Broken Bangles: Putting Together Life and the World

Hi Traveller,  Magnificent, breathtaking, incredible, fabulous – no adjective can fully do justice to the marvel of the Orthodox churches of Russia. If you are a traveller searching for sublimated sights of history frozen in time, you must stand in front of Saint Basil’s Basilica in Moscow at least once. You will see the evening sky acquiring an added glow from the church's colourful spires and domes. No other experience can give you the authentic taste of ancient Rus than visiting the Orthodox churches.  As Winston Churchill once defined, Russia is "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Welcome to the marvellous enigma of Russia and its magnificent churches, of which many became Communist Party offices and administrative offices during the Soviet regime and were handed back to the folks of faith when that era passed. These buildings thus represent, above all, the passing of time.  The gorgeous Saint Basil’s Basilica is not alone in its ability to inspire awe a...

(image source: Pixabay) A cancer vaccine has always remained elusive for medicine and science. Is this situation changing? Is hope rising over the horizon? The Ovarian Cancer Vaccine According to the latest news , Oxford University scientists have developed a vaccine for ovarian cancer . This vaccine, OvarianVax, when available for use, will be able to teach the immune cells in our body to detect and attack ovarian cancer cells in the early stages of this disease. Prof. Ahmed Ahmed is the leading scientist behind this research.  The trial for this vaccine has started. The importance of this development is that when it is ready, this vaccine might wipe out ovarian cancer. Yet, this vaccine is still years away.  Why Is a Cancer Vaccine Still a Mirage? What is Happening on the Research Front? Catherine J Wu, a cancer scientist, was awarded the prestigious Sjöberg Prize for her contribution to cancer research  in February 2024 . She is a professor of medicine at Harvard...

 (Pellworm Island; image source: de.wikipedia.org) Hello Traveller, You are someone eager to walk unbeaten tracks. You wonder how people live in remote corners of the world where time seems to stand still, and life flows forever without much change. This is why you must visit Pellworm and Suderoog in Germany. These places might teach you an entirely new philosophy of life if you are the listening type.    Suderoog Island can be described in two phrases- one, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the North Frisian Wadden Sea, and two, called by many a floating dream. This island is on the mudflats of Germany. To benefit those uninitiated in geography and its weird diversity, I must explain that a mudflat is a tidal flat, a slob, as the Irish call it. It amounts to a coastal wetland formed by silt deposits in an intertidal area.  They are similar to bays, estuaries, lagoons, and bayous. The mudflats are alternatively submerged and exposed. Even when submerged, the water...

(Vanavara town. Image source:  Traveling Dunia) Hi, Traveller! You are fascinated by remote and isolated destinations and not the type to shy away from the hardships of exploring distant terrains and cultures. This is the first travel note for you in a series of travel plans you will surely want to read before you go off that beaten track.  A Trip to Vanavara Vanavara is the nearest human habitation to what was known as the Tunguska event. Now, what was the Tunguska event?  The incident happened in 1908. A meteor fell into the taiga and burnt and flattened a little above 2000 square kilometres of the spruces and birches growing there. This was the largest recorded meteor impact in history. And there are a bunch of conspiracy theories about the event, a few even claiming that the explosion was supernatural.  In the subarctic climate of Vanavara, everything is white when it is winter. This place is home to the Evenk people, the reindeer herders, hunters and fishermen. ...

Photo source: geograph.org.uk Footpaths are Memory Lanes Do we remember when we went for a walk for the first time? Every one of us might have trod a narrow lane or footpath for the first time with our parents: probably on our way to the shop nearby, to the school, or to a relative's or neighbour's house. The experience of those brief walks lingers. They taught us about the tiny pleasures of life, like a soothing breeze or the scent of green grass as it crumbled under our feet; the welcome and not-so-welcome sights of a stray dog, a blooming wild bush, or a crow perching on a tree. To welcome a new morning and inhale its charming sensations, to clear the mind by going on a walk on the seashore, or to stroll down avenues of calm and buzz with our friends, chatting lightly about you, them, and life! What is the one constant in all the above? The footpath.   Footpaths have a fascinating way of reminding us who we are. So many have come before us and walked the same paths. Their fo...