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2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
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A Visit to the Gateway of India

After a long time, we visited the Gateway of India. The days I spent in the same area, walking around peacefully, sitting down to have my packed lunch by the sea, seems aeons ago.. The difference between then and now is mainly in the security. I have never seen so many security guards anywhere - no, not even at the airport!!!
The crowds are just the same, except that most of them are now gaping at the Taj - and looking for any left-over vestiges of the terror attack. Most cameras too are focussed, not on the monument which gives the place its name, but on the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Taj Intercontinental!
When I was reading the inscription on the gateway aloud to Samhith, at least a few people turned round to look at the spectator who seemed more interested in ancient rather than recent history!!

Half of the area around the gateway has been cordoned off, and the half that is free is full of those going aboard the boats, and those who have managed to snare places to sit on the parapet... Samhith wanted a closer look at the sea, but we found ourselves unable to go anywhere near the water. I promised him that I would bring him again and take him on the ferry too....Meanwhile, we satisfied ourselves with a distant view of all the boats, ships and yachts at sea................

In the absence of places to sit on the parapet, the small garden where the statue of Shivaji is placed, is full of couples and of course, families from 3 to 15 members occupying every inch of space available..In such a milieu, the statue of the brave Maratha King seems rather incongruous!

 
Neelambari - the open-deck bus run by the MTDC was waiting nearby, ready to start on its hour-long journey along the by-lanes of Mumbai's heritage precinct. Tickets were, surprisingly available, but unfortunately there was no time.. With a heavy heart, we returned home, promising ourselves a more leisurely trip to the place we love.....

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Location: Mumbai City, Maharashtra, India

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 23, 2009 at 10:12 PM

    Did you go to the Elephenta caves, Anu?? I was ever so impressed!!

    Lovely post... Brought back memories of my 2008 Summer Vacation... we went to Mumbai and then to Goa for a friends wedding... It was amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. madafanApril 20, 2009 at 2:16 PM

    This post reminds me a week spent in Mumbai. Sometimes you just feel "closer" when you can see the picture of a place you've been to. I particularly enjoyed the visit to the house where Indhira Gandhi lived while he was in Mumbai (don't recall the road).

    You're doing great sharing detailed tips on India on your blog. From a fellow 31DBBB blogger

    ReplyDelete

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