My travelogues

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Kerala travelogue - Day 2 (21st Nov 2011) - Fort Kochi

Holiday Destinations in India

Got up to a fresh sunny morning in Fort Kochi. Skipped having breakfast at the homestay as I wanted to try out the local joints. Had medu wada, daal wada and appam with chana masala at one of the small local shops. Pretty good, I would say - that's the way to sink in !! There also was bonda, putta, egg masala (some were having it in the early morning with rice). Tea or Coffee almost everywhere in Kerala is served in a big glass (nearly 2-3 cups for us Mumbaikars).

Dad wasn't feeling well as the full blown A/C in Duronto didn't suit him. So I decided against walking, and asked Mr.Aboo for alternate options and he arranged a Rickshaw for sightseeing. He also instructed the rick fellow to take my Dad to the doctor. We started with visiting the Santa Cruz Basilica. The church was full with the nearby convent kids as the Father was delivering a sermon. Waited for some time as the choir of little girls chanted sweetly. It felt good. The Lord, high there, behind the Father was blessing us, surrounded by stars. Saw the confession box as well, but decided against entering it as my stay would have extended considerably :) Saw beautiful pastel coloured angels flying on the interior walls of the Church. This is one of the oldest and beautiful churches in Kerala.

Santa Cruz Basilica

Bless us O' Lord, Santa Cruz Basilica

Santa Cruz Basilica

We then went to the 'Koonan Kurishu Shrine' towards the Mattenchary bus terminal. Boy, is this temple huge? It is !! You will like the temple as soon as you enter it and I would put it as a must visit place in Fort Kochi. The entrance is beautiful, and as you enter you see a tall multi-layered 'deep'. As you cross it, you see a huge bell and a person sitting and ringing it with a big chain tied to it. As I tried to go inside, the person ringing the bell said something I didn't understand. Later realised that you can go the inner boundary of the temple only after removing your upper body coverings/vests (only for men). As I did my 'Pradakshina' around the temple, saw a cattle pen behind. There were 2 guys playing the shehnai and mrudungam. Outside the main gate of the temple, on the opposite side, there is a small pond with a temple floating in the centre. You can bathe amidst the beautiful lotuses and wash away your sins. We just wet our feet in the calm and cold water.

Koonan Kurishu Shrine

Inside the Koonan Kurishu Shrine

Musicians at the Koonan Kurishu Shrine

Side view of the inside of the Koonan Kurishu Shrine

Back side of the Koonan Kurishu Shrine

One of the idols at the outer edifice of the Koonan Kurishu Shrine

Outside the Koonan Kurishu Shrine

Natures offering

We then visited a nearby ginger factory. You can buy spices from the outlet they have upstairs.

Ginger factory

Next we went to the Jain temple. Not many people in the temple that day. The 'Dutch Palace' was the next on list. From the outside, it doesn't seem outstanding at all and you will feel it to be not maintained and neglected for the historical importance it holds. The Palace converted into a museum hosts a gallery of the Rajas of Cochin and beautiful murals of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. The museum also exhibits old coins of a bygone era, weapons used by the Rajas and their armies. Some of these weapons were really interesting and we got a glimpse of them later in Thekkady at the 'Kalaripayattu' show.

Jain Temple

Ceiling of the Jain Temple

Dutch Palace/Matancherry Palace

After having coffee at one of the typical coffee houses (the nearest you can get to the Irani restaurants, i guess) in Mattancherry, we went to the St.Francis Church, which is near the beach. The Church was pretty quite till a bus offloaded a horde of picnickers. Time to leave, I thought, but not before visiting the Vasco-da-Gama tomb inside the church and a beautiful inscription on one of the last benches of the church, which said "I WILL GIVE YOU PEACE AND QUIETNESS" - much needed !!

St. Francis Church

Vasco-da-Gama tomb, St. Francis Church

We, yet again landed up at the Chinese Fishing Nets and saw Vipin island in the distance. You can catch a boat to Vipin island from the jetty at the end of the beach, after the fish selling shops. For a fish lover, the shops lining the water front are a visual treat as the eyes savour fishes in various shapes and colours, shrimps, karimeen (local delight), pompfret, bangda, surmai, tiger prawns, shell fish, octopuses etc. etc. etc. A boat had just brought a fresh catch of fish :)

Chinese Fishing Nets

Fresh catch

Tiger Prawns

Karimeen

Missed visiting the Jewish Synagogue as the rick fellow said it would open only after 3 pm so we returned to our homestay after having lunch at another local restaurant.

In the evening, walked to the Indo Portuguese Museum. It was closed, but the care taker was good enough to let us enter the premises which had a beautiful garden and an even beautiful statue of Lord Jesus in silver.

Indo Portuguese Museum

We watched the sunset near the Chinese fishing nets and had dinner at one of the open air restaurants lining the water front. Walking down Princess Street, we did a bit of a shopping. Most of the wooden handicrafts here are made of rosewood. Saw an elephant, about a feet tall costing 3 lakhs INR, and I thought it would cost around 20,000 INR - ignorance, at its best.

Annotations:
The sight-seeing rick was negotiated to Rs.80 per hour from Rs.100.
I would put the the Santa Cruz Basilica, Koonan Kurishu Shrine, Chinese Fishing Nets on the must do list at Fort Kochi
If you are a non-vegetarian, don't miss out on the fish.
Didn't take the boat to Vipin island as I already had a lot of boating planned in my itinerary later, but wanted to visit the light house, which the rick fellow said is far from the Vipin jetty and Cherai beach even farther. If anyone visits the light house, do let me know your experience.
If you are an early riser, catch the fishermen cast their nets and use the extra large Chinese Fishing nets.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Kerala travelogue - Day 1 (19th Nov 2011 - 20th Nov 2011)

Holiday Destinations in India

        Started my journey on the 19th Nov 2011. Caught the LTT - Ernakulam Duronto at 08:50 pm. Watching people having their dinners packed and starting to eat before the train started, I thought, how foolish...the dinner is sponsored, then why did they get it from home. Well, they were the ones to have the last laugh as at 9:30, I realised that there's no free dinner and all you could get were veg sandwiches. Shame Shame!! This train is though no comparison to the Rajdhani, a train, I guess everyone loves. The overall service was kinda ok, not that great. The train ticket claimed no stops between Mumbai and Ernakulam, though it did keep us waiting at many stations before it reached Ernakulam Junction. I am sure the travel time can be reduced for most trains as the Nethravathi express I caught for coming back to Mumbai could also have reached much before time, if it had not stopped at some places forever (I am jumping too soon, more on that later AND maybe I'm the ignorant types about signals etc. - I guess I'll let them do there job, a good one too!!)

          We reached Ernakulam Junction at 6:00 pm next day. Please ensure what's your last stop on the train or where exactly you wanna get down as there are many Ernakulam stations viz. Ernakullam Town, Ernakullam junction, Ernakullam South, Ernakullam North...phew!! Took a tuktuk (rickshaw) for Fort Kochi (They have a pre-paid taxi booth you can try...I didn't, missed). The rick fellow gave a small Kochi Darshan as he speeded through the lanes. We passed through a nice looking traditional Kerala Temple which looked very nice from the outside, breezed pass the naval base, the old airport (not in use anymore, Sir...only politicians Charter planes land here, said the rick guy). He thought I was stupid to stay in Fort Kochi and not in Ernakulam - All shops are here in Ernakulam, Sir, and you will get cheap accommodation here, Sir, why go so far to Fort Kochi and waste your money, Sir - felt like telling him, go read the 'Kerala Outlook Traveller' which says so much about Fort Kochi, but never mind !
          Got the first glimpse of Keralas' vast Vembanad lake as we were crossing Willingdon island, hiding its big shipyard. There's something about the mountains and then there's something about the water - you just fall in love, I do!! We were to see Vembanad flowing all along as we tripped along out itenary in Kerala. A guy in the train told me that Ernakulam/Kochi is the only real city in Kerala, and I believe him after my entire trip, but it somehow is not your regular city, it retains its local outfit though donning the toursistry cap and jacket. I had booked the Honolulu Homestay on KB Jacob road - near to Santa Cruz Basilica for 2 days. Our host Mr.Abboo greeted us and took us to our room 'Jasmin', clean and cozy. Didn't have a television - didn't need one! Mr. Abboo helped us with what to see and also ran us through some programs which some of our neigbouring foreigners had just come from - a safari to see elephants being washed :). Didn't opt for that. He asked us if we were interested in a Kathakali performance but it was already late for it so we decided to go for a walk and he obliged by guiding us. As you would read in most places on the net, if you have leisurely time, Fort Kochi is best explored on your feet. We reached the beach through the 'Dutch Cemetery' road. The beach is not A beach as you would normally imagine but there are ample benches and rocks to laze around and enjoy the breeze as you see ships plying the waters near the coast. We walked on the footwalk and reached the 'Chinese fishing Nets'. Any new thing is a surprise and so was this one, even though I had seen umpteen images of it on the internet. It would be creative to see the fishermen use these huge nets to catch fish - I didn't get a chance to see them catching fish using them though :(
          Coming back via 'Princess Street', saw the various handicraft shops and open restaurants. The small shops hosting elephants in various forms, sculptures, necklaces, tourist garbs and garments, beautiful kashmiri shawls and matresses are really picturesque and bring in the tourist flavour. Most of these shops are run by Kashmiris, which I saw in Thekkady as well and in Goa and am sure in Rajasthan as well (who stays in Kashmir then, I wonder). Fresh catches of fish can be found at the little shops lining the water front and in the restaurants. My family and me particularly observed that the fish preparations here don't smell like they do in Mumbai, where I stay, of course. Saw the numerous homestays all along, on every street.
          There's nothing of a 'Fort' left in 'Fort Kochi', though I did see the remains of a fort wall at the Vasco-da-Gama square. That evening at the water front was more lively than usual as it was Sunday and had lots of the local crowd visiting it too!!
          Walking back we saw the Santa Cruz Basilica and promised ourselves to return to it in the morning and decided to call it a day!!

Annotations:

You have a pre-paid taxi/rickshaw booth at the Ernakulam Junction station. A rick to Fort Kochi would cost you around Rs.250
The best place to have food are the open restaurants near the water front or at any of the resorts (would be a little heavy on the pocket though, I guess)
Fish is really fresh here and doesn't smell and you have good options.
Homestays are a good option in Fort Kochi - believe me, there are plenty and Government approved ones too!!
Walk around - you'll like it - you are on a holiday anyway, aren't you...

Honolulu Homestay

Santa Cruz Basilica

Mr.Aboo(centre) with my parents

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sahil

Kya dhoondte ho jo tumhe mila nahi

Reton mein bhi kabhi khushiyan chuppi hoti hain

Poochon na itne gehre sawaal badalon se

Dekho ghabrake wo bhi chal diye

Lehron ke piche doobti hue is saanjh ke chabbi se jaano

Paani mein bhi aag lag sakti hain

Sooraj dooba, ye bhi koi shikayat hui

Chamkega wo aur kahin, use jaane do

Uske yaad mein aate hue aaftab ke madmast chandani ko dekhne se apne aapko naa roko

Leto meri god mein, aasman me chamakte in karishmon se seekho

Raat ke muthi mein kaid, choti si jaan hai inki

Par chamakne se kabhi aib to nahi karte

Badi puraani pehchaan hai in lehron se, jaan lo tum

Har pal ye baukhlayi hui to nahi hoti

Inhe sharm ki aanchal me, meethe se muskate

Sheetal bhi aksar maine paaya hai

Apna sar pakkad, yadon mein khudi ko dubo rahe ho kuon

Khayalon ke bhawandar me fasein, apne aap ko nikalne ki koshish to karo

Majhdhar mein fasse, gotte khate hue us kashti se poochon

Sahil pe hi aksar khushiyan milti hain

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Durgo Pujo and Navratri 2011

Festivals of India

Durgo Pujo | Navratri

Durgo Pujo and Navratri 2011

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Jawhar - 14th Aug 2011

Other weekend getaways

"When you are an avid reader, you should read a bad book once in a while....

to know why it is bad, and the others are good"

It was a long weekend, and after a pretty long time too!! As usual the tube took some time to light up and by then most of the places were already booked. Jawhar was on my mind for quite some time, and it appearing on the '52 weekend getaways from Mumbai' on Outlook Traveller flavoured the temptation a bit more. All hotels I called up in Jawhar were already booked and after lotta searching on the net, got the number of a Hotel Rajmahal and thankfully it was available...no online booking though. Not having a menu of many choices, transferred money to Mr. V.K.Karbhari's (the owner) account to book the room. So I was finally going!!

Hotel Raj Mahal

Wanted to do this the raw way, so got up early and caught the ST (State Transport) bus for Jawhar at 7:00 am. My non-fussy family didn't complain a bit. The ST was a 2 x 2 seater. No bookings for this bus, no queues either, when the bus comes...run, throw your umbrella, bag inside from the window and book your seats...convenient, isn't it?

En route to Jawhar, after Wada, the scenery is beautiful, as is common on all hilly areas. The last stretch of the road was a bit bad. Natures' 'GO GREEN' posters were to be seen in all shades as the bus passed through rice fields, grassy stretches and forests. On the way, saw the boards of Sajan Nature club and Diwekarwadi (camping sites - http://www.naturetrails.in/). Reached Jawhar around 10:30 and wasn't very difficult to locate the hotel as it is near to the bus stand, rather opposite to it. This hotel is an economical and a decent one with good enough service, considering the place. It started raining heavily, so we didn't get much of a chance to venture out. Finally at 4:00 pm, we braved our umbrellas and walked towards Hanuman Point. Have to mention that the town of Jawhar is one filthy place, shitty in the true sense of the word. The only compensation was that my nephew hadn't seen a pig before and got exited when he saw them...Oink...oink !!!
Hanuman Point is about 1-1.5 km away from Hotel RajMahal or from the bus stand. A Hanuman temple adorns the centre of the plateau and you can see the valley below and the vehicles snaking up and down the curvy roads. When we were leaving the plateau, fog was spreading its wings all over and in the distance we could see the Jai Vilas Palace in a blur.

Jai Veer Hanuman

View from the Hanuman point

Jai Vilas Palace from the Hanuman Point

The Jai Vilas Palace is about half a km from the Hanuman Point. You can easily miss the road to the palace. Now this is a nice place to be around and so is the walk to the palace. Coming down from the Hanuman Point, take a left at the forking road with a statue. Walk for about 5-7 minutes and keep looking to your left. A narrow pathway leads left, towards the forest as you leave the highway. This path is strewn with cashew trees, if you can recognise one. I was seeing a cashew tree for the first time. All along the path, you will be bewildered to see so many cashew trees and wonder how you can see them only here and not elsewhere in the town. Walking for around 15 minutes in the midst of the trees, you suddenly see the crest of the Jai Niwas Palace. With permission from the caretakers you can walk in and along the boundaries of the palace. With a little bakshish, you can have a guided tour inside too. The guide shows you the darbar, the tribal king and queens' photos, sketches the King Mukne made himself, the tiger he hunted down, his kids room with the wooden toys, a telescope, the verandahs, the visitors room etc. The palace was leaking badly from the inside. However, from the outside, it looks nice, simple and royal. As you walk to the rear of the palace, you get to see a beautiful view of the valley below and in the distance you can see the peak of a trekking destination (dunno which mountain, but I have seen its pic somewhere for sure).

Kaju Tree

Road to Jai Nivas Palace

Jai Nivas Palace

View of the valley from the Jai Nivas Palace

The only other point in Jawhar is the Sunset point which is about 1 km from the bus stand in the opposite direction of the Hanuman point. As I said before, the road leading to the points are filthy. From the Sunset point, you can watch a river gushing below and I can only imagine that it will really be beautiful to watch the sun go down here, but since it was a cloudy day, wasn't lucky to see the phenomena.

Though I enjoyed the break from Mumbai, I would definitely think twice before going back to Jawhar. Surprising that this place features in Maharashtra Tourisms' website as well!! Government...government...Anna Hazare aage badho...hum tumhare saath hai!!!

Jawhar for the travellers

Regular ST buses go from Thane (almost every hour), Nasik, Pune also I guess
Local transport - Rickshaws, Jeeps
Places to visit in Jawhar - Hanuman Point, Sunset Point, Jai Vilas Palace, Warli exhibition (near Sunset Point)
Places near Jawhar - Dabhosa (Dabdaba falls) 18 km away, Bhupatgad fort (find info on the net), Kohoj Hill fort (find info on the net)
Other camping destinations near Jawhar - Sajan Nature Club, Doctors Farm, Divekarwadi
Accomodation - Sunset Resort (near Sunset Point), Hotel Pushpanjali (near Sunset Resort), Hotel RajMahal (near ST stand)