Dan the Global Nomad

In this very thought-provoking and entertaining podcast based on his speech for a community in New Jersey, Dan reviews the basic tenets of the major religions of the world and leads the listeners to the ultimate unity of science and religion. He finishes with a commentary on Einstein's idea of a cosmic religion. This is a must-listen podcast for everyone with the slightest curiosity of human nature and our world.

Novelist Henry Miller says “It takes a lifetime for someone to discover Greece, but it only takes an instant to fall in love with her”. I couldn't agree more. The darling of travelers, Greece always fascinated me. But I also felt that there was something mystical about it. Isn't that why we use the expression “Greek and Latin” for something incomprehensible? More than six hundred years before Christ, Greece transitioned from a mythology-driven society to rational modernity. A number of Greek philosophers debated and wrote commentaries on issues concerning daily life, merging the abstract with the real—science, religion, and mathematics. Their work formed the basis of the evolution of modern city-states like Athens. Later, this evolution spread to many European countries and beyond. The contribution of erudite Greek thinkers to our world is profound. Fortunately, everything in Greece is not all Greek and Latin, neither is it just some high-brow philosophy. In reality, Greece is a lot of fun. Enjoying the delightful sun and sand, taking in a little history and culture, and perhaps overindulging in some local brew to wash down the sumptuous seafood that only the Greek isles can produce - This is why I go to Greece. It is out-of-this-world good. For a real vacation, few places in the world can come close to Greece. Greece has some 5,000 islands, large and small, scattered between the Ionian and the Aegean seas. Only about 250 of those are inhabited. Not all of them are similar in their vegetation or rock formation, but most have a vestige of an ancient civilization. One thing is common, they all possess a breathtaking, picture-postcard beauty that comes from the crystal-clear, deep blue waters surrounding them, and their gorgeous beaches tucked between the surfing water on one side and the rugged mountains on the other. Beyond their natural beauty, these little islands are packed with history, mythology, and geological wonders thanks to their volcanic past. My favorites, the popular islands of Mykonos, Milos, and Santorini in the Aegean are part of the circular group with a special name, Cycladic. Santorini is romantic. It is for lovers and honeymooners. It is a place to laze around in the sun, sipping your favorite drink, taking in and enjoying the indescribable vistas of nature's artistic creations in various shades of blue and white with a colorful backdrop of rugged mountains. The charming village of Oia is where most of the blue-domed, picture-postcard churches are located. That is where I looked for Aishwarya again and again.

St. Petersburg in my eyes is the most spectacular city on our planet. The Winter Palace, the Hermitage, Catherine Palace, and Peterhof in St. Petersburg define imperial affluence. If I were to see only one city in the entire world, it would be St. Petersburg. Venice of the North. With their magnificent museums and palaces, large and lush gardens, Paris, London, Rome, and Madrid have been the most popular destinations for discerning tourists. And then there are other great European cities like Venice, Milan, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, and Vienna, most with meticulously planned public spaces, some with delightful waterfronts and aesthetic bridges, and almost all with towering churches, spacious plazas, and famous statues and monuments that are architectural masterpieces. Major parts of these beautiful cities have grown organically over centuries. Now imagine a brand-new city planned and developed from scratch and combining some of the best features of the famous older European cities. That was the dream of Tsar Peter the Great. He wanted the best of European art and architecture in one place, his place. So 300 years ago, in the year 1703, he specially commissioned some of the greatest architects of Europe to build for him the city of his dreams. They did exactly what he had in mind and thus was born St. Petersburg. It is simply unmatched in its beauty. If you have been here before, you would want to come back again and again. St. Petersburg is the nation's cultural capital, rich and diverse in its offerings. It has an astounding number of public facilities—221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, and 100 concert organizations. It is home to the Hermitage, one of the greatest art museums in the world, on par with the celebrated Louvre in Paris. Also located here is the world-famous Kirov Dance Company (now Mariinsky), the greatest center of music and ballet and historically, home of brilliant dancers like Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov who are admired throughout the world. Among the innumerable tourist attractions here, the biggest appeal is for the former imperial residences like Peterhof with its majestic fountain cascades and paradise-like parks, and Tsarskoe Selo which has the impeccable Catherine Palace of stunning baroque design.

The many achievements of the ancient Egyptians include designing and constructing massive pyramids, temples, and obelisks some 4,000 years ago. They knew then, advanced mathematics and medicine, irrigation systems, and agricultural production techniques. Egyptian art and architecture have been widely copied and carried to far corners of the world. Its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. Iconic sights of the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well as the ruins of Luxor, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings in the South and Alexandria in the North, reflect this legacy. This long and rich cultural heritage is an integral part of Egypt's national identity today. Welcome back to a new season of the Global Nomad podcast. I am Dan Mayur. In these episodes I bring to you the experiences and impressions of my travels giving you a new perspective on this fascinating world of ours. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. These podcasts are based on my books Global Nomad and The Four Ls where a lot more interesting information awaits you. We are blessed. We live in a marvelous world, full of art and music, sculpture and architecture, and science and technology, all products of human creativity. Human civilization is defined by the body of this collective knowledge. Together with the Indus Valley, Greece, and China, Egypt has been a cradle of the great civilizations of the world. Reflecting on the great civilizations in human history, as a family-loving man, a thought comes to my mind. If countries were people, Egypt would be the muscular grandfather, India and China would be the loving and caring grandmothers. Greece would be the wise father, Italy the college-going, artistic daughter, and America would be the rambunctious son - just entering his terrible teens. With all the idiosyncrasies of its individual members, this is a family dear to my heart. I would love to know what you thought of this episode. If you please, do write to me an email at danmayur@hotmail.com. And, if you liked the episode, share it with your friends. I believe in making these podcasts free and accessible to all. I am Dan Mayur the executive producer and narrator. Thanks for listening.

This brief trailer provides a glimpse of the contents and style of the various episodes of the podcast based on the book Global Nomad.

This is a trailer providing a brief glimpse of the Marathi episodes of the Global Nomad podcast. It talks about how people's behavior varies from culture to culture and also describes three distinct types of travelers. It is intensely humorous and will leave you wanting more. For that you must listen to the full episodes. Global Nomad are episodes are in Marathi and English. However, they are independent with different topics and not translations of each other.

In this highly entertaining episode in Marathi, the Global Nomad talks about a few interesting events in his childhood in his trademark style with great humor and sensitivity. And then he adroitly describes a couple of most fascinating characters, Gangudada and Aaba who seem to have appeared straight from Pu La Deshpande's famous Batatyachi Chaal. Gangudada reminds you of the India of the stalwarts Tilak and Agarkar. The vivid description of Gangudada's unexpected late night appearance is most entertaining as is the story of the improvised hair cut uncle Aaba gave the author. But the podcast's main character is Grandfather Baa whose larger than life persona will leave the listeners speechless.

Bangkok - The City of Angels Celebrated American author Agnes Reppelier says: “The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.” How True!! Hope is all I have. In this episode, we explore the beautiful city of Bangkok, Capital of Thailand and truly the ultimate playground of the world. So, Sawadee khap! That is a common Greeting in the Thai language. Bangkok was made famous by American soldiers engaged in a long, no-win war in neighboring Vietnam in the nineteen sixties and seventies. This was their coveted destination for periodic rest-and-relaxation breaks. But today Bangkok has taken over Paris, London, and New York as the most popular tourist destination in the world. And that is for good reason. Europe is all history and culture. Places like Hawaii and Bali are all play and rest. But Bangkok provides a healthy mix of history and culture, rest and relaxation like no other place in the world. Americans and Europeans come to Bangkok, for its year-round warm weather, relatively low cost of living, and great hospitality. Now the Chinese and Indians, with their newfound wealth, are flocking in droves to this city. In comparison, squeaky-clean Singapore is too boring and Hong Kong, too expensive. I see several reasons that make Bangkok immensely popular—food, shopping, nightlife, sightseeing, and business. There is one more reason and the most important one. The infectious smile of the Thai people. But that does not surprise me at all. With the kind of divinely delicious food they have and those gorgeous girls around, everybody here should be smiling. CBS newsman Bernard Kalb spent a lot of time in Asia. He says: “Bangkok is a rejuvenating tonic; the people here seem to have found the magic elixir. Life has not been wasted on the Thais”.

In this highly entertaining episode in Marathi, the Global Nomad talks about a few interesting events in his childhood in his trademark style with great humor and sensitivity. His account of his early book writing will resonate with the amateur authors and so will the story of his puppy love in elementary school. And then he adroitly describes a couple of most fascinating characters, Pítale Dada and Arminda Oza, who seem to have appeared straight from Pu La Deshpande's famous Batatyachi Chaal.

In this episode, the Global Nomad visits Phnom Penh and explores the history of Cambodia of the mid twentieth century. He describes the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the despotic rule of Pol Pot in graphic detail ending with the breathtaking story of Nrong Chan Phal, a child survivor of the brutal S-21 prison. Phnom Penh today is much like the Bangkok of forty years ago. The similarities are unmistakable. In the Thai language, the word Bangkok means the city of angels. In the Cambodian language, Phnom Penh means the city of Brahma's four faces. Brahma, of course, is the Hindu god of creation. Bangkok is situated on the Chao Phraya River with numerous canals. It is home to some distinctly British-style buildings. Phnom Penh is located on the mighty Mekong River and has some fine buildings with exquisite French architecture. The cityscapes of both are dotted with soaring spires of Buddhist temples and pagodas. Both cities have friendly people, excellent food, and a vibrant nightlife, a little naughty, of course. Once known as the pearl of Asia, Phnom Penh was considered as one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s. Shockingly, in this peaceful Buddhist Cambodia, comes along the cruelest granddaddy of all dictators, Pol Pot, who in a span of 3 years, 8 months, and 20 days during 1975–1979, brutally killed 3 million of his own people—men, women, and children. All Cambodians remember these figures, 3 million people in 3 years, 8 months and 20 days! In the January of 1979 nine-year-old Nong Chan Phal was found hiding in a pile of dirty laundry in the large kitchen of the totally evacuated, ghost town of the Prison by the liberating Vietnamese soldiers. He was cold and emaciated, but his spirit was high. His tale is a story of resilience and courage, of hope and the human spirit, of endurance and sheer luck.

French novelist Gustave Flaubert says: “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” The great pyramids of Giza and the temples of Luxor created that feeling in me. I experienced exactly that once again when I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia. At 1.3 billion, India's population is the second largest in the world and it is projected to become the largest in the near future. Indians, in general, are religious and about 80 percent of them are Hindus. But, Would you believe then that the world's largest Hindu Temple is not in India. And would you also believe that it is in a tiny country of a mere 17 million people that are not even Hindu? The Temple of Angkor Wat is a great example of human creativity. Its humongous construction is an engineering marvel. Not only it is the largest place of worship of any kind but it is artistically most beautiful with the finest bas-relief work and friezes depicting innumerable deities and stories from Hindu mythology.

In this episode we explore the exciting paradise of Bali. Ah, Bali!! The Three Bees of Beautiful Bali!! Blissful Beaches, Buxom Beauties, Bountiful Beer! It is not surprising that Bali ranks high in every serious globetrotter's bucket list. But for a culturally omnivorous person like me, there is a lot more to Bali beyond its beaches, beauties and beer. It is its amazing art! American Author Anais Nin says: “Life, religion, & art all converge in Bali. There is no word in their language for ‘artist'. Everyone is an artist”.

In this episode the Global Nomad takes you to Hampi to see the ruins of the Empire of Vijayanagar in South Central India. In its prime, About 600 years ago Hampi was considered the richest city in the world and represented a golden era of the Indian civilization. In historical significance, Hampi is to South India what the Taj Mahal is to North India. The ruins of Hampi - palaces, temples and bazaars - include some 500 monuments scattered over 25 square kilometers and are comparable to Pompeii. Hampi is one of the innumerable treasures of India. It must be preserved, promoted and enjoyed by all. Listen to this very fascinating podcast by the inimitable Global Nomad, Dan Mayur.

This Marathi episode, Atulya Bharat, or Incomparable India, is a part of the Global Nomad podcast series. It takes a humorous but thought-provoking look at travel to India and the prevalent socio-political culture of the country. In particular, it highlights the public behavior of some Indians, the influence of Bollywood on Indian life and the antics of power-hungry politicians in a most entertaining way. Finally, the episode ends on a heart-warming note on the real cultural wealth of India.

This is a particularly humorous, entertaining and informative episode prepared and presented especially for Marathi speaking audience. It is in response to popular demand after the success of the on-going series of English podcasts based on Dan Mayur's new book Global Nomad - Travels and Travails. The episode is full of entertaining personal stories delivered eloquently in Dan Mayur's trade-mark easy, humorous style. It will leave the listeners wanting to read the book and listening to more episodes of Global Nomad.