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.
posted by Prathap @ 12:19 PM
1 Comments:
A fun game is trying to figure out who in the group photo is Prathap's father.... I'm placing my money on the gentleman in the front sitting down, who is 4th from the left.
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