Reflections

Posted on April 6, 2013 by f1r5tim3

This blog started with great anticipation and recorded the entire trip — now it’s time to wrap it up. When Barbara Sansone of Spirit of India sent the final tour package, she opened her cover letter with “Wow! What a fantastic journey lies ahead for you!” I can say without hesitation that she was right. We built up our expectations to a level that would be hard to fulfill and those expectations were met. That’s not to say there were no challenges. But we had gone into this expecting challenges and determined to roll with the punches. The biggest challenge was that the itinerary was so full that the guides had to push to fit it all in. That meant many early mornings and long car rides. There are a few things I might consider changing. The day at Periyar probably could have been better spent. There is little wildlife to see and that so far off that it was a dot on the horizon. But the itinerary said not to expect a safari.

It would be hard for us to say that traveling in India is difficult because the tour made it so easy. It was a pleasure to not worry about how to get to the airport or where it’s safe to eat. We could focus on sight seeing knowing that our guides would get us to where we had to be, when we had to be there. A glance at our guide let us know if it was safe to eat the salad at this restaurant or whether an approaching vendor should be avoided. I always felt safe — even walking in crowded city streets. The guides encouraged us to try things, taking upon themselves to pay the tip or buy the tickets. There were a few exceptions like evening shows.

If you’re expecting things to be cheap in India you have to be careful how you shop. The first night in Delhi I paid $30 for two tall beers and two bottles of water at the hotel restaurant. But when we went to breakfast at a local cafe in Cochin, we paid a couple dollars for three of us. Granted it wasn’t our usual breakfast, but we had enough to eat with tea and coffee. We felt a little like sheep being led to slaughter when the guides took us to shops. In fact a merchant at the bazaar in Udaipur told us to never go to a shop with our guide because they got commissions. They didn’t pressured us to buy, but I think their involvement had a negative impact on the prices we paid. It was always couched as an educational experience to see how rugs or silk are woven or how petra dura is made, but it always ended up in a showroom.

The tour representatives in Delhi were very responsive to our needs, going out of their way to ensure we had a good experience. When I pointed out that one excursion on our itinerary had been dropped, it was immediately restored. Our guide said that she was told, “we want to add surprises to the tour, never drop what was promised.”

I had proposed at the beginning that we could probably take this trip in our eighties. I now don’t think that’s the case. It was a bit too demanding. But after all, this was not a vacation, but an adventure.

GPS Trail of our trip

Posted on March 16, 2013 by f1r5tim3

I’m going to try an experiment here. I told you that my camera had GPS capabilities. I left it tracking constantly which was hard on the battery but I had three batteries and charged them each night. The camera made a file for each day. I combined all of the files and created an aggregate GPS log.

Aggregate

You can explore this inset but for a better experience,(if you have Google Earth) click on the blue “Aggregate” link and explore in full screen. It will show you everywhere the camera went which is everywhere I went. And, although our pictures aren’t integrated, you can see pictures other people have uploaded to Google Earth for the same places. It even shows the track of our flight from Frankfurt to Delhi.

Kanchipuram

Posted on March 14, 2013 by f1r5tim3

The last day of our visit to India was spent in Kanchipuram.

It took a couple hours to drive from Mahabalipuram to Kanchipuram and we were pushing because Ekambareswarar, a very old and important temple, would close to tourists at 12:30 and not open again until 4:00. Along the way Mrs. Mani pointed out a temple high on a hill.

This is Vedagiriswarar Temple and is popularly known as the Eagle Temple because of the century long tradition that every day two birds would come to the temple at noon to be feed by the priests. This continued until 1998 when they vanished and never returned.

Mrs Mani started getting nervous when we got stuck in traffic in the little village of Ayyampettai where they were doing road construction. While we were stuck along the road we noticed the foreman of the paving crew was a woman.

Very near there we saw a Hindu Temple built into the trunk of a tree. I snapped this as we drove by. So it’s not very good.

Kanchipuram is one of the seven sacred cities of India and is called the City of Temples. We got to Ekambareswarar just in time. It dates back to the year 600AD. This is one of the most revered temples to Shiva. I told you about ways to recognize images of Shiva, but there is another way to represent him, the Shiva Lingam.

You will see Lingam of many sizes, some immense. They are basically a phallic post representing the male obviously, sitting on a base which represents the female. This temple had many.

The priests were very welcoming and, after giving a tika on the forehead, this time placed this silver crown on our heads for a special blessing.

Mrs Mani said that often you might see entire families on pilgramage together. They shave their heads as a sign of the surrender of vanity and ego.

There was a sacred mango tree that was said to be 3000 years old but it had recently died and a piece of the trunk was preserved in this case. Notice also the lingam.

After this temple we went to see some silk weavers. We had seen weavers before but this time we were promised a visit to the home of one family of weavers. Often you enter a silk shop and they will show a demo of weaving but they always say that most of the silk is woven in people’s homes. This woman welcomed us.

Their bedroom is in the back on the left.

The loom takes up most of the central room.

To the left of the loom is the kitchen.

And on the opposite wall from this work area is a small worship area.

After visiting the home we went into the showroom.

Betty really liked this orange sari.

But she settled on a red one.

And then she decided that she would never wear it as a sari so they said they would call in a tailor who would take her measurements and make an outfit for her while we had lunch at a cost of 700 rupee ($14). This is Betty talking to the tailor.

We went to lunch in a nearby hotel and our companions refused to see one more temple so they stayed there while Betty and I joined Mrs. Mani at Kailashnath Temple.

One of the unusual things about this temple was the preservation of the original paint on some of the walls. It makes you think about how different these stone temples must have looked 1400 years ago.

We went back to the hotel to pick up the others and started back to Chennai where they had reserved a room for us to freshen up and wait for our ride to the airport for our flight home. Along the way, the car stopped by the silk shop, Mrs. Mani reached out and took Betty’s outfit and we continued on.

Mahabalipuram at last

Posted on March 12, 2013 by f1r5tim3

We’re back home but there are a couple days unaccounted for. I’m beginning to get over the jet lag so I’ll post the last couple while they’re still fresh in my mind.

In the north you probably noticed all of the place names ending in “pur” like Jodhpur and Jaipur. Here it’s more common to find the ending of “puram” like Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram which I hope to blog about soon.

Mahabalipuram is a relatively small village south of Chennai where we stayed at the lovely beach resort on the Bay of Bengal. They don’t speak Hindi down here. Kunal said he would have to rely on English here. Ms. Mani speaks both Malayalam, the language of Kerala, and Tamil, the language here in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Here the subject is the Palavas kings of the 7th and 8th centuries. They developed the art of sculpting structures out of large granite bedrock exposures. These were in the form of temple caves, monoliths, base reliefs, or structural temples. I don’t know which category Krishna’s Butter ball falls into. This giant boulder was carved out of granite and seems to hang precariously. But Mrs. Mani said the Indian government, concerned it was dangerous, tried to pull it down but all of the elephants they could gather could’t budge it.

It measures five meters in diameter but it couldn’t be that heavy if Betty could hold it over her head. The name, Krishna’s butterball, comes from a popular story about Krishna when he was a child. He loved butter so much that he and his friends would steal it from the neighbors.

The most impressive base relief is the Descent of the Ganges.

This depicts a Hindu myth in which Lord Shiva saved the earth by capturing the river as it descended from the heavens in the strands of his hair and let down a single stream to flow to the earth.

The video below shows Mrs. Mani explaining a base relief within a temple cave.

From this you can see both Mrs. Mani’s enthusiasm for Hindu stories and the challenge of understanding her telling of them.

In a separate area is the complex known as the Five Rathas. It consists of several temples and other sculptures carved from a single outcropping of granite.

We drove a little distance from here to the coast to see the Shore Temple. This temple, overlooking the Bay of Bengal, is a structural temple made of stone blocks and not carved from solid granite like the other monuments that I’ve shown.

All of the monuments in Mahabalipuram are collective designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We returned to our hotel and were able to relax and enjoy the resort. While I swam in the pool and the Bay, Betty went to the spa and undertook a more ambitious henna project. In Jaipur she only had the back of one arm done. This time they did both sides of her left arm and the back of the right. It took them nearly two hours to complete it.

The solid finger tips is a characteristic of the southern region.

You’ll have to see her soon because it’s fading.

And here is a look at that long pool in the daylight. But this isn’t the pool I swam in. There was an infinity pool facing the Bay very near our room. I moved from that pool to the Bay and back until I had to go looking for Betty to find out what was taking her so long.

Sfo

Posted on March 7, 2013 by f1r5tim3

We’re on the ground and have cleared immigrating and customs and are just waiting for the airporter to take us back to Rohnert Park. Thanks for all your participation in the blog.

Mahabalipuram

Posted on March 6, 2013 by f1r5tim3

I bet you can’t make out anything in this picture. It’s the longest swimming pool in Asia at our hotel. We went to see silk weavers today in Kanchipuram. They work out of their homes so we got to see their home, kitchen, and loom. We’re going back to there now to pick up the dress they made for Betty. Then we’re heading back to Chennai to rest and clean up before our flight home. I got to see a couple more temples but everyone elsevis templed out.

Maderai continued

Posted on March 5, 2013 by f1r5tim3

I just came in from a swim in the Bay of Bengal but that’s the end of the story. I’ll back up to yesterday’s drive to Maderai. I won’t have time for our visit today to Mahabalipurim where we are currently staying in a beautiful resort on the beach. Maybe later.

I mentioned on my morning cell phone post a few things we saw on the drive. Some of them make you feel like you’re looking back in history.

We stopped at a market and walked through it. Everyone was very friendly although some looked a little curious. That’s Betty’s arm getting the flowers.

At first we were just wandering through alleys of crude stalls but then we passed through to an arcade.

When we got to Maderai we visited the City Palace.

Then we got on rickshaws to ride to the Meenakshi Temple.

I showed you a couple pictures of the towering temples. Here are a couple details.

Mrs. Mani, Betty and I went through the temple complex. A couple times Mrs. Mani asked if it would be okay for her to enter a temple and pray. We went back to the hotel for dinner and later I rode back to meet Mrs. Mani at the temple to witness the pooja. In this ceremony, Lord Shiva is carried in a palanquin to the temple of his consort Parvati to spend the night. Both of their temples are in the Meenakshi temple complex.

I mentioned in my previous post that no cameras were allowed but Mrs. Mani was able to get me a camera ticket with the proviso that I stop taking pictures if the priests objected. So these pictures are perfectly legal but I took them carefully trying to be sure no one noticed. I held my cell phone at my waist and hoped I was getting a good shot.

We waited at the entrance of Lord Shiva’s temple for the procession to begin.

Then, when it was past us, we scurried to the entrance of Parvati’s temple to be there when the procession arrived. Notice at the end of this rather long clip the hand covering my camera. That is Mrs. Mani. She later asked me to take more pictures but I was afraid the flash would go off so I didn’t. I didn’t want to get in trouble and I didn’t want to embarrass Mrs. Mani.

The temple was so empty because of the terrorist threats that I was very close to the ceremony. And Mrs. Mani was so pleased that it was the first time that she had been able to visit the temple of the Goddess almost alone. She said usually there is a long line, but yesterday she only had to share the space with one other.

Tomorrow is our last day of sight seeing. Shortly after midnight we will board our flight home.

Madurai

Posted on March 4, 2013 by f1r5tim3

I got back from the Pooja about 10 and had to shower and get to bed so we could be ready for an early flight to Chennai this morning.
I hope to catch you up before our flight home.
We drove here yesterday morning and stopped on the way to watch brick making and at a local market. It was fun and interesting and I think I got some good pictures to post.
In Madurai we visited the city palace but, more importantly, the Meenakshi Temple. Temple architecture in the south is different than the north and quite amazing.

We had read in the paper at lunch that there had been a sharp increase in security there because of terrorist threats. This was good in a way because it was not crowded. But bad in that we couldn’t take anything, including cameras inside. But I had my phone and Mrs. Mani was able to get me a camera ticket but they said I had to stop using it if anyone objected. So I had to sneak some pictures but not illegally. When Mrs Mani and I returned at 9 pm for the pooja I got some good video until she put her hand over my phone and I put it in my pocket.

This is a photo from inside the temple but not the Pooja. I’ll try to post that and other video from the day later. As you probably can tell, I’m posting this from my phone.

Up the mountain to Spice Village

Posted on March 3, 2013 by f1r5tim3

I posted as we drove up the mountain and told you of the various plantations along the way. There are many beautiful homes owned by the plantation owners like this rubber plantation.

You may be able to make out the cuts in the bark from which the rubber is collected. They attach a half coconut like below to collect it.

I also mentioned that there is a significant Christian population. The Kutty family, where we stayed last night are Catholic and rode with us to the mainland this morning. We were living, they were on there way to mass.

On the drive we saw many Catholic churches. Some more modest than others. Here are a couple.

Our first destination was Periyar Wildlife Preserve. We boarded this boat for a 90 minute cruise through the preserve. We did not see any great wildlife. We saw bison, deer, wild boar, and many birds.

When we left there we went to a spice market where Betty bought a few things. This is, after all, the source of much of it.

We each got a massage and came back to our rooms reeking with oil and jumped into the shower before dinner. Here is the obligatory photo of our room. As Jean said, it seems each is nicer than the last.

Then, as Betty prepared for dinner, I went down to the lobby where a dance demonstration was taking place.

We had a lovely dinner and will now settle down for the night. I hope the massage translates into a good night’s sleep. We’re off tomorrow at 8:45.

Tea plantation

Posted on March 2, 2013 by f1r5tim3

We’re driving the winding mountain road up the Western Ghat passing tea plantations like this, rubber, and tapioka. The drive is intense when you combine the steep drop with our driver’s aggressiveness. No blind turn goes by without trying to pass. I wonder how many times we can win that bet. The Spice Village promises to be nice tonight. We’re all going to get a massage. It will be my first. We will also go to the spice market and the cruise through the wildlife preserve.

India 2013

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