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International travel for Indians: As the COVID-19 cases decline globally and the vaccination coverage improves, many Indians have been anticipating that they would be able to travel internationally this year. The development has come to light in online booking platform Agoda’s ‘India-genous Travel’ survey, in which 39% of the respondents in India expressed their hopes of travelling abroad in 2022. The platform also said that another one of its surveys, “Return to Travel” also found that people were majorly concerned about understanding the COVID-19 restrictions and quarantine or vaccination requirements in other countries. Also read | Legends & mysteries: Haunted monuments have always been a big draw for tourists However, now with the Omicron wave proving to be not as severe as the past two bouts and with the cases receding, some countries have opened their doors to international travel, allowing people from many countries, including India, to visit without having to present a n...

Bhangarh Fort never fails to mesmerise visitors. As you enter the 16th-century fort—located in Alwar, Rajasthan—an eerie silence fills the air. Curiously, you advance your steps, only to uncover the legends and mysteries of the ancient monument that has been labelled by many people as one of the most haunted places of India. A Hanuman temple erected alongside a peepal tree on the right side of the gate first welcomes you. With divine blessings, you proceed towards a tryst with the ‘ghosts of the past’. The once bustling narrow lane of Jauhari Bazaar has now fallen to sleep while the structures remain intact as if waiting for its masters to return. Small, identical shops lead to the Nachan Ki Haveli (dancer’s palace), the Gopinath temple, Someshwara temple and the ruins of the grand royal palace. A step into the fort takes you 400 years back in time. Like a sad story, the ruins of Bhangarh welcome you, singing a faint elegiac song. A large army of monkeys and langurs remains the only ...

The Jammu and Kashmir administration is making arrangements to create 20,000-capacity lodgements in the Jammu division for the upcoming annual pilgrimage to the cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas, a senior official has said. Jammu Divisional Commissioner Raghav Langer said the 2020 and 2021 Yatras to the shrine situated at an altitude of the 3,880 metre were conducted on symbolic basis due to Covid pandemic, and this year the number of pilgrims is expected to be very high. “The expected huge footfall will definitely promote tourism activities in the region which witnessed a lean period over the past two years due to COVID-19,” Langer said, chairing a joint meeting of government functionaries and civil society members here on Friday to discuss and review the arrangements for the pilgrimage which usually takes place in the month of ‘Shravan’ (July-August). The Divisional Commissioner said the administration is making arrangements to create 20,000-capacity lodgments. A ...