionate about poetry and photography. His earlier work is a poetry collection in Marathi titled Chimukli Swapne. He also writes articles on various issues. HIs blog Adi’s Journal bears testimony to his creative outputs.

Let us keep in mind that this is a bucket list. So the places the author talks about are the ones he is yet to visit. But the fact that these places have made into his bucket list signifies his fascination for these places. the book contains description about 26 places. Since these were originally part of the Blogchatter’s AtoZ challenge the author is limited by the number of posts and by the condition that each post has to correspond to an English alphabet. What I mean is that the author must be having many more places in his mind besides these, but could not include because of the restrictions.

However, the places are chosen in such a manner that they give glimpses into the vast and varied landmarks of a huge country like India. The book starts with the Airavatesvara temple of Tamilnadu and moves to the Basilica of our leady of good health, also located in Tamilnadu. In subsequent chapters all parts of India are represented.

India is a multi cultural, multi ethnic, multi lingual and multi religious country and each of these elements have its own magnificence which are represented by the monuments created by various groups in various periods. India also boasts of one of world’s most bio diverse countries. Through this book the reader can have idea about each of such diverse elements of culture, geography and influence of history.

Here is what the book blurb says about the book:

There is a saying in Marathi, “केल्याने देशाटन, चातुर्य येतसे फार” meaning if you travel across the country, you become clever. In the case of our motherland, we are blessed with such a vast landmass and a varied culture. It is very hard to cover all the places from our Incredible India. So, this book presents you a bucket-list of 26 places spanning across India which include natural wonders as well as man-made master pieces which will not fail to impress visitors.

The book has an attractive book cover. What is special about the contents is that each chapter gives just enough information about the place and its background without getting too scholarly to kill the interest. The facts and myths surrounding the places are also presented in interesting ways.

Even though I have visited almost all parts of India, some due to the nature of my job and some due to my own interest, some places mentioned in this book came as surprises for me. I was also happy to learn many new aspects of those places I have already visited.

Finally I wish the pandemic is over soon and the author is able to fulfill his bucket list. I have similar wishes also for the reader who is motivated to create her own bucket list and pursue it after reading this book.

‘Incredible India Bucket List‘ is available for free download from Blogchatter’s library. There you can also browse and download other interesting books including my latest ‘The Beauty of Sanskrit and Sanskrit Texts‘.