Shringeri in Navratri 2018

I haven't blogged for a while now. I promise myself to do it more often now onwards. 

Sunday 14th Oct. 18 I visited the Shringeri temple. This is one of the Peethas founded by Adi Shankaracharya. The current pontiff of the peetham is also known as one of the four Shankaracharyas. The other three being Puri in the East, Dwarka in the West, and Jyotirmath in the North.

Sringeri also happens to be the place where my maternal grandfather stayed during my childhood days. So I have very fond memories of the place.

Sringeri is 3 hour by road from Shimoga ( Shivamogga, the current correct version). Took a pvt. bus ( Mookambika ) at 8am and reached Sringeri at 1115am. The bus stand has been shifted quite a distance away from the temple complex and one has to walk about a km. to reach the temple.

The present day Gopuram at the entrance of the temple was not there during my childhood. This is more of a Tamil influence and has altered the original character of the local architecture. Honestly, I am a little appalled by this alteration.

At the entrance, one is greeted by the presence of elephants. The mahouts, I am told, have traditionally been Muslims. May not be from inception, since Islam was not born during Shankaracharya's days. These elephants have been an inalienable part of the Shringeri experience from my childhood days. Many devotees feed bananas to the elephants or have their children blessed by them.

The main Sharadamba temple is fully built in rough hewn granite. But photography is not allowed here. It is an engineering marvel. Even with sweltering heat outside and thousands of devout milling around, the structure is cool inside.

This temple is the oldest in the complex and is supposedly as old as Adi Shankaracharya himself.

I had the fortune of being in the temple when the Shankaracharya was himself worshipping Sharadamba. The temple also serves a simple meal to all visitors between 1230 to 1430 and 1900 to 2030 hrs. Not partaking this is seen as a sign of insolence. The priests repeatedly request the devotees to proceed to the bhojanalyam.

The Bhojanalayam at the rear of the complex is a grand structure that can easily seat 1000+ people at a time. Visitors have to essentially sit on the floor, which a small raised platform, simulating what is known as a paat in Marathi.

I had a little difficult time in sitting on the floor while having lunch. I promise myself to try and do this more often at home.

By 2pm, I caught the same bus which had brought me from Shimoga at the entrance of the temple. People here are simple and friendly. The conductor recognised me while issuing the ticket.

The road from Shimoga to Sringeri winds through forests via NarashinhaRaj Pura (NR Pura)

and Koppa with lot of villages on the way. Arecanut, coffee and rice are the main crops.

Cost of living seems low in these parts. For Rs 10, I got 4 bananas.

Diwali 2014: some Images

 Home made Kandeel

Then and Now

25.10.14

This is how I look of late

And this is how I used to look in the seventies

Memories of Travel: Gujarat

19.10.14

My work takes me to Gujarat often. Till a couple of years back, I used to park myself in Baroda ( Vadodara ) during my entire visit to Gujarat. From here, Surat, Ahmedabad, Anand, Rajkot etc are all within striking distance. You can start early in the morning, finish your work in any of these locations and be back in Baroda for a good night's sleep. The connectivity by rail or road is also excellent. I also rate Baroda as the most liveable city in Gujarat, both weatherwise and peoplewise. My favourite haunt used to be Hotel Hilltop , within walking distance from the station and bus stand. It also used to be a very Value For Money hotel till the management changed a couple of years back.

On one such tour, I traveled early morning by train to Surat. It was Karnavati Exp , if I mistake not. The Narmada bridge at Bharuch used to be a nightmare for travel by road. Traffic jams could last anywhere from 3hrs upwards on a 2km stretch. Travel by bus was, therefore, ruled out. Mine was a last minute, unreserved travel for a journey expected to last less than 2 hrs. Last minute seats in this prime time train headed for Mumbai are not available for love or money.

I manoeuvred myself to a comfortable standing position and settled down for the journey. These blessed trains in Gujarat are a beehive of activity and swarm with hawkers selling umpteen items and foodstuff. Ladies' imitation jewellery, chai, dhokla, bhel, trinkets, keychains, wallets etc. etc. It is a veritable mini mobile bazaar with its own vibrant life. The crowd in the trains is also mostly happily middle class. From afar I could hear a vendor selling some food stuff. From his uniform he looked like a regular catering staff. To this day I can swear that he was shouting "cutless Sandesh !". Now I have heard of " Boneless chicken " but never came across " Cutless Sandesh ". My curiosity and appetite were completely whetted by the time this guy neared us. His " Cutless Sandesh" turned out to be " Cutlet Sandwich "

From the time I had woken up, I had only a cup of tea in the hurry to catch the train. Just when I was diving into my sandwich, an elderly gentleman sitting in an aisle seat behind me tugged at my sleeve and asked me to sit in his seat. I thought maybe he is going to the loo and giving me a break. After grabbing his seat, I started polishing off my sandwich at a leisurely pace, ordered a coffee, ran through it etc, but still there was no sight of this gentleman. I must have been at it for more than 20 mins.Out of curiosity, I asked the gent next to me if " uncle " had got down at any station gone by. Pat came the reply :" કાકા તો તમ્હારે પાછળજ છે "

I jumped out to vacate my seat apologetically and requested કાકા to take his seat."कोई बात नहीं ,बेटा। खड़ा रह के खाते नहीं। पिशाच भोजन कहलाता है। " I was taken aback by his simple belief and faith. He was not only following it, but at great inconvenience to himself, he was preventing others also from doing what he felt was wrong. Humbly, I greeted him with folded hands " જય શ્રી કૃષ્ણા " ..." જય શ્રી કૃષ્ણા " he greeted back!

Memories of travel

19.10.14

In the mid eighties, my work used to take me often to Jabalpur. Jabalpur, the city of marble. Like Kankrauli and Makrana in Rajasthan. People here are just short of building compound walls in marble.

The hotel where I used to stay had a palatial lobby impressively laid out in marble. Jabalpur is a major railway junction, seat of the High Court, and major defence establishments. Quite a hub for Ordnance factories. This business is what used to take me to Jabalpur.

Like in most locations, Ordnance Factories in Jabalpur are huge estates far away from the main town. One of these was in Khamaria .   In the blessed old days, the only mode of local transport available was a cycle rickshaw. The journey from the hotel to the Ordnance factories would take a leisurely 45 mins or so.

On one of these trips, I remember hiring an elderly rickshaw chacha. Must have been in his early fifties. A couple of younger rickshawwallahs taunted me at my choice. " बाबूजी, खमारिया श्याम तक पहुँच जाओगे " they said.

As is my habit, I started striking a conversation with my companion for the journey. I wondered aloud why a city of this size and hustle bustle did not have auto rickshaws yet. Jabalpur is your typical central India town/city. Law and order here is so so. The rickshaw chacha told me matter of factly " दो तीन आये थे। हमारे leader लोगोने जला डाले। "

On the way to Khamaria, one has to cross a railway bridge. The approach road to this bridge is quite steep on both sides. Although we had started out quite early in the morning from the hotel and there was still a nip in the air, our chacha had started to work out a mild sweat by the time we reached the bridge. By reflex , I jumped off the rickshaw to reduce his load. Chacha was taken by surprise and brought it to a full stop. "काहे उतर गये ,बाबूजी ? नाराज़ हो का ?" Poor guy was mopping his face of the sweat already. I explained to him that I will walk alongside till he crosses the bridge. Not a problem. Guy choked and almost broke into tears. " का बताएं ,साब। इस चढ़ाई पर तीन तीन बैठते हैं और कहते हैं जल्दी करो ,जल्दी करो। सुनना पड़ता है ,पैसा जो देते हैं। " How can anyone be so insensitive to a fellow human being?

When we reached our destination, I gave him the agreed fare and a small tip. Chacha broke into a grin and said " अगली बार आएंगे , बाबूजी , तो हमारे साथ ही चलिएगा। मैं वहीं होटल के   बाहर खड़ा रहता हूँ "

I was back in Jabalpur after six months or so. Same hotel, same destination. Wanted to go with the same chacha. But he was not in sight. So asked the other youngsters. " यहाँ पर एक चाचा  थे ? कहाँ गये ? आज आये नहीं क्या ?"  One of the brats replied " अच्छा वो बुड्ढा ? वो तो मर  गया " Again matter of factly.

"कहाँ जायेंगे ,साब ? खमरिया ?" Back to business. This time I did not get down at the bridge. "पैसे जो दे रहा था। "

The world of columnists

20.2.13

The world would be such a duller place without our columnists. We are blessed with two such. Both ladies, both initialed SD. If your upbringing has been anywhere near Goa, it is usual to grow up with quite a few D's around you: D'Souza, D'Cruz, DaCunha etc. We also have international gems like De Beers, D'Adamas etc. The D in all these is the equivalent of kar in Tendulkar, Vengsarkar, Gavaskar etc. or wala as in Batliwala, Tadiwala and son on and so forth.

Let us move on to SD Sr. first. She has no pretenses of activism. Her credo is simple : Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment. The writings can be quite risque and can often pass on as entry level porn. Lets call her Scuba De. De what? De nothing. De by itself. Scuba De has torpedoed many a guy and gal in her columns. Sometimes she herself gets torpedoed when she passes by someone like Sonam Kapoor. But such instances are rarer than meteorites falling over the Urals. Scuba De is also blessed with a face that is photogenic on par with Madhubala and our own Chitrangadha. The kind of face that looks glam even without lipstick.

SD Jr is quite a different cuppa. Let us come to the D' part first. We must give every phenomenon a name first. Like in most sarkari kagaz, we will start with the surname first. How about D'LOL? LOL happens to be a favourite snub, expression of delight, accessory, embellishment, pause for thought, whatever. I keep wondering whether suchnsuch D'LOL has a special key on the keayboard for this LOL thing. Something like Enter button with right click! I tell you, it can be more common than ", "and ". "if you follow this phenomenon. This lady is not about Entertainment. She is into much more serious stuff. Active activism, social justice etc. There are two types of citizens in her lexicon.Either you are an activist or else you are a shampoo salesman. Such radical stuff, I tell you. She is also a champion of democracy and democratic values. Her fora are very democratic. You are entitled to your opinions as long as it tallies with hers. If you are undemocratic enough to differ, you run the risk of being bounced. With a terse reminder in no uncertain terms that "Right To Admission is Reserved" You know, like in one of those classy restaurants or clubs you gawk from far? The current flavour of the season is Padmashree v/s Saharashree. This demon slayer is to be found wherever demons are slayed. Be it Jeejeebhoy Towers, SEBI or even as far as NY. I estimate her market share in demon slaying is 94%+

Why am I writing this and running the risk of earning wrath? Maybe I should stick to the safe anonymity of nomme de plume to vent out my plumonia. If I carry on like this, even the nomme de plume very soon will turn into nomme the guerre. So, let me sign off!

2909 Garib Rath

24.3.10

This is a VFM train on the Mum Del circuit. Left Pune early morn, finished my work in the Western suburbs and caught this train at 1730 from Borivali. Couldnt manage a berth so adventurously booked chair car. The AC is quite comfortable and surprisingly the chair car seats are much more comfortable than the Garib Raths plying on Konkan Railway. The speeds notched up by this train is comparable to Rajdhani. It makes it to Surat from Bvi in 2 1/2 hrs and Vadodara in 4 hrs.

The only irritating thing is the bright lights in chair car are not switched out throughout the night.