Following the Ganga – a spiritual journey in India Part III

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Anj & Raj

Kanpur

We made a pit stop in Kanpur to see my paternal grandmother and uncle (chacha). My parents also happened to be visiting at the same time which was a bonus! We had great conversations, ate a lot of chaat and consumed a lot of alcohol – something that is somewhat of a trend when Dad and Raj, Chacha and Raj or Dad and Chacha get together. So it was triple the enthusiasm this time ;). Raj collected firewood from the backyard and built a bonfire on our last night there 🙂

Here is a funny picture of Dad getting a massage from chacha who in turn got a surprise massage from Raj!

My grandma and I swapped stories about Rishikesh. She had been there in the late 1950s with four kids in tow (my uncle hadn’t been born then and Dad was just seven years old!). She described crossing the Ram jhoola and hiking up the hill to her uncle’s cottage where they spent a few days. She remembered acres of mango orchards and I was sad to report that I hadn’t seen a single mango tree. She also took all the kids down to the Ganga for a dip in the holy water. I was imagining Dad as a seven year old chilling on the banks of the Ganga surrounded by mango trees 🙂

Kanpur is also on the bank of the Ganga but it is far from a holy place. The leather tanneries let out their waste in the Ganga making it one of the most polluted rivers in the world. While there were no worshippers at the ghats in Kanpur, this pollution didn’t seem to stop or bother the believers who were happy to take a dip, bathe, and swim in the waters downstream at Varanasi, our next stop.

Varanasi

Varanasi is the oldest and one of the holiest cities in India where Hindus from all over the country come to die or cremate loved ones. Many Hindus believe that dying at Varanasi brings moksha. Bodies are cremated on the banks of the Ganga, ashes are sprinkled in the river and heads are shaved for the rituals around death. Death, a concept that frightens me, is so out in the open at Varanasi. The city is so in your face, so raw. I’m glad I went to Varanasi but I don’t think I ever want to go back.

We arrived in Varanasi by train and ‘splurged’ $20 a night for a room with a balcony overlooking the river. We took a boat ride the next morning to explore the various ghats and watch the sun come up. Dawn breaking over the Ganga was beautiful. The ghats came to life with people washing their clothes and themselves, folks offering early morning prayers along the bank and tourists in the multiple boats being chased around by hawkers in smaller boats. The ghats were typically named after a temple or the ruins of the palace by the Ganga.

Our boat driver gave us minimal commentary and subsequently, information about the different ghats and their significance. We came to the Harishchandra ghat where dead bodies are cremated. Three bodies were being cremated on big pyres of wood. Our boat driver came to a standstill there and mentioned that bodies are cremated on that ghat 24 hours a day. The area started to look like a Niagara falls of sort with boats filled with tourists looking on to a family’s seemingly personal moment, some taking photos with zoom lenses. It was a bit shameful, really. I asked the boat driver if he thought it was weird that so many strangers seem to partake into something so personal. He responded with – everybody has to come here one day which meant that everybody’s dead body will be burnt at this ghat someday, so what’s the shame in people looking on. Anyone and everyone who lives in these religious towns is a philosopher! With life and death so in your face all the time, I guess one is forced to think about these things constantly. We asked our boat driver to hurry away from the cremation ghats and drop us off at the main Dasashwamedh ghat from where we could walk back to Assi ghat to our hotel. We saw the same sights on foot as we had seen from the boat including the cremation ghat. This will sound bad but should probably not be very surprising – it smelt like barbeque. I tried not to look at the burning wood pyres and hurried along. And then we came across a sight that is probably etched into my memory forever. A family of five – men and women – were getting their heads shaved by a barber. Beautiful black hair fell onto the steps of the ghat. Nobody was crying. In fact, they were very composed and just looked onto the next person getting their head shaved. For the loss of their loved one and hair, I was overcome with emotion, tears and nausea all at the same time. Raj noticed this and hurried me back to the safety of our hotel room.

After some discussion we came to the conclusion that Varanasi was a bit much for us and we decided to take on the easier, lighter side of Varanasi – narrow alleyways with markets, graffiti and art, even a beautiful Indian classical music concert. We spent an evening with some other travelers drinking beers at one of the nicest (and only) bars in Varanasi – this made me miss my friends back home so much!

Raj and I acknowledged that it was probably a bit of a cop-out to not get over the emotions and truly immerse ourselves into the culture, to get the true Banaras experience. But even now, in retrospect, I’m not sure I could handle the alternative. We left Varanasi a day earlier than planned to visit Sarnath, just 18 kms away.

Sarnath

Buddha gave his first sermon to his five disciples in 528 BC in Sarnath, making it one of the holiest places for Buddhism. The Dhammekh stupa was marks the spot where Buddha gave his sermon. We spent a day walking around the ruins of the stupas and the old monasteries, and were lucky to see a group of monks chanting in front of the Dhammekh stupa. While these ruins are also protected by the Archeological Division of the Govt. of India, they didn’t seem to be taken care of as well as the temples in Khajurao. People were walking up and down the excavated brick structures in spite of written warnings, and there didn’t seem to be any guards to stop these folks. I couldn’t help but wonder if there weren’t enough funds diverted to these ruins because they were Buddhist, and not Hindu.

Many pilgrims from Buddhist countries come here to pray. Multiple countries such as Thailand, China, Japan and even Myanmar have set up their own temples and monasteries around the old ruins. We spent the night at the Tibetan monastery with cold bare rooms, great traditional food and surprisingly fast wi-fi!

By popular demand, here is another picture of Raj with one his gai (cow) friends 🙂 This is a baby cow, just three months old!

In conclusion

We were finally at the end of our spiritual/religious journey in India – a mix of good and bad, overwhelming and sobering experiences, sometimes fun other times not so much. We were ready for some fun, light hearted experiences at least for the next few days and hopped on a train to Bengal to see a tiger or two!

Following the Ganga – a spiritual journey in India – Part II

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Anj & Raj

Rishikesh

After the good and the bad in Haridwar, we decided to make our way to Rishikesh, another historic Hindu town made holy by the number of rishis (priests and gurus) who meditated for the good and peace in this world, for the betterment of humankind. Rishikesh has the title of being the ‘yoga capital of the world’ and I was excited to take a few yoga classes here. We took a local bus, the ride not as eventful as the bus ride in Goa but saw four grown men on one motorcycle who were only too pleased to be photographed 🙂

Rishikesh is on the other side of Ganga from the main town and is connected via two pedestrian bridges which are also shared by bicycles, motorcycles (unfortunately), cows, dogs and monkeys! The bridges are called Ram jhoola and Laxman jhoola. We walked across the river on the Ram jhoola and made our way to the Parmarth Niketan ashram which would be our home for the next 10 days!

We got a large room for 400 rupees (about $7 a day) with a shared courtyard. Our days consisted of going to daily yoga classes (at 6 in the morning!), getting porridge/muesli breakfasts, reading fiction, drinking chai by the Ganga ghat and feeding the stray dogs and cows, chatting up fellow travelers, and listening to the sermon during the evening artis. We also went to a Sufi concert in this Hindu town! We had a regular chai walla who we would go to every evening, even a regular bindi walla who would sing old Hindi film songs like Teri Bindiya Re while applying bindis on our foreheads :). It was a true vacation and at the very same time, it quickly became a lifestyle that we felt we could adopt when we retire. Only downsides – strictly vegetarian food, they wouldn’t even serve eggs or garlic or onions, and NO alcohol! 😦 In spite of this, Rishikesh was easily my favorite place to visit in India!

Each ashram is led by a religious guru whose teachings the workers and volunteers in the ashram follow. The guru at Parmarth Niketan was very progressive. His sermon at the evening artis was very secular with emphasis on one God and how the humankind should help each other no matter who they pray to and what they look like. He also stressed on how people should donate to causes that build toilets in India as opposed to more temples. In his words – you can’t go to school before you go to the toilet. He made everyone at the arti pledge to plant a tree and reduce the use of plastic bags – a rather refreshing experience after the Mansa Devi temple in Haridwar!

Raj’s Beena massi and Shyam mama and family came to visit us in Rishikesh for a couple of days. It was fun hanging out by the Ganga with them and hiking out to the nearby Neer Falls 🙂

I want to share a personal experience while in Rishikesh. One morning, after the yoga class, I took off to get some chai on my own. I went to this café called ‘The Office’ which we frequented during our time there. Ironically, none of the patrons of ‘The Office’ had any work to do :). The place had a nice balcony laid out with sheets and cushions, with a view of the Ganga. A swami dressed in saffron robes with a tikka on his forehead took a seat next to me and I offered to buy him a chai. We ended up conversing for over two hours on life, love and purpose. It was amazing to me how this swami (along with others) left all worldly relationships – his wife, parents and kids, and all material possessions to live a life meditating and praying in Rishikesh, all the time not knowing where the next meal would come from. We discussed fate, highs and lows in life, attachment to materialism, and how the one God would always take care of you no matter where you go and what you do. He shared these words with me, to share with Raj, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to share them with anybody who reads this blog:

Om Namaskar

Life is short

Fix your mind on God

Try to understand yourself

Time is passing fast

Your death is waiting

Follow your intuition

Listen to your inner voice

Believe in God

Surrender to God

Remember God

Open your third eye

Wake up

Everything is possible

God bless you

Universal love

Thank you Ladu Babaji! In speaking with him, I’m back to being agnostic, spiritual even. I went back to Raj at the ashram feeling happy, more in love and ever so grateful.

Following the Ganga – a spiritual journey in India – Part I

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Anj & Raj

We spent a couple of days in Delhi and Meerut to spend some time with Raj’s wonderful extended family. Grandma, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, Nieces, Nephews – a good time was had with all, especially Raj’s cute little nieces and nephews.

We then took off to travel in India for a few days. In India – a country I didn’t want to travel through at all outside of meeting with family. Raj had traveled in India back in 2005 and if you ever get him started about that trip, I promise you it’ll be difficult for you to make him stop :). Somehow, this man convinced me to try traveling in India for just a few days. We didn’t book our flight out to Bangkok so that we could leave as soon as I wanted to. We ended up spending another four weeks (!!) in this country in addition to the two we had already spent in Goa, Bombay and Delhi!

Haridwar

Raj suggested we go to Rishikesh where I could get my yoga fix. The best way to get to Rishikesh was via Haridwar. Haridwar is one of the holiest cities in India – millions of Hindus go there every year to wash away their sins by taking a dip in the Ganga river. The evening artis (prayers) were supposedly beautiful and both my and Raj’s grandfathers’ ashes were spread on the Ganga here, so we decided to spend a couple of days exploring this little city.

On our first evening in Haridwar, we tried to figure out when exactly the morning arti was held. We asked three different people and got three different answers ranging from 5am to 5:45am, none of which were correct as we found out the next morning. Anyone who has traveled in India will know that Indian people don’t like saying ‘I don’t know’, so they give you an approximate answer to the best of their abilities. In any case, since our hotel was a bit far from Har Ki Paudi (translates to footsteps of Shiva), the Ganga ghat where the morning arti took place, we left real early at about 4:15am and arrived at the ghat before 4:45 am. You have to take your shoes off, so we were standing bare feet on the cold, wet stone steps waiting for the arti to begin. In spite of being harassed by self-proclaimed pandits to perform a private pooja and our feet slowly but surely turning into ice, it was fun to watch the activity around us – hawkers setting up shops, diyas made of flowers and leaves with a small candle and incense sticks floating downstream in the river, and groups of people taking dips in the water.

Men undressed down to their underwear and some women down to their sari blouses and petticoats (most women were fully clothed in sarees), stood waist deep in the often fast flowing Ganges and held onto the railings or chains built specifically for their safety or held on to each other, and quickly submerged their upper bodies in the water right to the top of their head – this action of dipping one’s entire body in the river and letting the water wash the body is said to wash away all your sins. We saw a group of eight women standing in a circle and holding onto each other’s hands to steady themselves in the fast flowing river take 10 dips in unison while yelling out ek-do-teen… (one, two, three…) as they came up for air. The scene really makes you question your inner atheist and ask yourself if you’re the one who is missing something important in life, if it was possible for you to believe in god as unconditionally as these folks who subject themselves to freezing waters at four in the morning, all in the name of religion.

Raj and I took in the scenes and lit a beautiful diya made of all compostable materials and let it flow in the Ganga. We got some hot chai to warm us up, watched the arti which finally started at about 6:15am(!) and hung around till the sun rose about 7am.

The next day, we decided to go to Manasa Devi, a famous Hindu temple on top of a steep hill in Haridwar. In spite of a cable car available, we decided to hike up the 2km in the blazing sun – the temperature variations were really quite extreme. While we were rewarded with beautiful views of the Ganga plains, it was just too hot even for a short hike.

The visit to this temple, one that is visited by Hindu pilgrims from all over the country, was ironically the least spiritual experience for me. We were ‘greeted’ by two scary looking men in black robes and faces painted black who insisted on touching us and putting tikkas on our foreheads so that they could ask for ‘donations’. We dodged them and made our way up. Along the way, there were plenty of hawkers selling flowers and other offerings who insisted on sharing their opinion on what you should buy and what you should be doing at the temple. The temple itself wasn’t very impressive with statues of a few Gods/Goddesses, just overly crowded with people who wanted to darshan (view the faces of the deities to absorb some of the divinity) and make cash donations. A few priests said things like – if you don’t darshan this particular God, something untoward will happen to you, or you better make donations to this God. Frankly, I was far from moved and in fact, disturbed by their pushiness and decided to make an early exit. A lowlight of the trip. At the time, I had a difficult time separating the priests’ pushiness from that of the religion’s and considered myself fortunate to not succumb to the superstitions instilled by these so called messengers of God.

Khajuraho: Exploring Thousand Year Old Temples via Bicycle In Search Of My Celestial Nymph (Apsara)

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Anj & Raj

Nov 30th – Dec 4th, 2013

Ever been to a temple in search of enlightenment? Bet you don’t expect to find a couple 69-ing each other (NSFW) on the wall outside. Or perhaps a “Celestial Nymph” enticing you while applying kohl (eyeliner) on her eyes. Now that we got the smut out of the way, we can chat about the deeper significance of these incredibly beautiful, deeply spiritual and amazingly well preserved temples that are over a thousand years old.

Day 1 and Day 2: The Sound and Light show explaining the Chandela dynasty (Wikipedia) and the Western Group of temples.

Legend has it that one night near the river bank in Khajuraho, a beautiful woman was bathing in the river under the moonlight. The moon god (Chandra) saw her bathing and could not resist her. He descended to earth and they made passionate love all night. As the morning sun approached Chandra had to return to the sky. The maiden implored him to stay as she was unwed and had indulged in passionate love and would be disgraced. Chandra said to her that she would give birth to a son who would bring about a reign of glorious kings and would build beautiful temples. This is how this dynasty got its name The Chandelas.

The Chandelas built in all 85 temples, of which only 25 remain today. The rest deteriorated, were destroyed by invaders or looted by villagers. Once a bustling metropolis and the center of activity during the reign of the Chandelas (950 CE – 1050 CE), Khajuraho is now just a small sleepy tourist town. On the night we arrived it was already too late to go out and see the temples. The western group of temples, which houses about five or six of the best preserved temples inside a beautifully manicured gated lawn puts on a nightly “Sound and Light Show”. The show is an hour long and happens at night when the whole compound is covered in darkness. As the history of each temple is explained along with the history of the Chandelas, each temple lights up in various pastel colors using bright strobes. Very psychedelic! The story of the Chandelas is narrated by famed Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachhan. Anjli, her parents and I watched the show together. Though the piece was well researched, it was made in a very dramatic Bollywood style. The flamboyance kind of took away from the experience. Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Anjli’s parents at a restaurant across from the western group. We laughed at and discussed the show and chatted about plans for mom and dad to come and meet us in Cambodia. We enjoyed dinner with mom and dad as this would be the last we would see of them for a few months. We enjoyed the evening over drinks and even brought a couple beers back to the hotel for good measure. 😊

The next morning Anjli and her folks explored the Western Group of temples for a few hours while I booked trains for Anjli and I to Varanasi and then on to Kolkata. The western group of temples is a group of six or seven of the best preserved temples at Khajuraho. After a morning of exploring, it was time to say good bye to Anj’s parents as they headed back to Kanpur. We said our goodbyes and planned to hook back up in Cambodia or Vietnam in a couple months.

After Anj’s folks left for Kanpur, Anjli and I had planned to check out the western group together. Instead we walked back to our hotel for a quick power nap. Five hours later we awoke to find that the sun had already set and the temples already closed. 😛 I guess we were just exhausted from the long drive from Kanpur to Khajuraho. We had a lovely dinner together and retired for the night.

Day 3: The Western Group of Temples

We woke bright and early the next day and headed on over to the Western Group, which houses four of about six or seven of the best preserved temples:

Lakshman Temple
Kandariya Mahadev Temple
Vishwanath Temple
Chitragupta Temple

Anjli and I sprung for the very informative and very entertaining audio guide (Highly Recommended). We meandered from temple to temple looking at the beautiful sandstone sculptures and admiring the craftsmanship, spiritual depth and marveling at the how well these temples have been preserved. How can something so old survive for such a long time? A millennium is a time frame that is incomprehensible to most of us.

As an Indian American really exploring India for the first time, you can’t help but feel somehow connected to this past. You start to ask and wonder what these people from a thousand years ago were like. Who was the individual sculptor that was inspired to create each of these beautiful pieces? You feel connected to them. A deep sense of privilege and gratitude takes a hold of you. You look at each sculpture and imagine yourself looking over the shoulder of the sculptor that chiseled away at this piece of sandstone and created this masterpiece by hand. It’s like travelling back in time and feeling his/her presence. Imagining their hands next to the sculpture. Imagining their inspiration. Being at Khajuraho was truly a magical experience.

We took lots of pictures and stood for hours in front of sculptures admiring, imagining, contemplating and reflecting. We finished about 5 hours later and still felt like we could spend days there. Alas, time was short and we had to move on. We had another amazing dinner on the rooftop of our hotel looking up at the sky, talking about our favorite sculptures and how beautifully they were carved.

Day 4: Exploring the other temples via bicycle and finally finding my Apsara

You may be wondering exactly what is an Apsara? In Hindu mythology, an Apsara is a beautiful, supernatural female beings. They are youthful and elegant, and superb in the art of dancing. They are often the wives of Gandharvas, who are the court musicians of the rain god Indra. They are often depicted taking flight and in service to gods. Apsaras are found depicted in temples and dance across India, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia (Source: Wikipedia) One could compare them to angels. Anjli liked to think of them as fairies. 🙂

Anjli and I left that morning on the back of bicycles to explore the other temples around the neighboring villages. We cycled from temple to temple, dodging touts, stray dogs, stray cows (yes, that’s a thing!), and village goats. We explored beautiful temple after beautiful temple. And after another day of exploring, I had dinner with my Apsara. Here’s a picture of her posing in front of one of the temples. 🙂

Bombay, meri jaan

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Anj & Raj

Nov 1^st – 10^th, 2013

Meri jaan is a Hindi expression that translates to ‘my life’ and is often used to address a loved one. Bombay, meri jaan comes from an old Bollywood movie song that talks about how it is difficult to live in this city, this city that is my life.

I love coming home to Bombay! Our daily routine consisted of getting pampered by my wonderful parents, pleasant evening walks, great conversations all day especially over candle lit dinners in the balcony under a star-filled sky, and excellent food and drinks!

Bombay was extra special this time since our stay coincided with Diwali. The last time I spent Diwali at home was in 2000! Mom went all out! We bought flowers to make homemade garlands that are used to decorate the front door of the house. In the picture below, Mom is too concerned for me falling off the stool to smile J We also made some rangoli right outside the front door but it wasn’t pretty enough to warrant pictures on the blog 😉 plus it was put to shame by our neighbor’s beautiful colored patterns the same evening. Well, at least Mom and I had a good laugh about it!

We spent Diwali day at my maternal grandparents’ house. Ravi Uncle and Asha Maasi also came by which made for a really nice family reunion. Nani made sure there was enough food that no one felt the need to eat anything that evening!

We came back home that evening for Laxmi Pooja and to light fireworks alongside the neighbors in the building! Raj had a gala time firing up the ‘rockets’ while I was more comfortable with the seemingly less dangerous ‘anars’ (flower pots).

I got pretty sick right after Diwali presumably from something I ate in Goa, so much so that we had to change my flights for Delhi. Mom and Dad were happy that I got sick at home rather than in random hotel rooms and also that we got a little extra time together!

Can’t wait to see you again soon, Mum and Dad! Love and Hugs!

GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Quote | Posted on December 9, 2013 by Anj & Raj

Oct 25th – 31st, 2013

I grew up in Bombay. I attended school and college in Bombay and yet I had never been to Goa – a mere 40 minutes away by plane. So, when the opportunity came along to visit Goa, I jumped on it. Even though it meant that we had to leave Seattle at 6am the morning after our last day of work and cut short some of our travel time in Europe. And wow, was it worth it!

We flew business class from Copenhagen to Mumbai (just 30,000 miles each thanks to Mr. Mago’s research #balleronabudget ) with a pit stop in London to see my cousins Pooja and Zen, and my beautiful little niece Maya! Sending the evening with my aunt and uncle who flew in the same aaaevening was a bonus! My awesome parents came to the Mumbai airport during our four hour stopover to pick up our pea coats and wool sweaters which we wouldn’t need for a few months (yay!). They also brought us fresh coconut water 🙂

We reached Panjim the next morning. Raj had spent two months in Panjim back in 2005 for an IT training. So, our 24 hours there were spent walking along some of the same streets and going to some of the same bars and restaurants that Raj and his friend Dominic would frequent. I heard stories about where Raj stayed, how hard he studied, the places he liked to eat at and the bars he went to to meet pretty girls. Dominic – your name came up every few minutes! Here are a couple of pictures of the famous Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception church in Panjim. Funnily enough, Raj had never seen the inside of this church before. Isn’t it interesting how we barely ‘travel’ through the places we live in?

We headed south from Panjim to the Park Hyatt for the primary reason of our trip to Goa – our dear friend Sharad’s brother’s wedding. The wedding was soooo grand and Sharad’s friends and family so very receptive. Our experience over the two days at the Park Hyatt was the most luxury Raj and I expect to see over the course of our time off. We were greeted with fresh coconut water and had an outdoor shower attached to our room –wowza!

We spent this amazing luxurious time eating, hanging with Sharad’s friends and family, eating, drinking, eating, getting dressed for the wedding events, eating, hanging by the pool… Raj and I gained at least a couple of pounds each during the two days, making up for all that walking around in Europe. Thank you Tania, Rahul, Ridhima, Manuj, Devika, Niharika and Karan for new friendships and fun conversations! Thank you Sharad and family for including us on this beautiful occasion. We wish Tarun and Divya our very best and hope to see them back in the States soon!

After all this luxury, we had to get back to serious, budget conscious, backpacking 😉 We took this quite literally by taking a local bus from a bus station close to the Hyatt to Palolem in south Goa. The bus ride was ‘fun-ish’ – the suspension of bus was surprisingly good even though we were sitting on the seat directly above one of the rear wheels, a couple got in with a 14 inch TV wrapped up in a bed sheet, a lady in front of us kept yelling hello to folks on the streets – she seemed to know a lot of them, and of course the driver put on some jhintak Bollywood music on the blaring speaker. Like I said, the ride was fun-ish 🙂

Palolem was everything I imagined Goa to be and more. The expected – coconut trees, soft sandy beach, amazing weather, sunsets, Goan fish curry! The unexpected – huts lining the beach front, hammocks, ocean front restaurants, chill-as-can-be vibe, dogs, cows, dolphins! We rented a room right on the beach for just 700 rupees (approximately US$11.50) a night, complete with a patio and hammock, about 50 feet away from the Arabian Sea. The next three days were the definition of chill – it was exactly what we needed after the hustle of Europe, long flights and the non-stop partying at the wedding. Our days included porridge breakfasts, writing postcards, exploring the beach, reading fiction, listening to music on the patio, talking to the friendly locals, Kingfisher beer and multiple dips in the shallow water. It was pretty darn perfect!

The stray dogs and cows on the beach were hilarious! The dogs would invariably sit under our tables at the ocean front restaurants looking up at us with their beautiful eyes while wagging their tails. If we didn’t feed them for a while, they wouldn’t leave but instead sleep under the table hoping for a bit of morsel to fall on the floor – too cute! I had a fear of stray dogs as a kid but the dogs here were extremely friendly and got a lot of love from the tourists and locals alike. While hanging on the beach one time, I saw a dog plop down by a woman lying on the beach placing his butt right by her head. She gently slapped his butt with her flip-flop but he only moved an inch! Another time, a cow decided to make a meal out of a woman’s sarong – the woman’s partner ran behind the cow trying to shoo him/her away with a bag. The cow turned away for a couple seconds and then tried to discreetly get back to his/her meal. The cows and the dogs got into fights with each other a couple of times with one group chasing the other, much to everyone’s entertainment as long as the fight was happening at a distance. Pretty cool sights that one doesn’t see everyday 🙂

The highlight of our time here was when we took a break from the laziness and rented a kayak to watch the sunset from the water. Instead of watching the sun go down, we saw a group of four dolphins playing in the goldish-pink water. They came close to our boat, as close as 50m away, which was both scary and exciting at the same time. When we got back to the beach, the dude we rented the boat from told us that we were very lucky to spot the dolphins – a dolphin watching excursion that went farther into the ocean at the same time as us didn’t spot a single dolphin. We are fortunate for this beautiful experience!

So long Goa! I’ll definitely be back!

Copenhagen: Another walking tour, an Amazing Chocoloate Danish and of course more Beer!

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Anj & Raj

Hey guys, it’s been a while since we’ve posted. Apologies for the delay in posting but we’ve been so caught up in the travel and internet connectivity has been somewhat sparse. We’ve been in India for a few weeks but I wanted to finish out the last of our time in Europe.

Our last post was all about Berlin and how amazing it was. From there we headed on back to Copenhagen. The ride was quite easy and we took the same route back; bus ride from Berlin to Rostock, ferry to Gedser, Denmark and another bus ride to Copenhagen.

Day 1 – Kebabs and Beers with a side of live music

We arrived in the afternoon and made our way to our apartment rental which we found off airbnb.com. The email communication was easy, the apartment perfect and the location excellent. We got an involuntary lesson on frugality when Anjli ordered a glass of juice at a juice bar, which turned out to be $9.00.

We dropped our stuff, showered and headed on out to meet up with our friend Lindsey, who just happened to be in Copenhagen. Lindsey and I worked on a project together recently at Microsoft. Anjli and I met up with Lindsey and after a quick bite at one of the many Turkish Doner Kebab places, we ended up at a live music bar to grab a few pints at a bar called Strecker’s. The live music was excellent and we ended up tossing back more than a few pints of excellent Danish beer.

Here’s a picture of Anjli and Lindsey enjoying a pint.

We turned in early that night and readied for the next day.

Day 2 – Beer Baron, Chocolate Danish and a country within a city.

We started off day 2 with another free walking tour of the city with Sandeman’s, the same company that we took a walking tour with in Berlin. The tour started in front of the Copenhagen City Hall and we made our way to the birth place of J.C. Jacobsen, of The Carlsberg beer (Named after J.C.’s son Carl). Here’s a picture of me in front of the building where he was born. J.C. and Carl made so much money off their famous beer that they started giving it away. Countless monuments, buildings, landmarks around the entire city were gifted by the beer barons. We couldn’t walk a few blocks without hearing of something that had been gifted to the city by them.

From there we checked out multiple sites around the city. Here’s a picture of the historic Hotel D’Angleterre (Wikipedia). A night’s stay here will run you a measly $15,000 a night. Heinrich Himmler, who was supposed to stay here, escaped an assassination attempt (Spy Tommy Sneum’s The Hornet’s Sting) when he decided not to come to Copenhagen after getting sick in Norway and skipping it to head back to Berlin.

Though Denmark was under Nazi occupation during the Second World War, it managed to save over 95% of its Jews. In one incident, many Jews were quietly smuggled to Sweden with the Nobel Laureate physicist Niels Bohr, a Dane himself, in tow. From Sweden, Neils Bohr later moved to America and worked with Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project.

We visited other sites including Amelianborg palace (home to the Danish Royal family) and the Little Mermaid monument.

Denmark was also home to Hans Christian Andersen, who authored many famous fairy tales including The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid. After the walking tour we indulged in what our tour guide called the best Danish pastry in Copenhagen. So Anjli, Lindsey and I indulged in a little afternoon treat. Here’s Anjli scarfing down her chocolate Danish.

We later walked to a part of town called Christiania (Wikipedia), where canabis is legal and you can purchase it and smoke on premises. Anjli and I opted for a beer instead, while Lindsey had a water. Christiania had just three rules that were clearly posted on street signs.

No Photographs
No Running, it makes people nervous
Have fun

As simple as that. We didn’t take any photos as they weren’t allowed but it was an incredibly amazing and safe place. If you’re ever in Copenhagen, be sure to check this place out. As we were leaving Christiania, a sign posted with the inscription “You are now entering the European Union” was posted in graffiti.

That about wrapped up our time in Copenhagen and in Europe. We were to head off to India the next day.

Finally, one more thing about Copenhagen I loved was public drinking. Here’s me enjoying a Carlsberg while posing for a picture with Anjli and Lindsey.

We really enjoyed Copenhagen and wished we had more time here. A deeply socialist society that has a history of taking care of it’s own during good times and in bad. It was also great seeing our friend Lindsey. If you’re planning on being in Asia in the next few months…hit us up.

Cheers,

-Rajat

Living in the shadow of an 800 year old church, dining at a 400 year old restaurant! Who do we think we are!?

Posted on November 1, 2013 by Anj & Raj

October 11th – 16th, 2013

Those were the highlights of our trip to Poland! Many friends asked us why we traveled to Poland instead of other countries in Europe. Our dear friend Zbig, who is our neighbor in Seattle, has been inviting us to his home in Warsaw for a couple of years now. We had to begin the international chapter of our trip with him!

Zbig, Nika and family are some of the most intellectual, generous folks that Raj and I know and the most gracious hosts! We spent our time with them in Warsaw and a little town by the name Bukwald near Olsztyn in the Varmia region. In Bukwald, we spent most of our time hanging out by the lake, eating like we hadn’t seen food in a week and drinking yummy wines! We also went mushroom hunting and explored the woods around the lake. Zbig had been urging us to visit in the summer so we could swim in the lake – we’ll have to go back in the next couple of years! However, fall had its own appeal with beautiful colored leaves, mushrooms aplenty and an excuse to hang out and chat by the fireplace.

We spent just one day in Warsaw but only now, as I write this post, I realize how much Zbig made us do in that one day :). We started off with a nice walk in the Royal Lazienki museum (wikipedia) where Polish royalty lived over the centuries. We got to tour the bath house (note – not a bath ’room’ but a bath ‘house’!), a painting room where every wall was adorned with multiple paintings from floor to ceiling, and admire the skillfully carved marble structures across the many rooms in the mansion.

We then took off to a fairly new museum dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising towards the end of World War II, in which the brave Polish people of Warsaw led an uprising against the Nazi occupation. The Polish failed miserably since they had no support from any of the Allies – most of the city was destroyed and 180,000 civilians including doctors, lawyers, intellectuals and philosophers lost their lives. Many were sent to concentration camps. There still exists a debate today on whether the Warsaw Uprsing was a good idea given the probability of success and the extensive tragedy. Fascinating, albeit sad, piece of history!

On hearing these stories, I couldn’t help but draw parallels with the India-Pakistan war. One of the major differences, of course, is that Poland and Germany have excellent relationships today. On pondering and brainstorming about why that is, I came to the conclusion that it’s because the Germans apologized profusely aghast at the damage caused by their own kin, and the Polish forgave and moved on to build a strong economy.

From the museum, we headed over to old town. It’s pretty amazing how the buildings and forts have been restored to their glory before the destruction in World War II. This is something I really appreciated about Poland – the people’s pride in their country and their effort to restore the city. Zbig took us to the oldest restaurant in Warsaw, just 400 years old! (Note my sarcasm? That’s older than the United States of America!) While the main floor of the building was restored to resemble what it looked like before the destruction, an original narrow circular stairwell took you down to the basement which had more tables, bathrooms and wine cellars. The authentic Polish meal at this exclusive restaurant was an experience we won’t forget for a long time! Thank you Zbig!

We spent our last three days in Poland in the northern city of Gdansk, by the Baltic Sea. World War II started because of a dispute over the control of this port town – the place where the first shots were fired is now a memorial. The Solidarity movement, that brought democracy to communist Poland, also began here. Now, a beautiful, lazy old town with churches galore, cobblestone streets, window shopping for amber jewelry, and a bunch of people watching, Gdansk was just what we needed to get over jetlag and the hustle of traveling (refer to the previous blog post ;)).

Watching people walk around in Poland was like sitting on the side of a runway – people seemed to be dressed in some of their best clothes, most women in skinny pants, ankle boots and fitted leather jackets. Raj and I were probably the most under dressed tourists, not to mention seemingly the only non-white ones. The lack of diversity really stood out to me! We saw just one other brown man and one Asian woman over the course of three days.

We were lucky to find an apartment on the famous St. Mary’s street named after the spectacular St. Mary’s church, supposedly the largest brick building church in the world that can accommodate 25000 people! Its construction began in the 12^th century and was completed in the 15^th century! The street allowed just pedestrians and was lined with shops that sold amber jewelry – what a tease! We stayed on the 3rd floor of the building in the picture.

We climbed the 400+ steps of the St. Mary’s church to get to the roof of the 78m tower for some pretty awesome views of the city and surrounding area! Raj was huffing and puffing on his way up 😛

We were also lucky to catch an organ performance at the beautiful Oliwa (pronounced Oli-fa) cathedral. The gigantic organ was built right over the tall entrance over the church so that you had to look behind you to view it if you were facing the altar. Interestingly enough, you couldn’t view the nuns who were playing the organ almost like they were no name artists and the only reason there was any music was to focus on your prayers. The acoustics in this church were fantastic.

We really wanted to visit Krakow in the south and pay our respects at the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial, but it would have involved a lot of driving. We’ll definitely visit that area the next time we are in Poland!

Nazdrovia! (Cheers in Polish)

One week down!

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Anj & Raj

Wow! It’s been a week and a day since we’ve been on the road now! We left Seattle on Saturday, the 28th of September, visited friends and family who we hadn’t seen in a long time and are now on the beautiful Hawaii island of Oahu. It’s a little surreal (well, more than a little) to think that we don’t have to go back to work on Monday or the Monday after that or the Monday after that or after that 😉 You get the idea. Honestly, I’m a little worried about getting a little bored of not working but of course, Raj thinks that six months of travel may not be enough 🙂

The first two days were spent visiting with a couple of our best friends Priya and Amesh, their beautiful daughter Arianna and puppy Gatsby! Wow did we drink a lot of wine with these guys! And hung out yapping away just like the old times 🙂 It’s so wonderful to see your friends build a beautiful life for themselves.

Next, we visited with Raj’s cousins Ashu and Shanna and our little niece Gia. Here is a pic of Ms. Helmet head 🙂 Good to see you guys!

And finally to round off our trip on the continental US, we visited my high school bestie Mala and her husband, Subal! Mala and I hadn’t seen each other since 2006! Let’s never let it get that long again, Mala. You guys are incredible hosts.

Next post on Oahu coming up!

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Anj & Raj

Six months exploring the world!

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