Photo of the Week
Amritsar

The Golden Temple, Amritsar, is one of the great sites of India. Captured here by Andrew Adams of Katha Images.


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BREATHEDREAMGO IS MARIELLEN


I traveled to India in 2005/6 on a six-month voyage of discovery and was forever changed. Now, I'm passionate about the power of travel to transform. I write about India, Asia and meaningful travel, wherever it takes place. Click here to read My Story. Breathe deeply in, let yourself dream and then go!

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Posted by Mariellen on 23 Jan 2012 | No Comment

Photograph of Taj Mahal, India

Do you want to stand out online?

Breathedreamgo Consulting offers writing, blogging, social media and travel services.

Please contact me if you need any of the services I offer: writing, blogging, social media strategy and India travel and business consulting. And read on to find out how I can help you and/or your organization.

1. Writing / Blogging

My expertise as a writer spans journalism, feature writing, blogging and copywriting. I have a BA in Journalism and more than 20 years’ experience as a communications professional under my belt. I have written entire websites for banks and mobile phone companies; travel brochures, websites and more travel blogs than you can count; health and financial e-newsletters; magazine and newspaper features; and much more. To see my travel-related portfolio visit the About Mariellen page. For my corporate website, see Mariellen Ward, Online Storyteller. (more…)

Posted by Mariellen on 19 Jan 2012 | 17 Comments

Mahatma Gandhi, India, partition, Shantaram and Eat, Pray, Love are not the only books about India: Here are 10 of my favourites

There are two types of people in the world: those who think Shantaram is a great book; and those who think it is a spew of virulent air, driven by the criminal mind and maniacal ego of its Australian pseudo-writer. I guess you can tell which type of person I am. This post is 10 suggestions for books about India that are better than Shantaram.

I tried to read Shantaram when I was living in Delhi, but ended up literally throwing it across the room. I thought it was poorly written and more about the fevered imagination of its writer than about India. In fact, it offers very little insight into India, if you ask me; and the longer I spend in India getting to know it, the more true this statement becomes.

Since that time, however, I’ve read lots and lots of book about India, by Indians and foreigners, and almost all of them are much, much better. Except Eat, Pray, Love. If you actually want to know something about India — rather than about an ego-driven writer — I suggest the following 10 books, in no particular order. (more…)

Posted by Mariellen on 18 Jan 2012 | One Comment
evening perfomrance from Jaipur Literature Festival 2011 in Jaipur India

Evening performance from Jaipur Literature Festival 2011, Jaipur, India

Indian writing is vibrant at home and abroad

In honour of the Jaipur Literature Festival, which kicks off on January 24 in Jaipur, India, I am publishing an article I wrote for the Maple Tree Literary supplement about my afternoon with four delightful Indo-Canadian writers.

Defining Indo-Canadian writing

Jasmine D’Costa sat solidly in her chair, looked at me with clear, wide-open eyes and talked with a sense of authority in her voice about her past as a banker in Mumbai and her present as a writer and editor in Toronto. Across from her, Mayank Bhatt talked about establishing himself as a writer in Canada, with an amiable mix of gentleness and conviction. Author Farzana Doctor listened more than she talked, but when she added something to the conversation, it was carefully considered and spoken in articulate tones, tinged with the formality of academia. Writer and book reviewer Niranjana Iyer, soft-spoken and well-bred, looked like an Indian Audrey Hepburn, and she drew me in with her huge, expressive eyes and the obvious intelligence in her voice. Each of these people is just that, people – unique in their background, outlook and experience. (more…)

Posted by Mariellen on 13 Jan 2012 | 21 Comments
Elephant blessing in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Elephant blessing in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India, 2006

Creativity: The missing link

I recently realized that my story doesn’t actually appear anywhere on my blog. By that I mean, a concise telling of why I blog about India. And it’s not like I just started this. I’ve been traveling in India, and blogging about it, for six years. But it feels like it’s time, especially since Sir Ken Robinson helped provide me with some new insight.

In early December of 2011, I marked the six-year anniversary of landing in India for the first time by publishing Six years of travel writing and blogging.  A while later, I was on Twitter and saw a Tweet from @SirKenRobinson, which said he was writing about passion. You have probably seen Sir Ken’s video — the most famous TED video ever, about how school kills creativity in kids.

I tweeted my six year blog to Sir Ken, he read it and retweeted it, and the next day his co-author Lou Aronica contacted me and interviewed me for their new book, Finding Your Element — which is a follow-up to their bestseller about passion called The Element. The interview with Lou was cathartic and made me realize why I do a lot of the things I do: it’s because I am a deeply creative person who has never had my creativity supported. Well, certainly not in school. (more…)

Posted by Mariellen on 9 Jan 2012 | No Comment
Bada Bagh, Jaisalmer: India

Bada Bagh, Jaisalmer: India is my soul culture

Immersive Travel column on Travel+Escape

Last month, I started writing a bi-monthly “column” for the new Travel+Escape website — which complements the new Canadian TV channel — about immersive travel. What is immersive travel? It’s travel that takes you deep into a culture and changes you. Immersive travel can be voluntourism, solo travel or long-term travel. It can be embarking on a spiritual path or a going to a health & wellness retreat. Or it can be simply an attitude. It’s about being open to a new culture, learning from it, and letting it change your ideas, beliefs and assumptions about life and the world. If you go on a trip, and see things differently when you get back home — then, you have probably experienced immersive travel. Here’s a synopsis of my first three columns. (more…)

Posted by Mariellen on 3 Jan 2012 | 2 Comments

Canadian Weblog Awards 2011 nominee

I’m really pleased to announce that Breathedreamgo was nominated for three Canadian Weblog Awards 2011 in the Writing, Travel and Design categories. The Canadian Weblog Awards are a juried competition intended to highlight good weblogs of all genres from across Canada.

This blog has always been a labour of love, and the product of several talented people, especially WordPress wizard Jennifer Johannesen of lowtotheground.ca. But I’ve never really promoted it or SEO-ed it as much as I could (or perhaps should) have; I’ve never really competed to be in the Top Travel Blog lists; nor have I (as yet) monetized Breathedreamgo, or thought of it as a business. Those days are all ahead of me. Perhaps.

But I have poured my heart into it! So, receiving recognition is doubly, triply sweet. Thanks so much to Ninjamatics, who run the Canadian Weblog Awards. I’m very proud to be nominated. And proud to be among bloggers like these, who won last year. (more…)

Posted by Mariellen on 29 Dec 2011 | One Comment
Photograph of Niagara Falls Ontario Canada in winter

Natural ice sculpture. Niagara Falls was a winter wonderland on Sunday night.

Niagara Falls: From festive winter wonderland to desolate tourist trap

In my last post, Niagara Falls: The Taj Mahal of Canada, I mentioned that I was on an overnight Jaunt — a flash travel deal to Niagara Falls that included:

  • a huge, double-room suite at the Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel, with jacuzzi, “fireplace” and a spectacular view,
  • dinner, lunch and breakfast coupons and
  • coupons for the casino spa and a sightseeing tour.

Read on to find out how I experienced both a festive winter wonderland and desolate tourist trap during my short 24-hour Jaunt to Niagara Falls. (more…)