Ms Urmi Popat is an architect by profession but ‘travel big’ is her hobby and writing about it to reach a larger audience is a compulsive by-product of her hobby. Fortunately, her parents too share her hobby. This work has hit the market after her first work on her travel to Arctic and Antarctic entitled: Journeys to the Extremities of the Earth (Manas Publication, 2005) was well-received.
Urmi has chosen places only those recognised by the UNESCO and has presented them in ten chapters. She begins her first chapter on Russia after quoting Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes who had said: “The camera is modernity’s paint brush.” Photos included in the chapter on Russia and others confirm Fuentes’ opinion.
Moscow, getting its name from Moskva River, is a heaven for sightseeing. Whether intended or accidental, Urmi makes a political observation when she records of being received by “unsmiling female immigration officers” on her landing in Moscow. It seems to me a hangover of communist days of the Soviet Union. I still vividly remember, while going to East Berlin—then under the Soviet influence, from West Berlin in the age of Cold War, I was strictly warned not to make any jokes or laugh loudly! Be serious was the message!
Tibet is the theme of her second chapter. One thousand kilometres drive from Kathmandu to Lhasa, the soul of Tibet, the author’s family covered through potholed and dusty unpaved roads but rewards were “breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, past serene lakes and quaint villages and yes, yaks grazing in the fields.” To enjoy this ‘Forbidden Land’ of Lamas now under the control of occupying Chinese, one needs lot of perseverance to achieve the intended goal. That you would experience, if you wish to see, Potala Palace, winter palace of the Dalai Lama since 7th century, with time consuming procedures and chaotic queue.
China is her next destination, at least in the arrangement of lands visited by her. She is struck by Chinese paradoxes—modern skyscrapers of Shanghai with ancient places of Beijing, like the Great Wall or Tiananmen Square. As a matter of fact, the entire city is “one great historic museum,” as Ms Popat puts it.
There are equally or more dreamy destinations in the book in subsequent chapters. The book is full of scintillating attractions which one can visit, like Japan, Brazil, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Israel and Iceland.
The charm of this book is not only its pictures tell you a lot about the places described in the book much more than the words but also the text of description is equally readable. It contains primary geographic information like area, climate language, religion, capital and currency of the country described in the chapter.
The book is a must for anyone who dreams of an adventurous trip to one or more destinations covered in the book and for all those who intend to visit any of the countries captured by the camera of Urmi.

P. M. Kamath - Professor of Politics (Retd), Mumbai University & Hon Director, VPM's Centre for International Studies, Mumbai.