Reiche, who died in 1998 at the age of 95, devoted her life to studying the Nazca lines, which she measured, cleaned, analyzed and charted daily from the air and from a 15-meter high platform she built. She developed the most widely accepted theories on the hundreds of drawings that cover a 50km belt between Nazca and Palpa, describing them as an “astronomical calendar”. “This work was done so that gods could see it and from above, help the ancient Peruvians with their farming, fishing and all their other activities, “ said Reiche. For example, she speculated that he drawing of the monkey was the Nazca symbol for the Big Dipper, the…

Until the 1930s, Nazca was like any other small Peruvian town, with no claim to fame except that you had to cross one of the world’s driest deserts to reach from Lima. But that desert has since drawn thousands to this tiny, sun-bleached colonial town, which was devastated by an earthquake in 1996. The pampa or plain, north o the city has become one of the greatest scientific mysteries in the Americas. The Nazca lines are a series of drawings of animals, geometric figures and birds ranging up to 300 meters in size, scratched on to the arid crust of the desert and preserved for about 2000 years, owing to a complete lack of…

Described as one of India’s finest cities from time to time down the centuries, Ahmedabad is today the principal city of Gujarat. A major centre of India’s textile trade and industry since the 15th century, its history shows a marked pattern of rise and decline. But significantly, Ahmedabad has, like the legendary phoenix, risen and lived again as a fascinating blend of the past and the present. It was the capital of Gujarat state till 1970, but even when the capital was shifted go Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad continued to flourish. Today, Ahmedabad is not just a bustling industrial and commercial center but also one of the best places to study the…