A taste of Mumbai

At least I have started typing Mumbai instead of Bombay after all these years.. that is a sign of accepting the changing times. 

Our day 2 in Mumbai was mostly spent shopping. There was a plan for me to go meet my college buddies that did not come through. Also I was going through some emotional pain.

There is a back story that starts on day 0 of the trip. I was on an Air Asia to get to Chennai via Malaysia. Given I booked it on Cheapo Air, it came as a surprise to me that the ticket included NO check in bags at all. I assumed that the one suitcase 23kg default is there. Apparently the base ticket they sell online has no baggage allowance and if you need that one suitcase, you have to pay 60 USD. We did pay that 60 USD last minute to reserve that weight. Usually I have a backpack and a single carry on. This time I was lugging a camera bag and a larger bag that was going to be checked in. 

The lady at the Air Asia counter was so adamant in breaking each bag to 7 kg that she insisted that my camera bag go into the big suitcase. I was explaining to her that my total allowed weight was still under what I paid for and it is all going into the same plane. What difference does it make if it is on the overhead bin or check in. She said "I am okay but if any supervisor catches you, I will lose my job". So in front of an audience of 100 or so folks in line, I had to open my suitcase, check in bag and distribute the contents of my camera bag to meet the weight standards for check in vs. carry on. She said she would put a "Fragile sticker" on the bag given the 2000 $ lens and with a heavy heart I agreed. 

On my one day in Chennai, the camera bag never came out. The first time I opened it was to take pictures of San's cousins baby. While looking at the photos, I noticed that there was light streaks on most of the pictures. Turns out the lens cap had come off on the 24-105 and it was scratched badly!  Luckily they had a long living room and the 70-200 worked.  This also meant that I had to go shop for a UV filter in Mumbai. The actual Air Asia flight was pleasant and nice. Just that they messed up my lens. Where were we? Emotional pain.. yes.

We went to a few shops in the CHembur area and they all had new cameras, but none of them carried filters. They all said we had to go to Dadar area to get accessories. 

Spent most of day 2 just shopping in the local area, visiting Siddhi Vinayak and having some yummy sweets and savories at the local Jhama store. It is now becoming a new tradition for the family to visit Jhama while in Mumbai and it is an experience that does not disappoint!

One funny thing that happened was that at Siddhi Vinayak, all the flower sellers were calling me "sethji", because I was wearing a fancy shirt with gold buttons and embroidery.

So the wife and kids kept making fun of me and called me Sethji for the rest of the day and in return I called Jr. "sethji ki beti". 

At night we tried a few more shops for the filter and found out that the only bet was JJ Mehta and sons in Dadar West and that was where the next afternoon was spent.. 

More later. . .

The well of Abaneri - World Heritage site

Previous Jaipur trip post is here.

We drove a good two plus hours from Jaipur City to see Abhaneri (an old well in the city of Abha) which was built in 800 AD and is a world heritage site! This place is amazing! To think that they built something like this 1200 years ago and things were a lot better for that local population than it is now was disturbing. 

Here are a few pictures of this magnificent well in HDR

After seeing the well, we visited an ancient temple that was close to the well.

The main statue was long gone but in its place is a more recent version. 

Every statue in this temple wall had its face disfigured and broken off by Mughal invaders. I can understand the Muslim invaders not being happy with the religion of the local populace they invaded, but this was Art! Someone didn't teach them that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever!"

These were such intricate carvings and it made me mad to see that someone could so callously do this to great art. My FIL did his best to calm me down by saying "most of this stuff doesn't suvive the test of time. So you should be happy to see at least these remains! if not by invaders, it is natural causes or erosion. there are so many burried places or civilizations that have come and gone.." etc. etc. 

Went around the entire thing trying to find one intact statue, but the folks who were responsible for the damage were very thorough! There was one piece on display outside the well.

Later remembered the piece at the Albert hall museum that had an almost intact face. There were a few pieces, that survived the onslaught!

A large goat was following me everywhere and even posed for me! It was so weird. Maybe it was someone I knew in a previous birth.. or at least that is what I was thinking while wandering through the place. 

We came out of the temple and were greeted by a bunch of vegetable vendors. The veggies there were sooo fresh. Felt like buying some home to cook. 

It was very pleasant outside, when we visited this place. That made the trip thoroughly enjoyable. Later that evening, it turned into clammy weather that was unbearable for a few hours. That still did not stop us from seeing a few sites..

Will post that tomorrow night.

If you visit Jaipur, this place is a bit out of the way, but is a must see!

Questions

We visited the Livermore temple earlier this weekend. Before we left there was a lot of drama. The little one demanded that we pray at home with all the idols in the prayer shelf. We said "but we want to go to the temple and pray" and she goes "what difference does it make? we drive for one hour, stay there for 20 minutes and drive back in the hot sun for another hour! It is boring to drive like that. I want to just stay at home". 

While fundamentally she was right, we still wanted the temple ambience. Telling her that she was conceptually right somehow worked. She came as a favor to the rest of the family!

The Balaji idol was decorated beautifully with a big white "naamam". The little one goes into to sanctum and asks "Why is he having a big tooth on his forehead?"

She has been preoccupied with a tooth that is about to fall and to her credit, the Naamam with the black line in the middle(usually it is a red thilagam) definitely was not a well defined Naamam.

This reminded me of a conversation we had witnessed many years ago in that same sanctum..

She goes on to whisper a long secret of sorts into the ear of the Nandi (bull) in front of the Shiva idol. She was hugging the thing and everyone was watching her as it was unusual. Guess my mom had told her that if she wants to wish for something, or cannot hold a secret the best place to wish or say secrets is Nandi's ears. I asked her "what did you say to that Nandi for such a long time?" .. "I told him to make Jr. stop bothering me!" . Sure there was more to it than that one sentence.

Jr. was easy on us, but the little one seems to be different in her thinking.  She also seems to be the creative genius in the family. Never stops amazing us with her thought process, be it in the kitchen or at solving problems. 

The good thing is that she takes my side all the time! 

Sita Mardi

On the way back from Allahabad, the driver strongly recommended a stop at Sita Mardi.

There are signs to this place from the time you leave Allahabad and a lot of hype. What beat us was that we had never heard of this place before as an important historic place in connection to the Ramayana. Ayodhya yes! Panchavati, yes! etc. etc. Sita Mardi. . not really.

Still curiosity and the fact that we had exceeded the daily limit of 200 km and were paying extra anyways made us say "okay. it is on the way and a small detour.. so take us there"

Amazing artwork on the dome!

Was told by driver that the wall work was done by Japanese artists. Do not know if it is true..

Some really nice bas relief murals on the walls..

Shiva with the ganges from his head flowing on steps into a pond. Nicely done!
The place definitely had some unique artistry compared to typical temples.. There was almost a feeling that a FengShui expert had designed the whole premises!

Shopping for trinkets. What would any trip be without it?

Flit like a butterfly, sting like a bee?
Jr. boxes flies like Mohammad Ali!

It was so funny to watch her being so mad and angry and trying to box the flies away with her fists!

The Giant Hanuman was nice but there was no place to stand in a shade and admire it. Lot of concrete around the statue, that was too hot to step on barefoot. No footwear and lot of heat with no shade was difficult for me to walk around and take photos, and it was impossible for the kids. So it was a one minute trip around this statue.

We went through a one lane mud road for 9 km and finally reached a market. There was a beautiful temple there (built by Birla is what we were told but could not see any signs there) in what was a gorgeous setting. A small river, temple on the river and a bunch of shops around it. Apparently the small temple has been built over many times and the later attractions like the Giant Hanuman statue were built by Japanese architects. The Hanuman for some reason looked more like a Japanese Hanuman than an Indian Hanuman!

The kids were not impressed what with the heat and the flies in the place. We stopped there for an hour and enjoyed the temple. On a cooler day with some breeze, this would have been a great outing.

Definitely recommend a visit if you are going on the Varanasi - Allahabad route!

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Chasing Elephants... really!

Daddy spent two weeks with the kids and grandparents in Chennai when Mommy could not fly out thanks to insufficient vacation days and looming deadlines!

We spent a lot of quality time that week by making many visits to dads favorite Chennai hangout, the Kapaleeshwar Temple.

It happens to be a favorite for the kids too, with the star attraction being the stone elephants. They remembered the last encounter with the elephants, Jr. from memory and the little one from revisiting the blog.

We went there before "mottai"...and the little one started her termite act. Every 5 minutes she would make a request to see a real elephant and have it bless her. So I told her that we will see a real one when we get the mottai in Gunaseelam.

She was very happy and played to her hearts content. She reminded me so much of my brother because he would do the exact same thing, sit dangerously on the top and beat the head of the elephant!

We kept looking out for elephants between the Trichy station and Gunaseelam temple with no luck. There were none on that route this time. No elephants at Gunaseelam temple either. So the little one was really disappointed.

To make her happy we took her back to Kabali temple after "mottai" to play with the stone elephants again. Given a choice she would have stayed on that elephant forever.

It was pretty late and she came out crying "I want to see a real elephant and make it do buchchu for me!"

That was when we started asking all relatives, auto drivers, strangers on where we could possibly find an elephant that would accept our money/bananas and bless us in return.

Only temple elephants do that. So the few elephants in the Guindy / Vandalur zoo's didn't count. Apparently it is not easy to access these elephants either as they are sleeping or hard to find within the park/zoo.

A wise auto driver suggested "Maangaadu Kaamakshi temple". He remembered seeing an elephant there 6 months earlier. So a trip was made to that temple. Nice temple, but no elephant.

Another wise auto driver in the "maangaadu" auto stand told us that an elephant did visit this temple every alternate week or so on auspicious days, but it possibly came from Thiruverkaadu Karumaariamman temple! So off we went searching for that temple.

The little one was praying frantically to every "pillaiyaar ummachhi" (the elephant headed god) she saw on the auto route for one thing and one thing only. An encounter with a blessing elephant.

So she was almost heart broken when we went behind the temple to find "no elephant" where there was supposed to be one. We could smell elephant, but it was nowhere to be found. Then the temple authorities took pity on the little one and dispatched the elephant manager to help us view "Ganesh" (he had already been named .. even if the he was really a she). We walked behind the temple to a padlocked shed to view this gorgeous elephant. You should have seen the smile on the little one's face!

This beautiful creature took the money from the little one and gave us both a long blessing! Brought back so many memories.

Later when we were in Manali and driving towards Bilaspur we saw two elephants that were used to carry heavy loads on the mountains. They were shorter and stockier than the elephants we see(or used to see)in south India.They looked a lot healthier and happier.

Well who wouldn't be with that fresh air and fresh water in Manali?!

Not sure if Jr. and the little one will be able to give their kids this experience.

Elephants are more and more difficult to find these days, but we were glad that we got this on camera.

One thought kept coming back to my mind. We are leaving the world in a lot worse state for our kids than our parents did for us. That is really sad.

On the bright side, the stone elephants haven't changed a bit in 35 years!

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