Dehradun, April 27 -- The golden hour

Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian

In my previous Sunday feature I had mentioned about my own travels to Rub'-al-Khali recently and how this famed portion of the Arabian Desert has attracted 'western' (i.e. European) explorers and adventurers over the past 200 years. And yes, you read that right, the past 200 years only. While one may say that Alexander crossed this part in around 330 BCE i.e. over 2,300 years ago and then much later Marco Polo & Ibn Battuta did so around 700-800 years ago, but their objectives were not purely exploration of the deserts. They were en-route to somewhere else and for something else. That's why I say that pure desert exploration or adventurism in Arabia is...