Spirituality

Thought...to catch hold of God,

I should travel from the topmost part of India to the bottommost, but my endeavors have stretched only till Vaishnodevi & McLeodganj in North and Pondicherry in down south.

My knowledge is far from spiritual experiences so I am in a similar state as Sarah MacDonald in ' Holy Cow'.



In Haridwar, I observe the Ganges getting dirtier due to community bathing by men who flaunt their obscene, old, torn H shaped attires (if you know what I mean). In Pondicherry where people find peace, I get upset for not being allowed to appreciate a tree in Auroville for the lack of time at hand. In Rishikesh, I remember the tasty food by Chotiwalas more than anything. In Kukke Subramanya, I pay more attention to celebrity pictures of those who visited for Kaal Sarpa Dosha including Sachin. And in McLeodganj, I meditate at the roadside market which sells accessories and antiques. Sadly that’s me.

 

Roadside market in Mcloedganj

Parents and grandparents introduced me to the temples and pujas, but true credit goes to my 'nose' which threw so many tantrums post surgery that I got slipped into the world of spiritual solace. Coming across those doctors who make faces like you will die the next day and prescribe hundreds of tests for simple problems is the first step towards spirituality.

    

Spiritual introspection before surgery in Manipal

For most problems, complaining to God in Amitabh Bachchan style does provide some relief. But unlike Amitabh Bachchan who went to the temple towards the end in Deewar, I say temple temple here I come, with my own list every time. 

Kangra Devi in Himachal

Of all, it is Lord Shiva who I have related to since childhood. Anytime I’ve been denied the due, instead of catching the collar of bosses, boyfriends and mom-in-laws, I’ve run to Lord Shiva. It’s only for my own health that I had to look beyond Shiva temples. I’m not the one who really believes that God is accessible in temples and can be moved by pujas only, but I like our culture which makes it easier for the girl to gain brownie points with in-laws and in turn please her home hero too . That’s a different spiritual level altogether.

  



In Bangalore, Kempfort gets the credit for my maximum ' first job, single status' visits (and school of ancient wisdom for my post surgery visits)

Kempfort temple

Kempfort Shiva never filled the blanks matching my wishes but I am thankful that the same Shiva in Ujjain and Srikalahasti granted my wishes immediately, VIP class .The Lord at Tirupati took time, by then it was like what the heck, justice delayed is justice denied. Not God's fault, amidst the South Indian screams of Govindaaaaa Govindaaaaaaa and the rush to reach Mt. Tirupati, God works in random order.

The two places where God did make me feel important are Siddhivinayaka and Vaishnodevi. Year 2002, it was early morning and my first visit to Siddhivinayaka in Mumbai. I entered the overcrowded temple and wished for a special puja for which pre booking was required, and was impossible at that time. It just so happened that a lady came up to me and said, 'take my ticket and do the puja, am getting late for work.'

I was happily surprised since I hadn't even uttered my wish.

Second time recently, in Vaishnodevi.....

Vaishnodevi temple

 

My first visit, delayed by about 7 years, became special when a policeman who controls the crowd told me, 'Phir se andar jaana hai doosri baar darshan ke liye, aarti hone wali hai, tujhe jaane doonga, jaldi teeka mitao, bachhe ka bhi aur husband ko bhi bula lo.' Initially the Karnataka citizen in me thought, ' sabka sapna money money' but then I soon realized, ‘wow am not that big a sinner. God does know me’.

My spiritual journey and relationship with God has been weird. Somedays I've kept the fast without even water throughout the day and someday I have puked throughout the night in the name of Shiva's Somras.

Somedays I've done all kinds of yoga, japas and tapas and somedays have slept in glory, postponing my sincerity for the next day. Am such an average human that becoming spiritually fashionable is quite challenging. The only permanent shift in my life has been 'Tulsi tea and veg food' despite being an ardent fan of Mutton Roganjosh.

Nevertheless, marriage and after-effects like children, at times act like sparks in lighting the spiritual growth lamp inside. Both me and my husband have visited more temples than any other types of places in seven years of our process of learning to tolerate each other and our kid :-)

Baijnath in Himachal

On a serious note, my quest for solutions to my insignificant health issues has introduced me to many a good things and great souls. Reiki, pyramid meditation, kriya yoga, numerology, Louise Hay's 'heal your life' (courtesy my friend Shalini), Yogananda's 'Autobiography of a yogi', writings by James Redfield and Brian Weiss.

I’ve learnt that forgiveness is liberating, thinking good doesn’t let you collapse when you lapse, and evening Aarti on the banks of Ganga in Haridwar is truly majestic.

My journey is still on though with really long big breaks in between.

Spirituality is an experience, a way of life…and I am trying hard to meditate to get that 'Ek idea jo badal de aapki duniya'. But a long way to travel I guess!

JACK AND JILL YET AGAIN TO THE HILLS .......

Due to 'Monday Blues' on friday morning,Mr. Jack calls up as soon as he reaches office,' let's do Mysore over weekend.On sat,at Mysore... lets do the Bandipur safari.On sunday at Bandipur ...why not drive till Ooty.

Derby Green

 At Derby Green Ooty,why one? lets stay for two nights :-)



Unknown to our adventure, people were amazed .............' Spaghetti top in ooty cold !!

For a day I was like the Indian heroine who never feels cold even in the snow.Unfortunately my hero didn't even have the coat to pass it on to me and so we had to rush to 'Mohans' ,the most advertised shop in Ooty, to buy some acceptable hill station clothing.Most advertised doesn't mean most admired but anyways...it served the purpose.

Right now am sitting on a bench ,sipping my coffee and thinking (my all time fav job)...... Mysore.,Ooty the nth time :-)



Mysore Palace

 Thats one advantage of staying in Bangalore.Mysore is just 2.5 hrs away and one can reach hill stations like Ooty at whim. 

My quiet evening at Lalitha Mahal Palace ;-)

Stopover at Metropole for lunch and Lalitha mahal palace-Mysore for a quite evening dinner to do the quarterly review and feedback session on married life can be surprisingly elevating. 

And ofcourse icing on the cake is Mysore to Ooty drive because of bandipur & mudumalai forests on the way. It really arouses the junglee in me. Infact in my childhood list of ,' I WANT TO BE', forest officer would be on top despite my fear of jungle ghosts.





Till date i've been able to spot only deers,sambhars,peacocks,monkeys and my saathi 'the haathi' in the name of wild life in these forests, but i do hope to face tiger someday ......much more appealing than going on a date with Abhay Deol ,recent inclusion in the list of my likes on facebook

Haathi mere saathi in Bandipur

When it comes to hill stations , it is the OOTY where am well known from Charring cross to Pykara lake :-)Think,there is an advantage in repetition.When one leafs through the albums to compare notes, the increase in the waist diamater,the changes in the expressions and the additions to the party give an excellent review of life.Each trip brings a new set of memories

Infact my first trip to Ooty was around the time the horror movie 'Raaz' on marital discord had come out.Ironically in this trip I received the blessings for a happy married life by an old couple after conforming to their request for a lovey dovey picture.

Another memorable trip with friends was in Dec cold.10pm ,dark woods and Yummy chicken ,one of the tastiest dinner !! I was in the company of gourmets.But courtsey the focus of the team, my 31st night was spent driving through Ooty lanes in search of some chinese restaurant, when all I wanted to do was party at the hotel and dance all night.At the end, we all settled for dinner at Taj where we did some clicking and as they say ' the circle of life' !!.... I ended up having a similar pic with Mr. Jack, as the one I had taken for the old couple a few years back.

Hmmmm!! this monsoon trip is special too...

Mr. Jack had the first 36 hairpin bends of his life, this time.

Secondly, its my son's first time in Ooty who has cold and fever but not going to school and singing 'swity swity tera pyaar chahida' with the system has been the motivation enough to carry on.

Ooty like hill stations do inspire me to indulge into their flavour,though I'm a person with no tea-no coffee tagline .In south, most hill stations are either tea stations or coffee stations.

Besides, there are Ghost stories, scenic spots ,the toy trains made famous by our film industry and lots of woollens ,facepacks,oils etc which attract the shopaholic in women irrespective of the metro they come from.

Downsouth other than Ooty I have been to Munnar,Thekkady,Madikeri,Yercaud ,kemengundi & Kodaikanal .  

Pristine Munnar

Munnar and kemengundi are still commercially virgin.To the extent that I almost had my nirvana experience in nature at kemengundi for the homestay we had chosen, in middle of deep forests called nature nirvana .

Somehow we had reached that secluded world but on the way back, the budding adventurer & the romantic in me had almost died as our only jeep ran out of fuel and the driver left Jack and Jill in the middle of the ghostly jungle just around the sunset to go back and get some petrol.No other vehicle was to be seen even at miles distance till 2-3 hrs. Would always be indebted to that 5 pax capacity vehicle carrying more than 10 people to give us lift too. Luckily we reached the civilization that night.

Hmmmmm ...if I don't stop here my list of such events will go on as one may not remember what one ate last night but anything beyond routine and monotony is delicious enough for quick retrieval..

And honestly speaking,despite these lovely mishaps here and there, going back from these green jungles to our concrete jungle where undo & redo work is always on,seems very unspiritual.I can't help living in these times forever.

Planning for northern hills around october this year and I do hope to have a lovely uphill journey with the Papa Jack and the baby Jack .:-)...... Excited ..!!

From here to anywhere in my train......

I envy my son for the exposure he gets .He wakes up to the background melodies of running trains!! Trains?? In Pachmarhi (Satpura ki rani hindustan ke dil mein), my birthplace.. a helicopter could come but no train :-(

Though,I shall always be indebted to Indian airlines for arranging my last minute travel to Udaipur so that I could attend my own wedding with a nut of 'Indiangoswami' species , my fascination for train travel dates back to my childhood in Pachmarhi.Two things would disturb me during my act of study there. 'Guddi Baby aam leke aaya hoon' and the cuckoo which would sing at my window to tell me .... holidays,mamaji ka ghar and train reservation . Did take my husband to Pachmarhi and we traveled by the same Amarkantak train from Durg to Pipariya. Pipariya ,the nearest railhead for Pachmarhi and my metro city of those times.... So many shops and a RAILWAY STATION !!! Had my first lesson of independence and the moment of pride at the age of 10 when i traveled alone to Pipariya railway station for reservations.

At 20,Bombay brought my love for trains and stations from heart to the skin.There were not just outgoing trains but local trains too... Wow!!
Also,my renedezvous with the first ever modern railway platforms of India . But despite my ocean deep respect for railways, due to my train crazy anxiety's application of projectile motion to my stupidy ,I had forgotten to purchase the nerul to vashi ticket only to get caught by a ticket checker. And all of this in front of the one,I had crush on !! uff...:-) Anyways....all said and done, it is the local train where lies the spirit of bombay,the story of the daily traveller,the marathi manus and the smell of seafish.

 Then came the toy train of Ooty,the skytrain of Bangkok,hill train of penang and underground,upperground trains of Europe in my life. I just need to practice a bit more to continously look at the same scientist from sheffield throughout my underground travel from paris to london, otherwise the hygiene,the comfort levels,the sophistication and the surrounding beauty do make one become an ardent fan of train travel, in europe.

Indian railway story is amusing too .The people,the bookstalls,the emotions and the FOOD with the FLIES. Even with my parents' level of 'hygiene quotient' I never had any stomach infection then, the best immunization that the platform food provides.Ironically,it was the ' palak pakoda chat' of Taj Indore which had invaded my stomach first. For the best quality immunization ,I can think of Gurgaon platform during summers ,on my journey to Rajasthan. Unfortunately the encounter with my son's paediatric who finds trains extremely infectious ,has encouraged the hypochondriac in me now .

Railway Stations are where I have let my thought kytoons go beyond the sky, courtsey indian train timings .They are, where i have screamed to the best of my vocal chord's ability in the name of songs with schoolfriends .Trains are where I've met the helpers,the advisors, the cockroaches, also the ones who read murder mystery when am the only one sitting across in AC 2nd Class of 'Sampark Kranti'..
And then, there comes the railway track where I have fallen with a schoolmate who tried to pull me up to get on to the platform.....Detest boys who can't manage the girl's weight !! Platforms are also the places where i've been practising to beat Preeja Sreedharan since last 1 year.

Travel experience would be drab & crude if one hasn't felt the love behind the emotional drama at the platforms ,tasted the aroma of 'nibu da achhar' that comes from food when opened by the '10 children family' & seen the sunrise through the window of an indian train.

In love with my 'Trainy identity'.....                       Signing off
                                                                            The Traveller

European delight in my desi way....

Thanks to my illusion of being a smart travel planner I chose November to go to the Alps in Switzerland. Even the skiing season was to start 7 days after I would've left.  Leukerbad...not one of those places popular in indian cinema.
It was already dark at 6pm in those snow scaped mountains with zero visibility due to fog,when I set my first foot. My imagination ran wild in negative direction & felt as if I was playing some role in a Sherlock Homes thriller.I was scared to death running here and there trying to find a single person or a well lit house for help with the directions as we were lost on the very road which led to our appartment 'les naturelles'. Could only hear the sounds of our suitcases being dragged on the snow. Wanted to curse my wild affair with Yash Raj movies which made the Swiss visit mandatory. Swiss people are really helpful if you get to find them in november nights of such places. 30 mins brain storming with my husband on the road and 3 min walk made us reach the place.
No one ...no one but an envelop at the reception with our room keys inside, was waiting for us.I wasn't excited,it was my third year of marriage and I just wanted to be alive the next day.Every door opened on its own as we entered .Hitech systems without a single soul seemed spooky to my desi heart. Anyways I had to give my adrenaline levels some rest so recited all the God mantras that i could remember and went off to sleep.Woke up in the middle of the night out of shock.... Gosh : ( Its the alarm (some german song ) .
6 am ,curtains set aside .....Eyes glowing!!

I knew I was in some part of heaven and very much alive. To my relief, I saw PEOPLE !!....& yes ,at the reception too.They said,'O its very safe here.,we leave everything open'. I did check, they have yet to visit India.
The next few days were wonderful with Pinot Noir,Coop and the Poshe Nage(some word that means the next destination)..in our minds.Traveled extensively to the best of our ability thanks to the wonderful Swiss transport system.Only issue is if you have a husband who is all the time thirsty,hungry,sleepy and forgets to carry his wollen cap the day he would need it due to the changed weather ,you do need to keep some extra time in hand when planning the places to visit.There are chances that you may promise to yourself that the next time you would find another one to visit Switzerland with ;-)
My next November was in UK & now I had to deal with my 10 month old as well who would cry at the top of his voice to wake even the earliest british visionaries up.My Optimism for english vision and traffic system that they boast of, made me plan the travel so aptly that we missed our bus from london to Birmingham . In london,processions can come up when you least expect them & traffic just wouldn't move when you're in a hurry ..Small country,narrow roads,cold weather but if you're in love with English ways and Shakespearian plays,the experience is worth.

The capital is one of the fashion cities and I love fashion. For me,its the coats and the boots...
My boot story goes far and wide,infact. For the first time in the history of 'palace of versailles' someone had fallen flat on its floors... and that was me.
I'm usually not that clumsy but had gone blind by the French beauty , I guess . Blame it on TLC which opened my eyes to the doors and windows of beauty & Fashion world .I didn't want to miss a thing... in Paris.
Ended up making two visits to the mandatory Louvre as our camera had to go haywire only when we reached 'Monalisa', on our first visit.This was the result of my husband's analytical bend to planning.

Museums,palaces and Seine river brings an artist out of a man,here.Haven't used the word romance ...we were with our 10 month old baby then:-) though paris beauty had improved my son's behavior considerably when compared to our Amsterdam visit . People would not spend as much time in the Zoo as we did , that too in Amsterdam. We were closest to the hot and happening street but as responsible parents,when crossing the street, we did close our son's eyes keeping ours wide open for the displays of all sizes,shapes and variety.

Amsterdam reminded me of my boss and ING,found everything open other than lions ,something wrong with the logo,I think. I do share my vision with ING guys hence I chose Amsterdam with the kid and Switzerland in November cold but in the process the old banker in me did make gains ........
in terms of loving and unforgetful happy moments!!