International Postcard Swap for Families 2011

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

International Postcard Swap for Families 2011 - Update

Most of you would know by now that I had been travelling for the whole of last month. Just before I left, I signed up for the ‘International Postcard Swap’ organized by Zoe of ‘Playing by the book’. It was a heaven sent opportunity to get Samhith more interested in writing, and also get in touch with some like-minded parents and kids!

Amidst two hectic trips, I just managed to download the list of people I had to send postcards to, and with Samhith too busy with his scrapbook, ended up writing to the families myself. Looking for the post office at Udaipur was an interesting experience, with the auto driver wondering why on earth an Indian tourist would want to go to a post office! “Madam, if you want to send a letter, there are many couriers around” was what I heard again and again before I insisted that no, I did NOT want a courier, but only the post office, before one of them finally consented to take me to a small old building hidden very near a circle we had been passing at least a dozen times a day! I managed to get the postcards off, but a couple of days later than promised, so Maria, Courtney, Emma, Kathy and Elaine, please, please wait a few more days for my cards to reach you…… of course, that’s if that tiny little post office actually did the work it is supposed to be doing J

Anyway, we returned home last week with Samhith still not enthusiastic about the cards we had sent, until the day before yesterday, when the first postcard landed in our mailbox! His enthusiasm suddenly shot to the roof, and it was a pleasure to see him reading the message and seeing the photo on the postcard with such concentration. The stamps only furthered the delight, which simply multiplied with the arrival of two more postcards!

The idea had been to include a book recommendation in each postcard, and we received a variety, from Enid Blyton to the Monkey King, Captain Underpants and Tinkerbell. However, the most recommended books were the Geronimo Stilton Series! I had been wanting to buy them for him for a while now, but wasn’t too sure if he would read them, but now he wants to, and I am nothing short of thrilled!

However, I was even more thrilled by the fact that he actually sat down to reply to each one of them with his own postcard and his own book recommendation. As it turned out, his handwriting only made it possible for him to write a sentence or two on every postcard, but it’s at least a beginning…. Wouldn’t you agree?

We received two more cards today, which brings the number to five, and as I write this post, he has already got all the postcards ready to send.

These are the postcards we received…

1. Rose and Ullysse Martin – Samhith loved your postcard, especially the fact that it could be folded and stuck!

2. Joshua and India – we were fascinated by how much you managed to write on just a postcard!

3. Hana, yours was the first card we received, and the one which got most of the attention!

4. Sam – What a coincidence ….you share a nickname with Samhith!

5. Frankie and Annalise – Samhith loved the beautiful old buildings on your postcard.

Thanks so much everyone! Samhith’s reply postcards will reach you soon (hopefully!).

But most of all, thank you so much, Zoe for this wonderful idea to bring families together from across the globe!

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Review of Executive Lounges at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport. That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’t ju

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

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