Kerala - God's own country

If God loves coconut trees, then he/she must be residing in Kerala.

That was my very first thought after we moved out of the Kochi airport after being glued to the window for some 15 minutes the very moment the plane started to descend. The vast stretch of coconut trees, small streams flowing and the red thatched roofs – all made for a very picturesque site.

My friend had invited me over and I wasn’t very sure of how this ten day break in Kerala would turn out to be. Of course, now I am overwhelmed with the warm reception I received, the comfortable accommodation and the taxi arranged for me. Thanks V! I owe much to you:-) and it was really an amazing experience.

As we drove to kochi, I could not help getting amused by the huge bunches of bananas hanging practically in every shop, the many men in their lungis (wrap arounds) half-folded up to their knees sitting outside their shops doing nothing really, the churches, long queues of women clad in colourful sarees waiting at bus stops and huge hoardings advertising in Malayalam for gold jewellery.

We reached the guesthouse near Marine Drive where we got to relax for a few hours. The sunset we saw on the way was simply mind-blowing. In the evening, we took a jetty to visit Fort Kochi. The ride was nice.

Next day, we headed for Varkala. Varkala, is a quiet seaside destination and is known for its cliffs adjacent to the Arabian Sea. The secluded beach, the small shops and the eating joints are full of foreigners who seem to be having a grand time either surfing in the sea, relaxing in the sun or learning more about yoga or enjoying the exotic Kerala massages. We took a quite lunch at one of the small restaurants there and then finally, we headed for the sea. My mum busied herself collecting shells whereas I was totally enjoying the sae to the full. Later, we headed to the cliff again.

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Sunset at Varkala, Kerala Took this picture from the Varkala cliff. It’s a site that I still cherish in my heart.

Peek-a-boo
Caught this cat while I was climbing up the steps of a restaurant at the Varkala cliff for lunch.

Cleanising my soul!

It is believed that a group of devout pilgrims approached Narada, and confessed to having sinned. Narada threw his valkalam (cloth made out of the bark of a tree) and it landed at a place near the seashore. This place was thus given the name 'varkala'. Narada directed his devotees to offer prayers at the beach where the valkalam landed. This place then came to be known as 'Papanasam' meaning redemption from sins. We did see at least two people offering coconut etc to the sea. It is only later I understood the significance.

Trivandrum

We reached Trivandrum in the night. The next day, we visited the Padmanaswamy temple, which permits only the Hindus to worship the Gods in the temple. Thankfully, my mom was carrying a cotton saree that I could wear to the temple else I would not be permitted inside. I cannot describe how much enchanted I was with the beauty of sculptures, the huge idol of Vishnu – parts of which can be seen only through the three small doors, the courtyard with hundreds of sculptures of apsaras offering flowers to the Gods, the devotees singing prayers that sounded divine and the many many other idols . It’s was surreal and for a moment I really did feel transcended to another era altogether.

I took some time out to visit the Chitra art gallery that displayed many of Raja Ravi Verma’s paintings. Also, I visited the museum there and enjoyed seeing the artefacts. There was this one sculpture of shiva that reminded me of medusa. In the evening, we headed for Kovalam.

The Kovalam Experience

Kovalam is another beach on the Arabian Sea. Kovalam means a groove of coconut trees.

Kovalam had a charm of its own. We reached there to see the setting sun spreading its shimmering reflection in the otherwise blue water of the sea.

A few moments later, it hid behind an azure veil giving way to many silver clouds and a beautiful full-moon smiling at us. We sat at the one of the eating joints and spent an hour listening to the music of the waves. It was soulful!

Kanyakumari

Next day, we headed for Kanyakumari. It was a place I knew I had to visit. Kanyakuamri is the southern most tip of India and it is here that the three seas meet: the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea.According to the local lore, Kanya Devi, an avatar of Parvati, was to marry Shiva, but he failed to show up to the wedding. The princess Kanya Devi is a virgin goddess who blesses pilgrims and tourists.

Vivekanand Rock, Kanyakumari

The Vivekananda Rock Memorial is built on a rock that protrudes from the ocean. Itt marks the place where Swami Vivekananda meditated and evolved his philosophy.

Munnar

Munnar is breathtakingly beautiful and can really be called a haven of peace and tranquillity.

Munnar has everything that one can imagine! It has the unending expanse of tea plantations, green rolling hills, flowing waters in the streams, vast stretch of Eucalyptus trees, exotic species of flora and fauna in its dense forests and more...

You just have to go there and experience it!

Delhi Half Marathon 2007

We (RAHI) ran at the Delhi Marathon on Oct 28th, 2007. It was quite an experience carrying the RAHI Banners and placards as we ran and mostly walked the entire 7 km stretch, gaining quite a bit of attention from curious onlookers who wanted to know more about the organisation.

RAHI deals with Child Sexual Abuse. It works with adult women survivors of incest and childhood sexual abuse and offers services that are uniquely important to their recovery process.

Anuja Gupta and Ashwini Aliawadi are the founders of this organisation and have become very dear friends of mine. They are among the lovliest people I am ever going to get to know. And I really do want to thank them for giving me an opportunity to be assocaited with their work.

The group includes: Deepika, Abha, Shubhra, Mukul, Anuja, Ashwini and Me.
RAHI – Recovering and Healing from Incest

www.rahifoundation.org/

Painting your canvas…

(*Removed this one from Nirvana and got it onto Psychedelic Flights! This one belongs here:-)

Written on 7th March '07

Holi was colourful and nice this year :-) It was a sweet family affair. We used these really nice dry colours to wish a very Happy Holi to everyone around. I loved the blue, red, green and yellow smeared on our faces and hair. We looked kinda cute:-)

I was always very scared of this festival and never participated in it. I remember hiding in the darkest and the innermost room in my ancestral house to save myself from being colored all black and blue when I was a child, just like my mother. I would cry when someone would colour us. My younger brothers would start preparing for Holi days in advance by buying pichkaaris, balloons and some crazy metallic colours. I still have visions of my own brother filling up balloons with colored water and then smearing black paint or something of the crazy sort on his hands and then running out in the streets. My grandfather would take us to the market to buy us the fanciest of pichkaaris. When I was in the hostel, I thought Holi was crazy, and I dreaded it all the more. I hated being chased by my friends so that they could smear me with keechad, eggs, polish and paint and me running around away from them screaming endlessly. I detested all of it.

Today, I love colours! They can be so beautiful and give one so much joy:-) They work as a brilliant analogy for me wherein I believe God has given us numerous colours for us to go and paint our life with it! And whoa! What a beautiful painting we can make…
The choice is ours :-)

The next thing that comes to my mind is Vitamins. I never thought of fruits, green vegetables, sprouts, protein rich foods and stuff like that. I mean they were a bit too boring and a bit too fresh for my taste. I never touched curd, salad, cheese and I almost hated the sight of fruits. Off late, I have been eating ice like it were some candy and have shamelessly been picking up on one cube after the other from almost all my drinks, much to the embarrassment of my friends. But ummmmmmm…..I just love the way it crackles in my mouth every time I bite on it. It’s heaven! Trust me, worth a try!

On Saturday, I learnt I am suffering from acute vitamin deficiency after I met a doctor, finally. I was feeling so weak in the past few days that I’d to skip work twice and had to decline every single invite that came my way. I am sure half my friends already think I’m being arrogant, but heck NO! I have been sick :( really really sick :-)

One of my best friends is moving to Delhi soon. I am SOOOO looking forward to it. And I am desperately waiting for the 8th to arrive; this mercury going retrograde is being such a pain: DDDD.

I was reading this book (don’t remember the name), it talked about comparing our entire life span with that of the universe. We appear like these blips and vanish into nothingness forever. We are completely insignificant in the entire evolution of the cosmic world. Yet, we spend our entire life worrying about trivial matters, acquiring the priciest of things, building complex webs, indulging in unnecessary battles of love, hatred and... the list is endless. I saw Tuesday’s with Morrie, and I was quite touched when Morrie says that if we all were to realise that someday we are going to die, we may want to live our life differently. We may want to adjust our values, ambitions, dreams, love, hate, people in our life, daily schedules etc etc. So true!!!! Isn't it????

So there, maybe we should all go refresh our dreams and paint it pretty :-)

What makes up my DNA!

Thank you M! Loved getting this visual report for me:-)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Caged!

(Took these pics in Dec 2006 at the National Zoo, Delhi)

Of love and other monologues...

I have been wondering if we could shed dead-skin like a snake.
Impossible!!!
Errrrmmmmm.....Or maybe there is a way...

I watched two very interesting plays last week, ‘Anything but Love’ and ‘Vagina Monologues’. Both were extremely entertaining and the latter one deserved nothing short of a standing ovation for the women who shared their stories of rape, incest, female genital mutilation, child molestation, sex and so on; for the women who collected these stories and presented it in the form of a play; and for the women who performed it in front of a huge audience describing and enacting some interesting facts that shocked us, amused us and finally touched our hearts. Jayanti Bhatia deserves a special mention. She was surprisingly outstanding with her bits of performance. Maybe you ought to go and find out for yourself why? :ppp

Oh yeah, its Valentine's! Wish you all good luck in finding your soulmates:-)
I keep telling you, they exist:-)))))

Jaipur - the colorful land of Maharajas, their grand palaces, literature feast and more...

I was really keen on visiting Jaipur for a long time now and finally I put in my plans together to explore this Pink city. Needless to say, I was quite captivated by the grandeur of the huge palaces, the vastness of the ancient forts, the widespread boundary walls that encircled the city on its periphery, the colourful bazaars, the spicy food, the rich culture and the warmth of the people. It was indeed a memorable experience that was not only satisfying but left me in complete awe of our heritage, art and culture.

I left from delhi early morning with Ramchander bhaiya and a friend. We stopped at the Neemrana Fort-Palace and were completely taken in by the beauty and the magnificence of its structure. Carved into a hill, the stepped palace offers splendid views of the village around. The ruins around the fort almost tempted me to stay there for a few days and unearth the stories that lay buried.

As we reached Jaipur, we could see the boundary walls of the forts spread on the hilltops surrounding the city, dozens of multi-colored embroidered umbrellas spread out on the roads and puppets hanging in every shop of the market-place. As we entered further into the city, everything was red, the building structures confined to the old architecture – Yes, we had reached the Pinkcity.

I checked into my hotel and rested for a while. In the evening, went to the Diggi Palace where a major part of the Literature Festival was being held. I met a few of the Caferati members and sat through a poetry session and listened to the three readers - Jeet Thayil, Jane Bhandari and Keki daruwalla. I loved Jeet’s poem, Ghazal, which you can read below:

Ghazal: Jeet Thayil

Listen! Someone's saying a prayer in Malayalam. He says there's no word for 'despair' in Malayalam.

Sometimes at daybreak you sing a Gujarati garba.At night you open your hair in Malayalam.......

Visitors are welcome in The School of Lost Tongues.Someone's endowed a high chair in Malayalam.

I greet you my ancestors, O scholars and linguists.My father who recites Baudelaire in Malayalam.

Jeet, such drama with the scraps that you know.Write a couplet, if you dare, in Malayalam.

:-)

After this I headed for Chawkidhani. I liked the hospitality of the people who served us the typical Rajasthani food on patals, serving us loads of sangar, lasan ka achaar, baajre ki khichdi, maal poha and god knows what all.

The next day I was headed to visit the forts and the palaces that defined the city and its culture. The first one was called HawaMahal – Palace of winds. The Mahal has numerous Jharokhas that form an interesting façade for the palace, overlooking the busy bazaar.

Next on my schedule was the prime attraction – the three forts, Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargarh. The short drive uphill was lovely and I could not stop raving about the splendid view we got of the city. We reached the Amber Fort and let me tell you, it was a breathtaking sight. We hired the services of a guide and then went about exploring the entire fort and the Amber city built by Raja Man Singh.

You can view the rest of the pics of the Caferati evening here

http://www.ryze.com/posttopic.php?topicid=802623&confid=1199

To be continued...

Neemrana Fort-Palace

Neemrana Fort-Palace is Rajasthan's closest palace from New Delhi. I stopped here on my way to Jaipur for a while and I simply fell in love with the grandeur of this majestic palace. The fort has been turned into a hotel and does provide the luxuries that it must, including a swimming pool on the terrace, lavishly done up rooms, open-air -theatre etc.

But what I simply loved about the palace were the wide aangans in the middle of each block, the barsaatis overlooking the fields, and the old-fashioned dahleejs that stood at each entrance. It reminded me of my ancestral house where we lived before moving to Delhi. I particularly enjoyed the jeenaas that led from one part of the fort to another and would have been just perfect to play hide n seek. Also, I loved the rustic feel given by the use of kachhi-mitti at a few places and the laltens that hung around to light up the palace in the night.

I really wanted to spend a day there, perhaps with my family, to relax those stressed nerves of mine that deal with the everyday chaos. But alas! I had to leave, and Neemrana lingered on in my thoughts.