The Blue Monk

Aurobindo Ghose (Sri Aurobindo) was born on 15 August 1872. He was an Indian nationalist, poet and yogi . Many years later, India became independent on 15 August 1947, freeing herself from the atrocities of the British empire.  Sri Aurobindo was one of the first Indian Nationalist who stated clearly that the entire nation of India ( Akhanda Bharat ) should work together to free themselves from the British Colonization.  He resided at many locations in Calcutta including 23, Scott Lane.  I visited 23, Scott Lane in 2020. The building is located at the end of a narrow lane behind Bangabasi College (amidst Baithakhana Bazar in Sealdah ), somewhat hiding and not visible from the main street. Initially, I failed to pinpoint the exact location of this building as Google Maps clearly betrayed me and the house numbers in this region don't follow a linear order. Local people in this area consist of local residents, businessmen, publishers and wholesale dealers having scanty id...

Montreal is a city of surprises. It never fails to surprise me when I am on a leisurely saunter. This time it was the Mile-End District on a very hot afternoon. If you already know about the Mile-end area, you may have walked on Waverly ( aka Waverly Street ). One cannot really ignore this green corridor and the beautiful houses on both sides of the street occupied by Jewish residents spanning many generations.  While walking here, I noticed some books on the sidewalk lying unnoticed in an organized manner. The books ranged from architecture to poem collections - both in English and French. I looked around to assure whether there is a price tag attached to the books. There was none. I wanted to pick up something on Montreal architecture but two other books caught my attention.  The Books on the Sidewalk Quite happily, I returned home with couple of them: 1. "Lenin and the Russian Revolution" by Christopher Hill, written exclusively for the general public and,  2. "T...

I am not a born traveler. But, traveling to some of the places gave me the best moments of my life. I had to leave my beautiful hometown (Kolkata, India) which captures most of my childhood and period up to my graduation. In mid-20s, I lived in Delhi and Gurgaon for work. Then I moved to Canada. Traveling gave me an itchy feet and I just wanted to travel more.  I don't make rigorous travel plans. Travel mostly stems from my curiosity, inspirational stories shared by other travelers, or, travel documentaries. In fact, I try to watch at least one travel documentary a day (but that's a different story).  I don't chase popular destinations. N othing discourages me when it comes to traveling and I  enjoy all modes of travel (e.g car, metro, bus, bike, cruise etc.).  I live in Montreal, Quebec - a multicultural universe to be precise. Today, I have shared a story of an alley.  If you are in the Old Montreal, loitering at the famous  Jacques-Cartier Squa...