Ma Narmada PariCarMa is the second book by Srinivas Shastri after ‘Brushes with Brahmn: Dancing with my Datta’. Srinivas Shastri is an ardent devotee of Maa Narmada. He states that he made nine trips to maa Narmada over three years from 2015. This book is the pictorial essay of the Parikrama ( PariCarMa in his words) he took in Nov-Dec 2018. In fact, what he says at the start of the book makes much sense. I asked my guru: Which is more important, the journey or the destination? He replied: The company. And for him, AshThak ( Ashok Thakur) was his driver and companion throughout the trip. AshThak had also made 3 other trips with Shastri- so there was a deep understanding and appreciation for each other. Friends Srinivas Siddappa (Srini), G Rajshekar Reddy (Grass), Sanjay Bobde (Bob), Umesh Shahra, Unni Kartha, PS Murthy ( PSM) and Someshwer Cherukure ( Som) joined him for some of the stretches of the Maa Narmada Parikrama.
ADDED FEATURES
Srinivas Shastri is also an avid photographer and Pro Ricoh Theta 360 camera user. So, the pictorial essay is really rich in its content. The caption for photos lists out the place. Wherever possible, the Plus Codes are included for you to use in the Search box of gMaps [Google Maps] and directly visit. Additionally, Srinivas Shastri has shared the Names of hotels he stayed in and even updated them to reflect their current [2021] names. His comments are on the facilities and value for money equation at these hotels.
In addition to the pictures in the book, there are links to Pixabay pages for the original picture. In some places, links to the Flicker album are given, where more images can be seen.
Though minimalistic writing is like a daily diary covering the routes and important events of the day. Written in a very conversationalist style- they add to the experience of being a passenger on the PariCarMa.
COULD BE BETTER
The only place I found it wanting was the orientation and size of many pictures in this Kindle edition. They were vertical when they needed to be horizontal and otherwise. Many were too small as the author tried fitting four onto a page- where they deserved to be expanded. I would have liked Shastri to add more details on the places of worship he visited/saw during Maa Narmada PariCarMa.
DICLOSURE: Srinivas Shastri is my Batchmate from IIM Ahmedabad- class of ’87
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