A day in Mumbai and I move same time as Jupiter

The previous post in this series is here..

After coming back to Mumbai from Dehradun, we did a repack. Suitcases to and from US are 23kg, suitcases on domestic flights are 15kg. So my in-laws got our stuff to various points.

We reweighed stuff, went to the tailor for some “blouse stitching” for San. She was going to come here a week after I came back. Then we had a nice dinner with San’s uncle at an interesting place. The food was some kind of fusion food but I still had stuff to eat there. Mozarella sticks or an Indian equivalent.

Then we got some rest. The next morning we got up very early, went to Siddhi Vinayak, Mahalakshmi and then to Babul Nath temple. This was my first time visiting this temple. It was a wonderful experience. We ate a nice breakfast outside Siddhi Vinayak. We had lunch which my MIL made. Then we went shopping for tea and good quality jaggery to bring back. They fulfilled my last minute wish to eat at Sadhguru. So had an early dinner and got some sleep.

When I went to Mumbai airport in the morning, they told me my flight to Dubai had left. They had notified my cell but I did not turn on an international data plan. Emirates told me that I was not the only one who had this issue and all of us who thought we were on time but late were rebooked in the next flight to Dubai and will spend a day in Dubai. I almost cried. I had meetings to attend here Monday morning. Told them to get me on the last flight that day to Dubai to minimize my time there. It was not that far out. I just wanted to go hug San. So after some help from Emirates staff who had to check me out of the airport with the updated boarding pass, took an Uber and came back to Chembur. Just crashed. Then got to take a photo of MIL’s helper who always asks me nicely how I am doing on every trip. The smile on her face when I showed her the portrait, priceless! Ended up eating what was left and took a nap for a short time and returned to the airport.

Jupiter had moved I guess and he was taking me to a “new level”. Had left SFO with two suitcases and a carry on. When I came back to Emirates counter they said 2 suitcases and laptop bag was it. No carry on. Had to pay 85 $ to get the weight moved into the suitcases, stuff the laptop bag into the carry on to make it one piece in front of an audience. It was interesting.

Finally got to Dubai. They had no airport hotel, no chance to leave. They said lot of passengers stranded because of the flight timing changes. There were people sleeping at the gates. One nice lady said for 100 bucks I could rent a sleeping pod and sleep there with a blanket and pillow and use the restrooms and get water all included. So I rented the pod. It was nice but not quiet. The sound of 20 snorers was there. The looked at me and said “free earplugs”. Slept for a good 6 hours only to be woken by San who screamed “go to gate now. Just got a message saying your flight is boarding”. I pankicked. Not again!! So grabbed everything and ran to the gate. Lucikly Dubai was an hour ahead of Chennai. So I still had an hour. Missed using that restroom and water, tea etc. They obviously weren’t letting me back in as I checked out. Walked around the gate for an hour and finally realized why all these flight time changes.

There was war out there! The flight took the weirdest route to get to SFO. Not sure why they couldn’t have just gone via China to SFO. Went straight up and took a left and came all across the US to come down to SFO. it was a long long flight.

After coming home and unpacking felt a sigh of relief. Could get back to my normal routine at work. That tea and jaggery ended up being a lot more expensive than what I could have paid for at the local Indian store. A new lesson learned.

It was an interesting trip. I did get a chance to meet all four of my aunts in Chennai and my local cousins. Also got to meet my music teacher at his house and meet his family. Made a flying visit to Paadarivom Padipparivom and got to hug Nagubhai, the man who has made my life a lot better since COVID thanks to the music initiative he pioneered and kept running through really tough times.

Somehow after coming back, I lost my voice and motivation to sing. Just kept focusing on work. That helped. Now things are slowly changing. Jupiter is still playing tricks with my body and mind or maybe it is my dad doing funny stuff to my head behind the scenes. Won’t know. Have started singing again though!

Just wish things get back to how they were in March.

Here are the last few photos that make a cut for this post..

While I was on that long flight back, Kuwait airport got bombed and one died and 60+ were injured. In a way maybe things turned out good and I made it back home in one piece, sleeping in pods or not!

There is no travel in the near future given my health condition. Will be glad to write about music and hopefully sing more regularly. Need to get out of my current predicament with the knee and start squatting, walking, do yoga and get back to my old self! One can only pray for a quick recovery!

Gateway to heaven - Haridwar

The previous post in this series is here..

We had seen Kedarnath in the morning and Badrinath in the evening on day 5 of the Chardham trip (we had a washout fourth day).

The next morning we had to make it to Dehradun. It was our extra buffer day per the travel company but our plan was to go see Haridwar and Rishikesh also (we were not going to come to these parts in a long time, maybe never given our travel and vacation schedules and age!). We were at the Helipad bright and early. However the helicopter did not land.. they came into the valley and turned around. There was black smoke from some forest fire nearby which made flying dangerous.

Again we had to beg the flight co-ordinator along with a bunch of other folks stranded at the helipad. They took us back to Phata and then from Phata to Dehradun. We had to wait for refueling at Phata but all was well. We were to be in Dehradun by 9AM. We made it at 10:30 or so. We had the Thumby folks pick us up from the Sahasradhara helipad and take us to the hotel where our luggage was in cloak room. We were met by the coordinator who thanked us for putting up with the issues and gave us a parting gift (water from all four sites in bottles and a rudraksh necklace). We took it packed it and loaded all our stuff into the trunk of the van my FIl had arranged for the day.

The driver was nice. We told him we wanted to go to Haridwar, then Rishikesh. We were going to spend the night there and leave for the airport the following morning. He said he will do his best.

We were hungry on the way to Haridwar and stopped at a Punjabi Dhaba. The food was divine. My stomach enlarged a few sizes after that meal as it will be obvious from the photos..

Then we were off to Haridwar. There were three places to see. Two devi temples on either side of the freeway which both needed a ropeway ride to go to the top. He told us we might make it through one if lucky. The other must visit place was Hari ki Pauri or the gateway to heaven. the place where the river ganges comes from the mountains and gets to flat terrain. The water flow is very high but they have built nice steps for the thousands of pilgrims to take a dip here.

First we went to the Chandi devi temple. It was well organized. A ropeway to take us up 2000 feet in 7 minutes. A short hike from there to the temple. Then wait for the next ropeway to come down. Wait on either side was 40 minutes which was not bad. Once we made it down, it was extremely hot. This temple told us that the ropeway ticketing for the other temple was closed. There was no point in going there. So we saw the other temple from the freeway and said a prayer and drove on to Hari ki Pauri.

Our driver said “this is the second step to heaven”. My MIL innocently asked “where is the first step? can we go to that too?” and he said “maa ji. First step is heaven itself !!” . We all had a good laugh and made our way to the river. It was extremely crowded but we found a gap to take three dips (me and MIL).

There are two types of people in the world. When someone says “take a dip in this water. Mythology has it that if you take three dips here, heaven is guaranteed!” , some will say “let me get a towel”. Others will say “that damn thing looks too dirty compared to a common sewer. Maybe the germs there will get you to heaven sooner than you want?! I will pass”.. MIL and me are the first type. San and FIL are the second. The towel I got in Gangothri came in very handy!

San and FIL just set foot in the water and sprinkled some water on their forehead. Then we got back to the van and were off to Rishikesh. There was a chance to see Ganga aarthi in Haridwar or Rishikesh. Given our tiredness levels, we just told him to drive to Rishikesh… so we could catch a break and sit down for sometime.

Here are the photos from this leg starting with the morning in Badrinath. Our hotel in Badrinath was also very nice. Photos from this leg..

and a video highlight reel ..

Irony is a terrible thing. Before leaving Chennai for this trip my mom told me that there is going to be some planetary changes end of May early June that will take me to “vera level”. Then there was this Hari ki Pauri dip which was supposed to give me a lot of good as was that tharpanam for dad on Ganga Dusshera.

I landed back in US on June 2nd and my life has taken a nasty turn with multiple hospital visits first for the infection, then for a swollen knee and a lot of sleep deprivation in general and its associated side effects, an abysmal yoga attendance and other exercise by my standards.. if “vera level” is this, I shudder to think what the alternative was!!! At this point just happy to exist.

Will post about Rishikesh next..

The road to heaven goes through hell - Chardham Yatra

The one other major “trip” that we took after the Japan trip was to do the Chardham yatra via Helicopter.

My father had requested that I go visit over and over again, in the days that he could still talk. So right after the one year annual ceremony, my mom suggested I go do this Yatra with San. Her reasoning was “I don’t know when you will come visit next. So go when you are here!”. We had spent the first week of the trip doing the ceremonies for 5 days, then immediately visited Gunaseelam (family deity) temple for a day. Then we were free to visit other temples. So right away we spent the next six days in the CharDham Yatra.

We had requested my FIL to do the booking as he is local and could directly talk to the. tour operators. He was already wary as there was a lot of fraudulent bookings for this yatra. He had transferred a little over 2k USD per person for this five day trip not to mention the travel from Chennai to Dehradun and Dehradhun to Mumbai.

We were committed. The decision was to have our in-laws join as well. We begged them to join. They had read the reviews and knew it was not going to be easy to do this at their age, but they agreed and we were glad they did. They might have regretted the decision. At least they didn’t show it. Something tells me that this will be the last trip we go with them which involves high altitude, extended walking, poor accommodations without proper restrooms. Now that I have gone through my first UTI and kidney infection, totally understand what I put my FIL through for those five days. Hopefully he forgives me in this lifetime.

A few things to note before I dive into writing details about this Yatra.

1. I was already in a bad mood. My fathers passing only hit me while we were busy cleaning up the apartment. Till then it was lurking in the background. Dropping off mom’s thirumangalyam at Gunaseelam temple was the last nail. So I was grumpy and mentally exhausted.

2. My wife and in-laws were fully aware of the situation. They were extremely supportive throughout this trip. Every now and then, they just let me be to stare at the snow covered mountains.

3. When people tell you that given we go by Helicopter from place to place and get to see the actual deities, as though it is a walk in the park, it is NOT! This is not for older people or people with health issues. If you get altitude sickness, think twice or thrice before you go.. Better, avoid it.

4. The Heli tours seat 6. If possible get a full group so your helicopter is in your control at least as far as the passenger manifest is concerned. This way there are no issues with late or missing passengers costing you a day on a hectic trip. Local travellers who can afford to take such risks don’t care about their co-passengers.

5. Do not Plan this for 5 days even though that is the travel plan. Have at least 3 extra days to save yourself a lot of mental agony. Helipads close due to bad visibility, bad weather, local fires etc. totally unpredictable weather in these parts of the himalayas. Once you are up there, a road trip return is also not possible as roads close due to landslides. There are also unpredictable delays due to politicians and other folks who block roads.

6. go on a dieting spree before this trip. The helicopters can only take so much weight. They assume 75kg per passenger and a 5kg bag per person. You will be weighed before every trip.

Having said all that, we did take all morning and afternoon to fly from Chennai to Dehradun via Lucknow. Once we reached Dehradun airport, we had a car waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It was a 90 minute drive through the mountains. On the way there were many roadside stalls for good and chai. We stopped to have noodles and Chai.

Every 500m there is a “pahaho-wali maggi” store. Never diss Maggi noodles. It is the food of sherpas! San let me have all the Maggi I wanted on this trip. That is one thing that put a smile on my face!

We were met by the tour coordinator who gave us a bag and said anything we need for the next 4 days goes in that bag and cannot exceed 5kgs. Also he asked for our weight including what we were going to wear (jackets etc). He asked us to leave our luggage in the hotel cloak room and leave only with the 5kg bag the next morning. So we packed emergency medicines, chargers, minimal clothes and before you knew it was done! I kept 1 kg as reserve in my bag in case we bought some souveniers. It was a good move.

We had a nice dinner and breakfast at the hotel in Dehradun and were picked up by the tour company. It was a short drive to the Sahasradhara helipad in Dehradun. We got boarding passes after being weighed in. After a short wait, we flew to Yamunothri. It was a 40 minute ride and was pleasant. This is my first helicopter ride if memory serves me right. So it was better than my expectations.

Once at Yamunothri, they see your badges and folks come take you to the hotel. It was a simple room. We were asked to rest. There were enough rooms for the group and a separate shed for having food. The village was very peaceful with a few hotels and a small temple. The views were amazing! There were 15 people in our group. 60 guys were going to come and carry us 4 /person in a Doli (it is a bucket seat that is held up by two wooden sticks on either side) up 7+ kilometers with an elevation gain of 3000 feet.

We waited patiently for 3 hours! Apparently the election commisisoner had decided to do the Chardham coinciding with our schedule. That was not good news. They had blocked the path for an hour. So the morning group was stuck. Doli men could not reach. Finally they showed up and were ready to go on their second trip! These are all kids and young men 17-30 who came from Nepal during the visiting season to make money. Strawberry pickers from Mexico came to mind.

After just a few yards on the Doli, I was not for it. We hike a lot. So I got off the Doli and told the guys it was okay. They were getting paid anyways. So one of them can guide me and the other three can carry the doli and walk along. If I could not walk, then I agreed to get back. I hiked the entire way up. San also saw what I did and decided to walk it. My in-laws found it difficult to breathe and after a point their doli’s were all stopped thanks to the politician and everyone was asked to walk. They could not and made the wise decision to turn back to the hotel. San was stuck a good mile behind me. Lucikly the Doli guys had cell signal at places and they sent word. I waited and finally she joined me. They had parked the doli’s 4.5 km from the bottom. We both ran up the rest of the way through doli’s horses, people who would not move..

When I was almost a Km to the top, a horse hit my ankle with full force, removed my shoes and skin came off my ankle. Told the guys it was too late to turn back. Just put my socks back on and kept going. We reached the Yamunothri shrine at 7 PM. It was already getting dark. A priest met us, took us to a line and shoved us in there. His instructions “keep your hands up and go with the crowd. You will be in front in a few minutes. See the deity. THey will push you out. I will wait for you where they push you out”. It was like a birthing experience. At 7:08 we were ejected out. We had seen the shrine for maybe 25 seconds tops.

As part of my promise to my dad, I did no a prayer at this place. That took another 10 minutes with the priest. Then it was time to go down. We went down almost 4 km by walk. By then the doli guys joined us. It was getting crazy with Doli’s, horses and people pushing. So they told us walking was not good for us or them. Doli’s have right of way! so we both got on that and they literally ran down the last 3 km. WIth full bladders we had to endure a bumpy ride to the base. Then we had to walk back up to the hotel. That was a climb in itself. We were so happy to see the restroom. They still had dinner left for us. So we ate what we could. We were also glad to see my in-laws in good spirits. They were happy they decided to return back. In spite of leaving earlier, they were also caught in the politician traffic and had made it back only 90 minutes before we did.

Here are some picturess..

and a video..

We crashed right away. The next morning we were going to leave for the helipad bright and early.