The Alchemist…

I have wanted to write this entry since the time I finished reading “The Alchemist”. It is definitely one of the most beautiful books that I have read. The central character (Santiago) has been so wonderfully presented that every person can see a small part of himself with the central character. Apart from being a very good read, the book also made me ask myself some very deep questions. What is my destiny? Am I traveling the right path? Will I end up being a baker who was destined to find a pot of gold? Frankly, I am very much afraid to even think about these questions, let alone answer them. It is said in the book that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I wonder when my teacher will arrive. I wonder if I am ready enough for a teacher.

But there is one thing said in the book which I believe totally. It is about the so called “Old man in shining armor” helping you in your life’s path. Ever since I was a kid I have always felt that there is “Someone” watching over me. Someone, whom I have never seen or met, but who always has my best interests in his mind. I call him God and the people who have read “The Alchemist” can call him the old man in the shining armor. Every time I have a bad experience he seems to be whispering in my ears – You will very soon understand why you went through this. 

Let me try and explain by taking someone examples from my life. Early in my childhood, I had to leave my hometown and study in Delhi. I am talking about a time when I was in 6^th standard. It was a new place and I absolutely hated being there. I had no friends in the place and almost always felt as a south Indian outcast among North Indians. I remember wondering why I had to go through all this rubbish. Three years later when I was leaving Delhi and going back to my hometown, I again felt miserable. This time it was because, I had made so many new friends and I will now never be able to see them again. Now, after 15 years due to a strange twist, I had to go to Gurgaon for my work and one by one I am getting back in touch with all my old friends. You cannot imagine how happy I feel whenever I meet my “long lost friends”!!!! I am glad I came here, went back and again came here. It was as if everything was planned. 

I am an electronics and communication engineer by education. I had always wanted to be a software engineer. Fate made me a telecom engineer. I was very angry on God to have made a telecom engineer out of me. It did not take me long to know that this job was “Charming”. In fact I began to love it. Everything that I had studied in my four years of engineer was proving to be useful. Today when I call my “Software engineer” friends that are more bitter then me. They are angry that studied electronics and are working on a computer. They are angry that the market is so over crowded that they have become just another person in the crowd. They are angry that their day start starts staring into a computer and ends with staring at the same computer. Today I am glad I am communication engineer and am enjoying every moment of it. It was as if everything was planned.

I used to hate traveling a lot. I liked to be in familiar surrounding with familiar faces. I hated the uncertainty that traveling brought you. My job as a communication engineer involved a lot of travel. The first time I went on a travel, I was so bloody scared and nervous that I lost 17,000 Rs from my purse. Just imagine how I felt!!!! But slowly as time went by, and I traveled more places, I began to see why people enjoy traveling. I in fact began to love it. My hate for traveling began to be replaced by a love for it. As I did so I also began to feel more confident about myself. Today I have traveled to more places then many of my “Software engineers”. I love the challenges of going to unknown places and visiting unknown people and finding friends. Now I am confident that I can go even to the North Pole and make friends there. Traveling has become such an inseparable part of me that I now wonder I did not like it before. It was as if everything was planned. 

Like all people of my generation, I too got hooked to the internet. I loved to chat my heart out online. It was during this time that I found a very interesting lady online. She was so cheerful and bright that I thought it was her that I was waiting for all these days. It was not to be. And it turned out that it was just my hormones and infatuation that were fooling around with me. She was not the girl after all. But all these chatting session somehow made me feel good about writing my heart out. I realized that I loved to put my thoughts on paper and publish it. It cleared my mind and lightened my heart. I turned to blogging. I started to write my “own” articles. Tough I do not have a big fan following, I enjoy publishing my thoughts online. What started as a routine chatting with one girl online ended up with me trying my hand on blogging and to this day I have written about 60+ blogs. I plan to write atleast a 100 more. I have found some geninuly good bloggers/blogs online. I have inspired some of my own friends to start blogging. I am loving it. It was as if everything was planned.

 

Quick update…

It has been a long time since I have typed in anything. I alone know how much I have missed blogging. But I have not been able to do so. One of the reason for this was that the last few days have been extremely eventful for me. Now that its 12:34 AM on a monday morning and I have time,tranquility of the night and Insomnia on my side I thought it would be a great idea to just key in whatever happened to me in the last few days.

I got the Idea of doing this after reading a wonderful blog that I nowadays visit almost on a daily basis http://nrsl.wordpress.com/

 

• I came back from Nepal to India. (In a strange way I am missing Nepal).
• Visited my brother who was in Hospital due to acute Jaundice (By God’s grace, he is now fine).
• Had a memorable stay in Bangalore (only one night). Met all my old roommates and chatted away the entire night. It will remain as one of the most memorable night of mine.
• Stayed in Hyderabad over a weekend. Met all the old colleagues, friends and roommates. The get together in Ameerpet with all my “Gang” really charged up my batteries.
• I FINALLY found a room near my office in Gurgaon. Gosh!!!!! I had been wanting to change my old room so badly that now I wonder how I did not so earlier.
• After finding the room, I was pissed off. The room was simply too costly for me. I cursed myself for convincing myself to move into such a costly room. But, out of the blue, I found two people who were willing to share my room. So, end of the day, I got my room and I got it for cheap. (God!!! I love you).
• I got a promotion at work. I am now a so called “Team Lead”. This is a new challenge for me, I hope and pray that I respond well to this challenge as well. 
• I finished reading the Alchemist. I must admit it is one of the most wonderful book I have read in a long long time.
• Started reading “Icon”. I have finished almost 25% of the book. As of now this book has portrayed Steve jobs as an “Anti hero”. I don’t like this, cause Steve Jobs is one of my heros. I will still go ahead and complete the book.
• I am now Chandigarh on official work. It is a wonderful place and I like the climate here. I now know first hand why bachelor like this place. Here I saw some of the most beautiful girls of India. Gosh!!! this place is heaven.

I am sure whoever reads this might give a damn about what I did all these days. I understand you. But after many many days, when I read this blog, I am sure I will be glad I wrote this

 

Nepal Votes for change

It’s been close to 20 days since I am in Nepal. As you might have already guessed, I loved this place. It’s been an absolute delight to be here. The tours, travels and visits apart, there is something very important that happened in Nepal during my stay here. Nepal has voted for a change. Nepal has voted to form its own constitution.

From what ever little I saw of Nepal, I can say that there are two major things that can drive Nepal as country (economically). One is, of course, Tourism. Another is Water power. Yes, Water power!!! A small trivia here – After Brazil, Nepal is the second country with the most water resources. You have all type of water resource here, river, like, stream – everything. I read somewhere – if somehow all this water resource is converted into energy, not a single person in Nepal will need Petrol/diesel. Everything can run on electricity.

But sadly for Nepal and its citizens, both these source of income have not been harnessed fully. For tourism to flourish fully, political stability is required. This is something that Nepal has not enjoyed for a long time. They have already been facing a lot of internal fighting and instability. Take my own case for example; in the last 20 days of my stay here, I saw five bomb blasts within a radius of 5 KMs from the place of my work and one bomb blast in a place of worship outside Katmandu valley. Even after this I see foreign tourists moving around and enjoying the place as if there are in paradise. Then just imagine, how tourism would be if there was no civil unrest and political stability in Nepal!!!

As far as harnessing water resource is concerned, it requires money. This is again something that, at present Nepal is not having in abundance. Most of the money that it has earned previously has either been either looted by anti-social elements or eaten by corrupt officials. In fact the situation is soo bad that there are only two roads of exit from Katmandu valley which is always congested. And the government does not have money to widen the road. There is only one rail line in the country. No expansion possible because the government has no money.

The common man of Nepal too seems to have become aware of these things. I think, they too now know that if situations are not changed very quickly, they will go into oblivion in the near future. Therefore Nepal has now decided for a change. Elections were held in Nepal on 10^th April, 2008. I was the witness to the campaigning phase, the election phase and also the counting phase. The enthusiasm that the general public showed was simply amazing to see. During the run up to election, at almost every corner of the place, you could see group of people discussing heatedly about the change that the country requires. Discussions about the pro’s ad Con’s of all the parties involved. During the counting phase, everybody was glued to the TV/radio/Newspaper. Everyone wanting to know the status of the pool.

The results are slowing pouring in. The Maoists seem to be heading for a landslide victory. As one of my local friend proudly said – “We will now write our own constitution”. With power now in the hands of Maoists people do feel that things might change for good. I pray that this becomes a correct prediction. I pray that peace and stability return to this small and beautiful country. Because this country deserves to be treated better

 

The Royal Kingdoms, Patan Durbar and Religion….

Nepal is also known by two other alternate names. One is Mountain kingdom and another is the Royal kingdom. The first name is quite obvious. The reason for being called by the second name is both interesting as well as worth recounting here.

I know you might have already guessed it. Nepal is (was?) ruled by a system of monarchy. That is one of the reasons for it to be called as a Royal kingdom. But what many people do not know is that just a few years back, like today, Nepal was not ruled by a single king. Nepal in itself was divided into four different “kingdoms”. Katmandu, Patan, Basantnagar and Bhaktpur (I might be wrong in the historic details – No offence intended). From what I have heard, the king of Katmandu once climbed on the top on the highest mountain of his kingdom and looked towards other kingdom. He found the other kingdoms to be soo beautiful that he wanted it for himself. It is then that he attacked the other kingdoms. After facing defeats four times, he finally succeeded in conquering all the other three kingdoms. Thus came into existence the Royal Kingdom of Nepal. This stands even till today.

As is said aptly, once person’s victory means another persons defeat. The development and governance in the other three kingdoms came to a standstill after the victory of the king of Katmandu. The palaces of the other king were left unattended. This has come as a blessing in disguise for the tourists. These palaces have now become a “snapshot” into the past. They are beautiful and splendid even in apparent age. The seat of power in all these kingdoms used to be called as Durbars. This could be compared to our present day’s Rajpath in India. It consisted of the place, the temple of the main Deity, the court and the main market. I think it would just suffice if you have a look at the attached photograph. This is the marvelous – Patan Durbar square.

Just stepping into Patan Durbar square makes you feel as you are transported into another era. The buildings, the small roads and the temples give you a feeling that at any moment a king might come out of any of the doors. You have to experience it to feel it. It is very difficult to explain in words.

The best thing I like in Patan durbar square is the “Museum behind the golden gate”. The golden gate here refers to the gate the place of the king of patan. This beautiful palace has now been converted into a museum dedicated to Hindu and Buddhist religion. I must say for a person trying to understand more about Hinduism and Buddhism it is a treasure trove. With the help of some splendid idols and clearly written comments, it takes you logically into the depths of religion. For example, one might have thought why image worship? And if we worship, why are the idols of Hindu and Buddhist Gods so inhuman (three heads, 6 hands, vertical eyes and what not)? Well the idol is a way to help the seeker visualize god. It is to help him focus his energy and concentration on something material which helps him to take a divine path. It is like the photo of your Mom/Dad/Husband/Wife/Girlfriend/Boyfriend that you keep close to your heart when you are away from them. And as far as the inhuman nature of these Idols goes, they are so because, after all God is super human. For example from a point of what God does he is – provider, destroyer, enabler, Judge, Father of the universe, and much much more. How can such a person have only two hands, a head and a pair of eyes like a “normal” human??? These Idols are just a proof of man’s struggle to understand God better. There is much much more I learned behind the golden door. But I know I am already sounding like a pundit straight out of a religious book, so I will stop here.

A stone throw away from Patan durbar square is the kumbakeshwar temple (Shiva temple) and the Golden Pagoda. Both are so wonderful, majestic and mystic that I don’t even have words to express. I felt strange warmth in both these places. There are some things words cannot express. You have to feel it to know it. These places are amongst them.

I have also visited Pashupatinath temple, Nagarkod and Dundikel. More about it in my next blogs

 

Small Big things…!!!

This weekend I saw three movies in my Hotel room. My first 50 dates, Bride’s father and 13 going on 30 are among the most wonderful movies that I have seen in a long time. I would definitely suggest who ever is reading this to see these movies at least once. You will Love it.

“My first 50 dates” is by just better then the other two. It’s a movie about two people who fall in love with each other in the first sight. The boy is completely bowled over. He rushes to the same hotel that he met the girl the next day. He just finds out that the girl does not even remember him. Let alone love him. The boy then comes to know that the girl has met with an accident and she cannot remember anything for more then 24 hours. What follows next is really a treat to watch. The boy goes every day in the morning to the same place and tries to tell his feeling to her as if it were the first time. I just can’t image to be in that guy’s shoes. Just imagine – you have someone whom you love more then your life and the other person simply forgets you. It’s a touching story.

“Bride’s father” is the story about a father and his young daughter. It’s a story about a dad who is immensely found of his daughter. She is the life for him. Then one day prince charming comes by. The daughter finds the love of her life. She makes her choice and begins to move on in life. A wedding is arranged and what follows next is both touching and hilarious. The scene where the daughter is leaving for her husband’s place and father remembers the different phases of his daughter – from a new born kid to being wedded -is very touching indeed.

“13 going on 30” is the story about a girl who is thirteen years old. She thinks that being 30 is the best part of life. She wishes to become 30 to god. God answers her prayers and she becomes 30. She thinks that she can have the entire world. She thinks that she is on top of the world. She only finds out that she has become a worse person then she was when 13. She is too busy with her life. She has stopped respecting other peoples sentiments. She does not speak to her parents. She has time only for work and no time for people who really matter in life.

All three are great movies. All three movies in there own little way try to convey the importance of small things in life. It tells that that we slog our entire life to find a couple of big moments in our life, but on the way we forget thousands of small things that really matter. I remember I was very happy as a kid. I did not have status, money, brains or degrees when I was a kid. But I was still happy. Why? I think it’s because I cared more about that small things in life. I always had time to talk to my parents. I always had time to go cycling with my friends. I was awed at the beautiful butterfly. I always loved the bloom of brilliant flowers. I was carefree. Tomorrow did not exist in my life. All that existed was today and now. Today, most often then not, I am either thinking about my work or about future. That’s not right.

Some great movies remind you about yourself. They tell you where you are going wrong. It’s a pleasure to watch such kind of movies. I sometimes think I am screwing up big time. But as in “My first 50 dates” – I remember it takes just a moment to find the love of your life. After seeing “Bride’s father” – I realize how sad and isolated our near and dear once might be feeling by seeing us running like this. After seeing “13 going on 30” I realize how important it is to be a child no matter how old you are.

Nothing beats seeing great movies on a lazy day…

 

Stop hate Traders!!!!

Before starting this blog, I want you narrate a story and an observation. You might have heard about the story and also have made the observation that I am about to write. But let me retell them in a new context.

First let me tell the story. Once upon a time there was a frog that lived in a well. It was so contented in its well that it did not ever think to see beyond it. It thought that the sum total of the entire world is the well. Then one day, an adventurous frog, which had traveled the entire word, came by and hopped into the well. The adventurous frog started to tell the story of the entire world. He told that there was a sea that was much larger then the well. The frog in the well did not believe the adventurous frog and called him a thug. He made the adventurous frog to go away from its well.

Now let me tell you about the observation that you too might have made. Have you ever seen street Dogs? Yes, of course you have. Have you seen what they do when some other dog or animal comes into its territory? Well, they bark. They bare their teeth’s. They show anger. They get into fight and not only do they hurt others but they hurt themselves too.

Do you know the reason for the frog’s and the dog’s behavior? It can be told in one word – Insecurity. It is in many ways a mental block. It’s a mental sickness. It is these things that separate a Human from an animal – right? We are after all rational. We are a social animal.

Now imagine – Just imagine – what would you call a human being who insists to continue being like a dog or the frog in the above story? Shameless? Uncivilized? Psycho? Or perhaps a person not fit to be called a Human? Worse still, what would you call the people who blindly followed such kind of shit heads? At least I don’t know what to call them.

Sadly, there are still such perverted people amongst us. There are people who say that a person of one state should not enter another state. There are so called “moral policemen” who say that Valentine should not be celebrated. There are people who say that youngsters should not wear certain kind of cloths. There are people who say that person of one religion is a sworn enemy of a person from another religion.

What the F***!!!??? For God’s sake why are you behaving like a street dog? Surely God have given you more brains. Why don’t you use them? Who are you to Judge who is allowed where? Who are you to decide who wears what dress? Who are you to tell which festival is to be celebrated and which is not to be? Unlike you guys, average people have brain enough to decide what should be done and what should not be. So stop giving this bullshit. It stinks and it pollutes people’s minds. Go out and do something useful. If you think your state is the best, roam the world and see where we stand. If you like certain cloths, then wear them. Don’t force me. If you don’t want to celebrate a festival, at least appreciate the spirit of the festival. If you really love your religion, listen to what your God has told. Respect your fellow humans. For God’s sake, grow up – Stop being a dog or a frog – be a human.
I generally do not write anything in this blog that is not connected to me. I try to look at the brighter part of things and be an optimist. But the recent politics of hate that was played in India has irked me a lot. Let everyone who reads these lines pray to god – Give some sense to these disillusioned people.

 

Susheel’s day out…!!!!

I hit the road on Sunday. I made it a point to visit as many beautiful places in Mumbai as possible. I can say I say that I was successful to a great extent. I did have a fun filled day which ended with a happy accomplished feeling.

I fulfilled a long standing wish of mine on Sunday. I traveled in Mumbai local. Yes, to some it might seem very normal. But for a person like me who has only seen the jam packed Mumbai local either in movie or photos – it was fun. It is true that a lot of public in Mumbai prefer to travel by Train. Even though there are trains plying every minute or so, it is hard to locate even a half filled bogie. What is more amusing is the business that goes on in the train. In my travel between Santa cruse to Church gate I counted at lest four different hawkers (a calendar seller, a Train pass cover seller, a person selling shaving kit and a book seller). I also listened to a girl barely in her teenage singing some great Bollywood songs in a very impressive voice (Though she started begging later). And all this happened in a span of about 15-20 minutes!!!! This is the speed at which Mumbai moves. It is business as usual. The most fun part was while getting down from the train. I was told that it’s a very tricky thing. When your stop approaches, all you do is stand near the door of the train. Leave the rest to the mad public. You will be pushed (or should I say carried?) out from the train to platform.

I got down at the church gate station. Most of the good places to visit in Mumbai are in and around this place. A little walk down the roads and you will start feeling the influence of British rule in India. You will feel as if you are walking in the English Victorian era. Beautiful (but old) buildings, name of the roads, foreign tourists roaming around and the rustle and bustle all make you feel as you are in some other country. I roamed around a bit and visited Bombay university building, Rajabai clock tower (magnificent), Prince of Wales museum, Kala Goda chowk, Hutatma Chowk, The Bombay stock exchange, shivaji Bus terminus and the Taj mahal Hotel.

There is a special story about the Taj mahal hotel that I read and I think it’s worth sharing here. The Taj mahal hotel was built by JRD Tata. The story goes that JRD went to a posh British hotel along with a few of his friends. Even though he had the money to pay for the services being offered, he was not allowed an entry into the hotel. Reason – he was an Indian and English people did not want to sit with an Indian. JRD resolved then and there that he will built a 5 star hotel besides that posh English hotel which will be bigger, better and more brilliant then any other British hotel in India. The result was Hotel Taj mahal. Most of its civil works were planned personally by JRD. This was more then 100 years ago. Even today the hotel is soo beautiful that all other structures pale in comparison to this beautiful hotel. I salute the sprit of JRD.

Just a stone throw distance away from Hotel Taj is the famed “Gateway of India”. It is another wonderful place to visit and see. To many people it has become a name synonymous to Mumbai. A plaque besides this monument reads that it was built in1911 to commemorate the landing of King Gorge on the India soil. Since it was through this gateway that King gorge entered India, this monument was named as the “Gateway of India”. Today to many sailors and sea travelers it serves as bacon to Indian soil. All around the Gateway of India you can see the sea. There is something about the sea that makes me feel happy. Its vastness, its silence, its waves and the fact that it hides within itself a whole different word brings me peace and tranquility. I love to be on the sea shore.

After sitting for some wonderful moments besides the sea and beneath the gateway of India, I moved on. My next visit was to the Mumbai festival in Kala goda. I found it very interesting and fun. The punch line of the Mumbai festival was – “Discover your artistic side”. The name itself tells you how the festival might have been. I saw potter making pots, weavers making cloths, painters painting, dancers dancing, singers singing and lot of kids performing cultural events. And the sentimental touch to all this was that all the performers/artists were the socially, physically and financially under privileged. To name some – there were kids from slum, Women who where victims of physical abuse and domestic violence, physically challenged artists etc. I salute their Never ever give up attitude. God bless you all!!!

My last stop of the day was Nariman point. Now this is what I call a cool place!!! There is Lot of crowd, lot of young couples, Lot of beautiful young faces, lot of walkers. Gosh!! I was left breathless by this place. Sea all around, cool breeze, heavenly climate, lot of beautiful faces around. It was a perfect mixture of beautiful natural surroundings and Romantic atmosphere. I will forgive all the couples being a tad too cozy in this place. The place it self is so damn good that anybody can become romantic and fall in love. I spend quite some time in this place. All the fatigue that I had due to traveling the entire day simply drained off. I was refreshed.

Most of my “Must see” list of Mumbai are checked. The only thing left is to catch up few of my old friends and make some more new friends. With still a minimum of seven days of stay left in Mumbai, I cant wait to see what the coming days has in store for me

 

Amchi Mumbai….

My roaming days seems to be becoming more and more checkered with each passing day. I am now in Mumbai. It is one place that has so many different identities. Let me just try and recount a few of its identities – Commercial capital of India, home of the Bombay stock exchange, home of Bollywood, home of the biggest and the most ruthless underworld of India, Busiest place in India, costliest city of India, dream capital of India – so on and so forth.

Let me very frank, I have always grown up with the opinion that Mumbai is not a good city. Blame it on the way Mumbai is portrayed in serials/movies or the way ill informed people have spoken about it. I was always of the opinion that Mumbai is the meanest please to be in. A den of all illegal trades and a place where there is no value for human beings and their feelings.

Alas!!! How ill informed and bigoted my views were. I found the place to be pleasantly different from what people had told me and or I had seen in movies. It is a great cosmopolitan city to be in. The crowd here is simply superb. It is a city that never sleeps. There is place for everyone here. Be it a street hawker or a corporate honcho. You can see business as usual everywhere. Time is money. The energy of this city is simply infectious. I liked this city and my perception about this place has immensely changed.

Mumbai is also a very good place for a tourist willing to let his foot loose. For now I had the pleasure of visiting a few wonderful places. I visited Juhu beach. Gosh!!! You need to visit this place. It’s superb. In a single sentence I can say – it’s a bachelor’s paradise. I also had some chatapa in the famed Juhu choupati (I also say Rakesh roshan up and close in this place). I also visited a place called as Lohar chawl. It is not a tourist place as such, but it’s a market, very near to Mumbai Chor bazaar (meaning Thieves market). Though the place is very congested – it was a fun place to be there and do some shopping. I also had visited some cool Malls of Mumbai. Add the fact that I met a friend of mine whom I wanted to meet since a long time. We had a great time. I also went very near to Worli port. I had a site to visit there and when I climbed the roof of the building I could see the sea, the port and also the vastness of Mumbai city (the building was 15 floored and I was on top of it). It was a wonderful feeling to be in that place. With the see in front of me, the cool but gusty wind blowing across by face and being at a high place made me feel as in I am on top of Titanic

There are still a lot of places that I have planned to visit in Mumbai. Let me through that list. I want to visit – Gateway of India (I have attached here a photo of the gateway of India), Marine drive, visit at least one harbor, climb on a boat and go on a short cruise, climb on the famed Mumbai local train at least once, pay a visit to the Mumbai festival, catch up with a few of my old friends. The list is partial. These are the bare minimum that I would definitely want to see. With the company deciding to allow me to stay in this place for maybe another one week, I guess my wish will be fulfilled.

For now I can say that I will be going to DAKC (Derubhai Ambani Knowledge city) on Monday. Of course I will be on official visit. From what I have heard about this place, I am positive that I will be awed by it. I will keep you updated about my visits, experiences and views on “Amchi Mumbai” (Meaning “our Mumbai” in Marathi language)

 

I visited Rameshwaram

Its 12:30 in the afternoon and I am sitting in Chennai Airport even as I type this line. I can’t believe it!!!! Since I have joined my new company I have been on a traveling spree. In the last 30 days, I have now traveled to Delhi, Panchkula, Mohali, Chandigarh, Chennai and now the latest is Rameshwaram. And by the looks of it, things are really hotting up and I might travel to lot many places then I even imagined. I am loving it!!!

The reason why I am giving my visit to Rameshwaram a special mention in my blog is because – first, it’s a beautiful place to visit and secondly its one of the holy places for the Hindus. The icing on the cake is, of course, the fact that the company is covering all my charges (I was on an official tour)

For starters, Rameshwaram is a place where the Bay of Bengal joins the Indian Ocean. It’s really impossible to describe the beauty that this place has to offer for you. You need to see it to believe it. The vast expanse of sea, the slow humming breeze, the hot and crispy sun and the simple unsophisticated friendly people – everything about this place is awesome. I feel much better after visiting this place.

One thing worth seeing in this place is the Indhira Gandhi Bridge. I am sure some people might have observed small dots on the map of India between India and Srilanka. The Indira Gandhi Bridge joins two such “dots” (Islands). If you stand on this bridge facing towards Srilanka, on your left hand side you can see the Bay of Bengal and on the right hand side you can see the Great Indian Ocean. With ships, fishermen and tourists dotting the landscape, it’s a heavenly sight. If you happen to be an early riser you could as well come to this bridge at around 6:00 in the morning and see one of the most spectacular sunrise of your life. You can literally see the sun rising from the Indian Ocean.

Now let me go to the mythological part of this place. It is in this place that Lord Sri Ram worshipped the “Shiva Linga” (there is a beautiful story about how the Shiva lingam came here in the first place, more about it at some other time). This Shiva lingam is also happens to be one of the 12 “Jyothir Linga” in India (Jyothir lingam is a lingam that is very close to Lord Shiva. It is said that a part of Shiva lives in the Jyothir lingam). It is also said that no person goes to this place by him self. It is only when the Jyothir lingam wants to see someone it makes circumstances such that the person is drawn to the place. Hmm… Interesting. It is also at this place that Lord Rama started to build the “floating stone bridge” towards Sri Lanka. This bridge was then used by the troops of Sri Ram to march into the kingdom of the demon Ravana and defeat him. The photo attahed here is of the Ram bridge as seen from a satellite.

A beautiful, humongous and ancient temple now stands in the place where Lord Rama worshipped the Jyothir Linga. This temple is just besides the ocean shore. Every morning at around 5:30, water and beach sand is brought from the ocean. With this along with milk, honey, holy Ganges water and sandalwood the lingam is washed (called as Abhishekam in local lingo). I was not lucky enough to see this. But I can imagine how blissful it might be to watch this event. A special mention about the size of the temple has to be made. Just for the sake of it, I thought I will circumcise the entire temple once, believe me, I had to sit and take rest twice before I complemented walking around the temple. I am not sure when this temple was built, but I can positively say that it is “at least” two centuries old. My heart filled with joy just by imagining the number of devotees that might have walked inside this temple seeking for divine blessings.

All in all it felt wonderful to be in this place. I am going back with happy memories, joy in heart divine grace of God with me and body pains (due to the intense traveling). Bottom line – I am happy

 

My first North Indian marriage…

Soul mates, it is said, are decided in heaven. The celebration of this heavenly match on earth is – marriage. Recently I had the good luck of attending the first north Indian marriage of my life. On 20th January, 2007 Nitin, a close friend of mine wed Adithi. No doubt it was once in a life time day for Nitin – it was an extremely good day for me as well.

What amazes me the most is the diversity that India has. Though we are from the same country and have common beliefs regarding marriage, the way it is conducted in North and south part of India is breathtakingly different and wonderful thing to experience. The basic difference is that in South India marriage start early in the morning (about 4:00 am) and ends in the evening (about 6:00 pm). In north India marriages begin in the evening (about 6:00 pm) and end in the morning (4:00 am). This is as far as the timing is concerned. This is also the tip of an Iceberg.

Once more very big difference was the “Nach Gana” (singing and dancing) part North Indian marriage. The atmosphere is very lively and fun filled. There is a lot of music and people dancing all around. I could see an old man with all his hairs white and hardly able to walk giving his best shot at dancing. Now that’s what I call participation. The marriage atmosphere in south India is much sober. It is also conducted in a very orthodox way. Dancing is less and limited only to the younger lot.

Another difference is the verity of food available. Everything from milk, tea, coffee, Horlicks, Roti, Kulcha, Raita, fried brinjal, Jalebi, rasgula, Ice cream, Rice, bhaji was available for the taking. North Indians seem to just love food. This is one more common thing that I share with north Indians.

There were some funny traditions that I happened to see. One such tradition is called as “Jaymala”. Here the bride and the bridegroom are supposed to exchange garlands. The fun part is that when the bride is trying garland the groom, the groom’s friend make a lot of fuss over it. They act as if they do not want the groom to get married away and a lot of fun and frolic happens. Ultimately the groom and his friends relent and the bride put garland over the groom. The same refusal game is played by the bride’s friends when the groom tries to garland the bride. It’s an extremely funny thing to watch – I loved seeing it.

Another such thing is when the couple starts to have food. The bride’s friends and sisters literally surround the groom. They have some fun with the groom by giving “sweet dishes”. The funny part is that the so called sweet dishes have salt in them instead of sugar!!!! It is not done is a dry and customary way, but it done in a very lively way with a lot of fun and enthusiasm. You must see it to know what I am telling.

One more funny tradition is that the bride sister’s try to steal the groom’s shoes. The groom along with his friends keeps a close watch on his shoes. They try their level best to “protect” it from the bride’s sisters. In case the bride’s sisters are successful in stealing the shoes, the groom will have to “pay” to get bay his own shoes from them. Funny – right??

The way that North Indians conduct marriages might be vastly different from that of south India. But, the common this is the good will everyone has for the newly weds. By following different traditions and ways the only thing they wish is that the couples live happily ever after. I too wish the same…:-)