Life's a Journey not a Destination

Monday, March 03, 2008

Destination India - A visit by a group of Multi-cultural, Multiracial Americans

This is the text summarizing the trip my father Jayakumar Daniel did for a group of Americans this January. He is a trip advisor and tour organizer who can do customized trips for travelers.

Destination India - A visit by a group of Multi-cultural, Multiracial Americans

The days are full of excitement when we have overseas guests. We are eager to showcase our rich cultural heritage for their benefit and to take them to the picturesque countryside far from our sickeningly congested metros. The visit by this enthusiastic Americans added a new dimension to it because they had read about and also were briefed thoroughly about India before they left the shores of their country.

A group of 20 students-a motley crowd of African, Korean, Sri Lankan, Latin American and of course, Americans- from the famed Drew University, accompanied by their academic dean and professor, landed in Chennai on 5th January 2008. They knew that India as a nation of great diversities with different languages, religious customs and practice. They had one objective and that was to study the culture, arts and crafts, enjoy Indian music and dances, and have a closer look at the great Indian temple architecture.

Leslie’s Tours took care of their travel and stay and the program while they were in India.

The academic dean, Ann Yardley who is an expert in music especially Indian instrumental and Prof Wesley Ariraja, besides having great interest in Indian music and dance, an ardent devotee of Gandhian philosophy, being the senior members, led the team. The group had their first hand experience of traveling by train traversing 3 states and staying in 6 different places. The tour started in Karnataka.

While in Bangalore, they stayed in a modern ashram situated very near to the famed ashram of Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar, the proponent of the famous Art of Living. The first Indian religious practice they observed was the worship of ‘Gomatha’ or cow worship. They also visited an ashram dedicated only to cows. The visitors were shown how some ayurvedic medicines are prepared from the cow’s urine and their by-products. They proceeded to the coastal city of Mangalore from Bangalore and from there to interior Karnataka to visit Mudabdiri and Karkala to see the ruins of a Jain culture and some Jain temples too. They also went to a modern Siva temple (Kudrevalli Gokarneshwara). They were extremely lucky to witness a buffalo race conducted by the wealthy landlords displaying their well bred and well fed animal stock. A short trip to the clean and quiet beach adjacent to Mangalore Port gave them a glimpse of the mineral wealth of the state. They saw Kuderamukh iron ore being exported.

They were treated to a grand dinner of local cuisine in one of the fine restaurants of Mangalore with fish as the main course and different rice dishes which the visitors relished with gusto!

From Mangalore they took a train for an overnight journey to Tiruvalla, a small town situated in central Kerala. Our guests were stunned to see the bountiful nature of Kerala, truly, God’s own Country! The verdant valleys, serene backwaters and lofty hills thrilled and energized them. They were awe inspired when they were told Kerala had the great fortune of welcoming St. Thomas in AD 54.The visit to St. Mary’s church one of the seven churches established by St. Thomas, was filled with solemn piety. They were pleasantly surprised to see some of the grand modern churches as well. The ‘puja’ at the Parthasarathy Temple, Aranmula, which they watched, bore silent testimony of our faith and reverence to the God Almighty.

Rev. Abraham Karickam, Principal, Marthoma College, Tiruvalla, in a lecture, traced the origin and the spread of Christianity in Kerala. He also highlighted how much the missionaries have contributed in making Kerala number one today both in education and healthcare. The visitors were really intrigued when they were told about the sects and sub-sects with blurring borderlines, existing in Christianity today in Kerala.

The excitement soared to a feverish pitch when they were treated to a luxurious boat cruise in the placid backwaters and also to a Luxurious island resort (Lake Palace Resort).

It will be fun to visit a place when the local people celebrate their festivals. The group entered Tamil Nadu on the Pongal day, Pongal being the harvest festival of Tamil Nadu. They enjoyed Pongal festival and even participated in a function in a village near Pollachi. They saw the traditional Pongal dances, Kolattam, Kummy etc. After the great buffalo race in Mangalore, they witnessed ‘Matupongal’ when Tamilians worship cows and bullocks which was yet another experience for the animal lovers of the team. In Madurai, they were amazed to see the massive granite pillars and sculptures and the ‘gopurams’ of the famous Meenakshi Temple. They also had an opportunity to witness an ancient Tamil custom of worshipping the Guardian Deity by slaughtering goats and hens . Some of the ardent animal lovers of the group winced when they saw this gruesome sight but others were just plain curious. But what struck them as important is the involvement of the entire family and friends in the worship. They also visited the Gandhi Museum and the very room where, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King sat to discuss ways to uplift the downtrodden blacks of United states.

The last lap was Chennai. They were taken to the usual sights of Chennai like the Marina and
Santhome cathedral and the must-go place Mahabalipuram where not only the granite sculptures, but even the stories told by the local guides fascinated them.

India being a land of diversities, culinary practice also differs from state to state. Varieties of sweets, vegetarian and non-vegetarian food of Mangalore, Uduppi, Syrian- Christian, Brahmin, Kongu and Chettinadu and some north Indian dishes were immensely enjoyed by this group of academicians.

Yes; it took me sometime to get back to reality after being close with a very friendly team of 22 people for about 18 days. Now I am back in my office charting the preliminary travel plan for a Swedish group who a re scheduled to arrive in October.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Georgetown, DC- something for every mood

Well thats a stretch. Maybe not a one stop for all your entertainment and timepass needs, but sure is a cool place to hang out. Georgetown is a quaint old part of DC - M street and Wisconsin being the heart of the action. Here is a list of some things I like doing in Georgetown.

The restaurants and food: A foodies paradise, there are restaurants every 10 metres on both sides of M street and the roads intersecting it. American, Indian, French, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Italian, Tex-Mex, pizzas etc. you name it there is a good chance you will find a good one in Georgetown. My personal favorites are Amma's for their masala dosas and Paolo's for their Pizzas.

The bars and nightlife: Again Georgetown has a wide range of drinking holes and nightspots. From Boisterous sports bars to quiet lounge bars to places with live jazz music to hookah bars. Some places I like are Blue Gin (cool lounge bar that turns peppy after 11), Old Glory (good meat and good draft beer) and Third Edition (Loud - when you are in boisterous mood - can get a little spring breaky though). Oh! mind you the crowd comes in, in most of these places only after 11.

Historical Attractions: The top on my list of things to do would be to take a cruise on the historic C&O canal on a mule drawn boat. The boat has been modified from the old times when it use to transport coal and other goods. Now there are seats for passengers. The boats are still drawn by mules like it was done a hundred and f

ifty years ago. The ride takes you up and down a short stretch. the interesting part is since the canal is on a gradient there are a number of sluices on the way and you spend quite some time waiting for the water level to be adjusted. In the meantime you are kept entertained by tour guides (park rangers) dressed in period clothes.

The other place of interest is the Old Stone House which has been preserved for over 200 years giving you a peek into the life of a 18th century commoner. The garden on site is also quite beautiful during spring and summer(an ideal rest stop between the shopping in Georgetown).

The quaint old brick townhouses, wish I could stay in one of them

Apart from this the Georgetown University and the Dumbarton Oaks are good places which I still haven't been too.

Harbor area: The harbor area is a beautiful place where the yachts are docked during the warmer months. There are also a lot of eating places with outdoor seating with a view of the Potomac River. During the evenings and nights you get a wonderful view of the Kennedy center and the Skyscrapers in Rossyln, VA.

Window Shopping: Georgetown is a good place for window shopping with the Shops at Georgetown housing a lot of shops under one roof. Other than that there are boutique stores selling designer clothes and things. When I first went to Georgetown about 2 yrs ago, I walked into a store with the idea of buying a pair of cuff links, The cheapest one in the store was USD35. You get the drift, but it is fun.

Movies: A cool multiplex. Actually nothing special about the theater just that it is in Georgetown giving you a reason to party after the movie.

People watching: Beautiful people (depending on which sex you prefer) in beautiful clothes. Need I say more.

Hmmm.... Wonder what Georgetown has in hold for me this weekend.

My photos of Georgetown are only of the C&O Canal (some of them are attached above). You can check out more information and photos at the website http://www.georgetowndc.com/

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Las Vegas of the East coast...Nah!

December 28-29

Went to Atlantic City, NJ last week for a overnight trip. We (Ram, Sid and I) left on the 28th late in the afternoon to drive towards NJ. We were armed with a Garmin (cool GPS gadget which tells us the way) and hopes of winning millions. The garmin has two options the shortest route and the second is the fastest route. We picked the shortest route and it took through some country roads and also West Baltimore (murder capital of the US).
Anyway we reached Atlantic city, the city on which the board game Monopoly is based. We saw some of the streets as we were looking for a place to stay (Baltic Ave, Atlantic Avenue, Pacific avenue, No. Carolina ave, and of course the Boardwalk). Again Garmin proved to be a worthy ally. We parked our car and started calling the hotels listed on the Garmin. We finally found a place called the Burgundy Inn (run by Indians) for a bargain. The guy was going to charge us 20 dollars a head for a room with two double beds. It was a little too Good

to believe and I demanded that we see the room. The poor manager was hurt and reiterated that all his rooms were good. It was a good room after all - clean and enough for the few hou

rs we were going to be there.
After a quick wash we headed to our first spot the Irish Bar and Inn. It was a quaint bar with good beer and live music. The guy on the guitar was playing some really good classic rock and very soon we were singing along with him. He was so impressed that we (read Sid) knew all the words for the songs and came up for a chat. We asked him where he would recommend for us to go on a Thursday night. He suggested the Gypsy bar at the Borgota.
W

e first walked out onto the Boardwalk and went to the Trump Taj Mahal (Shahjahan would have been turning in his grave). It minarets looked like a cross between the Kremlin

n and the Taj's - so it was what it was meant to be - a cheesy looking casino. We walked around and then headed out to the Borgota. We found it thanks to the Garmin, but couldn't have missed it cos it was huge purple casino and hotel off the boardwalk. We found the Gypsy bar where they had a live band playing some loud alternative rock. We had a drink or two and decided to give it a pass as it was too loud.
We then went on to the Ballys Park place with the wild west casino. We tried our luck at the slots here. But luckily we were 'low rollers' and di

dn't loose any significant amount of money. We then passed by the Cesar's though we didn't go inside.
we headed back towards the boardwalk and went to a Casino called the Resorts. Architecturally I thought this was the most impressive. It w

as built in the art deco style and had a imposing facade (our hotel room incidentally had a view the resorts parking lot).
We found a bar there called 25 hours and had one last drink for the night (er...morning). We then found a coffee shop and had a nice meal before calling it a day.
It w

as 6:00 a.m. and we had to check out at 11:00 a.m. so we decided that it was time to head back to the Burgundy.
The trip was a good break especially since it is only 4 hours away. But any comparisons to Las Vegas is out of the question but I am not complaining as I had a great time in monopoly town.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

St George Island - Almost Paradise...

November 2006
Last month a few friends (Puri, Shreedhevi and Ram) and I went for a weekend break to St George Island and Wakulla. The holiday began on a Thursday with an uneventful journey to Tallahassee, Florida via Atlanta. Yes we went to Tallahassee a small town which happens to be the capital of Florida.

We met Shreedhevi who works there and after a late dinner we headed for a Walmart to stock up on provisions and food for the trip. So here we were at 3 in the morning buying stuff from a walmart. And there were other people also shopping at that unearthly hour.

The next day we had a late start after some shopping towards our destination - St george Island. The Island is about a 70 miles from Tallahassee and is a small strip of land a few miles long and maybe just a mile or two broad.

The journey was a pleasant trip down US-319 south all the way to the Gulf. We passed some quaint sounding towns like Crawfordville, Medart, Carabelle and my favorite Panacea. The last 20 odd miles of the trip was on a beautiful road almost on the beach. We had our first view of the emerald blue ocean we had come for.

We reached the island connected by a lone bridge and checked into our vacation rental home. The place we stayed was a two bedroom house with a full kitchen. After settling down we went to the local grocery store. It was around 5:45 p.m. and we were lucky because the store closes at 6 in this sleepy town. We bought some fresh fish and chicken before heading back home.

We had quite a meal (thanks to Ram, who cooked for us) of chicken and rasam and rice. We sat up talking till late before calling it a day.

The next morning we woke up early to watch the sunrise. We were not disappointed as it was a clear day and the sunrise was beautiful. We went back to sleep for a few more hours and around noon got into the water finally. The water was a little chilly but was almost clear and very calm. After lunch we headed out to the Eastern part of the island which has been preserved in its natural form as a state park. The beach here is the way it would have been thousands of years ago - unadulterated. Later that night we sat around playing monopoly over a few drinks.

The next morning we woke up early because we had to check out and head back. On the way out we stopped at a souvenir shop and bought some stuff to take back as reminders of the good time we had. The man in the shop was quite surprised that we had heard about the Island.

We headed out to east point (the town on the mainland) to a restaurant that the locals had recommended. However they were closed - because it was a Sunday!!

On the way back we stopped over at Wakulla Springs, the world's largest fresh water spring. We were planning for a glass bottomed boat ride. But it had been cancelled for that day because as the ranger said the water was murrhky (murky). Gosh I love their accents. By murky they meant that the visibility was only around 25 feet deep. Any way we went on a boat ride with a entertaining ranger. We spotted some herons, egrets and ducks. We also came close to some gators and turltes. The spring was really beatiful and had us oohing and aahng at each turn. After we got back from the ride I was determined to take a dive in the cool spring water. I swam around for some time but chickened out of the dive from the far wnd where the water is from 35 to 125 ft deep.

We had a quite a uneventful trip to Talahassee and then on to DC by air. We reached DC late in the night dreading the fact that we had to go to work next day

Monday, September 25, 2006

Puducherry - refreshingly new

April 2006
Meaning to blog this one for a long time. Went to Pondi after a long time and had a wonderful time. Stayed in a hotel on the TN-Pondy border called the dune. The resort has many cottages each on e based on a theme - a Kerala house, a gramam house, or a karaikudi house etc. We stayed in a Bungalow called the Pop house. It was a two leveled thatched house that was based on the theme of old movies or pop culture. The walls were decked with photographs of old MGR and Sivaji movies and was colorfully painted. The most unique part was the bathrooms which were none like I had see. A shower curtain for doors, walls that were about 3 feet tall the thatched roof comes down to cover the top part leaving gaps in the middle. Luckily the whole house was surrounded by a wall saving us from prying eyes.
As for Pondicherry itself there was a new hotel on the beach road called the promenade. It had a wonderful rooftop grill called the Lighthouse, which as the name suggests has a view of the old lighthouse and the sea. We had some grilled fish and draft beer there before heading to Rendezvous - the restaurant with around 400 menu items. They claim that they will give you any of the menu items and never run out or out of stock of the items on the menu.
The next day we spent lazing around in the hotel pool which was just out of this world. Later that day we headed back to Chennai and the grind.
Pondicherry sure has come a long way from the old days when the only available accomodation was seedy resorts and lodges. But I hope it does never loose it charm in the face of commercialism

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Kannur- The crown of Kerala

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March 9-11, 2006

Four site seeing spots and a wedding. Three colleagues of mine (Afzal, Arun and Pratish) and I went to Kannur to attend an ex-colleague’s (Anjily) wedding and do some sight seeing on the side. Kannur (Kannan’s uru – or Krishna’s town) is a sleepy little town in northern Kerala around thirteen hours away by train.

This was the first time I got to see a Mallu (i.e. Malayali) wedding and it was beautiful. The actual wedding was quite short with the resplendent bride making a grand entrance accompanied by her entourage and musicians on drums. The priest then says his mantras and the father gives the bride away by placing her hand onto the grooms. The groom then ties the Thali and the couple circumbulate the melam thrice. After which the elders and others bless the couple by showering them with rice. We wished the couple, had a scrumptious Sadya (traditio

nal Mallu lunch) and headed back to the hotel to change into our tourist clothe

s.
Our first stop was the St. Angelo fort, a short auto ride away. It is a Portugese fort (later changed hands to the Dutch and finally the British) built in 1505 AD, that was quite impressive making us wonder how it would have been in it’s hey days. We took some interesting photos of the

fort, the chapel, the ramparts, and of course of ourselves in various poses (Arun displayed a little known side of his – his modeling side).

We then headed back into town to catch a bus to Muzhappilangad beach – Kerala’s only drive-in beach with the softest and cleanest sand in Kannur. There were quite a few cars and bikes whizzing around the beach. We though headed straight to the water. Afzal was so excited that he was literally shouting at nothing in particular. Once we got into the water he chilled out and we had a refreshing and much needed dip. We stayed for the sunset and took many photos (I r

ealized that this was the first time I had seen a sunset at a beach).
On the way back to the village bus stop we flagged an auto with the plan of asking if he would drop us back in Kannur (mind you we were about 16 km away from Kannur in a completely different village). I made a comment that he would probably laugh at us but surprisingly he agreed to drop us for just 130 rupees (no grumblings about night charges or the fact that he would have to return empty or that we were four people). We Chennaiites were amazed and jumped into the auto. The autos in Kannur were overall really cheap never going above 15 rupees in town – only if the Chennai auto drivers were that accommodating.
Back at the hotel we had a meal of Malabari Parottas, Mutton Nadan Curry, Egg Masala and Kalamakka (Mussel) fry (the specialty of the region) before retiring for the

day.
Afzal and Pratish had to head back to Chennai the same night, so the next day it was just Arun and I. We headed to the bus stop to find our way to the Dharmadam Island (a privately owned island near another virgin beach a

bout 18 km away from Kannur). The island is accessible by foot during low tide; however we were there during high tide and could only see it from a distance. Arun though was determined to go to the island

and tried coercing the local fishermen to take us on a boat but they refused as they needed the permission of the village elders. His Malayalam (or English-Tamil-Malayalam mix) was commendable though. We hung around for some time taking in nature’s beauty and dreaming about owning our own island someday before taking a bus ba

ck to Kannur.
In the afternoon we headed back to the bus stop and boarded a bus to the Sree Muthappan Temple at Parassinikkadavu (26 km from Kannur). It is a Shiva temple on the banks of the Valapattanam river and the deity is

a fearful incarnation of the Lord Shiva (Bhairava – methinks). Before heading to the temple we took a brief cruise on a motorboat which gave us a primer of what it would be like to be on the backwaters. The temple here is one of the few temples in Kerala that allow non-Hindus to enter and the USP (if I can use that term here) of the temple is the Theyyam performance that takes place every day. Theyyam is a ritualistic dance with the performer dressed in an elaborate costume. He is offered a drink of kallu (toddy

) which he drinks and starts his trance like dance. He then blesses everyone and makes his exit. The dog is the vehicle of this incarnation of Shiva and there are statues of dogs and few resident dogs in the inner sanctum. The story goes that there were many dogs there at one point and the temple authorities decided to leave only one or two and shoo away the rest. However they noticed that after the dogs were sent out they w

ere not blessed with Muthappan's presence in the Theyyam performers. Hence the dogs were brought back and Theyyam has been performed successfully since then.
After this unique experience we headed back to the bus stand and back to Kannur. By now Arun and I had become accustomed to the efficient Mallu buses and were able to make out Kannur in Malayalam. We actually guided a Mallu to the right bus to Kannur!!
Once in Kannur we headed to the Payyambalam beach (the beach situated in the town), for another sunset. We then picked up some black halwa and banana chips for the folks back home from the famous Sheen bakery (recommended by the locals - it is situated opposite the railway station) before calling it a day.
The next day we killed some time by going for the Tamil movie ‘Thambi’ (luckily not a dubbed version) before boarding the train back to Chennai. We both could only concur that Kerala is truly ‘God’s own Country’.

The photos of the Sadya and the Theyyam performer were provided by Arun.

You are free to copy or display the work on the conditions that it is not used for commercial purposes and the author/photographer is attributed.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Coorg - Scotland of India

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Coorg - March 17-19, 2006
Sometimes the vacations that are planned at the last moment turn out to be the best. A good example of that would be the trip Asif and I made to Coorg. It was my second time to Coorg and as the website (www.travelcoorg.com) says once you visit Coorg, it will haunt you forever.
We started our journey on the Shatabdi to Mysore, from where we transferred to a bus that took us to Madikeri. Little did we know that by buying the ticket we were also in for a roller coaster ride (literally because about 70 of the 90 odd kilometers from Mysore to Madikeri were on some of the worst roads in Karnataka). Word of advice here would be to either hire an air conditioned Qualis or at least wait for a deluxe bus.
We reached Madikeri at around 5:30 p.m. And after a quick snack, we stocked up on some eau de vie and found a willing auto driver to take us to the Capitol Village Resort. Madikeri has a lot of lodges and hotels, but the best places to stay are at the various estates or at a resort a little of the town. We were quite pooped so after a simple but delicious dinner and a few drinks we hit the sack early.

The next day we had a new kind of breakfast –rice balls (like idlis but were in the shape of balls). We then called our auto driver (from the previous day), Hassan, who was our guide and driver for the day. We went to Abbey falls and had a relaxing swim in the falls and a shower under the falls.
The next stop was the Raja's tomb – an interesting paradoxical monument.

To start of the Raja (a Hindu) and his wife were 'buried' instead of being 'cremated'. To add to that the structure they were buried in was of Muslim architecture with minarets, domes and arched entrances. The two Nandi bulls atop each minaret was as out of place as a baby in a topless bar (siddhuism courtesy Navjot Singh Sidhu).
Hassan then convinced us that we had to go Cauvery Nisagardhana, a place we hadn't heard of. It is a small island in the middle of the Cauvery, about 34 km from Madikeri. There are some activities like boat riding, elephant ride and an enclosure of deer. The whole island is covered with Bamboo forests. We had lunch and went straight to do what we came for – to chill out in the stream. Asif insisted he did not want to get into the water becaus

e it was not deep enough (it was only waist high), though he can’t swim. He however succumbed to the charms of Cauvery and ended up getting wet with all his clothes on. We spent about 2-3 hours there before heading to the Harangini dam (the first point at which the Cauvery is prevented from flowing into Tamil Nadu, Hassan pointed out smugly). After a hike to the top of the dam, which made Asif and I realize the poor shape we were in, we headed back to Madikeri

.
We were in time to see a beautiful sunset at Raja's seat (which was literally where the Raja used to come to sit in the evening). The spectacular views brought out the photographer in me and I took quite a few photos.
We then called it a day and returned to the resort and sat up late into the night on our balcony enjoying the cool breeze and a drink (or two or three...).

The next morning I woke up early in time to catch the sunrise and went for a trek into the surrounding fields and coffee estates. The resort pro

vided me a map with directions to a cave temple called the Botlappa temple. I started of with the idea of reaching the temple but got waylaid and delayed photographing the wild flowers and beautiful views. I must say my first experiment with the

Macro setting on my lens produced some interesting, colorful photos. I went back to the resort without seeing the temple but feeling refreshed and relaxed.
After a hearty breakfast and a power nap, we summoned Hassan who dropped us at the bus station. We took a bus to Kushalnagar, from where we took an auto ride to the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe. The settlement has about 30odd thousand Tibetan refugees, of which around 5500 are monks. The Namdroling Monastery housed these monks, be

autiful temples and prayer halls. The main temple is called the Golden Temple or the Padmasambhava Buddhist Vihara, and has three copper statues coated in Gold. The main one of Buddha is 60ft tall and the two flanking the Buddha are 58 ft each. The temple itself is a huge multi-storied structure with a gargantuan atrium. The walls are covered with murals depicting the life of Buddha and his disciples. The monks here follow Tantric Buddhism, so some of the murals depict the deities in wrathful form (gory at times) and even male and female deities in union.
Equally majestic is the Zandong Palri (New) temple and the eight s

tupas of Buddha depicting the activities of Buddha. We then sauntered around prying into the two other prayer halls where the monks were chanting and playing instruments like the giant gong and something that looked like a 10 feet long horn. After shamelessly and somewhat rudely taking pictures of the monks we went back to the entrance of the monastery. All around the monastery starting from the east gate are 1300 small and 19 big prayer wheels. The belief is that if one circumbulates and turns these prayer wheels, one will live a long life. We were a little too tired and unmotivated to hike around the vast compound.
We then took another auto (our preferred mode of transport) to the first camp where we bought some souvenirs to remember the trip from.
A short auto ride back to Kushalnagar, a bumpy bus ride back to Mysore, and an uneventful train ride back to Chennai, saw the end of a memorable trip.