Statue of Equality

 We went there yesterday. It’s the second tallest statue in sitting position. It’s of great Shri Ramanujam who brought equality in learning.

It is near Hyderabad airport , around 30 KN’s from Hitech city. Before reaching there we see two tea centres and though we didn’t stop as we were getting place but they are a good place to have tea. At the main place, there is enough parking and it’s a huge place, beautifully landscaped.

First we have to deposit our cameras , mobiles and foot wear at a counter. It’s free service. Any eatables are also not allowed inside. Plus they advise you to go there wearing Indian dress, though it’s a case at many temples also, not that devotees follow it.

Then we take entry tickets. It’s 200/- adult and they have multiple counters, very convenient even there is crowd.. even baby feeding chambers are there.

Once we clear the scanning they put a stamp on the back side of palm.. and it’s om in Hindi, Sanskrit whatever, it was such a nice feeling to have that and then another surprise.. we can get traditional tika at our forehead.. same thing we do in Kashi, Vrindavan but there u find people on the road doing it.

Around the boundary in a circle they have made 108 Sannidhi or little rooms, with god Vishnu ‘ different mudras and incarnations ,some famous ones too like one in Padamnabha temple in Thiruanantpuram. Here I wished that they had mentioned some details of scene depicted in either Hindi or English, it would have increased our happiness manifold,But even now it’s an experience to have. There they are selling books about it in all languages and after every 27 idols, there are toilets, water and prasadam available.

Then in the centre there are 108 steps reaching to the main statue. Steps are quite broad and comfortable, at the same time for senior citizens and differently ab led people, lift is there and wheel chairs are also there. State is surrounded by fountains and one can see the city from the top like a view point too. Once evening lights come, it’s absolutely beautiful to watch the area lighten up and statue in different colors. There is a light and sound show also.

Now time to pack and leave and it’s dinner time, so we see that after exit food is available with all varieties, it was reasonably good and clean. There is a shop of pears also with beautiful collection of jewellery and one shop for Ayurvedic products.

The way it is maintained , it’s amazing.. very nice and clean and worth an experience.

Jorasanko.. Aruna chakravarty

  This story is in two books and it’s about Tagore family, Brahm samaj and culture and traditions at that time in late 18th century.

These two books are important for me for reason.. because my young daughter.in law got them for me signed by the author. But I feel sad to say that I didn’t find them very interesting for multiple reasons. There are so many characters and big families that it was mighty difficult for me to remember the names and relations. Then I found that Rabindranath Tagore , so adulated and all was not so great as a man or husband or father, only as a poet. And in his family girls were married at a young age of 10 or 12 and got kids at 14 or May be 13. They were kept inside and couldn’t be out in sunshine even. I felt really sad to see their plight.

All in all those times were very regressive 

400 Days… Chetan Bhagat

When he started writing, I loved his books but slowly i started getting bored and now instead of going up his writing is coming down. This one is a cheap thriller where all characters are more or less murky.. so much so that even hero heroine have no character, and for it’s very important to see protagonists behaving sensibly.

People sleeping together easily without any hesitation or thought are not my cup of tea, I may be old fashioned but married women sleeping with others is not done.. even if marriage is not working, first get out of it and then look for green pastures and same for single men .. sleeping with married women is not ok, it’s not love only lust. Here a young beautiful model is dated, feted and persued by a wealthy man and she is happy.But she is not able to adjust to his family and later she adjusts even with her husband having affairs with his employees .

No good.

Varanasi .day 3

 We started with BHU temple of Mahadev, it is also very important there and I wanted to see BHU also. It is a huge campus, infact a mini city with all amenities, and hospitals even. In centre of temple is main deity Mahadev shivling  and then there are all others like Ganeshji, Durgaji and Saraswatiji.From the first floor one can have an air view of campus and city..  All around gardens are there and at one place there are 5 trees good for environment like Pakar, Goolar mango, peepal Bargad 

Next we went to Sarnath, there is one Stupa , Dhanek Stupa on the way And next is Buddhist monastery, there god Buddha gave his first sermon to his first  5 desciples who went all around to spread his teachings. We can see Buddha in different mudras like giving blessing, teaching etc. In the area some ethnic people stay and Pali and Sanskrit are taught there and they are taught skills to earn.The tree behind Buddha has grown from the seeds of the same tree Buddha disciples planted in srilanka.

Then there is Combodian  monastery, Thai monastery and sarnath shiv temple.

Next day we visited Markandey Mahadev , it’s 30 km in Kaithi. Another ancient temple, where people come and pray for long life and children.

I have a few suggestions here

If one wants to just have darshan of Vishwanathji, one can go either through VIP( if you have contacts)..then u can have any day any time, otherwise go in the morning and take a ticket for sugar darshan and spend sometime there..It will be memorable for u, and try to avoid weekends and festivals and Monday.One May opt for abhishekam also.Morning Arti at 3 AM is best if one can manage early mornings 

BHU temple, sankat Mochan and Tulsimanas can be seen in2-3 hrs ,they are in same line and then one can go to Assi ghat.. and spend the whole evening there just walking,sitting or eating.. it’s ethereal to watch the lights coming up.. absolute delight.In the evening Ganga Arti should also be seen.

Stay in the city and take local  E Rickshaw to go around, we stayed in cantt and waisted lot of time in commuting.

Food is available everywhere, try tamatar chaat, pehalwan lassi, and all street food, it is good there.

Varanasi- day2

 Second day we started with Sankat Mochan temple, there also one has to deposit

mobile outside, and then we went inside , it’s Hanumanji temple built in a very big area and good landscaping, beautiful area.

In the same line at a little distance is Tulsi Manas temple. It is said that tulsidasji wrote Ramayana here. Whole  Ramayana is written on the walls there and on first floor, whole Ramayana is depicted through tableau of all the main incidents in Ramayana and Krishna Leela, it’s beautiful to see.

From here we went to Vindhyachal.. Shakti peeth, it’s one and half our journey . Temple is situated at the hilltop..not really , just a little higher and car goes almost all the way. It’s more crowded on festivals and holidays, we were so happy that we could have darshan there, someone local helped us also.

Then we returned around 3.30 and had lunch on the way, there was nothing very good available in dhabas or restaurants.In the evening we did some shopping at Suvidha sarees, Peetambri and Dhunka at Sigra, Suvidha is most reasonable and good.

I think one should do Sankat Mochan, Tulsimanas and BHU mahadev temple together and the Assi ghat as they are in one line or nearby. It will save time.

Trip to varanasi

 Once I read a book by Pankaj Tripathi and his descriptions about just walking on varanasi ghats and having a divine feeling , and from that time it was on my bucket list. And I loved it

We started from Lucknow around 6.30 by cab and reached varanasi around 12.30. Since we went via Jaunpur , we didn’t find any good place for tea or washrooms even. We had booked ourselves in India Benares in Cantt. So after check in we went to Kashi Vishwanath temple for darshan, there either one can stand in a general queue or take a ticket of Rs 300/- to make it quicker. Being a Sunday it was very crowded, so it’s better to plan it avowing Sunday Monday and any other holiday. Mobile and eatables are not allowed inside, so keep them out in lockers and go inside. There they allowed us only 1 minutes to darshan and then we were out. But now it’s a big place called corridor  and one can walk around and see various other temples and sit and enjoy. Once outside we went to kaal bhairav temple by rickshaw, there are all small lanes, so only rickshaw can go, and there was a very long que for darshan in a small conjugated place , I felt suffocated, so we came back and had a walk in Vishwanath Gali, tried some street food and then went to Dashashvmedh ghat.. there vehicles are not allowed, so either one can walk or take manual rickshaw , wheelchairs are also available. It’s a walk on crowded street with hawkers of local products and eateries, once we reach the end of road, there are 100..150 stairs  to reach Ganges, we went down and took a boat just for our family.. four adults .. for 2500/-, he showed us all main ghats .. harishanchandra and Manikarnika, both ghats are meant for burning pyres and all, there are total 60-80 ghats, all beautifully lighted, in the end he parked us in front of Ganga Nidhi Sadan area for ganga Arti. It is a beautiful ritual performed at 6. .. 6.30 pm in a grand way. One can watch either from the ghats or from the boat. 5-7 priests do it with shlokas and and music. 

Though two adjoining ghats were performing Arti but not together, separately and it was jarring to the ears, wish they could do it together, it would be a very melodious experience then. 

Then we got down at Maanmandir ghat as there were less stairs to climb and being all senior citizens we were dead tired, we saw Dolphin restaurant and anyhow reached there and had dinner there only. It’s location is perfect.. one can watch Arti sitting there, they have a guest house too, so good for staying too. After that we came out of serpentine lanes and took a riksha and came back to hotel.

My takeaway.. better to plan darshan in week days and if possible early mornings 

Stay in the city and go around in with rickshaw or walk as city has very narrow lanes and too much traffic.food is plenty and available everywhere and very reasonably priced.

Hanuman dhaam

 It is a beautiful religious place, though most of the people go with a feeling of picnic and enjoyment. There it was clearly written . No photo and selfi and even one attendant kept telling people but nobody listened, kids were playing inside and young and old were all the time interested in making videos and taking selfies. Seeing such crowd totally spoiled my mood. People don’t want to maintain the sanctity of the place  It’s in Ramnagar .and constructed beautifully . There are around 30 stairs which may be difficult for some but they are constructing ramp for wheel chair. Temple is closed from 1 pm to 2 PM only.

They have shown many different statues of Hanumanji.. panchmukhi, with Anjana mai and other gods too. All in marble and dressed beautifully.

In UP people are so immersed in enjoying everything that you will find food items everywhere. I just hope that once it starts in full swing there won’t be heaps of trash and disposables.And people come here for praying and finding peace here and then enjoy the food and area, instead of coming here to enjoy and see the temple.

Musings of a disillusioned soul

 Now a days I am in my hometown, and meeting lot of people here and I observed that now a days people maintain relationships only for fun or for sake of fun. There is no depth or any social protocol about it.

Personally I am a person who has no facade and I can’t maintain sweetness for the sake of it. I may be friendly with only few persons but that will be real and in all conditions and situations  I will be there,

But I see many people young and old, who are always extra sweet and show niceties today and gone tomorrow, or when you want them to ask your whereabouts or welfare, you wouldn’t find them anywhere. But again they will appear at their own convenience and with an attitude that there is no difference as if nothing happened..

And all this irritates me a lot and I get stressed a lot and not able to reconcile my self with this way of living..

For me all relationships, be it friends or relations should be genuine, specially at my age I don’t want and need to suffer such fakes, can’t understand how could someone be happy with this way of living. But I think this is new world where instant enjoyment, satisfaction and fun are only important thing in life, not ethics, honesty or integrity. Today every one wants money at any cost and then they want better houses , cars , travels all materialistic pleasure, not much thought is given to finer aspects of life. A life lived with values is more important and brings infinite satisfaction, but alas, not many people want to think in this direction.

People are respected for their monetary acquisitions not for their character , education or intellect.

Sad state of affairs today!