Alanis Morisette, Traffic jams and a Ganga Aarathi to remember

The previous post in this series is here..

We left Haridwar and reached Rishikesh. MIL was exhausted and said she will stay in the car and drink tea at a local tea stall. The driver told us he will stop and help her. The three of us were given instructions to walk from the main Lakshmanjula road towards the river and once there, walk along the river and see some bridges, see the Ganga Aarathi and then come back.

We walked as instructed, saw the crowd, saw the entire Ganga Aarathi, which was a great experience. Then we walked back with a ganna juice stop for San.

MIL looked refreshed after her rest and chai. Our driver suggested that we go to the hotel after our return, drop luggage before we make it to the end of the road to go cross the lighted Janki Setu bridge and visit temples on the other side. We should have listened to him. We told him we were all tired and would rather be done with all the temple visits before coming back.

We parked in a parking lot near the entrance to the Janki sethu (bridge) and walked across it. Then on the other side we visited two temples where we met our recent friends and family! It was great to catch up again.

We walked back to the car and our driver said the road was jammed and will take one hour to clear at least. The local restaurants had no seating. Everything was full. We left MIL in the car and the three of us walked back to the hotel in crazy jammed traffic. But our luggage was still in the car. My jacket was left loose in the trunk with my passport in the jacket pocket. I was tense and worried that if they open to take out stuff, my jacket and passport fall down. Luckily when the driver showed up with MIL and the luggage the jacket was still on top.

Alanis for some reason came to mind.. had listened to her albums as a grad student a long time ago when her album hit.. raining, traffic jam when your’e already late, India, a few neurons connected and gave me memories of Philadelphia in early 90’s, while at Rishikesh. The brain does funny things..

We were all exhausted after that experience. our hotel was a new hotel and it was fantastic. Sadly we were too late and the restaurant had closed for dinner. Ate an energy bar and went to sleep. The other three had taken some Lassi earlier at the parking lot. Everyone just crashed.

In the morning we had a really nice breakfast at the hotel including idli, vadai etc. The food and service was fantastic.

After the breakfast we got our luggage down and were all set to drive to the Dehradun airport. We met the same family at the airport again. At this point my FIL was going back to Chennai and San/me went with MIL to Mumbai. I had one evening and one day in Mumbai to repack before flying out to the US. Given all the helicopter delay scares, was happy to know that I will make it to Mumbai.

Here are the photos from our Rishikesh leg and back to Dehradun airport. We saw some interesting things in the airport including a Flybrary. You can see it in the pictures and the video.

Photos..

Video highlight reel..

Rishikesh is a vegetarian city. That in itself was an amazing experience. The food was just amazing.

We made it back to Mumbai without event.. Will write about it before I close this series!

The mother of all crossings at Shibuya- Japan Day 6

The previous post in this series is here..

After visiting the electronic city, we were going to Shibuya crossing to experience the worlds most not so pedestrian pedestrian event..

There was a request from the ladies to stop two train stations earlier and walk through a market which had beauty supply stores in Harajuku area. There was yet another uniqlo store there and me and my friend both got more pants (dont ask!). There was more eye rolling from the ladies and we made a mental note that sometime an extra suitcase purchase was required before the return trip.

we did stop by a few stores to get an idea of suitcase prices and made the long walk from Harajuku to Shibuya. We spent a good 30 minutes at the crossing, going from every point to every other point with the crowd and taking pictures and time lapse videos. Was very proud of the group for holding as still as possible for the time lapse videos.

Then we tried to get food there but we were not lucky. I was also reminding that group that while they could always get something to eat in the hotel (there was a Sizzlers and Starbucks at the Tokyo dome which some group members were eyeing since we checked in), I had to deal with wet clothes that needed laundry. So off we went to the hotel. While everyone else went for dinner, I ate a packet of Parle G biscuits, grabbed change and went to the laundry in the 7th floor. Waited there for 2 hours and by the time the clothes dried and got back to the room at 11 everyone was asleep.

While we were in electronic city earlier, our driver for the next days event called us and asked us if we could be ready by 4:30 AM the following morning. We told him “no way” and said 5:30AM was the best we could do.

the video highlights of Shibuya crossing..

We were to get up at 5 and be outside the hotel at 5:30. So I came back with the laundry and crashed.. Day 7 was going to be interesting..

Transcending space and time

The first planned event on our India trip was to attend the arangetram of Kavya. I have never been to an arangetram in India, but have attended two dozen or so of these events in the bay area. 

It was a treat to watch Kavya dance. Sat there wondering when this little kid we are so used to seeing got so mature in emoting! The audience in India is more of an untamed beast. The average age of the crowd that attended was a good 20 years older than the audience in the US, which in itself is not a bad thing. They do not have bladder control though and there is a constant stream of people walking in and out of their seats to hit the restroom. 

So here is a tip if you are used to seeing arangetrams in US and you go watch one in India. Get to the front seat! 

We also got to hear a few words from the Legendary Chitra Visweshwaran on art forms that have gone to foreign lands and are kept alive and well. She talked about the challenges kids face both in India and abroad but how the parents abroad give that extra priority to keep things going to get to an arangetram or a stage performance and not give up because of "board exams". 

Thought of recording it, but then switched the camera off and just listened to her talk.

Hearing that I realized that we put our kids through a lot here in the US and they also push themselves hard because of peer pressure. 

Hoping that BB will post pictures or videos of the event in his blog. I am still getting goosebumps going back to that evening. 

Promptly after the performance ended, we ran out to find an auto! Yes, that was a real challenge as autos are not easy to find after 9PM in that area and we had to catch the first flight out in the morning to Mumbai! 

We had to transcend to another space in short time. 

After reaching Mumbai, our plan was to go straight to see San's cousin and her new baby! We had no idea that the supposed 45 minute commute will become a 2 hour plus ordeal! Lunch plan became tea plan and we were exhausted by the time we reached her cousins place. 

Then a cute baby made us forget everything! 

That was again transcending time. They say you can see god in a baby's smile! There may be some truth to it...

After another 2 hour ride in rains and traffic, we made it to the in-laws place by dinner time, and that was day 2!

Mumbai might drain faster after a quick rain but when it comes to traffic, it is a lot worse than Chennai. At least that was our experience. 

Will continue blogging after coming back. . .