Some Social Service, Some Photography-Shivrajpur

It's been almost a year that I have blogged about my travels. 

Not much traveled this year, except for a place or two which I was just procrastinating to put it down here. Thanks to my senior who reminded me about the long gap in the date.

Sometimes, a friend meets after several decades and it leads to more friends who are now retired from their professions and have made way for their sons and grandsons. They actively start some social service for the benefit of those who the society has labelled 'Backward Class'. I am not talking about me. I am still 33. I am talking about my mother and her school group.

My mother's school group reunited after some 3 decades, each successful in their own business or profession such as a lawyer, a judge, a businessman, a school teacher, etc. One of them, Mr. Samrat Parihar, a kind and industrious gentleman has took it upon himself to provide support to the locals in the Shivrajpur Village near Pavagadh-Vadodara. He funds education for the kids living there and provides books for the same. 

This year, he invited us all to visit his adopted village and distribute notebooks for the kids. I was asked to join the group and it proved  to be a great day well spent. 

The kids waiting to receive the notebooks.

Kids Enjoying

Kids Impatient to go and Play 

Shivrajpur is situated at the foothills of the famous Pavagadh Hill in Vadodara District and town. When I reached the village, it dawned on me how people live a simple worry-free life without any tension of 'Money Greed'. They are thankful and grateful for what they have received in life. Even we who live in cities and are supposed to be happy because of 'money' in our lives, are not as contended as they are. Why?

• They live amongst nature.
• They are happy and contended (Yea, as noted above) 
• They are hardworking and do labor- sweat through the day.Hence, no modern diseases
• They live in the moment

It was raining as the monsoon had set in. So, you can imagine the greenery in and nearby the hills. Birds and peacocks were happily calling out to the nature.

The locals welcomed us all-smiling and were perfect hosts for the day. Great welcome dances by the kids coupled with some of us joining in and followed by games and then delicious but healthy food served out in the open. 

Kids Dancing

Tribal Girls Dance

Forming a Pyramid 

First, we took the advantage of distributing books to the kids followed by serving food to the kids and adults. It was a lesson of being humble. Of course, they did not lag behind. We than took turns to plan a sapling each in the school and pledged to plant one on our birthday.

                                       

I love photography, so It was a ball of a time for me as peacocks were dancing and calling out to the rain, with one taking all the labor to impress his female peahen.

 The female is looking the other way. Hmm...

At the end of the day, it seems that it is not the way how you earn money and spend it, but how you live, earn money and sleep peacefully.

An Impulsive Trip to the Goddess's Home

Sometimes life is all about making sudden decisions and traveling at the gust of the moment.

This morning, as I woke up in the early morning to have my glass of water, I suddenly had this inner urge to go traveling. As the water reached my belly, options started running in my mind... This place-no, have been there before...and likewise. Suddenly, a thought stuck firmly. Why not visit Pavagadh? Its been years and years, I set my foot there.

So there I got ready, packed my camera and a book and off I went to the bus stand. I could have taken a bike, but it is now in its final stages of life and I didn't want to make it's transition too fast until I have a baby bike again.

I am glad that sometimes, I make right decisions like this one. I reached on time as the sun was making its way to the routine business. I decided to climb my way up and take the ropeway on my way down. What did I do on my way up?

I observed various people... from all walks of life from children to old, from newborns to their big siblings, and felt the cool breeze blowing fast. I saw donkeys multiple times on their way up and down. I wonder how many times they take the burden and climb their way to and fro in a day. I encountered the friendly monkeys trying trying to appease the tourists. I think I also saw far away in the horizon, the starting point of River Vishwamitri. 

It is really a wonder to view the horizon and the view from the top. You start thinking how small you are and the amazement of how mother earth holds us all. The mingling of the history with modern times, the deep horizon in front of us and much more.

And yet, we have the audacity to pollute the lake near the temple that we call holy. On one side, you see women washing their clothes and on other side, you see people bathing in the 'holy lake' with construction going on around. However you are also happy that there are some who take it upon them to provide free drinking water to the passer's by. You see old women taking the pain to climb the gruesome and hard stairs to the temple up there instead of taking the ropeway. Maybe it is their belief. 

All in one, it is India.

A Calm Trip to Stambheshwar Mahadev Temple-Kamboi

Ever visited a Shiv temple that disappears under the water once a day? You can do so near the city of Vadodara. The famous Shiv temple is known as the Stambheshwar Mahadev Mandir. It is located at Kamboi near the Kavi village near to Jambusar district and also to Vadodara.

History of the Temple
The Stambheshwar Mahadev Temple is situated in Kavi Kamboi as mentioned above in Gujarat. The temple was founded 150 years back on the banks of the Arabian Sea on one side and the Bay of Cambay on the other. There is a legend associated with this temple that links the God Shiva and his son Lord Kartikeya. Its other name is Kumareshwar Shivlinga. In local terms it is the union place of the Mahisagar and the Sabarmati River.

The shivlinga of the Mahadev was established by Lord Kartikeya after he killed the demon Tarkasur. The demon was a devotee of Lord Shiva and Lord Kartikeya wanted to wash away the sin of killing a Shiv devotee. It has been mentioned in the Skanda Purana

Sea Performs the Puja
What is so unique about this temple? Well, the sea herself performs worship of the shivlinga! During high tide, the sea water submerges the Shiv temple totally. This phenomenon happens once a day. Visitors can see the temple only during the low tide hours. The dates and timings of darshan can be seen along with the website below.

Unusual Sea-Shivlinga Bond
The shivlinga is close to 4 feet. It is a sight for everyone to see the seawater gradually making its way towards the shivlinga and the temple during the high tide and submerging them. It can be said the same when the water starts receding that the shivlinga slowly comes back into view. Anyone who wants to visit this fabulous place should plan the visit that they can worship the lord before or after the tide. During the high tide, the sea water rises by close 12 feet.

Transport to the Stambheshwar Temple

I had suddenly decided to visit this place during the Diwali times. I went towards the Padra Village near Vadodara and again took a bus from there to Jambusar. However the transport from Jambusar to Kavi Kamboi is not too frequent. Bus can take you there every 2 hours. I had to wait for atleast 1 hour before I could get a bus. 

For those who are traveling alone and in a public transport, they have to be sure of the bus timings, specifically in the evening time. The last bus departs from the Kavi village around 6:00 pm for Bharuch or Jambusar. From Jambusar, one can take another bus to Padra or Vadodara. Rickshaws are available from the Kavi Village that takes passengers to the temple at a nominal price. The temple is about 60 km from Vadodara.

Devotee's Favorite Place

Nearby the temple there is ample parking space for the vehicles and a good place for the families to sit and have their breakfast all the while viewing the sea do its work. The breakfast vendors park themselves around the temple so that anyone who wants to have some lime water and other primary breakfast can relish themselves easily. There is an ashram nearby the temple. It is said that free lunch is always provided in the ashram. People often make it a point to visit the temple during the sunrise and sunset times and photograph the surroundings. Seagulls can be seen flocking around.

Kutchch- 1. On my way to Bhuj

Ok, so here I am after almost a year, trying to recollect that trip to Kutchch undertaken by me courtesy the Gujarat Tourism.

Regardless of what any tourism department tells you about the time of leaving for any journey, we all know what the 'Indian Time' is. I had set out from Gandhinagar towards the Tourism department hotel-the starting source of my journey as I did not want to be late. 

However, I was the first to arrive, no wait, 2nd to arrive at 5:45 am in the morning at the gates of the hotel. The 1st one was already a gentleman who had come down all the way from Calcutta to experience Gujarat the night before. 

As a young guy, you expect and pray hopefully that there are atleast 2 people like you, but God has a wicked sense of humor. I was the youngest in the 11 odd people in the group with rest being elders.

So there were the lawyer couples from Pune, a couple from Mumbai, the Bengali, a geologist cum traveler, a retired bank manager from Lucknow and 3 other people from M.P. The department had given us a tourist guide from god knows where, as he seemed completely lost himself. In the whole trip, it was difficult to ascertain as who was the guide, the official one or the driver of the minibus. 

So, we started our journey at 8:00 am on our way to Bhuj via Bhachau. The trip was insignificant except for some jokes being told and occasional stops and talks. We thought that the guide would educate us about Kutchch, but after the general introduction, he went to the back-seat of the bus and started snoring. The driver was the 1st one to initiate conversation and started giving primary information about travel to his nearest passenger. One Uncle decided to part company with his wife and sat alone behind me snoring or sight-seeing outside the window. So much for 40 years of marriage! 

We stopped at Morbi, now a city, once a royal state and the place where my Dad decided to enter this world. 

Stay on for my next post on Morbi and its interesting information. 

Kuldip

In Need of Classy Language or Simple Tone?

First, I didn't knew where to put these thoughts. In my other general blog or here, in my travel blog? But then common sense prevailed and I put it here since it has something about travel. 

No, I am not going to describe you another of my travel experience or some travel pictures. Pictures are for near future... Today, I am going to just put forward what I have been seeing..oops reading online about travel blogs these days.. 

Don't know, whether you people have noticed it or  not.. but I have been noticing that nowadays, some of the travel blogs or websites have been using highly classic language in their writings. A kind of Shakespearean tone as if they have just graduated from the Oxford or Cambridge Literature class.

Agreed that everybody wants to be ahead in the SEO race of search engines.. but at the same time, they should also bear in mind that the readers are going to be general public and not necessarily every elite club person or someone who has done a course in journalism. 

What's with such Hi-Fi words/nouns/adverbs/adjectives/.... use? If you can't keep the general reader engaged or make the blog easy for him to read... then its a waste of time for sure. 

I will not dare or attempt to name any one of these blogs.. as they may have their own reasons and their own wish. It is a choice to do so. But I can definitely give some words below.  They are:

conical roof, cenotaphs, avant-Garde, Puritans.. etc.. 

The best ones if you see connect to the readers and also use simple language. They are also SEO friendly blogs on top ranks as well. 

What do you think?

An Intuitive Decision on Kutchch Travel

Ok, so you have just put down your papers in the job all of a sudden and have come back home, thinking what to do now. Your family suddenly gets supportive of your decision suspiciously and gives you some space for rest and thinking of future plan of action.  Now what?

That's what happened to me this month in December 2014. I left my job on an impulse and came back home. For months and years, I have always wanted to travel to the Himalayas, but could not get lucky. This time also I could not get lucky because of:

1. Severe winter
2. NRI Season
3. Expensive packages.

I was mulling over the fact when Amitabh Bachchan saved me. He came over the TV advertisement and asked me to go to Kutchch. It is also the right season to visit the region due to the Kutchch Rannutsav and other places worth going to, specifically in the winter.

I trusted the Gujarat Tourism department for the program. They also give option to go to Saurashtra but I chose Kutchch as I wanted to see a desert after a long time and visit some palaces such as Aina Mahal and Vijay Vilas Palace, where the famous Bollywood movies 'Lagaan and Hum Dil Chuke Sanam' were shot.

My booking turned out to be quite well for the package as I got enough photography opportunities to shoot different historic palaces, beach, desert, etc, of course much to the irritation of my fellow elder retired co-passengers who had to wait for me in the bus for more than 10 mins every time.

In my subsequent 4 blogs, I will describe each destination of Kutchch in detail and what you need to take care of and take with you. If you have crossed the age of 45 and do not have interest of photography then develop one or learn to wait patiently for people who have this passion. Else it is just like going to a place, seeing it, coming back and visiting another place. Let the image of the scene or sculpture or landscape settle in your eyes before you visit another place.


If you are going to visit Kutchch in Winter, then you should:

1. Take some woolen clothes
2. Plan your accommodation and book it at least 1 month in advance
3. Hire a well-informed local guide in advance
4. Adapt to the easy going attitude of the locals and the time lenient mentality 

The other fact is that you will find the water of Kutchch much sweet to drink.

In my next blog, you will get information on Morbi district. Of course, the photos will always be there to guide you.

Kuldip

Why I have Started Loving Mumbai’s Local Trains-Part 2

Prelude…

My anticipated and ideal ‘less crowded train’ never arrived during the peak hours, so I pushed myself into the first class of next local which arrived on the platform. It was no less than other compartments in terms of crowd ....just like school children going on a picnic.

Luckily I got inside or rather got pushed myself inside. The scene inside was typical of what you expect from a Mumbai local train. It looked like people of all religions were standing on a piece of land. Not a space to move, yet people were enjoying their daily activities.

People in the Local Train

The people at the doors were enjoying the ‘scenic’ view clinging to the pole or somebody’s shirt. Some lucky people who were sitting by the window had dozed off while their co-seat passengers were fooling around or peeping inside a newspaper of their neighbors. Young students were planning out their day at the college while a birthday was being celebrated in a corner. A cake was distributed among the co-passengers and the strangers.

Wrong Local Train

I asked a person beside me about the time, the train will reach Lower Parel. I was in for a shock as he told me that since it was a fast train, it would not stop at the station and I would have to get down at Dadar. I got talking with him about other things. He told me that he had been travelling in the local train for 5 years now and has rarely been lucky to get a seat.

Songs and fun

I started glancing around. Some guys were sleeping while standing, some people were discussing office politics and the politics of the nation. A group in the corner was singing old songs which made me feel nostalgic, while other people were listening to songs with their earphones, unmindful of their surroundings. I arrived at the Dadar station and I prepared myself to be thrown out of the train.

Dadar Station

Dadar is one of the busiest station of Mumbai. It is a heroic act to catch a train successfully from Dadar station. But I did it anyway and caught another slow local train. Again, I was greeted with a same view, but with more intensity. People inside were fixing share market  orders loudly while others were proudly discussing how they had managed to see Amitabh Bacchan on Sunday at his residence as he came out to wave at his fans.

Regular ‘Officers’

Some regular co passengers always make it a point to book a seat for their colleagues. The compartment inside is either a very silent place except for the timely announcement of the next station and the usual sound of the train, or noisy enough that you cannot hear even your mobile ring. Regular office goers always act as if it is their right to stand at a particular place. I guess, it’s the regular attachment to the local train.

A guy told me that if he would miss this local, he was sure of having a very bad day, even if the next local is always due in 4 or 5 minutes. There were people like me who were just interested to hear others or observe their surroundings.

I had learnt a few things during my last visit to Mumbai, so before my destination, I managed reach the door 2 stations earlier and safely put my foot down at the station. I had ample amount of time to meet my friend, but why take a chance? I again managed a bite of  'Vada Pav’ before I caught a taxi.

I then caught an empty train to Andheri from Lower Parel in the early evening, just before end of the office hours. I stretched my legs on the other seat and took a short nap.

I have observed one thing about Mumbai. Though people tend to be irritating or short-tempered, they always seem to help if assistance is sought. I have been lucky enough not to fall prey to a pick-pocketer or having a bad experience. 

Meeting a Fortunate Man

Some days back, I was late to catch my bus back to home from the office. I was cursing the autowallah and waiting for my next possible ride in a bus or a private car.. all the while angry and sulking. Then I noticed my infrequent fellow traveller who had lost 2 of his legs waiting for a ride without clutches. He was as smiling as ever, talking on his cellphone. A private car came and I sat back inside.

The driver asked me to call the main hero of the story inside. As I called him I noticed that he came inside the car in a matter of only 5 seconds by using his hands as his feet. I was shocked to see this.He not only sat beside me like a normal guy, he even started talking with me...

I learned that he was earning about 14k p.m and was quite happy with his life and did not indulge in any self pity.As is my nature, I did not ask any personal questions to him nor asked him how did he lose his legs, but just kept on listening to him. He got off at the same place with me and gave the fare to the driver despite being not to.

I got to learn one lesson.. never curse yourself and your circumstances.. if you have your full limbs you can do wonders... if not.... you can do more wonders.

Kuldip

Why I have Started Loving Mumbai’s Local Trains-1

It is not often that I go to Mumbai, but it so happens that destiny sends me to Mumbai every 3 years. This February 2014, out of the blue, I had to take a one day leave from my office and catch a train to Mumbai. And how could I not go, for my best friend was leaving for Australia.

Mumbai Calling

The moment I put my foot down on Andheri Station, I could feel that familiar welcome call from the ‘city that never sleeps’. One could also feel the call to step in again to the lifeline of lakhs of citizens of the city-The local train.
I reached Andheri at 5:30 am in early morning, though not so early as per the local life of Mumbai. My brother was there to receive me and take me to his home. But, when anyone enters the city, there is a feeling of urgency in everyone’s feet.

BRTS: Gujarat’s Answer to Mumbai’s Local Trains

So, after I got ready to meet my friend at his home at Lower Parel, I again went to catch the Western lines local train. Suggestion was given to purchase a 1st class ticket as I was not accustomed to crowds in the locals, but little did my kid brother know that I was habituated to travelling in Gujarat’s answer to the local trains-The BRTS of Ahmedabad. The 1st class ticket cost me 65 bucks. As I went to the platform at 8 am, the ‘normal’ routine scene greeted me.

A Normal Day at a Mumbai Railway Platform

I have always enjoyed in local trains irrespective of the stories that are doing the rounds about pick pockets, rude fellow travellers, accidents etc. I have never experienced anyone of them. As, I went to the platform to catch the local to Lower Parel, a familiar sight came into view-People running here and there, office people grabbing a bite of the staple (fast) food of Mumbai-Vada Pav while on the go, Newspapers being read, people desperately getting in and out of the local trains and much more.
And why not, with each train having a waiting time of only 20 to 30 seconds, no one wants to be left behind and be late for office. I was surprised when people actually were hanging in the overly crowded local trains by holding other passenger’s collar near the entrance ( Or closing. It is all the same).

My Experience of People and Local Train

Since I had enough time, I waited for the ‘right local’ to come. I found all types of people at the platform: Marathis, Gujju’s, Marwadis, Sindhi’s and of course the ever intelligent South Indians. People were talking of a recent cricket match, a nearby share market deal was going on, some college boys were discussing projects and new girls in their college and locality, while women were discussing their daily struggles at the office.

My anticipated ideal, less crowded train never arrived during the peak hours, so I pushed myself into the next local which came on the platform in the 1st class, which was no less than other compartments in terms of crowd. The only benefit of travelling in 1st class is you expect to see and actually find decent sophisticated crowd as fellow passengers, who suddenly become just like school children going on a picnic.

My next half hour was very eventful, but more in the second part of the story

A Sudden Journey by Train

Date-27/12/2013. 

Location-Valsad-Mumbai Train.

It is close to 4 months that I last noted down my travel diary here on my laptop. However, I have been regularly noting it down directly on my blog. My company has declared 4 days leave for the last 4 days of December 2013, after making us toil hard last month. I had taken very few leaves for the year and so took my chance in applying one personal leave which got approved by the HR Dept. God bless the H.R  and my team leader.

Ok, so anyhow, I started on my way back to Vadodara from Gandhinagar at 1 pm. The bus came half an hour later and I got ticket up to the railway station. I was eventually going to change the bus to go to the bus station, but destiny thought otherwise and so landed up buying a railway ticket.  I find myself writing on my laptop as I have just crossed the Anand Railway station after boarding the 2 30 train from the Ahmedabad railway station. The current time is 4 30.

It is very very rare that I board a train. as normally a bus is preferred by me, as it is fast in spite of the difference in the fare. I like a comfortable journey at the end of the day, rather than a journey where you are pressurised to do every form of yoga exercise unwillingly.

And I thought that since I have boarded the Mumbai bound train, It will speed up and make me reach Baroda until 4 at least !  Well, it stopped at every small and tiny station on the way for a good 2 mins and for a bad 20 minutes because of some ongoing work on the tracks. What did I do on the way? Well, I slept for a 1.5 hours on a fully empty seat until 2 good ladies came with a kid and demanded to sit on the same berth that your's truly  was sitting. And, the seat in front of me was open for them. Ladies cannot sit quiet for 10 minutes can they? So eventually, I changed not only my seat but also my compartment as well with an oldie for the company who was very quite till I reached my destination.

I would have slept again, but was driven by a desire to do some reading on a busy official day, opened up the book ‘Connect the Dot’s by Rashmi Bansal and started flipping pages. My hand got stuck on a story so have decided to read the story part of Kalyan Varma, a wildlife photographer , who quit a lucrative job at yahoo to follow his heart's passion into wildlife photography and stuff.  Sounds like the right thing for me, though I don’t have a lucrative job like him, I do have a passion or interest in nature photography. My boss would surely not mind if I take some days leave from the company for some days, as he has another excellent senior content writer in his team now.

OK, so back to the train. I start viewing the things going on the tracks and see a rag picker picking out thorns from her chappal-less feet, people sleeping between the pillar spaces near the tracks, where the dogs don’t even care to urinate. I see the usual small children bathing with the hosepipes on the railway tracks and yes, also see a giant mouse between the tracks. I wonder, how do they get so big and also thank Lord Ganesh for not sending this big his vehicle to our home. A deranged person is talking to himself near a platform and smiling at passers by. That is a good thing to do. Nobody expects you to be sane so you can smile back at anyone, even to unknown ladies!  People are talking about politics and the AAP party's future in Delhi. Politics is the favorite time pass of all the people I guess, except me.

I do not know what more to write. So, ending up now. I have just crossed Ranoli and will hopefully reach my home in the next half an hour drinking homemade coffee. Enough of all these 'I's.