Navaratri Begins....

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

Navaratri Begins....

Waking up this morning, the first sound that came to my ears was the chanting of the Lalita Sahasranama from the nearby temple. "And so Navaratri begins" was my first thought... an auspicious beginning to an auspicious day!

Not that we need a reminder. This happens to be our favourite festival, the one we plan for months in advance, the one for which we happily store loads of stuff, forgetting for once that we hardly have space enough for it all. Which is why, at times when we can not celebrate the festival, like it has happened since the last two years, it feels so much worse. The last few days have been the worst, seeing loads of clay and papier mache dolls at every shop, decorations and flowers at every corner, and family and friends eagerly taking out their dolls from storage. We stayed away from the shops selling beautiful new dolls, hoping it would help, but it didnt. Eventually, we gave in yesterday, and tortured ourselves by visiting one of our local shops selling clay dolls, feasting our eyes on the new ones, and wishing desperately we could buy some and keep a golu too. Sigh! We know that's not possible. But that doesn't stop us ogling at the wonderful dolls representing so many interesting stories. Here are some....

Gajendra Moksham

A Water Pump Scene.. We loved the water pump, though, as Samhith pointed out, we have a miniature water pump that actually works!

Radha And Krishna

We wondered if this is the wedding feast scene from Abhimanyu and Vatsala's marriage... ...

And this appears to be Ghatotkatcha, eating everything prepared for the feast

The story of the hare and the tortoise... sorry the pic isnt good, but I loved the milestones...
and had to show them to you!

Lakshmi - Hayagriva and Shiva- Parvati

Birds..

A Playground...we loved the slide!

Our favourite.... the kili josiyam... or fortune teller with a parrot in a cage.
Kiddo loved the way the cage had been made!

And so Navaratri begins, with mixed feelings for us.... sadness because we still can't keep a golu; relief because kiddo has exams anyways; and excitement, because, since we have no puja, we can (try) to go out and see some other golus! Of course, the exams do come in the way, but when have we allowed it to interfere with our interests?

Of course, wherever we go, you can be sure you will read about it here!

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

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.

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

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