Visit to Varanasi

Varanasi, or Benares or Kasi, as it's also called, is said to be the oldest living city in the world.

I saw this hoarding in Varanasi, and it sure says it best:

“"Varanasi" is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together” - Mark Twain

It's an experience at an altogether different level, like someone said, it's actually like time travel, and that's what made it a really intriguing and intense visit.

Each experience there was so overwhelming and extreme that I think it's going to take me days to process the visit. 

Let me start with the quintessential picture of Varanasi that comes to mind ......the Ghats; the palaces, the bathing ghats and the burning ghats.

We did a boat ride down the Ganges twice....once in the evening specifically to see the Ganga Aarthi and early next morning to catch the sunrise, so the pictures are mixed between evening and early morning.

Those were out little lamps which we let afloat. Felt good and looked pretty.

The Ganga Aarti. This is one of the most beautiful religious ceremonies I've seen, where twelve priests simultaneously offer aarthi, with the background of chantings and large lamps, to the river Ganges,  considered the holiest of rivers.  A spiritually powerful ritual.

                  

And within minutes of watching the aarthi, you are at the cremation ghats, the Harischandra Ghat and the Manikarnika Ghat While per Hindu tradition, cremations are done only during the day, at these two ghats they can be done through the night as well, and it's on round the clock.

This was how it was when we went. It's an extremely unsettling experience, because you can't figure how you can be sightseeing something like this. And when the boat went close, we saw there were six more bodies waiting their turn.

It is said that if you die in Kasi or are cremated in Kasi, you are released from the cycle of birth and death; an immediate attaining of moksha.

When I told Diksha this, she was like...'but why would anybody not want to be reborn'? Valid question that, and I completely agree. I would definitely want to be reborn too. Considering we're not even aspiring, guess we're nowhere near moksha :)

A beautiful beautiful sunrise....

Captured a few minutes later....couldn't figure which was prettier, so just put both :)

And it's really all of that......the spectacular beauty of the sunrise over the Ganges, the magnificent palaces on the ghats, the ritual of bathing in the ghats for purification of sins, the ganga aarthi ......and the burning bodies. Guess it just encompasses all of life in that one boat ride....that's why crazy intense.

A Browse

It's said that, when you have a question in your mind,  and open a book, anything you read could be a pointer to the answer you seek.

In this context, I opened 'Notes to Myself' by Hugh Prather, this morning, 

I want to support my friends, even in their mistakes. I must be clear, however, it is the friend and not the mistake I am supporting

Nice one......... for a true friend

In contrast, if I do not accept or support a mistake, would it mean that person is not a friend....that the mistake has become bigger than the friend? Guess that's what it's saying.

Kovalam

Last one on the Kerala trip.

Kovalam beach was like bonus. Considering Kanya Kumari became a damp squib, we just headed back and decided to hangout someplace for rest of day. Considering it was quite a few hours, we first headed to the beach for lunch........as it turned out we spent rest of day there.  

It's a fairly short and very narrow stretch of beach, and there's cafes alongside, just by the ocean. Sitting there, sipping beer, watching the sea.....could have spent way more than half a day there. I just sat there five hours doing nothing else....even the pictures were from the same seat I plonked myself on.

The candle, the lamppost and the lighthouse....that's Dhruva's picture.....composition of a design student. 

It also gave us some extended, only talking time. Topics ranging right from relationships to artificial intelligence to apathy to cruelty to spirituality to beauty........it was fascinating. Being able to talk at level with ones children, and seeing the subtlety and strength of thought and opinion ......and you know all over again that what you share now is a friendship, way more than a parent child relationship, and it's at one time deeply gratifying and liberating. 

However opposing the perspective, or maybe specially when totally opposing, you touch that space of unconditional love in your effort to understand......it's a different high.......... and the beer of course helped :). One of my best parts of the trip for sure.

For whatever reason, beer bottles are not allowed, you drink beer in coffee mugs. It's pretty literally under the table as can be seen in this picture, with them watching Shafi ( five hours there and you know him on first name terms ) pour the beer.

Fisherwomen bringing in their catch in the evening...I loved my vantage point

There's two dots deep in, that's Dhruva and Diksha out for a swim

Final picture of a wonderful trip

Kanya Kumari

Kanya Kumari, or Cape Comorin as it was earlier called, is about 120 kms from Kovalam, so as last minute decision, I added it in.......but after the trip, I wondered why I did.

If it was about being at the southern most tip of the country, and at the place where the three oceans meet, Yes.

But beyond that there really is nothing there. It's crowded, messy and noisy. And it's got a very religious oriented tourist feel. And with Dhruva and Diksha at this point in life being at their agnostic best, temple visits with crazy long queues just don't fit itinerary. Well, that's kind of excuse.....because it holds for me too.

Worse, a heavily overcast sky ruled out sunset the day we reached and sunrise the next, so simply put, it was a not worthwhile trip.

Luckily for us the hotel, the Tamilnadu Govt property has the best possible view, and that was one good decision, so a silver lining. This was the view from our room.

The Vivekananda rock memorial, an integral part of Kanya Kumari; When I last visited, which was way back in the 90's, it was this rock with a small temple and meditation room on it. Even from afar it had a sensibility and tranquility to it, maybe gotten from association and significance, but whatever reason, it did.

An added one to me, the works of Vivekananda was my dad's wedding gift to me:

But now it's got this huge statue added. Didn't even know whose it was until I came back and googled it.  It's a statue of Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil poet and philosopher, and with all due respects to him, I don't understand why it's placed such that it dominates a landscape that was tribute to Vivekananda. What levels of narrow mindedness can people get to. Very disappointing. 

On the way back we dropped by to see a really old temple (still agnostic, but old temples are worth it for more reasons than one :). Not crowded, and brilliant in sculpture. 

The gopuram has such detailed work that it's pretty overawing.

The drive back was real nice; some real intense and deep conversations and lots of music. 

Poovar and Kanya Kumari

And Somatheertham.....how could I forget?

Between the wedding and the beach party, the three of us sneaked out for a proper, authentic, kerala ayurvedic massage, and it was simply amazing. The massages of even the upmarket places in Hyd are not a patch on this. Now I know why the kerala massages are globally renowned.

The range of spices and herbs on display. A lot of these apparently go into the massage oils.

Then onto Poovar, where we did a boat ride through narrow channels of back waters running through thick mangrove forests. It was really nice long ride and our little boat, Karaikattu, a four seater  was perfect for us as we could take it at our own pace.

A boat coconut seller on the way

I actually caught a kingfisher in flight, though Diksha insists it was fluke...well it kind of was, I was trying to catch it on a pole and it flew, but then...I was still in effort to catch it :)

A stork or crane that allowed us to come real close...it was fascinating to watch it from up close. It's legs and neck are so thin and fragile, when it walks, it looks like an animated stick figure move.

Through the ride

Dhruva and Diksha with Saajan, who was our captain that ride

The boat takes a break at an estuary where the river Naya meets the Arabian Sea, and there's this small patch of sandy beach between.

I've always been fascinated by the point where the river meets the sea and would get excited when I caught those while on a flight, so seeing this from the ground was real special to me. It's also my favorite analogy of the Atman Brahman confluence.

On the right is the river Naya, and on the left the Arabian Sea, and this is where the river flows into the sea.

A Mary and Jesus statue along the way. The birds made the picture prettier

At the estuary

Well.......looks like Kanya Kumari will need another post

Leela and The Beach Paarrty

Leela was simply astounding awesome. It's an old palace turned to hotel, located on a rock face by the sea, offering breathtaking views of the ocean. It's architecture is intriguing and classy.

The pool is to die for.

Dhruva and Diksha figuring if that impending storm should stop them getting into the pool. It did. It was a full on thunder and lightening storm. But then, Dhruva made it the next morning. Once he sets his mind on something, there's very little that can stop him I realized, even a bad hangover didn't :)

The view from our room

The evening party was also at the beach where the wedding was, and it was so pretty. Some pics from the evening.

Paro, Dhruva, Nikhil and Nidhi

A fire juggler thingy there

Any random dog anywhere, and Diksha has to make friends. Fear seems zero.

With Annapurna,  a little into it....

Paro and Dhruva in full action, she calling the shots and he playing the coy husband

Yes, he still loves Batman

I liked that today's dancing happens more to bollywood music than western, it was a fun evening...an evening that ended early next morning :) 

A Beach Wedding

A wedding of a close friend, Dhruva Shankar, and an extended trip into Kerala with Dhruva and Diksha, and well, it was an intense and interesting trip.

Let me do the wedding first.

The wedding itself was beautiful....beautiful, as it was a simple ceremony on a pretty pretty mandapam on the beach.  

Not to miss the drone, which was used for aerial photography. It was so nice, as there were no intrusive videographers and cables all over the place.

                                                    The moment.

While the ceremony was poignant and meaningful, when it's dhruva, there has to be the fun and quirky too....... he arrived on an elephant.

The band was amazing, lovely fusion there... with shehnai, tabla, flute, and the electric guitar.  

The ocean behind the mandapam

Lunch was sadhya, the malayali traditional meal of 16 items. Simply delicious.

What with so many googlers there, another fun thing was a flash mob, as surprise for Paro. ....the song; 'dil ke tukde hogaye hai paro'. I sadly didn't get the totally surprised Paro in the pic. She was resplendent in white and gold malayali attire.

And this was the first time we had these four together, so I had to get a shot

                                         Dhruva, Diksha, Dhruva and Diksha

Dhruva and Paro, saying it again....beautifully done.......down to the last detail.....right from the www.noitinerary.in,  down to handing over the lovely wedding invite as we were leaving, and not to miss the toddy bottle label, and all in between. Was wonderful :)

Wishing you both a great, fun filled and joyful life ahead .