HERITAGE of South India ..........by Jayant Doshi

(from 16th January to 11th February 2013)

16th January :On our first day in Mumbai we

decided to do a tour of the now world famous

Dharavi slums. Spread over one square mile in

the heart of Mumbai and right near the

international airport lies the largest slum area

of the world with an estimated population of

one million – not including thousands of

migrants who come to work there and sleep in

the factories. It has estimated 10000

manufacturing units manufacturing anything

and everything and has the largest and most

concentrated recycling of every last bit of rubbish that takes place anywhere in the world. It has

quarters for Muslims, Hindus and even Gujarati populations – though all live in total harmony. The

slums have private and government schools, private and government hospitals, bakeries,

supermarkets and every amenity that would be required for such a large population. Even the

communal toilets had queues of thousands in the morning rush time. Our two hour tour was most

enlightening.

It was in May 2012 that Dhiru first suggested

a back packing tour of either Vietnam or South

India. The idea was to travel rough and on a

tight budget, and as ordinary people, and

experience the life and the country at first

hand. When two others decided to join, it was

proposed that travelling by taxi would be faster

and more convenient. This would take away

the charm and the challenge of back packing

but would allow us to travel and see lot more

of the country. We did stick to ordinary hotels

to keep that part of the idea alive.

17th January : While Usha and Guli went to see their relatives, I joined Dhiru in a delightful lunch

with his facebook friends. Internet generally, and facebook in particular, seem to have changed the

way we communicate and build social

contacts.

18th January : Our trip started in earnest

today when we left early at 6.00 a.m. to travel

to Poona from where we were to take our taxi

for our trip. In Poona we were entertained

with breakfast and soon after we left on our

trip. We had a guide book and a map of India,

and we had decided on the starting places to

visit and our plans were to decide as we

moved along. Dhiru had marked all places of

interest which should be visiting. We stopped

at a farm where fresh ponk was being served.

Freshly grown grain while on the stems is

roasted on fire, sprinkled with spices and lemon

juice and served. This is a winter speciality and

is best when served fresh on the farm. It was a

treat for us which we all relished. We reached

Shirdi by 6.00 p.m. The whole town and its

economy is based on the temple of Sai Baba

where millions come to worship and the

turnover must run into billions. The temple

complex was huge covering a very big area.

19th January : We were fortunate to get VIP

passes which meant we avoided long queues.

We woke up at 3.00 in the morning to attend the

arti. Once our mission to get a feel of the place which is visited by millions was completed we left

for our next destination which was Ellora and Ajanta caves. Ellora caves were built between 5th

and 8th centuries but were hidden by forests over the period of time till discovered by an

Englishman about hundred years back. Thirty four caves dug in the mountains represent the art

and rich culture of the glorious past that will be appreciated by millions. Unlike monuments which

could decay over a period of time, these caves

would be protected from the vagaries of nature

by the mountains and remind us always of the

glorious past of India. Caves represent different

religious influences over the period with

earliest caves having Buddhist influence

followed by Hindu influence and lastly a few

caves represent Jain influence. Huge idols and

statutes were carved from top to bottom in the

solid rocks inside the caves. Intricate carvings

and designs that adorn these caves show the

quality of artisans in those days. Some of the

caves are hundreds of feet deep and one

marvels how these caves were formed or

created.

We drove on to the Ajanta caves which have colourful paintings on the walls which were as high

as fifty feet or more. Many of the paintings are well preserved and maintained. While some colours

have started fading still the quality of paintings

and intricate designs are marvellous - not

forgetting that they are over 1500 years old. In

one day we managed to finish three

sightseeing. It involved lot of walking and a very

long day for us all. Ellora and Ajanta involved

climbing up steps to go into the caves, coming

down and going into the next cave. It was a

long day for us from 3.00 in the morning till

9.00 at night and most of that time we were on

our feet and walking. We reached Aurangabad

late at night.

20th January : Next day we left early to visit

Bibi-ka-Maqabura. In urdu Bibi refers to mother

while Biwi means wife. In Aurangabad – the city

named after Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb and who

spent lot of time in this city. His son built Bibi-

ka-Maqabura which is an exact replica of Taj

Mahal in Agra. Unlike Taj Mahal this monument

is only partly built with marble but cost Rs

668000.00 min the 17th century. Today the

amount would run into billions. The gardens at

this mausoleum are exact replica of those in Taj

Mahal. From there we drove on to Hyderabad,

capital of Andhra Pradesh, where we reached

after 9.00 p.m.- another long day. We took the

wrong road which was in very poor condition and that delayed us a lot, but then we got onto very

modern and well built road that took us to Secunderabad and the twin city of Hyderabad. Both the

cities are quite modern and well built. Hyderabad is the hub of IT industry in India.

21st January : Hyderabad, which was ruled by Nizam, has lot of Islamic influence. The roads are

well maintained and the city seemed clean. Our first visit was to the fort of Golconda which was

originally built in mud in the 12th century and

rebuilt in stone in the 16th century. This is one

of the most impressive forts in India. It is

spread out over a 3 kilometre area. The fort

used echo system to pass messages within its

huge complex and we were given a

demonstration of the same. The fort also had a

sophisticated water system. From top of the

fort, which itself is on high grounds, one gets a

panaromic view of the city of Hyderabad. We

visited the seven tombs of Qutb Shahi Kings

and their wives built over a vast expanse of

land. Charminar is similar to the Gateway of

India, and overlooks the very busy old

Hyderabad bazaar. From top of Charminar we could see and feel the hustle bustle of the bazaar,

and high pitch noise of traffic and people.

We were to visit the palace but just at that moment shutters in shops were coming down and we

were told that a local member of parliament

had been arrested and shops were closing

down in anticipation of riots. Instead we visited

a local museum with a good collection of

historical artefacts. Our next stop was at a

newly constructed Birla temple on top of a hill.

The vast complex was built of marble, looked

exquisitely beautiful, overlooking a crowded city

of Hyderabad and impressive imposing

structure. Birlas have built such temples all

over the country and one wonders if the money

could have been put to better use. We do not

seem to have any shortage of places of worship

in the country as it is.We had early dinner and

retired early after a long tiring day.

22nd January : We woke up early and had

planned to leave quite early but it was 7.00 by

the time we left our hotel. We had breakfast in

a restaurant across the road from our hotel

serving upma, dosa and idli. On the pavement

a tea stall was serving Hyderabadi tea which

had wonderful flavour and taste. Tea leaves

were boiling in one pot on one cooker and milk

was boiling in another pot. Both are mixed in a

cup and then served to customers. Prices for all

items were quite cheap ... total payment for

breakfast and tea for five of us did not add up

to one pound.

We got a guide at every place of interest we visited whereby we got more information about the

site, and our sightseeing became speedier. We would buy fruits on the way which served as our

lunch at times. Grapes, bananas, guavas and tangerines were available in plenty. During our trip

we had lots of fresh cocoanuts, sugarcane juice and roasted maize. We were flexible on our meals

and mealtimes. If we had breakfast we skipped lunch and had early dinner and if we did not get

breakfast we would have early lunch and late dinner.

We drove to Warangil 150 kms north of

Hyderabad. Warangil had ruins of Muslim

and Hindu sculptures but it was a

disappointment. No guide was available and

all we could find was a huge ground with

walls to protect the contents, and with huge

rocks and remains of buildings put in orderly

manner. We also saw a Shiva temple with

1000 pillars which was quite impressive. The

temple was well maintained. Black stone

was used in construction and most of the

carvings were exquisite and clear cut. We

returned to Hyderabad thinking that was the

way to travel further south. The driver informed us that we could have bypassed Hyderabad.

23rd January : Next morning we left at 6.00 to drive to Puttaparthy and had very nice breakfast

at a roadside dhaba. On the way saw an

ISKON temple made in the shape of a chariot

with four huge size horses, much larger than

real life, to give perfect proportion to the chariot

shaped temple. We reached Puttaparthy by

early evening. This used to be the abode of

Satya Sai Baba (other than the one in Shirdi).

They have accommodation for locals and for

foreigners in a huge complex built around the

temple. As I did not have my passport they

would not allow us in that accommodation. We

took up a place just outside the temple. We

missed darshan timing but were lucky to get a

nice Gujarati meal after eating south Indian

food all these days. The township is developed

by the followers of this sect, and they have built

schools, colleges, hospitals etc in the town. We

saw one institution of education and building

had guitar, drums etc as part of the building

architecture. All the buildings seemed well built

and maintained. With millions pouring from

followers all over the world I guess money

would never be an issue in this place – but it

was nice for once to see those donations being

put to good use.

24th January : We woke up early and had an

early morning walk and visited the temple. I

took photos of impressive buildings. We reached Tirupati early afternoon. Known for the richest

temple in the world it is visited by millions of visitors every day. I was told that on average day it

has 15000 visitors. Venkateshwara temple is located on Tirumala Hill just on the outskirts of

Tirupati. On driving to Tirumala we saw security that could beat the best at any airport in the

world. The roads were nicely made and the whole town was oozing with prosperity. Actually the

town had grown on the economy created by the temple. Temple provides low cost accommodation

to all visitors and we spent fifty rupees per

person for staying in what was neat and clean

accommodation with ensuite bathroom though

hot water had to be brought from outside.

Temple provides for expensive and cheap rooms

but also covered pavilions for those who cannot

afford to pay anything. The temple is

surrounded by shops and stalls selling flowers,

garlands, pooja requirements and all sorts of

food.

The temple and its surroundings were beautiful

with hills and valleys and lots of greenery. The

most visited pilgrimage place in the world, and a

must for most Hindus, is where men and some women also, come and give their hair. Dhiru and

Arjun (our driver) decided to go through the ritual and had all their hair removed. From what I

understand that hair are recycled and put on the market, just like cocoanuts and other items

brought in the temple. While the place was immaculate and arrangements perfect yet there was no

information provided to guide the visitors. We walked around the complex and saw the main

temple from a distance.

25th January : Next morning we walked around

the temple and had breakfast. We hired a guide

who took us to some points of interest on the

Tirumala Hill. Dhiru and Arjun went for removing

their hair and rest of us had a nap. When Dhiru

and Arjun came we decided to go for darshan

but found that there were long queues and even

the queue with payment was too long. It was

then that we found out that tickets for the paid

queue had to be bought that morning. We were

disappointed that after coming all this way we

could not go into the temple. So we decided to

go to Tirupati to see Govindaraja Temple.

Though there were queues we still managed to

see the temple inside.

I visit all these temples out of curiosity and

fascination. My conviction or faith has never

been strong. As such not getting to get inside

the temple anywhere was never a

disappointment for me. But I had read a lot

about Tirupati and |I was fascinated by all

that I had read and wanted to experience the

long queues and watch the devotion of those in

the queues. But it was not to be. However the

place fascinated me. The temple has created a full township and a full blown economy on which

thousands survive.

Arjun, our driver, was a young man but very sincere and dedicated to his work. Unlike most

drivers he never stopped for tea, or stopped to eat. He did not chew tobacco unlike most drivers. At

first he was shy but once he became

comfortable with us he joined us in making fun

and made us laugh all the way. He used to be

fascinated when we talked about Dhiru and his

facebook friends. And then Dhiru introduced

GPS which could show us the way and he was

totally taken aback by modern technology. He

called Dhiru “Changla Saheb” and whenever

he needed direction he would say “Changla

Saheb wake up your friend.”

26th January : We left at 7.00 next morning for

Chennai. Guli wanted to spend some time with

her relations and we had planned to spend a

day there. But reading through the guide book we realised there was nothing in Chennai and we

decided to move on to a nearby sea side place called Mammlapuram. This seaside resort is

popular with foreigners and many could be seen hovering around the town. It was a nice little

town. We found a guide who took us around the sites in this place. We saw a mountain with lots of

carvings done in the 6th century but found by the British in early 20th century. It is said that the

mountain had 5 bedrooms for five Pandavas

from Mahabharata epic. We saw the shore

temple. There used to be seven temples on the

shore but six were destroyed by tsunami a

decade back leaving only one on the shores.

We found out that there was dance festival and

we went to the festival. It was a bonus to be

able to see the dances.

27th January : Next morning we had a walk on

the beach and later we all went in the sea

where huge waves gave wonderful massage to

our bodies. After getting ready we went for

breakfast and when Guli joined us we

proceeded to Pondicherry. Arbindo Ashram in

Ponidchery was a place I wanted to visit and

spend a few days as I had heard lot about it.

But we faced only disappointment. After asking

several people we found one of the buildings

but we had to wait till it opened. It was

Arbindo’s Samadhi and people were sitting in

meditation. There was a bookshop. But no

information was available as to any ashram, or

if we could stay and take part in any activity.

Feeling frustrated we decided to leave. After

my return I was told that the ashram offers

wonderful accommodation right on the sea

front. We went to a restaurant for lunch and it

was the worst lunch and service we had encountered so far.

Dhiru had bought A Rough Guide to India and that had become our almanac for deciding where we

were going and what we were seeing. When we drove out of Pondicherry we stopped at a place to

buy some fruits. After a while Dhiru suddenly started looking for this book and he could not find it.

Without the book we would be lost. We

stopped the car and searched everywhere but

with no luck. We thought that when we

stopped to buy fruit the book must have fallen

out. We asked the driver to taken us back to

that spot. We had already driven over ten

kms. But luckily Arjun had good memory and

he took us exactly on that spot. Chances of

our finding the book were negligible. Dhiru

and I came out of the car and started looking

along the edge of the footpath. Lo behold!

Unbelieveable as it may seem, Dhiru saw a

man flicking through a book in the shelter of a

doorway. Dhiru walked towards that man

and picked the book and said thank you and asked me to give him a good tip. We could not believe

our luck. Was it as a result of meditating in Arbindo Ashram or praying at all the temples so far

which brought this miracle? But we were all happy that we had found the book.

We drove on to our next destination - Tanjavur. GPS took a long way and we reached our hotel at

9.30. We had neither booked hotels in advance nor prepared any list in advance. As soon as we

reached our destination we looked around,

checked one or two hotels and selected one. So

far we had paid on average Rs.300.00 per

person (less than £4.00).

28th January : Tanjavur is the home of

Brihadshwara Temple built in 11th century

during Chola dynasty. It is built from granite

and is monolithic (made from single stone.) The

temple has a twelve foot bull carved from a

rock, and the temple has some very intricate

carvings. The statutes display human emotions

like anger, pleasure, dismay etc and these

expressions are portrayed very effectively. The

quality of these sculptures shows the standard of craftsmanship in those days – and makes one

wonder what life was like in those days. It made us proud of our heritage.

From Tanjavur we drove on to Madurai and realised bit too late that we had missed out on Trichy.

We reached Madurai just after 1.00 and found

that the temple was closed till 4.00. On the

spur of the moment we decided that we might

as well drive on to Kanyakumari and come to

Madurai and Trichy on our way back.

Kanyakumari is the southernmost tip of India

where three oceans – Arabian Sea, Indian

Ocean and Bay of Bengal meet. Kanyakumari

is named after and associated with the virgin

goddess Kanya Devi. In the month of April it is

possible to see sun setting and moon rising at

the same time. We reached at sunset time and

drove straight to the sunset point and got lovely

photos and view of the setting sun. There were

thousands of people present to view this spectacle. For dinner we had Gujarati meal which was

very satisfying after eating all the dosas, idli and upma for days.

29th January : Next morning we woke early to go and watch the sun rise. We rejected an offer

from a tower to watch sun rising and instead went near the temple where literally thousands and

thousands of people had come to see the sunrise

– possibly with devotion and worshipping the sun

in mind. Many dipped in the ocean when the sun

appeared. The skies were misty and cloudy so

sunrise could not be seen till the sun rose above

that level.

Swami Vivekanand, who went to USA in the late

19th century, addressed world religious congress

in Chicago, and who preached the greatness of

Hindu religion, had meditated on a small island

across Kanyakumari, and a library and

meditation centre has been built in his memory on

that island. It also has life size statute of that

great man. We took a ferry to visit the island. The second island nearby was closed on the day.

The island has a huge statute of the great Tamil

philosopher Thiruvalluva – built only recently. The

temple at the tip of Kanyakumari was congested

and chaotic.

On the way to Madurai I got a call from my

brother-in-law who called to find out about our

whereabouts and progress. During the course of

his conversation he mentioned that we must have

done Rameshwaram. In Kanyakumari I had seen

this name on signboards advertising day trips. I

mentioned this to Dhiru and he looked up the

guide book and told me that he could not

understand how he missed that site. Later, when

we were doing a tour of the temple in Madurai we met a Gujarati couple who had been to

Rameshwaram and who highly recommended

it. Three reminders of the place seemed too

much of a coincidence. We were not bothered

about the temple or the religious side of it, but

we both were fascinated by the rituals that

take place. We decided to do that extra journey

to Rameshwaram. We were not likely to come

here again, and it would always be in the mind

that we missed it. It seemed providence that

we got three reminders in a period of a few

hours and we were fascinated by the rituals

that take place there.

I in particular am not that religious fanatic to

worship at every temple and every religious place we visited. But why we were visiting all these

temples and places of religion? In my case it was the fascination and curiosity of understanding

and seeing thousands who follow devoutly and do their prayers and rituals with so much passion

which always fascinated me. I feel amazed, and perhaps sad, to see millions of people spending

millions, or billions of rupees on travelling, in rituals, in garlands and coconuts and other items for

worship. It fascinates to see millions, educated

and less educated having so much faith and

trust in what they were doing. And what South

India had to offer was temples with great

history, temples with sculpture and carvings

that make us proud of the greatness of that

past. This drove me to visit so many temples.

Not getting to get darshan in Tirupati or Madurai

did not bother me at all.

We drove on to Madurai with one of the most

impressive temples in South India. Meenaxi

Temple (wife of Lord Shiva whose other name is

Parvati) is built over 15 acres and has 17000

pillars. It was built 3000 years back during the

reign of six emperors. It has monolithic pillars with thousands of statutes carved on the pillars and

walls. The temple gets at least fifteen thousand visitors even during the off peak times. The

massive gopuras of this vast complex,

writhing with multicoloured mythological

figures and crowned by golden finials,

remain the greatest man-made spectacle of

the south. If the temple with its pillars,

different temples and deities, all the intricate

carvings and statutes were to be studied

individually than it would take more than a

day to complete the visit to this vast complex.

30th January : We drove on to Trichy (actual

name Tiruchirapalli) and just north of that

town is the Ranganathaswamy Temple. The

temple is so large that it practically

encompasses the village of Srirangam within its courtyards. It is enclosed by seven rectangular

walled courtyards, and the temple is built on 60 hectares of land. It is one of those rare temples

devoted to Lord Vishnu.

We proceeded to Rameshwaram – making a detour of almost 160 kilometres (extra journey of 320

kilometres) to fulfil our curiosity about the most important pilgrimage site for Hindus. Normally

Hindus worship either Shiva or Vishnu, but this is one temple where both deities are brought

together. The legend goes that Rama (of

Ramayana) after rescuing Sita and killing

Ravana landed in Rameshwaram which is

just 20 km from Sri Lanka, and was advised

to atone for killing a Brahmin (Ravana) by

doing pooja of Shiva. Ram is another

incarnation of Vishnu and as such it was

Vishnu doing pooja of Shiva.

Ramalingeshwara Temple is right on the sea

shore. The temple was built in the 12th century

during Chola dynasty and is famous for its

pillared walkways and the huge complex. The

temple is almost as huge as Madurai temple

but not as impressive in its sculptures or

outlook.

The temple has 22 fresh water wells which is a phenomenon since water is normally salty when

the land is near the sea. These wells are very near the ocean – literally a few feet. Dhiru and I

were fascinated by the ritual being carried out there. When we reached the temple we were

approached by some brokers or guides who

suggested they can arrange the ritual for us. We

changed into swimming trunks and went into the

sea for a dip. We followed the guide who handed

us over to the priest who was to perform the

rituals. He asked for Rs135.00 per person and I

handed him Rs.300/- and when I asked for

change he laughed it away. No receipt was issued

so the money must be going into his pocket. Others

were either in full attire but were still getting wet,

or some just had their hands or feet washed. One

by one, we were taken to each of the 22 wells

where the priest took a small bucket, pulled water

from the well and poured over us. The wells

were spread all over the huge temple complex

we also got a chance to see the whole complex.

We both completed the ritual. Water was

surprisingly luke warm. At the end we were

informed that all our sins had been washed

away and we can now proceed into the temple

to finish our worship.

While the ritual was interesting and funny in

some ways, and perhaps this was one of our

last stops at a temple or place of religion, there

was disdain at the practice of religion in India.

In short, religion in India had been made into a

big industry. The faith and hope with which millions came to these temples was countered by the

trickery and conning of those masses. Priests made their living by promoting more and more rituals

and taking advantage of illiterate and common people. Some of the temples we had visited, like

Tirupati and Madurai, had incomes that would be more than the budgets of cities like Mumbai or

even budget of small states. Amount of money

spent on garlands, flowers, mink, prasad,

cocoanuts, powders and other items used in

these rituals must be phenomenal. Brahmins

have made a profession out of religion and

temples have become like big corporations. The

innocent, naive, unsuspecting common man

pays for it all – at the cost of depriving his own

family from bare essentials. After completing

this ritual we returned to Madurai same day

reaching our hotel around 10.30 at night.

What was planned as back-packing holiday

turned out to be back-breaking trip. Back

packing would have been slow travelling by bus

and train, meet the local people and get a feel of the local life. What we were doing was whirlwind

tour of south India, visiting its glorious temples and palaces, its glorious past preserved in the

caves, and its natural beauty – and when doing this your

curiosity does not stop and you do not wish to miss

anything of interest. Our guide book was our almanac

which showed and told us what was there not to miss.

Our days were long – on the average from 16 to 18 hours –

and out of that about 6 to 8 hours went for sightseeing

and 8 to 10 hours in travelling. We took guide at every

sight whereby gaining more in-depth knowledge of the

places we were visiting, and also saving lot of time in

finding places. Long hours in the taxi were spent in

different ways. We had lots of discussion of all sorts of

subjects, and in between we ate fruit and nuts. Each one

had a nap as and when their eyes could not cope with it.

Dhiru spent lot of time on his iPad and iPhone, and

chatting with his facebook friends. I read a novel on kindle

while Usha and Gulti did reading on religion. Usha and

Guli used the back seats to have nice sleep lot of the time.

Arjun kept making jokes about Dhiru’s

facebook friends, and the GPS guide on the

phone. But no one complained about cramps or

tiredness due to sitting in the car for those long

hours. Usha had diahorea for couple of days,

Dhiru and I were troubled with coughing for

many days and I vomited once – that was the

sum total of our troubles in 22 days of gruelling

travelling. Our visits to the impressive temples

and palaces and castles of south India was

almost coming to an end. We were running out

of time as three of us were booked to fly on 11th

February and we had to be in Mumbai a day or

two earlier. We decided to bypass Kerala on

this trip.

31st January : We drove on to Kodaikanal, a hill station and the highest point in South India. We

reached by mid-day and found a nice cottage style accommodation. We all washed and dried our

clothes. We went out and did some walking and boating in the lake. This was the first time that we

took it easy and relaxed for the day .After

dinner we all went to sleep by 9.00 as it was

pretty cold in this place.

1st February : Next morning we found a guide

and went for sightseeing. Because of low

clouds we could not see much natural beauty.

We visited a 150 year old church. On the way

we saw a small Jain temple where 3 sadhvis

were residing. It was no fun staying any

longer in this bitter cold so we decided to move

on to Ooty. The actual name of Ooty is long

and difficult to pronounce. Ooty is another hill

station created by the British who would

escape to these and many other hill stations

they developed to escape the heat in summer. We reached at 10.30p.m. in Ooty. We saw few

hotels and selected the worst possible hotel so far – and also the most expensive.

2nd February : We got a guide and did some sightseeing in the morning. We saw a temple which is

claimed to be at the highest point in South India. We saw botanical gardens which were very

impressive with well laid out lawns and plants. We saw a tea making factory and went through

the process of how tea is made. But most

interesting was a Thread Museum where

flowers with stalks and leaves were exhibited.

These looked like real ones but all of these

were made from thread. It took12 years to

make all the exhibits, and they used 68 crore

meters of thread. All the flowers in real colours

and looking like real flowers (and there were

many varieties of flowers). Flowers, leaves,

stems were all made with thread. We passed

Mulumali Tiger Reserve but could not do the

elephant ride as elephants were sick.

The quality of hotel had upset us all, and as

we were running out of time, we moved on to

Mysore. Dhiru had a friend in Mysore who

advised us to go straight away to see the

lights of Brindavan. These famous gardens

were lit with thousands of lights and there

was a laser light show also. The gardens

have thousands of fountains and the layout

of the gardens is exquisite. We saw the lights

and the laser show but could not see much of

the garden at night. We proceeded for dinner

with Dhiru’s friend. It was late. Arjun very

willingly agreed to sit in the car and wait for

us. We had wonderful dinner.

3rd. February : In Mysore our first visit was

to Chamundeshwari Temple on top of Chamundi Hills which could be accessed by either driving

direct or walking up over 1000 steps. We opted for walking up those steps. We were at the top in

less than 15 minutes. The long queues to enter the temple deterred us and we decided to turn

back. We had seen picture of a huge statute on

the hill but surprisingly we did not see any

such statue. We then visited a modern

European style cathedral made in 1913 but

still in immaculate condition. Our next stop at

Maharajah Palace was impressive. Palace built

on 35 acres of land, and the actual buildings

covering 27 acres, is massive by any

standards. While very impressive one wonders

at what cost these were built and what it could

have done for the masses. The palace had

lovely huge chandeliers and exhibits of gifts

received by the Maharajah. The guide had the

key to the private storage where different

swords and animals hunted by the Maharajah were stuffed and exhibited there. The palace had

tiles from England, stained glass from Scotland and cast iron pillars from England. There were lots

of silver and gold items on exhibition.

After a lovely lunch we had afternoon rest for the first time on the trip. We again went to the palace

in the evening when the whole palace complex is lighted by 100,000 bulbs and the lights switched

on for one hour. The palace looked spectacular in all those lights. We invited Dhiru’s friend and his

wife for dinner.

4th February : Next morning we left for

Srirangpatnam where we visited the summer

palace of Tipu Sultan who bravely fought

against the British. The palace is built of timber,

and as the structure is unsafe they had closed

upstairs. The palace had some exhibits and

paintings. This was followed by a visit to the

Samadhi of Tipu Sultan. We visited Triveni

Sangam where Tipu’s body was found after he

was killed. We also saw the dungeon where

Tipu Sultan would imprison British prisoners.

Each prisoner would be chained to the walls.

Sravan Belgoda is north of Mysore. It has the

18 metre (58 feet) high monolithic statute of

Gomateshwara, also known as Bahubali.

Built in 10th century it is largest free standing

sculpture in India and an important place of

pilgrimage. We had to walk up over 900 steps

to reach the top of the hill where the statute

can be seen surrounded by a temple and

walls. It is surrounded by black stone idols of

Tirthankars. The statute is over 1000 years

old though rest of the temple is about 400

years old. We walked up the steps which were mostly carved out of rocks. Our visits to temples

were getting saturated and we decided to skip two more places with such temples which were

coming on the way. We drove on and reached Shivamoga and found a very good lodge.

5th February : Next morning we drove on to Jog Falls around 11.00 a.m. We had been warned that

due to lack of rain and a dam there would not be much water in Jog Falls which is the biggest falls

in India. Situated amidst thick forests in the

Western Ghats, the highest falls of India have

lost their charm since the dam was built up river.

But still the gorge and falls give a spectacular

view. Steps have been built to walk down to the

valley. We walked down these 1400 steps or

more. We removed our shoes and walked in

water and over rocks to try to reach the little

pond formed by the water falls. Some people

were bathing in the pond. We walked over the

tricky patches, climbing over rocks, jumping over

small rocks, or walking through patches of water

we almost reached near the pool but the final

patch was tricky and we did not have the

clothes for dipping in the water. But it turned out to be a pleasant adventurous day.

We did not have drinking water with us. Walking up those steps got bit difficult as we were

dehydrated and the valley blocked the winds and the heat was getting to us. We were sweating

profusely. We had some soft drinks on the way where some enterprising people had put up stalls

on the steps to serve visitors like us. We made to the top in a tired state. In three days we had

walked 3600 steps climbing and 3600 steps coming down – which in other terms would work out

as walking up 200 floors of a building and

walking down the same. It was a great

achievement at our age. We spent the night at

Karvar.

6th February : Early in the morning we walked

to the beach and swam in the sea. It was low

tide and there were no waves. We came out

after a while as it was not enjoyable without

the waves beating against our bodies. We

drove on. We passed Goa and had a Gujarati

thali in Panjim. We drove on to Ratnagir, the

home of famous alphonso mangoes and also

home of Arjun. We found a good hotel but could

not sleep well that night.

7th February : We walked along the beach in

the morning. There was chill in the air but there

were strong waves in the sea which made

swimming very enjoyable. When we finished

swimming Arjun gave us surprise that we all

welcomed. His sister had invited us all for

breakfast. She lived in a slum area in a little

shack measuring not more than 8 feet by 6 feet

and the couple and three children lived in that

small space. Other residents in the surrounding

shacks were pleasantly surprised and curious

to see us coming. The shack was very neat and clean and had a television also. That small space

had a tiny cooking area and a small area for washing and bathing. She gave us a lovely simple

breakfast and nice tea. This was the best part of our trip. This was India we wanted to see and

experience and we were so thankful to Arjun and his sister for giving us this wonderful

opportunity.

Being Arjun’s home town where he spent his

childhood he was excited to show us the

different sites and talk about his adventurous

youth stories. We visited a fort with a temple.

Being on top of a hill it had stunning views of

surrounding scenery. We also visited an

aquarium and a museum of ancient art. We

visited Shivaji museum with life size statutes

of soldiers and horses who served Shivaji do

battles with the Moguls and the British.

Last few days of the journey were messed up

by poor thinking or planning but we were not

sure of the distances left and we did not want to be late reaching Mumbai. On the very last day we

originally planned to stay in Alibaug, an upcoming coming modern resort town but when it was

evening and had still long way to drive inland away from the route to Mumbai, on the spur of the

moment we decided to cancel Alibaug. Instead we stayed in Pane which was on the road to

Mumbai. What looked like a nice modern hotel from outside turned out to be the worst hotel we

had during our whole trip. It was not possible to put our foot in the bathroom and we skipped

taking bath in the morning. Guli entertained us to

dinner to celebrate her birthday.

8th February : We left Pane at 7.00 in the

morning and had our breakfast on the way. We

reached Mumbai before 11.00 a.m.

We came almost to the end of an amazing

journey – something we had not planned or

expected to be like it turned out to be. The

statistics are astounding. We did 6400

kilometers or 4000 miles in 22 days - almost

travelling 200 miles per day. Against that long

travelling we did lot of sightseeing also. Expense

per head for 22 days plus 2 days sightseeing in

Mumbai came to just £500.00 per person. Out

of that almost £290.00 went for the taxi and

expenses connected with the taxi. So for the

hotels, meals, fruit, expense of guides came to

less than £9.00 per day. The cheapest hotel we

paid Rs 50.00 per person and the most

expensive was Rs 450.00 – but average was

more like Rs300.00. In this context we kept to

our motto of travelling rough and tough. And all

this amazing when it is realised that the age

range of our group was between 65 and 74 –

age at which most people put their feet up and

take it easy in life. Our travelling was gruelling

– but we visited lots and lots of interesting

sites. We all knew that we would not be coming again so we had to make the best of our trip. Some

may think it stupidity to do such a trip at our age – but to us it was most fulfilling trip. There were

no mishaps or incidents that would have made interesting stories. Car kept intact on this long trip

on the roads of India, we all four had no health problems and we were lucky to have a driver like

Arjun.

Our trip to South India had finished. It had

been a hectic trip – but if we were to see as

much as possible then this was the way we

had to do it. But seeing all those historical

temples, forts and palaces gave us a feeling

that India was an old civilization and that it

was prosperous and full of art and education

and religion and yoga and philosophy and lot

more. It made us realise that our culture and

our heritage had much deeper roots, and our

religious heritage was built on solid

foundations over centuries and spread out over the length and breadth of the country. But it was

sad to see that the Brahmins had hijacked the religion and converted it into a business and made

a living out of it. Every temple we visited had become the hub of the local community, and provided

a living to thousands – but at what cost? The way the priests and others entrap the poor and

extract money from the poor devout people is disturbing. The great teachings and philosophy, as

given by Swami Vivekanand, got lost in the maze of blind faith, myths, and stories produced by

these people to entice and entrap the illiterate masses. The greatness of the religion has been

entombed in the rites and rituals created to earn

a living.

We reached Mumbai. Guli packed up and Arjun

took her to her destination. Arjun had become a

friend for us and we enjoyed his company and

we appreciated the way he took care of us. We

all said good bye to Arjun and promised that we

will keep in contact.

9th February : Next day we three went to see

the famous Mumbai dhobi ghat where washing

clothes is a big occupation, where clothes made

by factories come for washing and ironing - and

a site which attracts thousands of visitors. Later

we visited the famous Mahalaxmi temple where

thousands and thousands of devotees come to

pray every day. We saw the Jama Masjid in the

ocean with a path leading to the main land.

Later we went for lunch. It was after 49 years I

was going for thali lunch to this very simple

restaurant but was amazed to see the

standards still as high as before though the

price had gone up from four rupees to two

hundred and seventy rupees. Later we went to

see the Kala Ghoda Festival which had

hundreds of youngsters with exhibits and

performances to keep everyone engrossed.

10th February : Dhiru and I met some friends for lunch while Usha went to see her relatives. In

the afternoon we all saw a pleasant Gujarati play and in the evening Dhiru and I went to see his

facebook friends in a noisy Bandra Gymkhana.

Our trip had come to a happy ending. A trip we

started with hardly any fixed plans or advance

bookings, turned out to be more successful and

satisfying than we had imagined in our wildest

dreams. While others were excited by the

success of this trip and had started talking

about other such trip, I for one kept out of that

discussion. I cannot afford to do any more such

advance planning at my age.

It has been a long report but if I was to do justice

than it could not be any shorter. Your comments on

jubhai@aol.com will be welcome. All my travel and

trekking reports are on my website which is

www.jayantdoshi.yolasite.com

For photos click on or cut and paste

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