Expectations vs Experience

Having arrived safely back home I guess it is time to do a bit of a review.

I looked at my post “My love / hate list after one week” and had to smile. I can still see myself… excited like a child on a birthday, wanting to love Bangalore with all my might. Well, I haven’t managed to learn to love Bangalore, but I do have more perspective by now, a deeper understanding why things are the way they are, developed sympathies and utter disgust for certain things…

So, what did I actually expect when we came here? I knew India would be very different to every other place I had ever been to. I have done extensive travelling in Europe, I have explored southern Africa and have occupied some rubber floats going down rivers in eastern Siberia. But I knew, India would be a different category.

Ganesha

First of all I expected it to be extremely colourful – literally and figuratively. And yes, that it has been. The colours of the sarees of the women and their glitzy jewellery, the colours of the temples, the colours of the fruit of the markets, bright friendly paints in some villages, the pictures on many long walls of Bangalore, flowers, butterflies… The variety of religions and traditions, the endless number of stories of the hindu gods, the many different landscapes in Kerala…

I expected it to be hot. And yes, it was hot. In the beginning we had a dry heat, later it got more humid. I wore a cardigan a couple of times in the evening against the mozzies, otherwise I didn’t need anything long sleeved.

Crowded and loud. Yes, but the amount of crowdedness and loudness exceeded all expectations. The density of people in the city was overwhelming. You are never alone anywhere. And when the side streets got a bit quieter at night, the dogs would take over. And it was never quiet anywhere at any time. I slept poorly most nights, so I know that the quietest time is between 3 and 4 in the morning, but still I heard the dogs howling and the occasional motorbike driving. By day the traffic of the main streets produces a cacophony of honking and motor noises, in the quiet street you just get the vegetable and newspaper sellers shouting for customers.

Friendly. Yes and no. Some people were incredibly kind, others just turned away, but I guess that’s what you can get in Australia as well. I didn’t see as many smiles as I had expected… smiling, happy children were something special. A lot of friendliness was fishing for tips. Who can you trust?

Tasty. Oh yes, the spicy Indian food is wonderful. I tasted so many new and interesting dishes, aromatic, so full of flavour! I had not expected that it would be so difficult to get non-Indian food and also the ingredients for dishes / cooking the way we are used to. We ate out more often than I had anticipated a) because it was cheap, b) because it was so tasty, c) because it was hard to cook at home. Our kitchen in the apartment wasn’t very well equipped. You could get by… just the lack of an oven is hard to overcome by improvisation. As I couldn’t get my usual ingredients I took to cooking rice dishes, veg curries and things like that. But then again, this was food we would eat when being out… bit of a dilemma.

Cheap. Yes, the basic food we bought, bread, milk, fruit, veg, pasta, rice, water etc. is very cheap. If you want to buy European food like cheese, ham, tins and jars imported from abroad, you can in special shops like Nature’s basket on 80 feet road, but it will cost you more than in Australia. Eating out is very cheep, especially in unposh Indian style restaurants. But there is no limit in poshness and price for the well earning middle class…
Clothes are relatively cheap, especially Indian clothes. Fabric is cheap and tailors as all services where the main cost is labour.

I expected  Bangalore would be a modern big city comparable to any other big city in the world. Grainne even said there was no point going to Bangalore as it would be just the same as anywhere else. I assumed there would be fair amount of white people here with all the international IT companies, that English would be the main language, that we would see a good mix of people from all over the world. None of that. The cities of India are certainly much higher developed than rural India, the standard of living way up… still, this is India. From the cultural richness to the slums, from the glorious temples to the steaming mountains of rubbish – I would not mistake this for any other city I have been to. White people are  rare. Especially white children. Trying to be as respectful as possible with Indian clothing and behaviour we still got stared at everywhere. Complete strangers kept taking pictures of the children. We once went into a souvenir shop in the middle of the city and the shop keeper said to us that he had seen has walking by his other shop in Koramangala – 10km away in an 8 million people city. He was not lying, there was no other family with 3 white children in Koramangala.
And English is not a main language. Most people understand a least a little bit when spoken to face to face, different story on the phone obviously. To find somebody speaking well is much harder. This is not a criticism, I just hadn’t expected it…

Our local park, anything allowed?

I couldn’t wait to see the lush green parks of the so called garden city Bangalore. Well, this was a bit of a disappointment. Yes, there are several parks dotted around the city, even Koramangala had a few. But… well… they are different to what I had expected. First of all, apart from the huge Cubbon Park in the heart of the city and the Botanic Gardens, they are all relatively small. Second they are fenced off (probably to keep away cows and rubbish) and have certain opening times, usually mornings and evenings. If you come at the right times you still have to keep to the endless rules… no walking on the lawns, no playing, etc.
What I admired instead were the magnificent rain trees, jacaranda and flame trees that line many quieter streets providing blissful shade under the merciless sun.

I was looking forward to strolling around huge markets laden with exotic fruits and spices, wonderful fabrics and colourful clothing. And yes, we found several markets. One was in fact very close to us – Madivala Market. And it was laden with fruit and veg, otherwise with flowers for offerings, fish, some household items and… rubbish. The rubbish was piling up between the stalls and in gaps in front of them. Rotting piles of vegetables can produce a surprisingly disgusting smell… that seemed to be all too attractive for  diarrhoeal cows. When you think about it, it’s not actually too surprising, that there is a lack of picturesque, touristy markets as shown on TV in Bangalore, as this is not touristy city, still… I hadn’t expected this kind of… I don’t know… it was just too dirty and smelly to be in any way appealing.

I had hoped we would be able to hire a piano for Siobhan and get a teacher come to our apartment. This, unfortunately didn’t work out at all. We managed to find one shop where we could have hired a grubby looking keyboard at a reasonable price, which my daughter refused for the stickiness of the keys. The only place I found for hiring pianos was astronomically expensive.
We did though find a chess coach for Sean during the last few weeks who spent many hours teaching our son openings, endgame strategies and many other useful chess knowledge.

I expected to do a lot of travelling, maybe for a holiday towards the south of India, but also for many weekends in the surrounds of Bangalore. And yes, we had a wonderful holiday touring Kerala. An unforgettable time leaving countless impressions that gonna stay with us for the rest of our lives. But otherwise we didn’t travel a lot. Savandurga in the beginning was probably our only proper day trip out of town. Several reasons for this… a) transport. Ordering cabs proved to be quite difficult and unreliable. b) it took 1 – 2 hours to get to the outskirts of town alone, c) accomodation at holiday destinations can be rather expensive for foreigners, d) destinations in easy reach of this 8 million people city are described as overrun and polluted. Pollution is a big thing in general. Still in Australia, as soon as we had got the address of our apartment, I had studied the area on Google maps. I was very excited to see two lakes nearby with paths going round them and could see us already walking happily on our Sunday strolls around the beautiful lakes. As it turned out these lakes were fed by the sewer rivers of the town, smelling that you want to hold your breath, the banks piled with garbage.

I knew we would see poverty. I didn’t know how close we would come to it. And yes, we did see poverty. And it was right in our face. Every day. As soon as we left the house. The security guard who asked us for money so he would be able to pay the school fees for his daughter. The big building site close to our apartment. A wooden board invites male workers, 200 rupees ($4 = a good meal in medium class restaurant = 100g of cheddar = a T-shirt in western style shopping centre) a day, 6 days per week, first aid kit on site. The workers lived beside the building site in make shift sheds, we could see them cleaning up by the water tank behind the low fence with a hose… Walking to our Yoga place we would pass several small building sites. Each one would house a tent made of blue foil, where the building family lived, often with children. No power, no running water… I remember peeking in as they were cooking by the road side on a fire built from some sticks, cleaning their dishes, cleaning teeth with their fingers, urinating on the road… and I feel helpless, embarrassed… I don’t know… Then the slums. Rows and rows of corrugated metal sheds. We never walked in… to embarrassed of stares and beggars… just got a glimpse passing by.

Kovalam fishing village

But as bad as the poverty made us feel, the differences were worse. This huge gap between the well off middle class and those people scraping along way below the poverty line. We, as outsiders, guests, foreigners, observers felt guilty enough spending half a month’s salary of a security guard or rubbish worker for a meal in a restaurant… what about all those Indian people sitting at the other tables? Did they think about it? Did they take it for granted…. to be better of than the “others”? I guess, most of the friends I made in India belong to this middle class… if you read this, can you answer this question – How do you live with this, seeing the poverty every day of your life and not really being able to do anything about it? Or are you? And I guess, I should ask myself, how do I live with this…
Yes, we have seen a lot of poverty. Being back here in Perth it nearly seems unreal. The poor in Bangalore and the even poorer out in the country… working their fields with oxen, tiny huts with the most basic interior, children so skinny, it breaks your heart…

Sean, Swami Krishnananda Saraswati, Grainne, Siobhan, Ravib

I had hoped to get a bit into Yoga and meditation during our stay. Well, yes, we certainly got into this. We found this wonderful place SURYA JYOTHI YOGA VEDANTA CENTRE, where Swami Krishnananda Saraswati and Ravibabu introduced us to basics techniques of Yoga including Proper Exercise (Asanas), Proper Breathing (Pranayama), Proper Relaxation (Savasana), Proper Diet (vegetarian), Positive Thinking (Vedanta) and Meditation (Dhyana). Attending the classes 3 mornings a week and practising at home has not only made us more flexible but gave us deep insights into a different way of life, into Hinduism and a spiritual approach. Our gurus were very kind and we learned invaluable lessons from them. Thank you so much Swami and Ravib!

I guess the biggest surprise all in all was how complicated day-to-day life can be. Just crossing roads filled with 8 chaotic lines of rick-shaws, busses, motorbikes, cars which generally only stop for cows. Walking along footpaths full of rubbish and gaping holes. Trying to get transport from one place to the other, explaining the way without speaking the native language and haggling about prices. Avoiding getting sick all the time, coping with the highly contaminated tap water. Feeding ourselves without being able to buy foods we are used to. Keeping the children happy without having a garden or parks to play in…

India, the most beautiful, colourful, amazing country. The most challenging daily life for myself. Land of contrasts and differences, land of richest history, seemingly decaying presence and endless potential. Land of spirituality and imagination. Land of sadness, poverty, death, chaos, smell. Land of happiness, riches and beautiful nature. A complicated mosaic, encrypted language… I understand bits of it, but I don’t think I’m going to find the key to decipher it completely. Do I even want to?
Whatever, I wouldn’t want to miss our India adventure for the world! It gave us a deep understanding of the world around us we could not have achieved in any other way, we learned so much. Our experiences are probably going to influence our future life, our values, our behaviour… and who we are.

 

My day pack

On our travels roaming round Bangalore to discover the hidden secrets or obvious environment, sightseeing or going shopping… I usually take a kind of survival pack which I think is worth describing in the context of this blog.

Toilet paper. Public toilets are as good as non-existent if one doesn’t count the rubbish fields, parks, trees or other road side opportunities where we have spotted men urinating. Public places like big temples, museums, shopping centres, etc. might have toilets, sometimes they are even reasonably clean. You can usually not guess beforehand what to expect behind the door of the cubicle (if there is a door) – a European style toilet or an Indian style squatting toilet. The squatting toilets are actually more hygienic as bodily contact with the actual toilet is minimised. It just needs a bit of practice to keep all the clothing out of the way. The other habit I haven’t taken up is cleaning myself with a jug of water as is locally common. You will find a bucket with water and a jug in most toilets, sometimes a hose providing fresh water even in the European style toilets. Toilet paper is usually only present in the rest rooms of posh restaurants. So we learned very quickly to carry our own where ever we go.

Drinking water. Hot weather, thirsty family… carrying drinking water is a must, especially as tap water is not drinkable.

Camera. The frequency of me taking pictures has gone down dramatically over the last few weeks. We have simply got used to the many things that amazed, disgusted or simply interested us in the beginning. I still carry the camera though to catch any surprises and memorable moments.

Money. Obviously. Always making sure to carry enough change as rickshaw drivers or shopkeepers might not be able to give change for a 500 or 1000 Rupee note.

Plasters and disinfectant. For the little scratches along the way. We are quite religious about covering up any wounds especially the ones close to the garbagy footpaths.

Hand sanitiser. Most restaurants have a washroom, especially because many Indians are eating with their hands. Not all have soap and as the water is so full of germs here it is advisable to go for the hand sanitiser before eating.

Insect repellent. Especially when going out after sunset.

Itch relieving ointment. For the cases when the insect repellent didn’t work.

Lip balm, dental floss, tissues. For those minor inconveniences.

Phone. To order a cab online and check the map.

Occasionally we have also carried  a little scarf for Sean to cover his mouth as the dusty, dirty air can be rather irritating especially when driving longer distances in a rickshaw. Sunscreen we stopped bringing very quickly… as soon as we realised that the pollution is just as effective as sun protection.

We haven’t had any problems with pickpockets (so far). But I have been rather careful. The shoulder bag I use is always securely zipped up.

Well, our days of roaming around Bangalore are numbered. One week to go. Instead of the day pack I am going to have to start packing suitcases soon. Everybody is ready to go home and my shoulder bag is ready to go into the washing machine 😉

 

Spicemania

One of many spice shops in Periyar

Indian food is spicy… statement of the obvious. New to me was that Indians love their spices so much that they spice up dishes and food us non-Indians would never think of. The dish will then be called Masala something with masala being the locally popular spice mixture. “Locally” meaning – in this particular restaurant, market, town, region… One of the examples would be a Masala omelette which is a normal omelette with added chilly, onion, garlic, tomato and spices. Even if you buy a six pack of eggs in the supermarket they often come with a complimentary little packet of masala. Masala tea, known in Australia as chai, varies from supersweet milky tea with a spice mix to deeply aromatic teas with cardamom or ginger flavour. Masala bread takes a bit of getting used to. Harder I find Masala lemonade… don’t think I gonna order that again 😉 As a filling masala seems to have the meaning of a spicy potato mixture. So you can get masala dosa – a pancake made from rice and lentils stuffed with spicy potatoes. As a topping masala will be a mixture of chopped tomatoes, onion, chilly, coriander leafs and spices, for example in masala papad (crispy chickpea flour bread) or peanut masala.

Spoiled for choice

But enough masala science. During our Kerala tour we went to one of the main spice producing areas not only in India but in the whole world. The tropical Malabar coast offers unique and ideal conditions for many of the spice plants. When Vasco da Gama landed here he was right where he wanted to be – in the middle of spice land. India is the largest producer of spices in the world. I was surprised to learn that although they are also the biggest exporter only 10% of the produced spices leave the country. The rest ends up on the Indian market.

The variety of spices grown here is simply amazing. There is cardamom, ginger, chilly, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, pepper, tamarind, curry leaf, turmeric, vanilla, thyme seed, star anis, coriander, asafoetida, mace, cumin, allspice, saffron, fennugreek, mustard seed… to name the well-known ones. We drove past many single culture spice plantations but there are also countless so called spice gardens where the farmers grow a mixture of many different species.

While in Periyar we visited one of these spice gardens and were lucky enough to have a guide who had studied botany. The spice garden was a lovely shady place and every few steps there grew another exotic tree or bush with flowers, buds, leaves, bark or fruit waiting to be smelled or tasted.

In the village spice markets lined a whole street, fresh produce being offered in big baskets alongside with packaged dried spices. Too bad we couldn’t take any home with us, Australian customs are strict.

As much as we look forward to eating all the food we are used to again back home, even the kids are wondering whether we are not going to miss the spices, whether some dishes are not going to taste boring. Ah well, luckily enough there is plenty of Indian food shops in Perth, where we will be able to stock up and satisfy any spice cravings.

 

The Indian Coffee House – cafe with a difference

While spending time in Kovalam we also visited Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), the capital of Kerala. Feeling quite lazy with the humid heat we didn’t have great ambitions but definitely wanted to have a stroll in the zoo which got high praise in the tourist guide. An art gallery was also on the list as well as the Indian Coffee House.

The zoo was in fact rather nice. Shady paths between reasonably nice enclosures. Although it is always hard to enjoy a zoo after having been on safari. Watching animals in the wild is such an exhilarating experience. And somehow, whether this is just in my mind or true, all animals in captivity look so sad…
Not too far from the zoo we then visited an art gallery with many impressive artefacts of Indian history.
But the highpoint of the day was surely the Indian Coffee House. Coffee is by far not as popular as tea in India. We had seen a lot of coffee plantations in Wayanad, but I guess most of the produce goes into export. We had in fact tried some Indian coffee back in Perth before we left and had been rather impressed. And one of the guides had recommended this place for its curious architecture and good food.

Ok, cab driver, here we go, next stop Indian coffee house. The cab driver acknowledged our request with the usual head waggle and recommended to try the dosas.
The architecture of the place is indeed curious – like a spiral. Once inside we walked up that spiral to find some free places among the single line of tables that line the outside wall. It was quite crowded. Waiters with turbans hurrying up and down the slope, most visitors enjoying an early lunch. It didn’t really look like the coffee indulging place we expected… ah well, we were there so lets try it out. Eventually we found a free table, errr free seats I mean, the table was still full of half eaten food. It then  took about 10 minutes to attract the attention of one of the waiters who started clearing away the remains. Eventually we even get hold of a menu. Hmmm, mainly snacks and lunches. Any coffee??? Unless the beverage that gave this locality its name was disguised in some mysterious way, it was not on the menu. A coffee house without coffee? India is full of funny surprises 😉 The waiter unfortunately was not in a very funny mood. He constantly ignored us, didn’t even look at us when finally serving. Everybody was quite hungry by then. Several people around us who had come in way after us had already finished eating and were gone again. Well, not all people like white people, I guess.
The food was quite nice though, especially the dosas.
Trying to pay was another act requiring a lot of patience. I left to take Siobhan to the toilet… the smelliest toilet I had encountered so far in India… and that says a lot. Ian eventually left the money on the table.

Yeah, this was our experience of a non-conformist coffee house. There are dozens of restaurants, coffee places and other eateries in Kerala and of course Bangalore I can highly recommend. I guess the Indian Coffee House in Trivandrum would not be among them.

 

 

Kovalam – Indian Sea Side Resort

Hotel beach

Kovalam is supposed to be India’s best developed sea side resort, quite a dubious title. I am generally not a great fan of touristy beaches lined with hotels, but we were longing for a few days of just relaxing, strolling around and swimming in the sea, which we miss so much in Bangalore…

We were to stay in the Soma Palmshore Hotel. On arrival we get greeted with flower garland and a welcome drink, this time a traditional coconut with straw, hmmm, very tasty. Then an Aryuveda lady seeks our attention, showing us photographs of all the treatments available in the hotel’s aryuveda treatment centre. Errrr, I actually just want to go down to our cottages, it’s been a long drive. I wonder how enjoyable it is for an aryuveda therapist to work in a hotel occupied by European tourists and rich middle class Indians, applying the occasional massage rather than working in a regular treatment centre visited by the locals. Aryuveda is an amazing treatment / healing method, but to really benefit from it you need to undergo a regular or longer term treatment. A one-off massage might be quite relaxing but doesn’t really use the enormous potential of this method. However, Aryuveda clinics seem to be a standard facility in most bigger hotels in Kerala and particularly popular with Germans and Swiss people. No surprise then that we encounter the highest density of Germans in Kovalam rightly correlating to the density of big hotels…

But back to our hotel. Through the blossoming hibiscus bushes and various kinds of palm trees we can see the ocean. A few flights of steps lead through a garden down to the beach. All very picturesque. A security guard hangs around the bottom gate of the hotel. Some hotel staff are laying out washing on the grass to dry, a gardener is cutting the lawn with… well not nail scissors, but ordinary garden sheers. I guess his monthly income is lower then the cost of a lawnmower. The cottages are wonderfully cool… I just stretch out on the bed…

This time of year is actually off season. The monsoon is due to arrive and it is just too hot. Ian goes out to get some snacks for our lunch, when he comes back, having looked unsuccessfully for some kind of food shop for half an hour, he seems to have taken a bath. No, not in the swimming pool, just in his own sweat. We are used to a fair bit of heat but this humidity is a real killer. I had never been to anywhere as tropic as this, apart from some green houses in botanic gardens. The actual temperature during the day doesn’t go over mid 30ies, at night high twenties towards morning. The humidity oscillates between 65 and 99%. This is the first time in my life I leave the aircon on during the night…

Anyway, it is indeed quite relaxing for a while, just to hang around the hotel, frolic in the waves, enjoy the bathtub warm swimming pool, write some mails… In the evening we stroll down to Lighthouse beach. A long promenade of hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops lines this beautiful beach. The sun is down already and all the lights are glittering invitingly. We decide to walk along the prom to the end and then go for our dinner having inspected all the restaurants. There is quite a choice. Most restaurants face the sea and are open air. A menu will be on display outside and a waiter standing beside it trying to persuade every passer by to come inside. It can be rather tiring to decline for the 15th time, so maybe the 16th restaurant will have the most customers. Anyway, Kerala coast is famous for its delicious fish dishes. Many of the restaurants display a variety of fresh fish beside the menu. It is supposed to be inviting… I don’t know, I does the opposite to me. Especially in the places where the fish is not even cooled with some ice. It doesn’t dry out though, too humid here. Ah well, in the end the family vote goes to a pizzeria. Too much talk about rotten fish 😉

Mosques in Kovalam

The next day we walk towards some mosques we had seen in the distance. This is the opposite direction to the touristy bit of town.The main income source here is fishing. It doesn’t seem to be a very high income. Poverty is back in full view here. We watch a big group of man bringing in a fishing net for a while. About 20 of them pulling on on end of the net, 20 on the other, a couple swimming out to sea to guide the net in.
The mosques are very colourful, seem like some palaces out of 1001 nights. Looking around we can see the next bay and lots of people by the harbour. Is that some kind of celebration? Curious enough we decide to walk over. We are passing through the fishing village. Then there are big roofs which cover mountains of fishing nets and dozens of men sitting in between repairing them. Nearing the harbour we walk past what must be hundreds of boat engines hung up on horizontal logs. That’s how the fishermen go out – in little boats, not more then 5 – 6 meters long, with a little engine put in the rear. And then we arrive at the harbour. This is not a celebration, it’s a fish market! Ten, fifteen boats are at the shore with more of them coming in or leaving. In the boats on the shore the fishermen are handing big baskets or crates of silvery glittering fish to men on the beach who carry them away to the market or little trucks. A lot of shouting everywhere… maybe negotiating prices. This is like… middle ages? No, no engines in the middle ages. And carts instead of trucks. But apart from that?

The harbour

Mending the nets

Well, we watch the scenes for a little while then move on through the market as quickly as possible. The smell is overwhelming.
Ah yeah, one more thing… not a single white person in sight here… just 2 km down from the touristy promenade.

The days pass, we are relatively lazy by our standards – the humidity paralyses any potential enthusiasm for walks, outings or any other activity that involves moving around. I enjoy quiet mornings down by the beach practising yoga. The time around sunset is most popular for going out and walking / splashing at the beach. Especially with the Indians. Around midday one can spot a few pink bodies venturing into the waves. Even a lone surfer! At sunset the beach is sprawling with people, it is really crowded. Not many Indians can swim and swimming cloths the way we know them are not really common. This seems unusual to our eyes which are used to a lot of flesh on Australian beaches. The lack of flesh shouldn’t surprise as Indian women’s clothing is, while being very elegant, all about hiding rather than showing. Still, watching the women going for hip deep paddles in their sarees and salwar kameezes is a wondrous sight. Everybody is having fun… enjoying the breeze, splashing and paddling, holding hands stepping into the water or just walking along, chatting.

Sunset at the public beach

Restaurants and shops are all tuned into the clientele. One evening one of the restaurant waiters trying to get us in is even promising that they wouldn’t use any spices… What? For goodness sake, we like spicy! We’ve been living here for 3 months… Indian food without spices is like… elephants without trunks, summer without sun (hang on, that would be Ireland)… whatever… Nevertheless we very much enjoyed the “German Bakery”, serving Spaetzle, bacon and eggs, fried potatoes, etc.
99% of the shops sell exclusively souvenirs. Their range seems pretty much determined by European taste. Especially the choice of dresses and skirts is amazing. The only other place where I had seen skirts for sale was in the touristy bits of Periyar. (Apart from western style skirts in expensive boutiques in Bangalore)

Going in?

Well, all in all, a nice relaxing time here in Kovalam. I am sure this place had more charm 20 years ago, before it had been discovered by European package tourism operators. But on the other hand this business earns a living for many families in the area…

 

Train Experience

To make our journey more comfortable and interesting our tour operator had arranged for us to get the train from Calicut to Cochin.

Getting tickets is not exactly straight forward. I had looked into it when we were planning a trip from Bangalore to Mysore. The Indian Railway has an online booking system. I am not sure about non AC seats but seats in an AC car must often be pre-booked many weeks in advance as they are very popular.

Our driver brought us to the station. The platform was already crowded with over half an hour to go before the train departure. People seem to be travelling light… we probably had the most luggage of anybody with our three suitcases. The train arrived ten minutes early and we made our way to the right car. We were a bit nervous because Siobhan’s seat was issued for a different car. But when we got hold of the conductor (every car seems to have one) he tells us just to sit down together. Luckily enough there seemed to be a spare seat. The car was indeed pleasantly cool, air vents blowing down from the sealing and fans assisting them. The comfortable adjustable seats were arranged like in an airplane, 3 one side, 2 on the other and an aisle in the middle. Having said that the interior was not exactly sparkly. Everything made a heavily worn impression – torn, dirty, scratched. Well, this is India, so we have got well used to not expecting squeaky cleanliness anywhere. Nevertheless it took us a bit of effort to ignore the cockroaches crawling along the floor and walls while settling down for our 4 1/2 hour journey. Every 10 to 15 minutes somebody came walking along the aisle with big trays of snacks on their heads announcing the contents loudly to the passengers, coffee was also available.
Unfortunately our seats were at the very back of the car with no windows. To get a view I stepped outside and the view was indeed very clear as the doors of the train were open! Much to the delight of Sean and Siobhan who stuck their noses out into the wind holding on to me tightly.

The landscape flew past, Kerala landscape. The land of coconut – that’s what it means. And indeed coconut palms seem to be the main kind of tree. Other than that we saw fields, villages, forests… all lush green in the warm, humid climate.

Once the train stopped at a station it wasn’t supposed to as this was an express train. Despite the fact that there was no platform and nobody knew when the train would start moving again, dozens of people jumped off.

In the wobbly, airy bit between the cars we had the luxury of the choice between two toilets – Indian style and western style. Both of them granted a vertical view onto the rail track, something I still remember from train rides in my early childhood.

Time passed and it grew dark outside, no more to see. The children settled down to share our two e-readers and the ipad to read. That got us a few curious looks from passengers passing by… electronic family. Ah well, I don’t mind as long as they don’t just play some mindless computer games.

Eventually the person who had a ticket for Siobhan’s seat turned up, but after a discussion between him, the conductor and an apologetically smiling Ian the newcomer agreed to sit in the other car.

After 4 3/4 hours journey we reached our destination: Ernakulam junction, the closest train station to Cochin, our    next stop while travelling through beautiful Kerala.

 

The start of our holiday – Kabini Lake

Finally out of the city. We set off just after 6 o’clock. This is the beginning of our long awaited holiday and at the same time the end-of-term-ThoughtWorks-University getaway. Laura, Vinod and Dave are already in the bus. We still pick up Apurv and his wife Riminda as well as Adam and his girl-friend Julia. As we are reasonably early we get out of Bangalore without too much holdup. Our first aim is to get some breakfast, so after about 2 hours we stop on the Mysore Road at a popular spot for a breadfast buffet. Getting served mostly unidentifyable portions of nevertheless very tasty food.
The landscape is dotted with villages. I am surprised how little agriculture is recognisable. A little banana plantation here and there, a few coconut palms… but otherwise a lot of barren or seemingly unused land. Maybe these rocky plains lack the fertility to bear much crop. Further on we see more and more sugar cane fields.
Around lunchtime we pass Mysore. We had planned to come here for a weekend as this town is known for its grand palace and temples. But then we got a bit scared of cholera (several cases recently) and postponed the trip.
After Mysore the landscape changes, there are more fields – mainly rice, bananas, corn and cotton. It gets quite hilly as well.

This is not Bangalore!

Soon we are getting close to our destination, Kabini lake. We phone up the resort to get somebody to guide us there as the driver is reluctant to drive the little bus down some suspicious lanes. Everybody is in high spirits. We get out of the bus and Laura, Apurv and Ian just sit down in the middle of the empty road full of joy – this is not Bangalore anymore!
The resort consists of a few little cottages, a kitchen, an open parlour where the meals are served, some shady trees, a badminton / volleyball net, some parhya dogs and a considerable number of goats. All is surrounded by fields and the lake is only a couple of hundred meters away. The air is so pleasantly clear. And no noise apart from the inevitable generator. Lovely!
After some volleyball, lunch and relaxing it is time for our first safari. Well, time to talk about the pre-booked safari with the manager, who first says it is cancelled because of too many fallen trees and then 10 minutes later it is suddenly on after all. Our bus takes us to the entrance of the national park a few minutes away and we all sit down in a safari bus. It has got huge open windows so it’s going to be great for watching the surroundings. Anyway, a few other people enter the bus until every seat is taken. Then, after waiting around for another 10 minutes, we get told that the children have to sit on our laps as there is more people coming. Hm, not impressed but still excited. Finally we set off into the park. We are driving on a narrow sealed road through dense forest. To the left and right of the road the forest is thinned out and that is were we soon spot plenty of deer, sambars, boars, buffalos, peacocks and even a serpent eagle. The road has long since changed into an unsealed very bumpy path but nobody minds as this is so exciting!

Lone Elephant

Then we come down to the lake and there is a whole herd of elephants on the bank. In another direction we can watch a few more elephants that are even closer. One of the experts on the bus, a professional wildlife photographer, spots a tiny calf, only about a week old, in the midst of the females’ protection. Then we start back, it’s getting late. The bus is driving reasonably fast now, much too fast for us to feel comfortable with the bumpy road and it doesn’t stop for animals any more. Just once we are having another break – a few other jeeps are parked at the same spot, everybody staring in the same direction, whispering excitedly. Somewhere in the distant treetops is a leopard hidden. Well, it’s supposed to be. It’s too well camoflaged for me… Ah well, maybe next time. For today I am totally content to have seen so many other animals.
And indeed, the next day we get up really early to take part in a 6 o’clock safari (not everybody manages to crawl out of bed 😉 ) But those who do get rewarded by the sight of a leopard much closer than the day before. It is resting on a branch and at first I can’t really see it, but than it starts lifting its head and looks right at us through the leavy branches. Finally it makes its way down the tree and walks off on the forest floor. What a morning… the forest is misty, sun shining through the treetops to create a beautifully soft light. We spot many more animals… peacocks presenting, boars with mynas on their backs, elephants roaming through the bush, 6 eagles (Siobhan counted) and countless deer. Some of them resting, two young stags play-fighting…

Spotted deer

Coming out of the park after two hours we can see a lot of farmers on their fields. No machinery, they are ploughing with oxen on their little spots of land that create a patchwork of fields all around the water source of the lake.
The rest of the day we spend relaxing in and around the resort. Some go for a little coracle ride on the lake in the late afternoon.
The other trainers have to leave in the evening after dinner. It had been planned to go back to Bangalore in the morning, but there had been a mixup with the booking of the bus.
Well, for the rest of us this weekend is only the beginning of our holiday. Lucky us 🙂

 

More about the temple opening

Sean has already described the temple opening last week beautifully. However, as this was one of the most impressive events we have witnessed in India so far I have to post about it too…

Temple entrance decorated with flower garlands

As we were leaving our yoga centre and walked down the street, my guru caught up with us. He mentioned that there was a new temple opening in the neighbourhood and asked whether we would like to have a look. Yeah, sure! So he lead us into the hinterland of the big streets where some deafening loudspeakers had been shouting out mantras and music for the last three days. (They had to be deafening to be louder than the traffic din.) I had wondered about that, now I learnt that this had all to do with the 3 day celebration of the temple opening – live broadcast from the temple. Passing cows, goats and hens, little shops and handyman stores we could already see the most colourful temple at the end of the alley, still covered with bamboo scaffolding in places but glistening in the sun all the same. Several huge pieces of material extended the roofs of the new building to offer shade to the endless number of visitors. Everything was splendidly decorated with whole carpets of flowers and flower garlands. Shoe removal time. Following our guru we squeezed into the inside of the temple together with hundreds of other people. At the far side there were three altars. Guru lifted up Siobhan to ring the bell in front of the one on the left, a Shiva Linga statue, to alert Shiva that we had come to pay respect to him. We bowed and then tried to do the same in front of the other god statues. Wasn’t easy with the crowds everywhere. Eventually we managed to get outside again. There were three little fires burning and we followed guru walking around them. I noticed my yoga teacher looking totally happy… hadn’t seen him that happy before. He said to me, “This is celebration of life and celebration of gods!” and he kept stressing how lucky we were to witness this. It’s not everyday that a new temple is being opened.

Inside of the temple

As we stood around we saw many people leaving the temple in a kind of procession. Everybody balanced (or held) a little decorated golden cup with a coconut on their heads. As many people left the temple it got a bit less crowded and we went back inside. Instantly we got handed the little coconut cups as well. What is happening? What are we supposed to do? Ah well, lets follow guru. And he followed all the other people… out onto the street and into the labyrinth of little lanes and streets around the temple. So we walked along, bare feet (our shoes stayed at the temple) wondering what this was all about. I also briefly wondered how much dog and cow poop was going to get stuck between my toes but quickly decided not share this thought with the children. Just hoped nobody would tread into something sharp.

Sun god Surya

At first we carried the cups in our hands but got quickly told to put them on our heads like everybody else. Sometime later we caught up with the main body of the procession having reached a richly decorated gate to one of the lanes leading to the temple. Having felt pretty lost after turning so and so many corners, my hair feeling rather sticky from the spilled coconut milk and my arms feeling utterly exhausted from holding that cup on my head, I was quite glad to regain my sense of direction and nearing the end of this walk. Still, sensing the excitement and happiness of everybody around, my tiredness got counteracted pretty successfully. As we were getting close to the temple I asked, “So this is all to pay respect to the gods?”
“You got it!” In the end we shoved our way back into the inside of the temple building. The cups got handed to a priest who poured the milk onto the Shiva linga statue (I suppose that is what he did, I couldn’t actually see it), a ritual we had observed at the big Shiva statue a couple of weeks ago. After that we went back out, bowed a last time to the gods and then guru explained, “We have worked for the gods, now it is their turn to work for us and look out for us.” And then he finished with a cheerful, “Shall we?” which made me smile because it sounded as we were leaving a party… but I suppose we were indeed.

What a wonderful experience! I think we were truly very lucky to have had the chance to take part in this. Thank you, guru!

(Photos were taken a few days later with less people around.)

 

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Hare, Hare…

I haven’t researched Hinduism as such so far. I pick up bits and pieces as I go along. It seems a complicated religion and a very flexible one at the same time. And in the south of India, where we live, it is ever present. No street you walk down without encountering a shrine or temple. People wearing various kinds of bindis, the sign of the gods, on their forheads. During our Yoga classes we are chanting mantras to feel peaceful and be protected from all sorts of problems, we are bowing our head to take the blessings of the gods. We are convinced atheists but it still feels right to join in for the experience. After all a conviction doesn’t contradict an open mind…

ISKCON Temple Bangalore

During the last two weeks we visited two of the grand temples in Bangalore. The first one was the ISKCON (International society of Krishna Conscience) Temple. Krishna is one of the central figures in Hinduism. His images often show him as a little adorable child or as a boy dancing and playing the flute, sometimes as a young prince. There seem to be an endless amount of strange and wonderful stories about him. Some things I read contradict each other… but does it matter? Different perspectives of Krishna get covered in different stories: the god-child, a prankster, a model lover, a divine hero and a Supreme Being. Evidence of worshipping Krishna dates back as far as the 4th century BC!
But back to our temple visit. After leaving footwear and camera behind and going through a security check like at the airport we entered the vast temple grounds. There is not a lot of free movement, ropes and fences tell you were to go / queue. So we stepped into a little building. Some priest hands us a piece of paper with a mantra: “Hare Krishna, hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna hare, hare. Hare Rama, hare Rama, Rama, Rama, hare, hare.” Then the path changed into a labyrinth of stepping stones, ropes telling you where to go. One was supposed to chant the mantra and then step to the next stone. So we joined into the chorus of chanting with all the other visitors. I guess it was 108 stones as one is supposed to say this mantra for at least 108 times per day. It should calm your mind and bring you closer to God. One way of worshiping Krishna. I read, that while you are chanting loud and clearly Lord Krishna personally dances on your tongue. This reminds me of one of the general concepts of Hinduism as I understand it… the gods live in everybody and there are as many gods as there are humans on Earth… Anyway, we moved on into the actual temple. The main hall is very grand. Wonderful paintings decorate the high ceiling. In the front a huge golden shrine houses richly decorated statues of Krishna and Radha (Krishna’s female companion). The visitors can walk past and then sit down in the middle of the temple floor to admire the beauty and pray. Two musicians played shehnai (an Indian wind instrument) and tabla (Indian drum). At the side books about Krishna were being sold and we wondered how many Indian languages there are.
Walking out of the temple everybody got guided past dozens (or hundreds?) of souvenir stalls selling Krishna statues of every imaginable material, pictures, books, mantra necklaces, etc. There was also plenty of snacks and other foods available. This place is really build to serve thousands of people per day.

The second temple we visited is dedicated to Shiva. Shiva, “the auspicious one”, is another major Hindu god. He is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life… so it says, when you look him up. Different traditions apply different attributes to him. And there are also different ways of representation, either sitting in meditation, dancing or in an abstract form as so called Shiva linga.

Shiva meditating

Bangalore is proud to be home to a huge Shiva statue standing, or better sitting, nearly 20 meters tall. It is surrounded by imitated ragged Himalayan mountains. As high as it is we couldn’t really see the statue from the roadside but our trusted rickshaw driver had taken us to the right spot. We walked through some tunnels and then arrived in a hall of souvenir stalls. Then the proper entrance which means shoes off. For a few rupees we bought a ticket which allows us to take photographs, visit the caves and participate in a few other activities. For the first of these activities we received a pot full of coins. Arranged in long lines we had to pass 108 little pots. We were supposed to throw a coin into each of the pots while chanting the 108 names of Lord Shiva. Similar to the 108 steps in the Krishna temple this is will clear your mind and bring you closer to God. Next we got given two colourful pieces of string. We were to tie those close to the feet of Ganesh whose statue we passed next. With those strings one leaves all problems and sorrows behind. Ganesh will sort it out.

Ganesha, Shiva's son

By the way, Ganesh is the god with the elephant face. He removes all obstacles with his trunk. So he is asked to help with any endeavours. He is also Shiva’s son which is probably the reason why he got a statue here.
Anyway, next station was the first cave carved into the rocks. A narrow dark tunnel let us past several statues and pictures. We were not 100% sure what the significance of this is. At a hair bend in our path some icicles hung from the ceiling… well, I guessed this must be a symbol for the Himalayas. When we came out of the tunnel somebody handed us a beaker of coconut milk. We poured this over a little Shiva linga. By bathing the god one purifies himself. Another tunnel with statues and models of pilgrimage sites lead us basically through the seat of the Shiva statue. Then we received another golden coin and the friendly guide, who unfortunately didn’t speak much English, gestured us to chant Shiva’s name seven times and throw the coin into the little lake at Shiva’s feet while making a wish. The lake gets fed by a little fountain on the statue’s head which symbolises Mother Ganga originating in the locks of Shiva.
Next we received little burning candles which we set swimming on the lake. Fire is in general seen as something purifying. In many temples and shrines I have seen priests waving fire in front of the statues of their gods as fire offering. Passing a priest with some candles burning, people wave their hands over the fire and then cover their face with their hands and stroke their hair. I think this is also a purifying gesture.
Speaking of fire, the next thing we got given was a stick. This stick got thrown into a little bonfire and then we had to walk round it seven times. Another way to get rid of your sorrows.
Next station was a little round chapel. Inside we found a table with statues of various gods, the ceiling is painted like the night sky covered with planets and stars. Each of us got a little carrier with burning coal and then we walked around the table with the gods three times. This was to purify ourselves, overcome problems and be able to start over again as a better person.
At the end the guide lead us to a charity stall and we left some money for a children’s hospital / orphanage.
Coming back out onto the street, Grainne said, “I don’t really believe in all this, but somehow I do feel all light without any worries…”

 

Rain, rain don’t stay away

Rain dance on our balcony

After two hesitant light showers last week we got the first so-called premonsoon rain yesterday. It was absolute bliss! The heat was getting quite oppressive over the last few days. The mercury climbed over 37 degrees on Tuesday and with the humidity rising and not the slightest breeze to be felt, I started seriously longing for the rains that usually start cooling down Bangalore a few weeks earlier. Well, yesterday they finally arrived. We had finished our lunch in one of our favourite cafes and found the outside to have considerably darkened. There was also a cool wind all over sudden and the air was… pleasantly warm rather than stiflingly hot. It had in fact cooled down by 5 degrees. Then the first drops came, how refreshing! We didn’t mind walking home in the rain at all. In fact, we would have danced home if we hadn’t had heavy shopping bags. And that’s just what the kids did on the balcony once we were home 🙂