Sunday, January 26, 2003

 

at thanjavur, also the palace and it’s different museums wanted to be visited. the whole complex is like a big labyrinth, unfortunately it’s mostly dilapidated and the former beauty can only be assumed, not experienced. the most interesting place was the art gallery with it’s superb collection of chola bronze statues. one of the most popular subjects is nataraja, the dancing lord shiva, which symbolizes the continuous flow of energy and therefore of the whole universe. when shiva stops dancing, the whole world will collapse.

the next bus dropped us at chidambaram. the nataraja temple stands (nataraja see above) is an important place of pilgrimage for hindus. the temple dates back in the 13th century and hosts some prime examples of chola artistry. unfortunately the sculptures lack the regular repainting (this should be done about once in 12 years), therefore the colors are not as bright as they are supposed to...

the following destination was pondicherry . the french have left this former colony only about fifty years ago but their influence can still very much be felt: there are many buildings in the colonial style, a large french consulate with the obligate tricolore, road names are in french and many indians obviously know and speak the language, last but not least some restaurants serve excellent baguettes, croissants and pains au chocolat. other places are specialised in french cooking and will satisfy each and every gourmet.
sri aurobindo ashrama is very present in pondicherry, too. it's synthesis of yoga and modern science attracts many people from the west. the ashram runs several lodges, cafeterias and also operates social institutions. unfortunately, our stay at pondicherry was too short to get a close look at this place.

meanwhile we have already catched our last overland bus in india, which brought us to chennai. from here we will make our way up north by train.

posted by christoph 12:21

Saturday, January 25, 2003

 

finally, we had to say good-bye to munnar and also to the state of kerala, where we have spent more than six beautiful weeks. for the mainroad was closed, the bus had to take another one to madurai in tamil nadu. it was an exciting drive across the western ghats, one moment the road did almost vanish, the next one it fell steep down right next to our window... we were happy and exhausted when we finally reached our destination.

after a good sleep, we were ready to start our temple-tour! tamil nadu is famous for it’s temples built according to the dravidian architecture. their symbol are the huge gopurams (entrance-towers, often over 50 meters high), covered with brightly painted rock carvings, showing god, goddesses and scenes out of indian mythology – a true feast for the eyes! in contrary to many monuments, these temples are still the center of the daily religious life: there are priests worshipping the gods, pilgrims praying and vendors selling everything from sacrifices to souvenirs. entering a temple means diving into a world rich of sounds, scents and colors.

sri meenakshi temple at madurai, is one of the finest and most popular examples. it covers more than 6 hectares, has 12 towers and was constructed around 1560, though it’s history reaches as far as 2000 years back. we explored the complex with a guide, ganesh his name; and enjoyed every second in this vibrating atmosphere. at the end we got a chance to overlook the whole temple-are from a rooftop (naturally located over a shop).

our next destination was tiruchirappalli, also known by it’s much simpler name trichy. just after arrival, we headed for our next temple: rock fort temple. this time it was rather the astonishing location, than the architecture that interested us. the temple overlooks the city and it’s surroundings from a sheer rock. after one more tasty indian meal we pampered ourselves at the end of this busy day with some delicious cakes (there are many bakeries with a wide variety of tempting looking sweets all over south india).

the next morning, sri ranganathaswamy temple was awaiting us. this is probably indias largest ones, here are the facts: it’s construction started in the 10th century, five different dynasties were involved and the largest gopuram (73 meters high) wasn’t finished until 1987. 21 gopurams are reaching into the sky, an area of 60 hectares is occupied and the inner shrine is surrounded by surrounded by seven walls. the outer four walls enclose bazaars and houses of the brahmins (priest caste). behind the sixth wall non-hindus are not allowed, for the sanctum is reserved for worshipping, not for sightseeing!

with this gorgeous sight in mind, we hopped on a bus to thanjavur . travelling by bus became meanwhile manuelas and mine favourite way of getting around. it’s very uncomplicated (just go to the bus station, ask ones way to the hopefully right bus, enter it and wait to be shaken through and through), there’s almost always a bus to wherever one want to get and one gets an excellent view of the life on and next to indias roads.

and now, guess what we were up to after our arrival at thanjavur... right, we went to see a temple! the brihadishwara temple is the crowning example of the chola of architecture. it was constructed around 1010, it’s majestic landmark is the 66 meters high tower over sanctum, topped by a monolithic granite dome (it weights impressive 80 tons). the many fine sculptures are not painted as at many other south indian temples, but left in their natural state.

we are very busy with travelling at the moment. well, there’s a good reason for it: our flight from calcutta to bangkok is on the 5th of february, naturally we want to see as much as possible of this amazing country during the remaining weeks on our way up north. there’s more to come - so, stay tuned!

posted by christoph 17:28

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

 

a winding road lead from kochi to munnar. it is the commercial centre of some of the world's highest tea-growing estates. as we saw the lovely hills and felt the refreshing mountain-breeze, we were completely taken aback and felt almost at home. memories of our own, breathtaking alps became alive.

for tea-production, almost every two weeks the three last grown leaves have to be plucked. in order to ease the work, the trees are cut off 3 to 4 feet above ground every two years. this makes the tea-plantations look very neat and smooth, as if the hills were covered by a very soft bright green shining carpet. in addition to tea, the area produces also cardamom, coffee and pepper. manuela and i almost got addicted to this mind-blowing landscape and went on as many walks as possible. besides the plantations, we saw some remote lakes, majestic peaks and dense forests. there were so many picturesque spots, we will cherish these memories forever!

we spent three days at this small pleasant place. another highlight was the visit of a tea-factory – which is usually prohibited for foreigners. thanks to our helpful hotel-manager we nevertheless got a chance to catch a glance. it was very interesting and we got a good idea about how the leave from the tree becomes the tasty liquid in ones cup. we were quite surprised that almost all of the work was done automatically by machines (we somehow expected to find many people working in a dusty hall – luckily we were wrong).

posted by christoph 16:20

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

 

after a beautiful day on the houseboat, we catched a bus from alappuzha to kochi. kochi is keralas largest industrial city with an important port. we looked forward to get there, due to the promising descriptions of this place in our guidebook. in the same afternoon a sightseeing boat was catched, in order to get a proper first impression:

the first attraction was not on the program and sort of a luckypunch, a big dolphin, jumping out of the water. it could only be seen for some seconds, but the impression will last forever!
official sight number one: the synagogue - kochi, home to a tiny jewish community, has like many other cities it's own jewtown with narrow winding roads, where a prosporous trade was operated.
sight number two: mattancherry palace (also known as the dutch palace), with it's astonishing murals.
st. francis church, the oldest church in india built by europeans, was sight number three. it's here were vasco da gama, who died in kochi, was buried before his remains were taken to lisbon.
last but not least, we visited the chinese fishing nets, which are strung out along the tip of fort cochin; sight number four.

kochi is situated around a port and includes also some islands. main public transport system are the ferries, which look quite scary when jampacked. fort cochin is the oldest part of the town with many houses dating back to the colonial time. it's a very charming place with a kind of nostalgic ambience. most of the sights can be found here (see above).
ernakulem is the center of kochis modern life. it's also the place where we got a chance to go to the new james bond 007 movie "die another day", which we enjoyed very much;-)

we were intending to spend only two days at kochi. this wasn't meant to be, for i hit my eye so unlucky on a door-locker at an internet-cafe, that i had to go for the first time to an indian hospital. a harmless but painful corneal injury was diagnosticied. the people at the hospital were very friendly and helpful. after having arrived, i was straight brought to the eye-doctor who searched the eye with a huge torch. then a nurse covered my eye with a severe looking bandage and i was sent to buy some medicine. this was the shortest stay at a hospital i had ever experienced (it did only take half an hour)! in contradiction to the prejudices we westerners often have about the indian health system, my experience was just all positive.

fortunately the injury healed very fast and we had to extend our stay only for three nights. the night before we left, we went to the movies again. this time the malayalam (means "from kerala") comedy "dilip navya" was on. naturally we didn't understand one single word but could make most of the sense out of the action. it was good fun!

posted by christoph 18:20

Monday, January 20, 2003

 

after having spent quite a long time around trivandrum and at the ashram, we hit the road again. our first destination: kollam, the southern gateway to the famous backwaters of kerala, an enormous system of lagoons, lakes, rivers and canals, which expands behind the coastal line between kollam and kochi. depending on how far the sea is, the water is salty or sweet. i'm sure, you wouldn't have guessed;-)

there are different ways to explore the area. for we couldn't decide on which one to choose, we booked the whole program: a village tour on an open work boat (6 people only), the major tourist trip from kollam to alappuzha and a 24-hours-cruise on a houseboat. booking the houseboat was very enlightening: the third operator asked, offered the same trip for half the price of the first one!

on the first day we catched a mini-bus to monroe island. on the way, there were many things to see: cashew-, papaya-, pepper- and jack fruit-trees, as well as boat building. the boats look like canoes and are found from very small to very big. the beams are hold together by coconut cords only. from the shells of the cashews a colour, which protects the boats, is produced. there was also an opportunity to watch coir making (coir = cords made out of coconut fibres); this goes so fast, the cord is finished before we started watching...

finally we reached our boat. it was moved by two men putting long bamboo sticks into the ground of the waters in order to push the boat. on our way through narrow canals we several times had to watch our heads carfully because small bridges or trunks were crossing the water on very small heights... we passed prawn farms, people collecting mussels and fishing (some use nets, other speers and some just their bare hands). it was a very peaceful and relaxing tour.

the next day, we went on the two storey touristboat, driven by a noisy engine. during the eight hours trip we passed old fishtrailers, impressive chinese fishing nets, small villages and also the big, modern looking ashram of amma. the canals made their ways through endless coconut plantations, lush forests and fertile rice fields. however, this trip definitely lacked the charme we enjoyed so much on the village tour.

we were glad to finally reach alappuzha and were looking forward to the next day and the houseboat. these boats are converted from a kettuvallam, or traditional rice barge, and look very romantical. we were welcomed on board by the three crew-members: one cook and two boatsmen (no engine, only man-power again). no worries, the men weren't pushing the ship for 24 hours non-stop - they rather pushed for one hour, had a break for another two hours and pushed again for another hour... during the stops, manuela and i were pampered with delicious meals and snacks. the whole atmosphere reminded us of our first week in india and the houseboat in the northern himalaya.

it was a very chilling day: all we had to do was lean back in our bamboo chairs and watch the world float by. over night, the boat anchored on vembanad lake. the gentle sound of the waves and the sparkling stars made us feel like being on honeymoon.

posted by christoph 16:25

Friday, January 10, 2003

 

welcome to 2003! I hope all of you have spent a beautiful christmas and have well arrived in the new year. after having spent three weeks at the isolated ashram world, we are glad to be back in the hustle and bustle of India. all we have to do now, is to bring our diaries up to date, here we go:

our announcement that we were about to go to the ashram released most different reactions. i'm sorry, but I must disappoint all speculations: we do still carry western travel clothes and no orange ones, the guru didn't welcome us on a floating cloud, we didn't have to meditate for three weeks standing on one leg, i haven't shaved the hair off my head (as i did 10 years ago), we don't sell spiritual books in the streets, course topic wasn't kama sutra and we still call ourselves manuela and christoph; -)
what really happened... here comes the truth:

we felt somewhat uncertain and skeptical, when we arrived at the sivananda yoga vedanta dhanwantari ashram in neyyar dam, approximately one bus-hour east of trivandrum, in the middle of last years December. we had no idea about what was going to expect us. coincidentally our day of arrival was the final day of the one months TTC (teacher training course) and we had to pleasure to join the feast and the following talent show. the real highlight was left to the end: a 10 kg chocolate cake. the day after, the daily schedule of the ashram began:

05.30 am get up
06.00 am meditation & satsang
07.30 am morning tea
08.00 am asana yoga
10.00 am brunch
11.00 am karma yoga
12.00 pm off time
01.30 pm afternoon tea
02.00 pm yoga lecture
04.00 pm asana yoga
06.00 pm dinner
08.00 pm meditation & satsang
10.00 pm lights out

what’s the meaning behind all these subjects?
meditation has the goal to calm down ones mind. it’s quite difficult for there are countless thoughts one is constantly occupied with. one should sit in a crossed-legged position, eyes closed and try to focus on one point. it will take some time, but occasionally you will succeed in reaching the state of concentration and finally the one of meditation. for me the first difficulty was to stay for a longer time in this famous crossed-legged position. indians might be used to that, i am definitely not (yet). so whenever i’ve tried to meditate, there would also be some pain either in my spine or my knees, which made it almost impossible to keep the mind focussed. there’s only one thing to be done: keep trying;-)

satsang means praising god within a community. it mostly consisted of singing songs in sanskirt (the oldest language of the world) and chanting mantras. mantras are sanskirt words which enclose a thought pattern of a virtue, attitude etc. it’s believed that by repeating this mantra over and over, its characteristics manifests itself within ones mind. one of the most famous mantras is the “hare krishna”-one, which was also sung by the Beatles - i’m sure you know this one! another, probably the most powerful, mantra is “om”, the sound of universe and creation. though i understood the meaning of chanting, it wasn’t exactly my kind of thing and i didn’t get too excited about it.

asana yoga is what we usually call yoga. the body exercises are practiced in order to provide a healthy body to a healthy mind. this will help to reach god-realization. everybody should practice the asanas (different exercises, positions) as good as he can. it doesn’t matter how far one can reach, it only matters that one reaches as far as he can at the very moment. one should slowly get into each position, stay there for a longer time whilst breathing properly and then get out of the position slowly again. the work is done by the mind, no strength is used. i really enjoyed the asanas, it was good to feel ones body again and try to bring soul, mind and body in one line. manuela and i will hopefully manage to keep the exercises up also whilst travelling.

karma yoga stands for selfless service. this should be the attitude behind all our actions and therefore practiced by everyone, everywhere, everytime. sounds very clear but how often do we really behave like this? at the ashram, karma yoga meant supporting the community by helping with it’s daily works such as cleaning the bathrooms, wiping the floors, emptying the bins… manuela and I joined the food-serving people – and I found myself back as a waiter;-))

as to be seen at the schedule, there were only two meals a day. first i thought this was going to be very difficult but as a matter of fact, it was no problem at all. i never felt hungry. the food was delicious and one could eat as-much-as-one-wanted. the stomach didn’t demand that much at all, it were the eyes which thought that there should be eaten some more… a good thing to remember for the future!

lectures were held about the different aspects and philosophies of yoga. so we learnt to understand why things were done in a specific way at the ashram. it was also extremely interesting to get an idea about hinduism and it’s answers to the fundamental questions. it’s fascinating how everything (god, universe, man, soul, mind, body, health, micro-cosmos, macro-cosmos) is part of one harmonious system. many things to be learned from the way they look at the world. if you feel like finding out more about the ashram and yoga, visit the sivananda website with plenty of information.

for the season, a special yoga ayurveda & culture program was held. it consisted of cultural evening perfomances and some workshops. during this two weeks we got a good impression about many aspects of indias dance, theatre and music.

we saw bharata natyam, classical south indian dance; kathakali, world-famous dance theatre of kerala with awesome costumes and unique make-up; kalarippayattu, the so-called mother of carats and kung fu, originated in kerala.
we heard concerts with santoor, similar to the german “hackbrett”; flute, like the ones we know in the west, made out of bamboo; sitar, looks like an oversized guitar with a beautiful sentimental sound; veena, similar to the sitar, just bigger; and a demonstration about music-therapy.
we attended lectures on the healing path of yoga, results of a study how yoga works on people with heart-diseases and cancer; yoga of the heart, there is not only body, mind and soul but also the heart; vastu, the alleged basis of feng shui from india; ayurveda, unfortunately three readings on the fundamental elements instead of deepening views - small detail: ayurveda, the indian teaching of health, concerns itself by 80% with what to do in order to stay healthy and only by 20% with the treatment of diseases, how was that again in the western medicine... we had also opportunity to attend a ayurveda cooking course which would be a highly interesting topic, unfortunately the lecture didn’t meet expectations:-(

for christmas eve, the meeting hall had been decorated with a christmas tree and a crib. we enjoyed the kathakali performance, sang some christmas carols and heard to story of the birth of jesus christ. Around midnight santaclaus appeared, gave us some presies and made us dance to some chritmas tunes played on a keyboard. Last but not least, we devoured a tasty christmas cake!

on new year’s eve the sitar concert was performed. we also enjoyed some fireworks and a bonfire at the lakeside. firework is very much loved by indian men: the louder, the better!!! we welcomed the new year in silent meditation, which was somewhat different but very nice. then again, a huge chocolate cake was presented. i liked it very much and had three pieces – that’s why i woke up on the first of january with some stomachache.

what else happened...
- we got to know some bed-bugs (could have done without them)
- live at the ashram was simple but not ascetic
- there was an excellent “pub” serving fruit-juices and tea
- we pampered ourselves with some ayurvedic massages

one of the most famous living holy indians is sri sri matha amrithanandamayi devi, also known as amma or the hugging-mother. some people at the ashram had visited her and told us about. so we decided to catch the opportunity as amma visited trivandrum on her trip around india. we were excited, how would it be to meet a living saint?

several thousand people had gathered in front of a small stage, patiently chanting mantras. everybody has come: businessmen, farmers, women with children, youngsters, tourists, even a sick person on a stretch. after a short while she came, amma! we were surprised that many people of her accompanies were westerners (we later found out, that it was possible to join amma on her three weeks journey as a volunteer, definitely an interesting experience). after some common songs, during which amma threw her arms into the air again and again, she held a short speech of which we unfortunately understood nothing at all, for it was in malayalam (the language of kerala). then the hugging started. the indians had to draw numbers and stand in line, men an women separated, whilst western visitors were squeezed in right at the end of the queues. how do we deserve such a privilege? then everything went very fast: i saw amma right in front of me, one assistant wiped my face, another put my head down on her shoulder, she hugged me, whispered some malayalam words into my ear, hugged me a second time and invited me to join some other pilgrims on the stage. manuela and i sat approximately half an hour very close to amma and could watch the ceremony closely. the queues seemed never-ending and amma must have hugged people for a couple of hours, incredible if one imagines that this is happening twice every day.

if one expects a thunderstrike including illuminating whilst being hugged by amma, one will without any doubt be disappointed. for me it was as if my own loving mother had just hugged me. i felt calm, content and happy. it was a very honest and humble way of meeting somebody in a peaceful atmosphere – and therefore an impressing moment!

we returned for one night to the ashram. early next morning, we got on a tourist bus to join swami govindananda, one of the heads of the ashram, on a trip to the most southern part of india. it soon turned out, that this was going to be an unusual one. swamiji led us to places, which one would never find oneself, he opened our eyes for the spirituality, which can be found all over india, otherwise locked doors opened easily for us. we first stopped at tripparappa waterfalls. they are quite high and serve indians as a natural shower. a most welcome refreshment on a hot day! afterwards we visited the first temple on this outing. we learnt about how temples were laid out and how a worship takes place. once more we were fascinated by the homogeneous conception of the world of hinduism: architecture, religion, structure of the universe and the human body... everything is co-ordinated and each aspect is carefully represented. therefore it’s obvious that all the plants in the temple area contains special substances according to ayurveda which are used to treat pilgrims on their daily visits at the temple.

next sight visited was padmanabhapuram palace - we already know that,
see diary entry on the 14th of december 2002.

finally we reached our destination: kanyakumari, also known as cape comorin. it is an important place of pilgrimage for hindus located on the most southern point of india. here arabian sea, indian ocean and bay of bengal meets. we went to see gandhi memorial, where parts of gandhis ashes were kept before being immersed in the ocean, admired a wonderful sunset and visited kumari ammar temple . thanks to swamiji we were also allowed in the inner shrine, we will cherish these memories forever.

we spent the night in ashram of swami vivekananda, one of indias most important saints and philosophers. he lived around the turn of the century. meditating on a rock, which is located in the sea about 100 m off the coast of kanyakumari, he got enlightened in december 1892. on the world congress of religions, which took place at chicago in 1893, he was the first hindu to talk about his religion in the west.

the next morning, we got up at 4.00 am in order to take a bath at the holy meeting place of the three seas. then we enjoyed the sunrise at the beach. kanyakumari is one of the few places on this planet, where sunset and sunrise can be watched over the sea from the same spot. just before noon we climbed mount maruti malai, the southernmost part of the western ghats mountain range. the ascend was steep and stony, but the beautiful views from the summit was really worth it. maruti malai is a holy mountain and therefore many temples were situated right and left of the track. there was even a small one on top.

back on the coast, we visited vivekananda monument, which is placed on the rock where the saint got enlightened. the final site of this trip was the enormous temple of suchindram. it is one of the few ones in india which is dedicated to all the three main divinities brahma, shiva and vishnu. one of its most impressive attractions are hollowed stone pillars on which tunes can be played by hitting them with ones bare hands.

a long bus-ride took us back to the ashram, where we had to say good-bye. the three weeks in neyyar dam have been very interesting and challenging. we got many new insights and impressions of the spirituality of india, which is a very important part of this country. thanks to all who made this possible!

we moved on to trivandrum where many emails wanted to be answered and deep impressions to be published on our website. we also got a chance to meet our friend harish and his family again. we had an unforgettable time together and we are looking forward to visit our friends in kerala soon again. it’s nice to meet people in a foreign country who make you feel at home!

posted by christoph 18:03