Categories: meta

Images and RSS feeds

I realized some time ago that images on the blog are not getting displayed in RSS feeds. I did not know this for a long time, since it works on my laptop, where images are displayed from browser cache. It would work for you too, if you see the images on browser first and then open RSS feeds.

paintedstork.com does not support hotlinks to images from other sites(such as Google Reader and bloglines), which was the cause of the problem. I have now enabled it for Google Reader and bloglines. If you are using any other web based feedreader to read India Travel Blog, just leave a comment here stating the reader you use, and I will have it enabled for you.


Categories: book review

Book Review – Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Author: Jon Krakauer
Publishers: Anchor Books
Pages: 333

From the very beginning of the book, Jon Krakauer creates an impression that this is a book that keeps the reader hooked. At the end of the first chapter, it becomes hard to put the book down until it is read completely.

Krakauer is part of a 1996 expedition that is attempting to summit Mt.Everest. Even though the going is not smooth and people face hardships and struggle at the high altitude, nothing remarkable happens until the team summits and starts their descent back to the camp. A storm strikes them on the way back. At the end of an agonizing night in unbearable cold, strong winds, and little oxygen, it leaves many people dead and the others weak and shaken.

Krakauer tries to log the events that happened after the storm struck, desperate struggle of those who got caught in the storm and rescue attempts by those who were in safety, and the events leading up to and after the incident. Besides the story of devastation from the storm, the book also logs the entire Everest journey, how it begins and progresses, the kind of effort that goes into the climb and the impression that the mountain leaves on the people.

Besides being an adventure book that narrates the struggle for survival in the harsh environs, it is also a detailed log of methodical approach used by teams to climb Everest, the ecology, local people, and economics involved in climbing expeditions. An excellent read.


Categories: newsletter

India Travel Blog – January Newsletter

India Travel Blog Newsletter is sent approximately once a month(sometimes after two months), summarizing the previous month’s activity here. Subscribe to the newsletter by keying in your email address below, or in the box on the top of the sidebar.

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Here is a copy of this month’s newsletter, dispatched today.

Hello,
Wish you a very very happy 2009. May the year be full of happiness and lot of travelling for you.

January 2009 desktop calendar wallpaper is now available on India Travel Blog. Go here to download it and install on your desktop.

2008 was an eventful year on India Travel Blog with more than 200 posts on various destinations like the mountains of Lahaul and Spiti, North Karnataka’s architectural spledor, temple towns of Tamil Nadu and then Rajasthan, besides regular features like Friday Photo, book reviews and some casual travel writing. A summary of important posts of the whole year are available now here, the highlight of the year being a series on ‘walks in India

The most important addition to India Travel Blog in the last month is posts on the painted havelis of Shekhawati. See list of posts on Shekhawati.

Posts on Rajasthan will continue in January, covering Pushkar and Jaisalmenr. Do keep visiting India Travel Blog – http://travel.paintedstork.com/blog/ – to see the latest updates.

Once again, wish you a very happy new year and a lot of travelling!