DAYS 80 TO 82 – TRIVANDRUM
Day 80 – Tuesday, 14th Jan 2014 to Day 82 – Thursday, 16th Jan 2014
It’s 1 pm, Tuesday afternoon, Khyati and I drag our luggage outside Trivandrum Central station and the hotel gate is right across the main entrance of the railway station. So close, woohoo! We had booked Kerala State Tourism Hotel – Hotel Chaithram. It’s a budget hotel, thumbs up for the location, Service and Room wise – Average.
It’s 3 pm and post lunch at a local restaurant, we walk towards the East Fort area. East Fort is a popular joint and houses the famous Padmanabha Swamy temple. From the locals, we heard that today was a special day at the temple. They were celebrating an occasion celebrated once in every 6 years and 1,00,000 Diyas will be lighted in the temple complex. Wow! we did not want to miss this moment. This was scheduled in the evening from 6 pm onwards. In the meantime, we decide to head to Kovalam Beach. Kovalam Beach is a popular beach for tourists and locals and is 12 kms South of Trivandrum. We hop on an AC bus, very comfortable and smooth ride, it takes us 20 minutes to get there. Once there, we walk the entire stretch of Kovalam Beach and enjoy sweet coconut water. There is a small stretch on the West side of the beach occupied by Leela Group of Hotels (premium hotel chain in India). Posing as people intending to visit the restaurant, we enter the sprawling complex. The Leela Hotel is on a small hill overlooking the Arabian Sea.
at The Leela, Kovalam
We enjoy gorgeous views of the sunset and head back to East Fort area by 6:30 pm. There are thousands of people near the temple and entry is restricted. We find out that for today, the temple has issued 22,000 passes and entry will be only for those pass holders. We slowly walk through the humongous crowd and get a good glimpse of the temple entrance door. This was glittering in gold, marvelous!
Padmanabha Swamy temple
If you are in Kerala, do try the Jackfruit chips – they are good, one of my favorite snacks.
We head back to the hotel by 9 pm and make an itinerary for our next day’s travel.
It’s 10 am Wednesday morning, Khyati and I are back at East Fort area to catch a bus to Poovar. Poovar is a scenic beach town on the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It’s 35 kms South of Trivandrum and we take a state bus there. Unfortunately, no AC buses but we weren’t complaining as long as we got seats. The journey goes through many small towns and takes around 1 1/2 hours.
Poovar is famous for the Golden Sand beaches and the best part is the connection between the sea and the backwaters. Only a small strip of sand beach separates the two.
Poovar Beach
We chose to walk on the beach but most people prefer taking a boat ride from the Kerala backwaters. The boat ride can be rented for an hour or more and usually costs Rs 700/hr. We spend the entire afternoon enjoying a beach walk, a walk through the lush green mangrove tree forest and backwaters.
taking a stroll through the backwaters
It’s 5 pm and we head back in the bus to Trivandrum and our hotel.
For Thursday, we planned local city sight seeing. Not far from our hotel is the Natural History museum and Zoo. Trivandrum Zoo is the first zoo that opened in India in 1914 and houses many species of birds and animals. We spend the entire morning at the zoo.
deers resting
Us!
Post lunch, we visit the Museum of Natural History and enjoy the surroundings. We head back to the hotel by 3 pm and wait in the lobby area for our train – Intercity Express to Alleppey which leaves at 5:30 pm.
Kerala is called ‘God’s own country’ and so far, we have been very impressed with what we have seen. We are exploring two other cities in Kerala the next few days – Alleppey and Kochi. We are quite enthused.
Please drop your comments for this one and stay tuned for future posts,
Best wishes,
Paras
DAY 79 AND 80 – KANYAKUMARI
Day 79 – Monday, 13th Jan 2014 and Day 80 – Tuesday, 14th Jan 2014
It’s Sunday evening, our train Guruvayur Express from Madurai to Nagercoil is pulling into the train station by 9:40 pm. Nagercoil is not the Southern tip but almost there, it is just 22 kms from Kanyakumari and a major railway junction.
train route to Nagercoil
Outside the railway station, some auto rickshaw and taxi drivers surround us but we shoo them away. We briefly mention that we need to go to Kanyakumari but will take the bus. An immediate response from these people is that there are no more buses at this hour and we will need to take a taxi. We choose to ignore and continue our walk to the bus stand. Along the path, we find out from a few people that the bus stand is 1 km from the railway station. Oops! Dragging all that luggage in the night, not a good idea probably! As we turn back, we see a taxi driver has followed us some distance. He speaks in plain English and says that – ‘Sir, I am a local taxi driver from Kanyakumari and need to get back there. I can drop you to your hotel and will charge you a nominal fare. You can ride with me if interested.’ He seemed genuine from his talks and charged us Rs 250 for a 22 km journey. We accept his offer and reach Gujarat Bhavan on Kovalam Road by 10:15 pm.
Kanyakumari is famous for the amazing views we get for sunrise and sunsets. We kept an alarm for 5:15 am the next morning.
It’s 5:15 am Monday morning, Khyati and I freshen up, pack our cameras, torch light and head out towards the Sunrise point in the dark. On our way there, we see the Lighthouse and few other people on the street heading towards the beach. We reach the Sunrise point by 5:45 am, the sun is supposed to rise by 6:30 am so we had some time. We sit on some of the rocks with waves lashing strongly against them.
Vivekananda Rock at 5:45 am, covered by a string of lights.
As it approaches 6 am, we could see the day break as darkness began to fade away. The feeling was amazing as we saw the sunrise. By now, a lot of people had accumulated around us and on the nearby buildings, we could see people on the terraces.
Sunrise
It’s 7:30 am, we are back to our hotel and plan the rest of the day. Some of the key points of attraction in Kanyakumari are: Vivekananda Rock, Thiruvallar Statue, Devi temple, Vivekananda Life museum, Gandhi Temple, Sunset point and Sunrise point.
It’s 10:30 am, we are at the main jetty stand and wish to go to Vivekananda rock island. The lines are huge, over an hour long and we have no choice but to patiently wait. It’s noon by the time our turn comes and we head in the boat jetty to Vivekananda Rock island. (A thing to note – normal ticket prices are Rs 34 pp and premium ticket prices are Rs 169 pp). You can evade the lines if you purchase premium tickets. We didn’t know about these tickets as there was just a small board near the ticket counter which gave this information. What a shame!
The boat ride is 5 minutes and we arrive on the island. Swami Vivekananda meditated on this island during his India tour. Story has it that when he arrived in Kanyakumari, he saw this barren island and immediately found solace and wanted to go there to meditate. There were fishermen who were offering the boat ride for a small price but Swamiji didn’t have any money to pay them. So, Swami Vivekananda jumped in the ocean and swam to the island, not fearing about any fishes, whales or sharks in the ocean. Such was his determination and will.
We spend an hour on the island and marvel at the vast ocean. South of the island, we can see two different water bodies – one has a greenish tinge and another has a bluish tinge to it’s color. This is the confluence point of Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. I have tried to capture the sight in this image and video, hope you can see.
MVI0071 from Paras Mamania on Vimeo.
confluence point
We take the boat jetty again which goes to the nearby island of Thiruvallar. Thiruvallar was a famous poet and a huge 92 ft statue has been erected in his honor. We enjoy our visit to both these islands and head back to Kanyakumari.
Vivekananda Rock island in background
Thiruvallar statue
It’s 3:30 pm and we have some filling lunch at a local restaurant. Post that, we visit a museum on the life of Swami Vivekananda and his travels and teachings. From there, we visit Gandhi temple. It’s the only place I have heard of which has a temple for Gandhiji. Gandhi is the father of our nation and he helped us in India’s freedom struggle but a temple, why?
Gandhi temple and spinning wheel symbol
It’s 5:30 pm and we head to the Sunset point. In Kanyakumari, they have built a 5 storey building called the Sea view Tower which is solely to view sunsets as you get an unhindered view of the ocean and the setting sun. Entry is just Rs 10 pp.
We enjoy the gorgeous sunset and our time here.
Sunset
It’s 7:30 pm and we head back to the hotel and relax in our rooms. We call it a night around 10 pm.
Tomorrow, we head to Trivandrum but our train isn’t till 10:30 am so we don’t miss another chance and head to the sunrise point again on Tuesday morning. We are glad we could see the gorgeous sunrises two days in a row in Kanyakumari.
It’s 8:30 am, we check out of our room and take a bus to Nagercoil railway station. Our train – Ananthpuri Express to Trivandrum is on time. The journey is short – 75 kms and we arrive in Trivandrum by 1 pm.
train route to Trivandrum
In our next post, please read about our visit to Kovalam Beach, Golden sand beaches at Poovar and Trivandrum city.
Hope you enjoyed this piece on Kanyakumari, the Southern tip of India. Now we begin our ascend from the West Coast of India towards Mumbai.
Stay tuned with us,
Best wishes,
Paras
Days 76 to 78 – Madurai
Day 76 – Friday, 10th Jan 2014 to Day 78 – Sunday, 12th Jan 2014
It’s Summer of 1997 and my parents and I are visiting our close relatives in the quintessential town of Madurai. Anna Nagar where our relatives live is a premier locality with spread out bungalows. I was in awe of such exquisite living because as Mumbaikars, we are used to the hustle and bustle.
It’s Friday, Jan 10th – Khyati and I are in Madurai at our relative’s place. I am trying to recollect stories from back then but my memory fades me. Anna Nagar is now a well developed locality with innumerable hospitals. There are 10 big hospitals in the vicinity of our relatives place and we found that Madurai has one of the best eye care hospitals. Vrajlal Masa – our host enthusiastically shared many more nuggets about this town. Obviously – urban development has got the better of most town and Madurai is no different. The roads are clean, well laid out with bridges, new high end construction and a major railway junction with connections to almost all parts of India. It was hard to believe Madurai like this 15 years ago.
We find out that this week is Pongal and most schools, businesses will remain closed to celebrate the festival. For the locals, it’s their New Year and there was a festive mood around.
Madurai is not a tourist town. There are only two major sight seeing spots – Meenakshi Temple (400 year old temple) and Gandhi memorial.
On the first day, we visit Meenakshi Temple. Meenakshi temple is a huge temple with 4 major gate entrances and then within the complex, they have a Meenakshi (another name for Parvathi – wife of Shiva) and Shiva temple. Due to the Pongal season, there were a lot of Aiyappa devotees and lines were 3-4 hours long. We skip visiting the core temple but walk around the pond and the outer area of the temple. History has it that after Meenakshi temple was built, an entire city was built around it and you can see that the temple is right in the heart of the city.
East entrance of Meenakshi Temple
Next day, we visit Gandhi Memorial in the morning.
Gandhi Memorial
This is a free museum It depicts the entire history of Indian freedom struggle in the form of a pictorial journey. We enjoy visiting the museum. Gandhi has left such a profound impact on the people of Madurai. Story has it that in 1914, when Gandhi visited Madurai, he saw the poor state of his fellow people and gave up wearing regular clothes and changed to only a loin wear. Pre Independence, here is a picture of the various flag designs of India.
Indian flag history
Outside the Gandhi museum, there was loud music being played and a local speaking in Tamil. We head in that direction to find out more and see that the locals are celebrating Pongal. We stand by the side to enjoy the various activities and competitions. Here’s a picture of the Matka race – girls had to balance the pot upside down on their head and walk a distance of 100 meters. It was fun!
kids involved in pot race
In the evening our hosts take us to a lake. To our amuse, it was an empty lake. As you can see, there is a temple in the center of the lake and for people to go worship, they had to sail in a small boat and reach the temple. Nowadays, due to lack of water, people just climb down the steps and walk to the temple. We had a good laugh!
previously a lake and a temple in the center
It’s Sunday and Vrajlal masa takes us to Jain School. It’s a school built by the Jain and Gujarati community in Madurai. The school is one of the best in Madurai and offers education to over 400 students. We also saw Jain hospital where they offer cataract operations to poor people for a meagre cost. What a noble cause! We drive around the city and visit the various pockets of Madurai. It’s afternoon and we head back home for lunch. Post lunch, I catch up on my writing while Khyati finishes packing for our onward journey.
It’s been a good 3 days with family and we couldn’t thank our hosts enough for their hospitality and warmth.
Vrajlal Masa and Vora family
It’s 4 pm and Vipul kaka drops us to Madurai station. Our journey now takes us to Kanyakumari, the Southern tip of India and the confluence of three major water bodies – Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian ocean.
Hope you enjoyed this piece, please let us know by leaving a comment.
Best wishes,
Paras
Day 75 – Rameshwaram
Day 75 – Thursday, 9th Jan 2014
Today marks our Diamond Jubilee in India travel. We spent our 25th – Silver Jubilee in Agra, 50th – Golden Jubilee in Bhopal and now 75th – Diamond Jubilee in Rameshwaram.
Rameshwaram is an island in itself separate from the mainland India. There is a famous collapsible Pamban bridge which connects Rameshwaram with the mainland.
Train route
The Pamban bridge is 2.3 kms long making it one of the longest sea bridges. There is a parallel running road bridge which connects the island as well. Khyati and I enjoy the entire bridge standing near our train coach door.
Here’s a picture taken from the internet of the famous Pamban bridge.
Pamban bridge
It’s 11 am and our train pulls into Rameshwaram station. It’s a quaint style train station, people are laid back and enjoying the sunshine. We take an auto rickshaw to Gujarat Bhavan near the Ramanathswamy temple.
Rameshwaram
It’s 1:30 pm and post lunch, we walk towards the beach area. The shore is a mere 100 meters from us and we can feel the good sea breeze. There is one lone pier on the beach and we decide to take a boat ride. The boat ride gives us a nice hour tour of the island. As we enter the sea, the waves are strong and the boat sways from one end to other. My stomach is rumbling and I just hope that I don’t throw up.
From the sea, we could see views of the town.
TV tower and temple in the distance
It’s 3:30 pm and we reach the shore again and head towards the temple. There is a small queue at the entrance. We can see a lot of Aiyapaa devotees visiting these temples. They can be distinctly identified as men wear black clothes and women wear red Sarees. No photography is allowed inside the temple but we did manage a picture from our hotel.
Temple
Post that, we visit Vivekanand Museum. Swami Vivekanand arrived at the shores of Rameshwaram when he came back after attending the religious conference in Chicago in 1897.
The place where he stayed has been converted into a museum with his teachings decorated on the walls. We enjoy our visit here.
It’s 5 pm and we head again to the beach to enjoy the sunset. South India is beaming with temples and you can only imagine, how many temples must have existed in the past and over time, some of these temples have been destroyed. On the sea shore, we could see statues of various dieties placed like these. It’s a pity sight.
along the sea shore
It’s 6:30 pm and we have some light lunch at a local restaurant. We have an evening train to catch for Madurai. It’s 8 pm and we head to the railway station to catch our RMM-Cape Express to Madurai. The train journey is short and we reach our relative’s house by 11:40 pm.
Rameshwaram to Madurai
Hope you enjoyed our one day experience of Rameshwaram. Please let us know by leaving a comment.
Best wishes,
Paras
Days 72 to 74 – Chennai & Mahabalipuram
Day 72 – Monday, 6th Jan 2014 to Day 74 – Wednesday, 8th Jan 2014
It’s Monday morning 8:30 am, our train Charminar Express has pulled into one of the four eminent metro cities of India. This time, we are in Chennai previously known as Madras. As we step out of the station and head to the prepaid auto stand, Khyati reminds me to speak in English. If you tend to speak in Hindi, hardly anyone understands or if they do, they pretend that they don’t follow you. We find our way to Gujarat Bhavan in Broadway, a suburb of Chennai – a quick ride from the station.
It’s 1:30 pm and post lunch, we take a local bus to Marina beach. It’s good to check at the inquiry counter before you board the bus. All the buses have destinations written in Tamil which makes it very difficult to judge which is the right bus for your destination.
Our bus comes to a halt on the main road near Marina beach, the bus conductor shouts – ‘Mariiina, Mariiina’. It’s 3 pm in the afternoon, the weather is blazing hot. What a drastic difference from the North to the South. We faced freezing temp in Dalhousie and Dharamshala and Chennai is scorching hot.
The sand is quite warm and we enjoy a walk along the long coastline. Marina beach is one of the longest beaches, distance being 15 kms. We eat some fresh corn from the street side vendors.
at Marina beach
In the evening, we visit a few other monuments – Anna Memorial, MGR memorial, Chepauk campus of Madras University and Victory War memorial.
Victory War Memorial
It’s 7:30 pm, both of us are quite tired from all the walking. We crave some good food and head to Sarvanaa Bhavan – a South Indian high quality chain restaurant. This one has branches in London and we know that the food will be good. Chennai is known for filter coffee, if you are here – do try the filter coffee. It’s quite good.
We head back to Gujarat Bhavan and call it a night around 10:30 pm.
Outside of Chennai, there are quite a few good tourist spots – Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Vellore, Tirupathi. Ofcourse, we weren’t going to be able to cover all these places but we decide to explore Mahabalipuram the next day. It’s the closest to Chennai at a distance of 55 kms.
Lot of private tour operators take you to Mahabalipuram but we decided to give them a skip and travel on our own. We take the public transport to CMBT – Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and take the state bus from there heading towards Pondicherry.
Chennai to Mahabalipuram
As you can see, the route goes right along the coast and is very scenic. We enjoy the hour ride and reach Mahabalipuram by noon. Mahablipuram is quite a small town and there are 5-6 attractions which can be covered on foot. Our first stop is the Shore temple.
Shore temple
The temple is right along the shore but over the years, the salty water and winds have eroded on it’s stone carvings and hence the temple area has got fences hopefully to preserve it for long. We walk along the sand beach and sit on the stones for a while. Strong waves lash the shore as we marvel at the vastness of the ocean.
We visit a few other places – Arjuna’s penance, Five Rathas, Light house and a set of caves. The caves are on a hill top and we hike the distance.
On this rock stood this lone goat. We wondered how it got on top of the rock. We spent an hour near this site and the poor animal was standing still. Did it get stuck there? We can only wonder.!
lone goat on a rock
From the top of the Light house, there are stunning views of the town and the sea.
at the Lighthouse
It’s 6:30 pm and we have covered all the attractions here. We have some light dinner and take the state bus back to Chennai. We reach our hotel by 8:30 pm and call it a night around 10:30 pm.
One thing I found amusing in Chennai is the amount of publicity Tamil Nadu’s current chief minister has got. She has got her pictures on hoardings, bill boards, sign boards at any attractions, various monuments, etc. She has even got a mineral water bottle by her name and it has her picture on it. hah!
Amma mineral water
I will tell you a funny story I heard somewhere – Jayalalithaa is the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Rajnikanth is an extremely popular film actor. He is treated as GOD by most locals.
There is a rule in Tamil Nadu that if Jayalalitha’s convoy is passing by any street, the traffic police will close down that area for 15-20 minutes for any other vehicular traffic.
Story has it that one day, Rajnikanth was traveling in his car to a film shooting and was running a bit late. The traffic police had started blocking roads for normal vehicular traffic as Jayalalitha’s convoy was going to pass. Rajnikant requested that as his car was right in the front, they let him pass as he did not want to be more late for the shooting. The traffic cop rubbished him and said that he could walk if he wanted to but the roads will remain closed for the next 15-20 minutes. Rajnikant got off his car and started walking. There was a manic 3 1/2 hour traffic jam on that road and even the Chief Minister’s convoy was stuck in that madness. This goes to say the popularity of Rajnikant. Obviously, Rajnikant and Jayalalitha being friends, Jayalalitha accorded him special status and allowed his car to pass in such situations.
It’s Wednesday and we visit a few friends and relatives house today. It was good to meet one of our good friends – Heena Pratik Gala from London.
with Heena and her family
In the evening, we visit a few Jain temples and Kapaleshwar temple in Mylapore area of Chennai.
It’s 8:30 pm, we are at Chennai Egmore station and board Rameshwaram Express to Rameshwaram. Have you seen the movie Chennai Express? Here, Shahrukh Khan has to go to Rameshwaram to immerse his grand father’s ashes. It’s a holy pilgrimage site for Hindus.
Rameshwaram Express
Tomorrow, we explore Rameshwaram, stay tuned for our next post.
Hope you enjoyed this piece, please let us know by leaving a comment.
Best wishes,
Paras
Days 68 to 71 – Hyderabad
Day 68 – Thursday, 2nd Jan 2014 to Day 71 – Sunday, 5th Jan 2014
It’s Thursday morning 10 am, our train – Falaknuma Express has pulled into Secunderabad station. We head to the prepaid auto stand for a ride to our host’s place. All autos are waiting in a line but none seem interested in seating us. Each auto driver hints us to take the rickshaw behind them. We obliged for a few times but found it weird as this is a prepaid stand. Eventually, we found out that our host’s house was quite near to the railway station and the drivers weren’t interested in the low fare. We had to have a local traffic police interrupt and seat us in the next rickshaw.
It’s 2 pm and post lunch, we leave to tour some part of the city. We visit Hussain Sagar Lake. There is a monolithic statue of Buddha. We enjoy our walk around the lake perimeter.
Buddha statue
We visit NTR gardens and Lumbini Park in the evening. There is a water laser show at 7 pm at Lumbini Park. It’s very nice and worth a visit if you are in Hyderabad.
laser show
It’s 8 pm and we meet our friends – Pooja and Kuntesh at a restaurant. It was good to meet our Mumbai friends in Hyderabad – a small reunion.
friends reunion
It’s Friday 7 am, Khyati and I are at the breakfast table with our host’s – Satish Bhai and Anisha Bhabhi. We plan to visit the very famous – Ramoji Film studios. Ramoji Film studios is around 35 kms South East of Hyderabad city and we take public transport to reach there. Plenty of buses and taxis ply this route.
As we reach close to Ramoji film city, we can get a feel of it’s grandeur. It’s set in a sprawling 1600 acre area. Wow!!!
at the park entrance
Ramoji film studios has large resemblance to Universal Studios, Los Angeles. There are movie shows, film making shows, studios, grand theme park and plenty of rides. A day spent here is less. You need more than a day but Khyati and I make a tactical plan and cover almost 90% of the attractions by evening. A must visit is the red bus tour which takes us through the various film studios and sets.
During the New Year season, Ramoji Film City had a Winter fest and there was a special dance and music show and a carnival parade. It was wonderful to spend a day here and we really enjoyed our visit here.
at the Mahabharat film studio
winter fest show
It’s 8:15 pm and we are back at the main entrance of Ramoji film city and hail a state bus back to Hyderabad city bus stand. We call it a night around 11:30 pm.
For Saturday, we plan to tour the old Hyderabad city. It’s 10 am and Satish Bhai drops us in his car to Salar Jung Museum. Salar Jung Museum used to be the palace of the Nizam’s. This grand museum holds artifacts, paintings and collectibles from all over the world. The collection is amazing and we enjoy learning the history through the audio tour provided.
Veiled Rebecca statue carved out of marble
We walk through the old part of the town and visit Charminar. Charminar is a tall monument and signature of Hyderabad similar to Taj Mahal of Agra. We climb to the top of Charminar and enjoy nice city views.
Charminar
We visit a mosque – Jama Masjid next to Charminar and then walk through Lad Bazaar – bangle market. The entire street is filled with bangle sellers. Khyati is lured by many vendors to try their colorful bangles.
It’s 4:30 pm and we take an auto to Sudhacar museum. Note the ‘car’ in Sudhacar. It’s the mastermind of a man named – Sudhakar who is passionate about making cars. He holds a Guinness book of World record for making the biggest tricycle. It’s the wackiest collection of cars – we saw a cigarette car, cricket bat car, Ganpati car, Ladoo car, etc. What creativity and innovation.
cricket bat car
burger car
We have a chance to meet Mr. Sudhakar, a true gentleman and he showed us the garage area where they are building new innovative cars.
wanna ride?
In the evening, we leave with the family and Satish Bhai gives us a wonderful tour of the new city and various pockets of Hyderabad – Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Cyber city, etc.
We enjoy a good dinner with the family –
at Cream Centre, Hyderabad
It’s Sunday, our last day in Hyderabad. We have the morning free and we visit Snow world. Snow World is a nice replica from the West, they have built an indoor snow area. We are provided with warm clothing, jackets, gum boots and let inside the snow world. The temperature inside was maintained at -6 deg. Quite cold but we enjoy the artificial snow, snow slides and rock climbing here.
MVI 9824 from Paras Mamania on Vimeo.
at Snow world
There are a few other attractions at this venue – they have built a Rainforest, mirror museum and a horror world. All the attractions draw huge crowds and it’s 2 pm by the time we finish our visit here. We head home and have some lunch.
We have a few hours before our train to Chennai. Stay tuned for upcoming posts – Chennai and Mahabalipuram.
Hope you enjoyed our write-up of Hyderabad. Please let us know by leaving a comment.
Best wishes,
Paras
Day 67 – Train Journey to Hyderabad
Day 67 – Wednesday, 1st Jan 2014
It’s 1 am on Wednesday 1st Jan, we reach home. Jayant mama and Naina mami are awake and watching some TV. Khyati and I have some packing to do before we catch our early morning train for Hyderabad. Is it a good idea to sleep for 4 hours, I wonder? Well, something is better than nothing and Khyati and I doze off around 1:30 ish.
It’s 6:15 am, Khyati and I are at the breakfast table and Naina mami has prepared hot breakfast for us. We remember our last 2 days in Kolkata and bid adieu to this place – the city of joy.
Khyati and I entered Kolkata with an opinion that it is the most dirty and populous city of India but after visiting it for two days, we leave with a completely changed opinion that Kolkata is quite clean, well organized and nicely laid out. We found Bengali people to be extremely courteous and sweet. We will always remember Kolkata for it’s assorted array of sweet delicacies.
It’s 7:00 am, Khyati and I are at Howrah station and stand outside our coach – HA1 on Falaknuma Express to Hyderabad.
Train route
Today, we have achieved a major milestone in our travel. Khyati and I can claim to have traveled in every class of Indian railways.
Various classes –
1. AC First Class
2. AC 2 Tier
3. AC 3 Tier
4. Sleeper Class
5. AC Chair Car
6. Second Sitting
Our tickets today are AC 1st Class which means we have been allocated a two person private coupe coach. The train journey is 26 hours to Hyderabad and we are quite excited about this luxurious journey.
AC 1st class coach
AC 1st class coach
The train starts sharp at 7:25 am and passes through the beautiful coastal route of Orrisa in the day time.
Most of our day is spent relaxing and catching up on much needed sleep.
It’s 2 pm and the train passes through Bhubaneshwar. We get a glimpse of the town.
passing through Bhubaneswar
The train journey is quite comfortable and we enjoy playing some cards, listening to music and catch up on our writing.
It’s 9:30 pm, the train pulls into Vishakhapatnam station and we have another 12 hours to go for Hyderabad.
How many classes of Indian railways have you traveled in? Please let us know in the comments.
Best wishes,
Paras
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Day 65 and 66 – Kolkata
Day 65 – Monday, 30th Dec 2013 and Day 66 – Tuesday, 31st Dec 2013
It’s Monday morning 8 am, our train – Shipra Express to Kolkata has pulled into Howrah station. We breathe the fresh East India air as we step out on the platform.
at Howrah
As we arrive at Kolkata station, we notice things different than other stations. Here, the railway authorities have given special access to the railway platform via a parallel road which makes it easier for senior citizens and people with kids to stop their cars right near their compartment.
parallel road to the railway platform
We can still see the distinctive yellow Ambassador cabs on the roads of Kolkata – what a wonderful sight.
Yellow cabs
Our hosts – Jayant mama and Naina mami’s house is a mere 1 km from the railway station and we reach their house by 9:30 am.
It’s 2 pm and post lunch, we leave with our cousin – Viral and Krutika to visit Belur Math. Belur Math is the temple of Swami Vivekanand and Sri Ramakrishna. The temple is huge and built on the banks of Ganga river. The house where Swami Vivekanand lived has been converted into a museum and we enjoy our visit here.
On the Ganga river, we see a lot of steamers ferrying from one end to another and we decide to take a boat ride. We head from the Howrah side of the town to Kolkata side. Well, most people use these steamers for their daily commutes and the evening ride was crowded.
boat ride
On the other side, we visit the temple of Kali Ma – Dakshineshwar temple.
Dakshineshwar temple
Kolkata has the oldest Indian metro line. We hop on the Metro and ride from Soha Bazaar to Esplanade. As it was a day before New Years eve, we could see a lot of people out on the streets, shopping and relishing some local street fare. Khyati and Krutika indulge in shopping in New Market while Viral and I enjoy some street food.
Mumbai – Pani Puri
Delhi – Gol Gappa
Kolkata – Puchka
Mumbai – Bhel
Kolkata – Mudi
These are the same food items but called differently in various metro cities of India. Unity in Diversity, it’s possible only in India…
Post dinner at a South Indian restaurant, we order some dancing coffee. The name sounded appealing enough and we decide to give it a try. Have a look at this video – the coffee and milk are separate when they serve us initially but as soon as we add some sugar, the coffee mixes with the milk. Quite impressive! We asked for the recipe but it’s a trade secret, you see.
IMG 2040 from Paras Mamania on Vimeo.
We head home around 10 pm and call it a night around midnight.
It’s Tuesday morning 9 am, we have a full day of sight seeing planned for us. Viral takes us to their building terrace and shows us the Howrah Bridge from there, although – it was a bit foggy, we were lucky and happy to see it from a clear distance.
Howrah Bridge
From there, we head to the Jain temples of Kolkata. There are a beautiful set of 3 Jain temples – Dadawadi and we offer our prayers here.
Jain Dadawadi
Our next stop is the Victoria Museum. Victoria Museum was built for Queen Victoria of England should she choose to stay here. Albeit, story has it that she lived in this palace for only one day.
Victoria Museum
Post that, this place has been converted into an exquisite museum and park. We visit the various art exhibits and get special explanation from Krutika – our host who is an artist herself.
Viral and Krutika and us
It’s 3 pm and we have some lunch at the Southside mall. Post that, we enjoy a game of bowling – it was quite thrilling as Viral and my scores were close and Khyati and Krutika’s scores were close. It was a competitive match and we played it quite sportily.
It’s 8 pm and we meet one of our other friends – Sourav and head to Park Street in Kolkata. Park Street is a very popular street where there were beautiful street lightings and live bands playing. We take a stroll down Park street and spend our evening there.
with Sourav
It’s 11:50 pm and we begin our countdown to the New Year. What a fantastic 2013 it has been. As the clocks hit 12, we welcome the New Year in beautiful Kolkata. Wishing all of you a wonderful New Year.
Hope you enjoyed this post, please let us know by leaving a comment.
Best wishes,
Paras
Days 57 to 64 – Jain Pilgrimage tour
Day 57 – Sunday, 22nd Dec 2013 to Day 64 – Sunday, 29th Dec 2013
This post is a week long description of our Jain pilgrimage tour with organizer – Sh. Pravin Bhai Lodaya of [Savla and Lodaya] group.
We have so far toured alone, managed our own transport, food and lodging but for a week, we joined another tour and it was a good break. Call it a mini vacation within our grand vacation. We had the luxury of group travel, well facilitated rooms at Jain Dharamshalas, comfortable bus travel and tasty Jain food at our service.
It’s Sunday 22nd Dec 10:30 am, Calcutta Mail from Mumbai arrives at Parasnath station and the entire entourage of 75 people alight here. Khyati’s parents have joined us for this part of our journey. It’s an hour bus ride from Parasnath to Madhuban which is the foothills of Shikhar ji mountains. Shikharji is the most sacred site for Jains and story has it that 20 of our Tirthankars (God Incarnation) attained Nirvana at this place. Each of us Jains have the urge to visit this site once in our lifetime.
wall painting at Parasnath station
We check into our Jain Dharamshala and post lunch, we visit some Jain temples and museums in the town center. Tomorrow, we are planning to climb the hill and the total distance to cover is 27 kms. At first, we dread the thought of walking so many kilometers and whether we will be able to manage? Well, we are up for the challenge and come what may, we will face it.
It’s 7:30 pm and post dinner, Sh. Pravin Bhai gives us instructions for the next day. We plan to leave at 4 am and begin the hill climb. The initial distance of 9 kms to the first temple needs to be covered in 3 hours.
It’s Monday morning 4 am, we have begun our ascend. It’s still dark outside, all 4 of us have torches and we slowly walk up the hill. The road is partially paved and there are occasional steps to climb and we maintain a continuous pace. It’s 5:30 am and we pass a water fall. This marks our half way journey. We have traveled 4.5 kms and have another 4.5 kms to go. The next half is a steep climb with continuous steps. Many people listen to devotional songs on their way up. It’s 7:30 am and we have reached our first pit stop – Gautam Swami Mandir. Post breakfast, Pravin Bhai has a route planned for us to visit all 31 temples on the hill.
Shikhar ji mountains
Main temple on the hill – Jal Mandir
It’s 5:30 pm and we are at the last Jain temple – Parasnath mandir and have dinner there. It’s pitch dark outside as we begin our descend down. All of us are tired but we share some stories and make the walk fun. We reach the Dharamshala by 8:45 pm and get some much needed oil massages. This would help assuage the amount of soreness our legs feel.
Jain pilgrimage site route
It’s Tuesday morning 6:00 am, we need some more sleep but Pravin Bhai has other plans. He personally walks to each room and wakes people up by his distinctive door knock and whistle. We need to get used to this wake up alarm, Khyati and I mumble to each other.
Post breakfast, we hop in the bus and head to Rujvalika. Rujvalika is the site where Lord Mahavir (24th Jain Tirthankar) attained (Keval Gyaan) ultimate knowledge on the banks of Lake Rujvalika.
on the banks of Rujvalika
We visit the temple and nearby lake area. It’s 11:30 am and we now have a 7 hour bus journey to Champapuri in Bhagalpur district. The roads are awful and unfortunately as we got the last seats, we were in for a bumpy ride. Enroute, we stop for lunch and dinner and reach Champapuri by 7:30 pm. We check into our rooms and relax for the night.
It’s Wednesday morning 7:30 am, we visit the Jain temple near our Dharamshala. I step out and decide to take a walk in the local town. The first sight was locals bathing using a hose pipe. It was fun to watch as 4-5 male members of the family showered using this.
showering using a hosepipe
Later in the afternoon, we visit 4 other Jain temples in the town. Many of these Jain temples are over 100-200 years old and we admire the architecture and carvings at these temples. Bhagalpur is also famous for cloth yarn and there are lots of factories for it. We visit a factory and watch them make cloth yarn. Khyati tried her hand at it. She was good!
at the yarn factory
Tomorrow, we have an early morning bus journey to Kakandi tirth. Did I say early? Pravin Bhai had instructed us that we will be woken up at 2:30 am and buses will depart sharp at 3 am. We had a 5 hour journey to Kakandi. There is a very ancient Jain temple and we were off to offer our prayers there.
It’s Thursday morning 8 am, our buses stop on the main road near Kakandi and we take auto rickshaws to the Jain temple. The road is a village road and only one vehicle one way can drive at a time.
Khyati and her mom with our tour sign
parents
We spend the entire morning in Kakandi and post lunch, we depart for Guniyaji tirth. It’s 4 hours drive and we have evening dinner enroute.
Guniyaji is the temple site of Gautam Swami – Lord Mahavir’s first disciple. We check into our rooms in the Jain Dharamshala and call it a night around 9 pm. I sleep as soon as I hit the sack.
It’s Friday morning 5:30 am, all of us have assembled in the downstairs hall and we head to Kshatriya kund. It’s an hour and half journey from Guniyaji and there is a Jain temple on top of a hill. We alight from our buses as we get to the foothill area and begin our climb. Long wooden sticks are quite handy and we rent a few to assist us in the climb. This climb was nothing compared to the one we did in Shikhar ji a few days back hence we could not complain. The route is 9 kms back and forth and we reach the temple by 9 am. We shower there and offer our prayers at the temple. The temple is beautiful. I wonder how and why did people build temples in such far away land? Most of these places where temples are present used to be empires and large townships existed during the older times but over time, the empires have been beaten by foreign kings, lands were captured and destroyed and what remained in these ruins are the temples. Most of these temples are still intact and Jains worldwide have taken on restoration work to preserve these beautiful places of worship.
Jain temple
enroute to temple in Kshatriya kund
Kshatriya kund is a land of 7 rivers and we cross 7 water falls as we walk back to the foothill.
It’s 5:30 pm and post dinner, we head back to Guniyaji tirth and call it a night around 10 pm.
It’s Saturday morning 6 am, we plan to tour Rajgir today. Rajgir is the holy site for 3 religions – Jains, Buddhists and Hindus. There are many temples and many tourists flank this area. Being a Saturday, Rajgir was crowded and our buses arrive in the city centre by 7:30 am.
Jain temple, Rajgir
Lord Mahavir statue on Rajgir hills
Rajgir has 5 hills and there are Jain temples on each of these 5 hills. It would have been great if we could climb all 5 hills but due to time restrictions, we aim to climb 2 hills. Pravin Bhai promises us that these two hills are the final hills we have to climb for this tour and we can stop worrying about having to ascend any more mountains. The weather was a bit chilly as we began the climb at 8 am but soon, all of our sweaters were tied to our waists. We climb Hill 5 first, offer our prayers at the 4 temples on this hill and climb down. Right opposite Hill 5 is Hill 1 and we begin our climb on this hill. It’s 2 pm and we have visited all the temples on these two hills and are having some much needed lunch. Post lunch, we visit Veerayatan – it’s a non profit organization working towards the upliftment of poor people in desolate areas of India. We admire their work and watch an exhibition of their current projects. On our way back, we visit a Japanese temple and it has a beautiful gold statue of Lord Buddha. Post dinner, we head back to Guniyaji and call it a night around 9:30 pm.
It’s Sunday, a week has passed, someone has rightly said – time runs quickly when you are having fun.
It’s 10 am Sunday and we check out from Guniyaji and head to Pavapuri in our bus. Pavapuri has a very beautiful Jal Mandir – Jain temple in the middle of a lake. Post that, we visit the oldest university that ever existed. Nalanda University. Story has it that in the ancient times – students from Turkey, China and faraway lands came here to learn new arts. The university has now been turned into a museum and we visit the site along with a guide.
at Nalanda university with Jash
Air walking in Nalanda university
It’s 6:30 pm and post dinner, we get on the bus. The Savla and Lodaya group party including our parents head to Varanasi while we get off in Gaya and take an overnight train to Kolkata.
Gaya to Kolkata
This tour wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Sh. Pravin Bhai Lodaya. A wonderful human being.
organizer – Sh. Pravin Bhai Lodaya
Hope you enjoyed this week long tour with us. Next destination – Kolkata and we spend the New Years there. We are excited.
Please drop your comments for this post.
Best wishes,
Paras
Day 55 and 56 – Sarnath & Travel
Day 55 – Friday, 20th Dec 2013
Day 56 – Saturday, 21st Dec 2013
It’s Friday morning 10 am, Khyati and I are ready to leave for Sarnath as we hear some commotion on the road. Police are placing barricades and closing down the area for vehicular traffic. Soon, we hear that Narendra Modi – BJP’s prime ministerial candidate is in Varanasi city for a rally. This means that roads will be blocked till 3 pm. Ah! should we have left early, we wouldn’t have faced this problem.
No rickshaws are available to take us to the railway station and we start our walk. The station is 4.5 kms from our Dharamshala. After walking a km or so, we manage to get a rickshaw. There is heavy traffic on the roads and we see trucks, buses loaded with people and all singing praises for the BJP party. Varanasi city was a crazy place that morning.
BJP Party buses headed to rally
We inquire if buses will be plying towards Sarnath because of the rally? To our luck, the rally was in another direction and buses towards Sarnath and Ghazipur were running regularly. We heave a sigh of relief as we reach the bus stand. The buses are state run and in poor condition. We head first to Chandravati where there is a Jain temple. It’s again on the banks of Ganga river and we offer our prayers here. From here, we take a shared rickshaw to Sarnath. Sarnath is primarily a Buddhist town and there are Stupas similar to what we saw in Sanchi and huge statues of Buddha. There is a nice museum maintained by the Archaeological society of India and a Jain temple. We visit all these places during the afternoon and enjoy our time here.
Jain temple, Sarnath
Sarnath Stupas are excavated from the ground and most of them are in broken condition. There is partial restoration work going on mainly to preserve some of the Stupas which have the potential of being destroyed.
Sarnath Stupa in background
Air jump – P
Air jump – K
It’s 5 pm and we head back to Varanasi. We don’t have any grand plans for the evening but we can always make something adhoc. It’s Friday and a new movie night. Today, Dhoom 3 released worldwide and we make plans to watch the evening show in Varanasi. We take an auto rickshaw to JHV cinema house near Varanasi station. At the cinema house, there is a long queue for the tickets but we manage to get hold of 2 tickets for the 6:30 pm show. I won’t give the story away but in a nutshell, Khyati and I enjoyed the movie and it’s worth one watch for Aamir Khan only.
It’s 9:30 pm, we step out of the cinema hall and it’s pitch dark outside. Street lights are either not working or power is out. Either way, using our iPhone torch, we walk towards the railway station and hail an auto rickshaw to our Jain Dharamshala. Tomorrow morning, we have a 10:30 am train for Parasnath.
We call it a night around 11 pm.
It’s Saturday morning 7 am, Khyati and I are ready and hope that our train is on time. Call it our good or bad luck, the train is running 3 hours late and is expected at 1:30 pm. First sign of delay. Well, 3 hours isn’t that bad and we just stay back and relax at the Dharamshala. It’s 9 am and post breakfast, we check the train status again and it’s gone to 4.5 hours delay. We are not having a good feeling about this journey.
If our train was on schedule, we would have left Varanasi at 10:30 am and reached Parasnath at 3:30 pm but now the train itself was going to arrive by 3 pm. We had no choice but to stay in the Dharamshala and follow the train updates.
It’s 1 pm and we have some lunch at the Jain Bhojnalay. The train continues to be delayed and it’s now showing that the train will arrive at 4 pm. Another hour of delay added to our woes.
It’s 2:30 pm and Khyati and I finally carry our bags and head to Mughal Sarai station. Mughal Sarai station is 15 kms east of Varanasi and it takes us an hour to get there. Mughal Sarai station is the largest railway station in the Eastern region. We reach the station by 3:30 pm and patiently wait in the railway waiting rooms. Continuous announcements of delay were proclaimed on the microphone. Our train finally arrived at 6 pm (8 hours delay, phew!!!). The train is crowded and we are in no mood to take this journey anymore. We just want a magical way to get to Parasnath, only if there was one.
train route
Post Mughal Sarai, the train runs on time and we reach Parasnath in 5.5 hours. It’s 11:30 pm and we arrive in Parasnath. We find a Dharamshala near the railway station that late in the night. We are lucky and happy to get a bed to sleep. Today wasn’t one of our best days but it’s all a part of the journey. We accept it and cherish every moment.
From tomorrow, we start a 7 day religious tour of Jain sites in Jharkhand and Bihar states with Sh. Pravin Bhai Lodaya of [Savla and Lodaya group] –
Stay tuned for our future posts…
Best wishes,
Paras