This one is for that heavenly drink that comes in green bundles – packaged by nature, served by your street corner nariyal paani walla. Widely spread across the sub-continent, the only common thing is the nomenclature – tender coconut. The similarities end there!
To start with there is the Sri Lankan variety – called King coconut. Bright orange in colour – like the rising sung – this large nut will easily quench the thirst of two people, and more. It is HUGE – king size. And intensely sweet. Its nothing like what is available in India. The malai or the flesh of the coconut is another treat – sweet and creamy (unless you opt for the mature nuts that have a thicker and tougher flesh), and a meal in itself.
Then there is the Indonesian variety, that I got to sample in Bali. The way the vendor opens the coconut is a work of art in itself. Four chops and the top does not fly off, like they do in Bangalore. Instead, off it comes in your hand like a lid off the tender coconut. The water tastes very similar to the ones in India, however, these are far larger and have probably thrice as much water. It appears that most firangs are not aware of the fact that the flesh of a coconut is edible – when we asked the vendor to remove the flesh for us, he simply handed us a spoon with a “help yourselves” look. Extracting the flesh with the spoon was naarikela paka, as referred to in Sanskrit literary circles, but it was abundant.
And there is the Bangkok variety. I am not sure if the vendor that I purchased it from had spiked it with alcohol, though he opened it in my presence, for it had a slightly fermented taste. It was not repulsive though – far from it, in fact. It was in a way, a voyage of discovery for the taste buds – a completely new taste and texture. Ah, how can I forget the texture – the water of the coconut had a velvety feel to it, not the creamy feel of the malai wala nariyal, or the watery feel of the paani wala nariyal. This was different – it was like the caress of the softest velvet. The flesh too retained the flavour, taste and texture of the water – though not as abundant as the King Coconut or the Balinese variety, it was more mature, thicker and tougher, but tasty nevertheless.
And now to the Indian variety – and how many of these are there! Right from the look and feel of the nut, to the way it is served and the taste – it differs across regions. First the Bangalore variety – large and bulky, you can opt for either the ganji (the equivalent of the Mumbaiya malai wala¸ or the variety with edible flesh) or neer (meaning paani wala, or watery one, with only the hard shell inside and no flesh) variety. It is cut open with powerful chops delivered with a large sickle that makes you look in awe at the dexterity of the vendor who does it with finesse, not harming a fingernail on his hands. The water in the ganji variety is sweet and that in the neer variety is flat, with a woody taste. This is common across regions – the more the flesh, the sweeter the water (and lesser in quantity!). The flesh is extracted in a similar fashion, by splitting the nut – shell coir and all – longitudinally, with the same power chops. A piece of the outer covering chopped off serves as a rudimentary scoop. Then there is the Mumbai variety. Smaller in size than the Bangalore variety, there are two sub-varieties, depending on the source of the nut. There is the Alibaug nut and there is the Gujarat nut. The Gujarat nuts are sweeter – with even the paani wala varieties being sweeter than in the rest of the country. The Alibaug nut has a flatter taste. In Mumbai, the nuts are opened with a very sharp kitchen knife; the tougher shell is cracked with a flat strip of iron a couple of millimeters thick. The small opening at the top is enlarged and a piece of the outer covering cut out to form an improvised scoop is used to extract the flesh through this opening. Did I say that the paani wala variety does not have edible flesh? Well, for those who like it, the shell of this variety of nuts has a crunchy layer, that can be cut and stripped with a knife – it tastes somewhat like the flesh of a raw singhada, with a woody tinge. Its supposed to be good for digestion and yes, I love it.
So its not for no reason that the coconut tree is called the kalpavriksha – the tree that grants all desires; I would go one step further – this is the tree that gives life – quenching the wayfarer’s thirst with drink and fruit.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The whole and the part
Got this wonderful comment from M on my earlier post on Time travel, space time and the works. Too profound not to share.
In your posting on Time travel, space time and the works dated Wednesday, August 08, 2007 you have mentioned: “... purnasya purnamadaya purnamevava shishyate...Purna can be roughly translated as 'the whole', the translation being a far cry from the true meaning. Purna is the whole, the all encompassing ... the everything. In that sense, purna is nothing but the universe, because the universe is the whole, the all encompassing, the everything. Now, a translation of the verse would be: "if you remove the whole from the whole, the whole remains!" That is, if you remove the universe from the universe, you are left with the universe!”
There is another interpretation to this. Krsna has used this sloka in the Gita to describe to Arjuna how we all are united with the God in spirit. That our soul, that we, are nothing but Him. The Whole, the all encompassing, the everything, is God! The human soul has been formed out of Him, the Supreme. Therefore, applying the above sloka, we are HIM.
Let me make this simpler with an example. Consider an Apple. For the time being, the Apple (we’ll call it Apple1) is the Whole. Now, cut a portion out of this Whole Apple (say 1/4th) (we’ll call this portion Apple2). Now what happens??? If you ignore the quantitative aspect (whereby you are left with 2 apple pieces) and concentrate ONLY on the qualitative aspect, you will see that the Apple1 is still, in essence, an Apple though a portion has been removed from it; whereas now Apple2 as also become an Apple (as it now has the standalone essence of an Apple in itself). Thus, when you removed a part from the Whole (ie our Apple) the Whole still remains the Whole and the part also has become the Whole. Once again, I urge you to concentrate only on the qualitative aspect of this.
Apply this example to the human soul. Let God be the Whole. The human soul is formed out of Him. While a part of Him has been transformed into the human soul, He still remains the Whole; and by virtue of having a part of his essence in us, we too have become the Whole – Him!
Let’s take this to the next level now. And let’s take our Apple1 again – the Whole. Beat it into a pulp. What happens? It becomes Apple pulp. What if instead of pulp, you decided to make juice out of it? Then it becomes Apple juice. How about a milk shake? Or tarts? Then we’d end up with Apple milkshake or Apple tart. No matter what you do to the Apple, it always retains its basic essence; that of being an apple! The Whole! An apple seed will always sprout only into an apple tree – never into a coconut tree!
Now consider the processes we performed on the Apple (viz beating into pulp, making juice, milkshake, tarts, etc). The Apple has to bear the brunt of the process performed on it and will hence take the next external form accordingly (as pulp, liquid, solid, etc). But no matter what process is performed, the Apple NEVER EVER loses its essence (that of being an Apple)! Akin the processes performed on the Apple to the actions performed by us, humans – our Karma. Our soul too has to bear the brunt of our actions, our Karma, and in the next birth it will take form accordingly. Hence, depending on our actions, we will be born as higher mortals or lower mortals (such as animals). But, alike the Apple, our soul never ever loses the essence of being Him!
This leads to the most conclusive proof that we all are indeed truly and closely attached to God! We ARE Him! And He IS us!
Krsna has beautifully summarized into a few words the greatest knowledge that a man can ever aspire to learn!!!! May this knowledge be with us and lead us to realizing our true selves!
Om shantih shantih shantih!!!
In your posting on Time travel, space time and the works dated Wednesday, August 08, 2007 you have mentioned: “... purnasya purnamadaya purnamevava shishyate...Purna can be roughly translated as 'the whole', the translation being a far cry from the true meaning. Purna is the whole, the all encompassing ... the everything. In that sense, purna is nothing but the universe, because the universe is the whole, the all encompassing, the everything. Now, a translation of the verse would be: "if you remove the whole from the whole, the whole remains!" That is, if you remove the universe from the universe, you are left with the universe!”
There is another interpretation to this. Krsna has used this sloka in the Gita to describe to Arjuna how we all are united with the God in spirit. That our soul, that we, are nothing but Him. The Whole, the all encompassing, the everything, is God! The human soul has been formed out of Him, the Supreme. Therefore, applying the above sloka, we are HIM.
Let me make this simpler with an example. Consider an Apple. For the time being, the Apple (we’ll call it Apple1) is the Whole. Now, cut a portion out of this Whole Apple (say 1/4th) (we’ll call this portion Apple2). Now what happens??? If you ignore the quantitative aspect (whereby you are left with 2 apple pieces) and concentrate ONLY on the qualitative aspect, you will see that the Apple1 is still, in essence, an Apple though a portion has been removed from it; whereas now Apple2 as also become an Apple (as it now has the standalone essence of an Apple in itself). Thus, when you removed a part from the Whole (ie our Apple) the Whole still remains the Whole and the part also has become the Whole. Once again, I urge you to concentrate only on the qualitative aspect of this.
Apply this example to the human soul. Let God be the Whole. The human soul is formed out of Him. While a part of Him has been transformed into the human soul, He still remains the Whole; and by virtue of having a part of his essence in us, we too have become the Whole – Him!
Let’s take this to the next level now. And let’s take our Apple1 again – the Whole. Beat it into a pulp. What happens? It becomes Apple pulp. What if instead of pulp, you decided to make juice out of it? Then it becomes Apple juice. How about a milk shake? Or tarts? Then we’d end up with Apple milkshake or Apple tart. No matter what you do to the Apple, it always retains its basic essence; that of being an apple! The Whole! An apple seed will always sprout only into an apple tree – never into a coconut tree!
Now consider the processes we performed on the Apple (viz beating into pulp, making juice, milkshake, tarts, etc). The Apple has to bear the brunt of the process performed on it and will hence take the next external form accordingly (as pulp, liquid, solid, etc). But no matter what process is performed, the Apple NEVER EVER loses its essence (that of being an Apple)! Akin the processes performed on the Apple to the actions performed by us, humans – our Karma. Our soul too has to bear the brunt of our actions, our Karma, and in the next birth it will take form accordingly. Hence, depending on our actions, we will be born as higher mortals or lower mortals (such as animals). But, alike the Apple, our soul never ever loses the essence of being Him!
This leads to the most conclusive proof that we all are indeed truly and closely attached to God! We ARE Him! And He IS us!
Krsna has beautifully summarized into a few words the greatest knowledge that a man can ever aspire to learn!!!! May this knowledge be with us and lead us to realizing our true selves!
Om shantih shantih shantih!!!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Shutterbug!
You may have seen in earlier posts some photographs that moi has clicked in the past. Those were all shot using an analog SLR of Seagull (China!), 2002 make, with just the camera body and a 35mm focus (no zoom) lens. The image quality is fantastic: unbeatable sharpness and above all, the satisfaction of hearing a loud "click" on pressing the shutter button every time, and winding the film after every shot... what joy!
However, the absence of a zoom, the suspense of having to wait until exhausting the entire roll of film and the difficulty in finding a good colour lab (believe me, it IS difficult) meant just one thing: move on to a digital camera.
And yours truly did. Though not a DSLR (woe... that will have to wait), its a handy point and shoot digital still image camera. I should confess, part of the inspiration to get a digicam came from Meenal, who complained of having to hold a pose long enough for me to evaluate the lighting conditions, adjust the shutter speed and aperture and finally click the snap on my analog SLR.
The new camera is a beauty. It's a Canon Powershot A 570 IS. Though meant to be a point and shoot, it has enough manual controls for the novice, and keep me from ruing about the lack of "control".
The basics: this one comes with 4x optical zoom (won't even mention the digital zoom, for I consider digital zoom redundant, and a marketing gimmick), which is about the same as a 140 mm zoom on a 35mm equivalent, and 7.1 megapixel, which is way more than enough for those quick "on the fly" or "picnic" shots. And it has an added face recognition function which is very effective for portraits and image stabilisation (thats where the IS comes from) for those really shaky hands, though I have not been able to conclusively demonstrate that the IS function is good.
Now for the auto and pre-set modes. I found the auto mode quite good - managed to click decent shots in low light and excellent ones in good light. The by now standard landscape shot mode and macro function (upto 5 cm!) are present, though the auto focus goes for a toss in the macro function. And yes, it has a manual focus function as well, though I am yet to figure that one out. In addition to the night shots, kids and pets and indoor shooting modes, it has seven pre-set shooting modes (aquarium, underwater, beach, snow, foliage, fireworks, night scene) for those wanting a bit of creativity. For the more adventurous and lion hearted, it lets you play with almost all controls: aperture (though limited to 5.5 to 8.0), shutter speed (upto 1250), ISO (80 to 1600, though after 400 the image gets increasingly noisy), white balance, colour settings, metering, flash output (unfortunately in only 3 discrete gradients), image size and quality. And believe it or not, it comes with an adaptor ring to accomodate a macro lens (upto 2 cms!), telephoto (2x) which of course, are not part of the standard kit.
It has a red eye reduction function and oh yes, it can even shoot movies! Though I have not explored that bit yet.
In terms of the hardware: having been used to the bulky and heavy feel of an analog SLR, I am having trouble handling this light beauty, for no fault of the camera. The tripod screw and the adaptor ring are of plastic - should have been metal to prevent faster wear, but I guess someone who uses telephoto and macro lenses and a tripod would go in for more professional cameras - read hybrid or DSLR - and therefore, its not much of a complaint. The battery compartment lid has a funny latch and hinge mechanism, which could have been better. The telescopic projection and retraction mechanism of the lens is not very smooth. Not serious complaints though. Will stick to the basics here and not get into the image processor, sensor and other serious and boring stuff - assuming that you are not already bored!
Image quality: been good so far: sharp and good for a point and shoot, colour reproduction - good, noise - present at higher ISO (400 and above, which is probably the only thing that I am unhappy with), extremely user friendly with easy to navigate controls and menus that are very intuitive.
All in all, a great camera and total VFM!
Am in the process of setting up a photoblog for those award winning shots ;) until then, check these out!
By the way, I am nowhere near discarding my analog SLR - that's my old and faithful, the camera that got me hooked to photography!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Twenty - Twenty
Fast paced, hectic, entertaining and cricket - I can now say all these in the same breath. Right from the word go, the T20 World Series has been exciting, to say the least. And a match that lasts no longer than three hours means no more bunking work to sit glued to the telly, watching a one day match. The new format of the game has succeeded in doing what its cousins - the limited over one day match and the longer five day test matches - have failed to do: appeal to a wider audience that is bored by 10 fielders lazing on a green oval and two bandaged men with planks of wood ambling from crease to crease. If someone like me, who thought that first slip and second slip referred to layers of innerwear, got hooked on, you can imagine.
The very first match of the series - featuring a ballistic Chris Gayle and a possible victory squandered by West Indies by poor bowling and sloppy fielding - got me interested. The action: the entire innings is played like slog overs, the excitement: it is difficult to predict a winner until the last few overs, if not the last, the shorter duration: 40 overs bowled in about three hours - the equivalent of a five set tennis match or a longish hindi movie, all add to its attractiveness. That this format would be a winner was clear from the first innings in which Chris Gayle blasted away, setting the direction for all future matches and players. For that single feat, he deserves the title of Man of the format.
There could be allegations of match fixing, particularly in high octane matches like the India - Pakistan clashes, particularly for close finishes such as the group level India - Pak match that we won in a bowl out. Even if the match was fixed, it would have taken some skill on part of the match fixers, and the players even, to get the match to as close a finish as the bowl out. Nevertheless, the format IS and will be a huge success and is here to stay.
The best part about the Indian team - underdogs who went on to claim the title - is that they achieved this feat without any of the larger-than-life players a.k.a. Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid et al. This fact probably worked in favour of the young team (average age - 24 years!), which had nothing to lose and everything to gain. None other than probably Sehwag and to a small extent Yuvraj, had a reputation to keep. Therefore, everyone played as a team, and beautifully so. Batsmen at the crease supported the one in form by putting him on strike, fielders supported the excellent bowling with great catches (Dinesh Karthik), direct hits (Robin Uthappa) and great saves. Apart from dependable bowlers like Harbhajan and Irfan who had fantastic spells, the tournament brought out fabulous young talent in Sreesanth and RP Singh. The batsmen were not far behind. Yuvraj with the scintillating six sixes, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir who carried the innings on their shoulders when the line up tottered at times and Uthappa who was fantastic both on the crease and off it. His impromptu ballet style bow to the crowds on getting the stumps in the bowl out against Pakistan is unforgettable. Not to forget the able captaining by the young Mahendra Singh Dhoni - who kept a cool head, supported the younger players with sage advice - the magic words he had with Jogendra Sharma in the last over of the Australia semi-final had this talented bowler snatching two wickets for a measly five runs in THE over that mattered, displayed intelliegent strategy - using Jogendra Sharma again in the last over of the final, and humility. He is probably the only player who has credited the support staff in his post victory speech. He gave all credit to the team and recognised the never appreciated support staff. That IS remarkable.
In the end, these lads played for the love of cricket, played a good game and had a good time. Yuvraj rushing into the ground at the end of the India - England group match and the India - Australia semi-final and Harbhajan's bhangra in the last over of the semi-final and his jig after the victory in the final are etched in memory forever.
Hats off to these young lads who have made us proud.
PS: I now know the difference between first slip and second slip
The very first match of the series - featuring a ballistic Chris Gayle and a possible victory squandered by West Indies by poor bowling and sloppy fielding - got me interested. The action: the entire innings is played like slog overs, the excitement: it is difficult to predict a winner until the last few overs, if not the last, the shorter duration: 40 overs bowled in about three hours - the equivalent of a five set tennis match or a longish hindi movie, all add to its attractiveness. That this format would be a winner was clear from the first innings in which Chris Gayle blasted away, setting the direction for all future matches and players. For that single feat, he deserves the title of Man of the format.
There could be allegations of match fixing, particularly in high octane matches like the India - Pakistan clashes, particularly for close finishes such as the group level India - Pak match that we won in a bowl out. Even if the match was fixed, it would have taken some skill on part of the match fixers, and the players even, to get the match to as close a finish as the bowl out. Nevertheless, the format IS and will be a huge success and is here to stay.
The best part about the Indian team - underdogs who went on to claim the title - is that they achieved this feat without any of the larger-than-life players a.k.a. Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid et al. This fact probably worked in favour of the young team (average age - 24 years!), which had nothing to lose and everything to gain. None other than probably Sehwag and to a small extent Yuvraj, had a reputation to keep. Therefore, everyone played as a team, and beautifully so. Batsmen at the crease supported the one in form by putting him on strike, fielders supported the excellent bowling with great catches (Dinesh Karthik), direct hits (Robin Uthappa) and great saves. Apart from dependable bowlers like Harbhajan and Irfan who had fantastic spells, the tournament brought out fabulous young talent in Sreesanth and RP Singh. The batsmen were not far behind. Yuvraj with the scintillating six sixes, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir who carried the innings on their shoulders when the line up tottered at times and Uthappa who was fantastic both on the crease and off it. His impromptu ballet style bow to the crowds on getting the stumps in the bowl out against Pakistan is unforgettable. Not to forget the able captaining by the young Mahendra Singh Dhoni - who kept a cool head, supported the younger players with sage advice - the magic words he had with Jogendra Sharma in the last over of the Australia semi-final had this talented bowler snatching two wickets for a measly five runs in THE over that mattered, displayed intelliegent strategy - using Jogendra Sharma again in the last over of the final, and humility. He is probably the only player who has credited the support staff in his post victory speech. He gave all credit to the team and recognised the never appreciated support staff. That IS remarkable.
In the end, these lads played for the love of cricket, played a good game and had a good time. Yuvraj rushing into the ground at the end of the India - England group match and the India - Australia semi-final and Harbhajan's bhangra in the last over of the semi-final and his jig after the victory in the final are etched in memory forever.
Hats off to these young lads who have made us proud.
PS: I now know the difference between first slip and second slip
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The Mumbai - Goa motorcycle trip - Part II
After receiving several death threats for not posting the complete account, here is the rest of the installment of the trip and also some photographs
Day 4: Back on the road to Goa
With a reluctant heart (and a still slightly sore bottom) we set out the next day to resume our journey to Goa – reluctant coz we knew that the beaches in Goa would never compare with the one we were leaving behind at Ganapatipule! But the love of biking lured us on. And soon we were happily threading our way back on to NH17 and onwards through the long, lovely, lonely stretches of the last few ghats between Mumbai and Goa.
The ghats after Ganapatipule are nothing spectacular, though the quality of the road appeared to have deteriorated. Watch out however, for numerous little villages that dot the length of the highway where the locals have right of way. But for Gudugu’s trusty brakes (believe me they are good, the front disc brake holds the road in an instantaneous vice like grip), we would have run over the ankle of a village woman who decided to leap in our way from behind a stationary bus. Quick nerves and a quick getaway avoided what would surely have been a small fight.
This stretch marked a personal milestone – crossing the 1,000 km mark on our new bike – an exhilarating moment. Apart from a rattling noise that sounds more like a helicopter taking off and incorrect ignition timing that turns the exhaust pipe blue, the bike’s been handling like a darling, averaging more than 35 kms to the litre. Two days rest (relatively!) and the experience of the 380 kms stretch behind us meant a not so stiff back and a not so sore bottom. The solitude of the unwinding highway with rolling green fields on either side and the rhythmic thumping of the 350 cc engine is a different matter altogether. After briefly considering taking up an alternative career as a motorcycle tour operator and discarding the idea as quickly, we reached Sawantwadi…
With the customary stops for food and rest, we reached Sawantwadi by 4’ish in the evening. A small town, Sawantwadi is known for the Wadi (or Palace) of the Sawant Bhonsales, where the last living Rani of the Bhonsale dynasty still resides. As we walked into the gates of the palace, we ran into who else but Her Highness Rajmata Satvashiladevi sipping tea with her son in the palace garden. Our ardent hope of enjoying a hot cuppa tea and 2 minutes of fame with the royalty was, alas, dashed to the ground as we were led away to witness those parts of the palace that are open to public viewing. We later discovered that the garden tea was occasioned by power failure at the palace. Stuffy heat and lack of any power backup system drew the royalties out into the garden. The grandeur that these royal lawns would have once witnessed…
The palace is nothing phenomenal that can make your jaw hang in awe. Its just plain nice and simple, and a bit run down. I do hope the private residence of the Rajmata is in better shape! If nothing else, the palace is good for some nice shots with your camera and for picking up your own set of the Ganjifa cards. The game of Ganjifa cards, though now out of vogue, was once the game of the royals. Local artisans employed by the royal family are engaged all day long in putting brush to woodpulp and board for creating artifacts which, to me, seem quite exorbitantly priced! Thanks to the efforts of the royal family, the art lives on.
The palace overlooks the Moti Talao (a serene lake in the midst of the hustle-bustle of the town), which also provides you some good photo opportunities. Another Kamath is also handy for a quick bite before you rush off to complete the last 60 kms to your destination – Goa!
The lake itself offers some good photo opportunities – we took maiden photos of the bike with our luggage still strapped on here.
The palace itself is a tad disappointing and its present condition, tragic. The walls of the palace however, are a treasure trove of old photographs, appropriately labeled – ranging from hunting expeditions of the erstwhile Sawant Bhonsale’s sister standing over a panther that she gunned down to the coronation ceremony of the last Sawant. We were totally bowled over by HH Hemalata Raje (the late Sawant Bhonsale’s sister) who as per an account, waited on a treetop with the customary goat bait to hunt down a panther / tiger. And hunt it down she did! There are several sepia toned photographs of her in khaki hunting fatigues, with a sure grip on a mean looking rifle!
Regarding the Kamath…be warned – though the Kamath here is well placed, at the edge of the lake, the fare is below average. The puri in the bhel was soggy and the pav in the pav bhaaji was not fresh.
The last stretch of Ghats just after exit from Sawantwadi is probably the shortest and the worst! So keep your eyes peeled to the road as it twists and turns and heaves and falls sharply. To make matters worse, there is enough loose gravel around the bends to make you feel you are riding on marbles! With this stretch behind you, the rest of the road is quite nondescript. And then, BANG! Suddenly, you’ll find yourself in the thick of mad traffic in Panaji!
A word of caution: the stretch of highway between Sawantwadi and Panaji is narrow and twisty, with several patches of peeling asphalt and little children running all over. The stretch just before you hit Panaji is the worst, filled with potholes galore.
We veered off the NH17 to head towards Calangute, and soon checked into Calangute Residency (a resort run by Goa Tourism Development Corporation) – our haven for the reminder of the days in Goa. Well, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds here! Without prior bookings and with no rooms available, we had to pull up a long and haggard face and give the manager the ‘we’ve-been-riding-all-the-way-from-Mumbai-&-could-drop-dead-any-minute’ story before he obliged! As expected, the resort was bang on the beach, very clean and well maintained, most definitely lacking in ambience, served decent food and was super economical (what with the monsoon discounts and all!).
The food at the hotel was a revelation! Whoever imagined that a Government run resort would cook up delightful and tasty stuff! The breakfast (served in your room!) was again splendid. While here, don’t forget to sample the puri and bhaji. Contrasted with the dry aloo bhaji that is staple with puris along Konkan Maharashtra, the Goan bhaji accompanying the puri, though with an aloo base, has a thin gravy and a hint of tang. The end result? Heavenly! A dash of besan and it would almost be the same delectable bhaji that Amma prepares. Also try out their aloo paratha: served with curd and pickle, the paratha is as good as you can get!
Day 5 and 6 – exploring Goa
A bright and sunny day, God in his heaven and all well with the world, a bike of your own and a loved partner – what more can one ask for! Off we went to explore the known and the unknown corners of Goa. Beaches, forts, churches, temples – you name it, we did it all! If you are less fortunate than us (as in you don’t posses a bike of your own) then you can rent one from virtually any shop in Goa. In respect of other aspects, arrhhmmm, we have no help to offer!
Any good travelogue worth its price will tell you the places to visit in Goa, so we’ll tell you the stuff you just shouldn’t miss! And at the top of that list is Old Goa – the churches here are just mind bogglingly spectacular! The beaches are of course great, but I still maintain they are nothing in comparison to Ganapatipule!
The first stop for the day was Fort Aguada. A former Portuguese bastion, this fort is devised in two storeys. The upper level, which is thronged by tourists has the customary
bastions, turrets, watch towers, and even a defunct lighthouse. Walk along the fort walls for a view of the sea and Panaji in the distance. What caught my fancy though, was the lower level, which is a huge water reservoir. A good part of the upper level is supported on top of this underground reservoir by massive pillars. Barred ventilators on the ground give a sneak preview into the now in disuse massive reservoir that must have once been a harbinger of life to parched sailors arriving from the west. A short drive down the Fort Aguada leads to the Aguada Jail. Not surely a destination for someone visiting Goa on a holiday, but trust us to find the unlikeliest of places to visit! On reaching the gates of the jail (barred for entry, since this is no tourist spot!), we were pleasantly surprised to find another young couple on a hired Scooty looking for photo-opps. Apparently, we were not the only crazy people around!
Our next port of call after Fort Aguada were the famous beaches of Goa. Though no comparison to the serenity of the Ganapatipule beach or the calm white sands of Kashid, the golden sands of the Miramar beach were inviting for two souls worn in the bustle of the city. The sands were hot, but the beach was calm, with hardly any of the otherwise boisterous tourists around. After lounging on the beach for a while, we headed to the Dona Paula beach. What a contrast! Compared to the quite Miramar beach, Dona Paula was a riot of colour and babble of noise! Shacks selling the stipulation “I love Goa” tees to garishly engraved conch shells lined the beach. Transported back to Andheri station for a moment, we bolted right out of the cacophony and headed back to Miramar for a quick bite. Finding Miramar Residency – a GTDC run inn right on the beach, we ambled in wearily and placed our order. What followed was a gastronomical delight. We sampled the best vegetable biriyani ever: not too oily, not too spicy, and just the right amount of gravy and vegetables. And the frozen dessert that followed… delectable.
Throughout our trip, we placed great faith in the Outlook Traveller for tips on places to see and stay. And our faith was proved to be well placed till now. So, understandably, we were very excited to learn of a Brahma Temple in Goa. In recorded history, there is only one Temple of this elusive God, in Rajasthan. So a chance to visit another such temple led us on a wild goose chase all across Goa. And a wild goose chase it was in the end! After traversing the length and breadth of Goa, we finally located the temple and were rather surprised to find a Gomateshwara (Shiva) temple in its stead! But if communion with God is the motive with which you visit a temple, then you’ve certainly come to the right place! Declared as a protected site by the Archeological Survey of India, the place is totally isolated. Not a single soul around to distract you. All you can hear are the sounds of chirping birds and temple bells ringing (well, you’ll need to ring them yourselves!). You can have your tête-à-tête with God to your heart’s content.
The Brahma Temple was indeed a disappointment. Setting out on what almost seemed to be a wild goose chase that took us through the campus of the University of Goa, never ending winding village roads, we finally reached an obscure place – Brahmapuri - that sounded like the right place. Reaching the temple, which was closed at the time, we realized there was no way it could be a Brahma Temple. Not with a Nandi in the front of the temple and shivlings on the vimana of the sanctum. Disappointed, we turned towards Old Goa.
Old Goa is indeed a delight. The Basilica of Bom Jesus, where the mortal remains of St.
Francis Xavier are embalmed is an architectural delight. Constructed from basalt and laterite, the church with its richly carved pulpit, gilded altar and expansive ceilings transported us into a different era. Compulsive shutterbugs that we are, several rolls of film were exhausted in this one monument. Fading light forced us to turn back to Calangute and we left Old Goa and what was left to explore of it for the next day.
Returning to Calangute, we headed straight to the Calangute beach. We spent many hours chatting (yes!) on the beach and gazing at the stars, picking out the constellations. We even sighted the flicker of the Aguada lighthouse in the distance! What bliss, to be sitting on a beach unpolluted, gazing at the stars overhead with the roar of the crashing waves in the background! Never would such a feat be possible in Mumbai. I savored every moment of this peace…
We started the day heading off to the ruins of St. Augustine’s Tower in Old Goa. A stone’s throw away from the Basilica of Bom Jesus, this church certainly had seen better days. A crumbling bell tower, long collapsed ceiling, and were once vast prayer halls are all that are left of this once magnificent church. The Archaeological Survey of India has done much to clear the place of dense shrubbery that had overtaken the ruins. According to the ASI, the place was so once bad that the movie Gumnaam was shot here! St Augustine’s has lots of photo opportunities – archways, broad stairs, platforms, awnings and the like. Be careful when you step on the platforms or the stairs – rain fed alga makes them slippery to the touch.
A stone’s throw away from St. Augustine’s is the Museum of Christian Art. The well maintained Museum has many artifacts from over five centuries, including a manuscript (the handwriting was more beautiful than any printed document I have seen) setting out rules for girls joining the convent. After a quick look through the Museum, we headed to the “Gateway of Goa” located within the premises of the Church of St Cajetan.
The Gateway turned out to be nothing more than a stone doorframe / archway, less than fifteen feet tall. The gateway was created by one of the Bijapur sultans and brought to its current resting place when the Portuguese overwhelmed the local rulers. A stone’s throw away is the Church of St Cajetan. Situated in a sprawling premises, many parts of the Church are under renovation and the ASI has laid out wooden planks for tourists to walk on. The central dome of the Church was imposing and I got down on my knees for some long exposure shots. My antics lying on the ground caught the attention of one of the keepers who walked in to investigate.
Day 4: Back on the road to Goa
With a reluctant heart (and a still slightly sore bottom) we set out the next day to resume our journey to Goa – reluctant coz we knew that the beaches in Goa would never compare with the one we were leaving behind at Ganapatipule! But the love of biking lured us on. And soon we were happily threading our way back on to NH17 and onwards through the long, lovely, lonely stretches of the last few ghats between Mumbai and Goa.
The ghats after Ganapatipule are nothing spectacular, though the quality of the road appeared to have deteriorated. Watch out however, for numerous little villages that dot the length of the highway where the locals have right of way. But for Gudugu’s trusty brakes (believe me they are good, the front disc brake holds the road in an instantaneous vice like grip), we would have run over the ankle of a village woman who decided to leap in our way from behind a stationary bus. Quick nerves and a quick getaway avoided what would surely have been a small fight.
This stretch marked a personal milestone – crossing the 1,000 km mark on our new bike – an exhilarating moment. Apart from a rattling noise that sounds more like a helicopter taking off and incorrect ignition timing that turns the exhaust pipe blue, the bike’s been handling like a darling, averaging more than 35 kms to the litre. Two days rest (relatively!) and the experience of the 380 kms stretch behind us meant a not so stiff back and a not so sore bottom. The solitude of the unwinding highway with rolling green fields on either side and the rhythmic thumping of the 350 cc engine is a different matter altogether. After briefly considering taking up an alternative career as a motorcycle tour operator and discarding the idea as quickly, we reached Sawantwadi…
With the customary stops for food and rest, we reached Sawantwadi by 4’ish in the evening. A small town, Sawantwadi is known for the Wadi (or Palace) of the Sawant Bhonsales, where the last living Rani of the Bhonsale dynasty still resides. As we walked into the gates of the palace, we ran into who else but Her Highness Rajmata Satvashiladevi sipping tea with her son in the palace garden. Our ardent hope of enjoying a hot cuppa tea and 2 minutes of fame with the royalty was, alas, dashed to the ground as we were led away to witness those parts of the palace that are open to public viewing. We later discovered that the garden tea was occasioned by power failure at the palace. Stuffy heat and lack of any power backup system drew the royalties out into the garden. The grandeur that these royal lawns would have once witnessed…
The palace is nothing phenomenal that can make your jaw hang in awe. Its just plain nice and simple, and a bit run down. I do hope the private residence of the Rajmata is in better shape! If nothing else, the palace is good for some nice shots with your camera and for picking up your own set of the Ganjifa cards. The game of Ganjifa cards, though now out of vogue, was once the game of the royals. Local artisans employed by the royal family are engaged all day long in putting brush to woodpulp and board for creating artifacts which, to me, seem quite exorbitantly priced! Thanks to the efforts of the royal family, the art lives on.
The palace overlooks the Moti Talao (a serene lake in the midst of the hustle-bustle of the town), which also provides you some good photo opportunities. Another Kamath is also handy for a quick bite before you rush off to complete the last 60 kms to your destination – Goa!
The lake itself offers some good photo opportunities – we took maiden photos of the bike with our luggage still strapped on here.
The palace itself is a tad disappointing and its present condition, tragic. The walls of the palace however, are a treasure trove of old photographs, appropriately labeled – ranging from hunting expeditions of the erstwhile Sawant Bhonsale’s sister standing over a panther that she gunned down to the coronation ceremony of the last Sawant. We were totally bowled over by HH Hemalata Raje (the late Sawant Bhonsale’s sister) who as per an account, waited on a treetop with the customary goat bait to hunt down a panther / tiger. And hunt it down she did! There are several sepia toned photographs of her in khaki hunting fatigues, with a sure grip on a mean looking rifle!Regarding the Kamath…be warned – though the Kamath here is well placed, at the edge of the lake, the fare is below average. The puri in the bhel was soggy and the pav in the pav bhaaji was not fresh.
The last stretch of Ghats just after exit from Sawantwadi is probably the shortest and the worst! So keep your eyes peeled to the road as it twists and turns and heaves and falls sharply. To make matters worse, there is enough loose gravel around the bends to make you feel you are riding on marbles! With this stretch behind you, the rest of the road is quite nondescript. And then, BANG! Suddenly, you’ll find yourself in the thick of mad traffic in Panaji!
A word of caution: the stretch of highway between Sawantwadi and Panaji is narrow and twisty, with several patches of peeling asphalt and little children running all over. The stretch just before you hit Panaji is the worst, filled with potholes galore.
We veered off the NH17 to head towards Calangute, and soon checked into Calangute Residency (a resort run by Goa Tourism Development Corporation) – our haven for the reminder of the days in Goa. Well, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds here! Without prior bookings and with no rooms available, we had to pull up a long and haggard face and give the manager the ‘we’ve-been-riding-all-the-way-from-Mumbai-&-could-drop-dead-any-minute’ story before he obliged! As expected, the resort was bang on the beach, very clean and well maintained, most definitely lacking in ambience, served decent food and was super economical (what with the monsoon discounts and all!).
The food at the hotel was a revelation! Whoever imagined that a Government run resort would cook up delightful and tasty stuff! The breakfast (served in your room!) was again splendid. While here, don’t forget to sample the puri and bhaji. Contrasted with the dry aloo bhaji that is staple with puris along Konkan Maharashtra, the Goan bhaji accompanying the puri, though with an aloo base, has a thin gravy and a hint of tang. The end result? Heavenly! A dash of besan and it would almost be the same delectable bhaji that Amma prepares. Also try out their aloo paratha: served with curd and pickle, the paratha is as good as you can get!
Day 5 and 6 – exploring Goa
A bright and sunny day, God in his heaven and all well with the world, a bike of your own and a loved partner – what more can one ask for! Off we went to explore the known and the unknown corners of Goa. Beaches, forts, churches, temples – you name it, we did it all! If you are less fortunate than us (as in you don’t posses a bike of your own) then you can rent one from virtually any shop in Goa. In respect of other aspects, arrhhmmm, we have no help to offer!
Any good travelogue worth its price will tell you the places to visit in Goa, so we’ll tell you the stuff you just shouldn’t miss! And at the top of that list is Old Goa – the churches here are just mind bogglingly spectacular! The beaches are of course great, but I still maintain they are nothing in comparison to Ganapatipule!
The first stop for the day was Fort Aguada. A former Portuguese bastion, this fort is devised in two storeys. The upper level, which is thronged by tourists has the customary
bastions, turrets, watch towers, and even a defunct lighthouse. Walk along the fort walls for a view of the sea and Panaji in the distance. What caught my fancy though, was the lower level, which is a huge water reservoir. A good part of the upper level is supported on top of this underground reservoir by massive pillars. Barred ventilators on the ground give a sneak preview into the now in disuse massive reservoir that must have once been a harbinger of life to parched sailors arriving from the west. A short drive down the Fort Aguada leads to the Aguada Jail. Not surely a destination for someone visiting Goa on a holiday, but trust us to find the unlikeliest of places to visit! On reaching the gates of the jail (barred for entry, since this is no tourist spot!), we were pleasantly surprised to find another young couple on a hired Scooty looking for photo-opps. Apparently, we were not the only crazy people around!Our next port of call after Fort Aguada were the famous beaches of Goa. Though no comparison to the serenity of the Ganapatipule beach or the calm white sands of Kashid, the golden sands of the Miramar beach were inviting for two souls worn in the bustle of the city. The sands were hot, but the beach was calm, with hardly any of the otherwise boisterous tourists around. After lounging on the beach for a while, we headed to the Dona Paula beach. What a contrast! Compared to the quite Miramar beach, Dona Paula was a riot of colour and babble of noise! Shacks selling the stipulation “I love Goa” tees to garishly engraved conch shells lined the beach. Transported back to Andheri station for a moment, we bolted right out of the cacophony and headed back to Miramar for a quick bite. Finding Miramar Residency – a GTDC run inn right on the beach, we ambled in wearily and placed our order. What followed was a gastronomical delight. We sampled the best vegetable biriyani ever: not too oily, not too spicy, and just the right amount of gravy and vegetables. And the frozen dessert that followed… delectable.
Throughout our trip, we placed great faith in the Outlook Traveller for tips on places to see and stay. And our faith was proved to be well placed till now. So, understandably, we were very excited to learn of a Brahma Temple in Goa. In recorded history, there is only one Temple of this elusive God, in Rajasthan. So a chance to visit another such temple led us on a wild goose chase all across Goa. And a wild goose chase it was in the end! After traversing the length and breadth of Goa, we finally located the temple and were rather surprised to find a Gomateshwara (Shiva) temple in its stead! But if communion with God is the motive with which you visit a temple, then you’ve certainly come to the right place! Declared as a protected site by the Archeological Survey of India, the place is totally isolated. Not a single soul around to distract you. All you can hear are the sounds of chirping birds and temple bells ringing (well, you’ll need to ring them yourselves!). You can have your tête-à-tête with God to your heart’s content.
The Brahma Temple was indeed a disappointment. Setting out on what almost seemed to be a wild goose chase that took us through the campus of the University of Goa, never ending winding village roads, we finally reached an obscure place – Brahmapuri - that sounded like the right place. Reaching the temple, which was closed at the time, we realized there was no way it could be a Brahma Temple. Not with a Nandi in the front of the temple and shivlings on the vimana of the sanctum. Disappointed, we turned towards Old Goa.
Old Goa is indeed a delight. The Basilica of Bom Jesus, where the mortal remains of St.
Francis Xavier are embalmed is an architectural delight. Constructed from basalt and laterite, the church with its richly carved pulpit, gilded altar and expansive ceilings transported us into a different era. Compulsive shutterbugs that we are, several rolls of film were exhausted in this one monument. Fading light forced us to turn back to Calangute and we left Old Goa and what was left to explore of it for the next day.Returning to Calangute, we headed straight to the Calangute beach. We spent many hours chatting (yes!) on the beach and gazing at the stars, picking out the constellations. We even sighted the flicker of the Aguada lighthouse in the distance! What bliss, to be sitting on a beach unpolluted, gazing at the stars overhead with the roar of the crashing waves in the background! Never would such a feat be possible in Mumbai. I savored every moment of this peace…
We started the day heading off to the ruins of St. Augustine’s Tower in Old Goa. A stone’s throw away from the Basilica of Bom Jesus, this church certainly had seen better days. A crumbling bell tower, long collapsed ceiling, and were once vast prayer halls are all that are left of this once magnificent church. The Archaeological Survey of India has done much to clear the place of dense shrubbery that had overtaken the ruins. According to the ASI, the place was so once bad that the movie Gumnaam was shot here! St Augustine’s has lots of photo opportunities – archways, broad stairs, platforms, awnings and the like. Be careful when you step on the platforms or the stairs – rain fed alga makes them slippery to the touch.A stone’s throw away from St. Augustine’s is the Museum of Christian Art. The well maintained Museum has many artifacts from over five centuries, including a manuscript (the handwriting was more beautiful than any printed document I have seen) setting out rules for girls joining the convent. After a quick look through the Museum, we headed to the “Gateway of Goa” located within the premises of the Church of St Cajetan.
The Gateway turned out to be nothing more than a stone doorframe / archway, less than fifteen feet tall. The gateway was created by one of the Bijapur sultans and brought to its current resting place when the Portuguese overwhelmed the local rulers. A stone’s throw away is the Church of St Cajetan. Situated in a sprawling premises, many parts of the Church are under renovation and the ASI has laid out wooden planks for tourists to walk on. The central dome of the Church was imposing and I got down on my knees for some long exposure shots. My antics lying on the ground caught the attention of one of the keepers who walked in to investigate. 
She left shortly, convinced that I was either a madcap or a top notch professional photographer!
We headed back to the Basilica of Bom Jesus for snaps that the previ
ous day’s fading light has prevented us from clicking. Across the road from the Basilica is the Se Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of St Catherine of Alexandria. An imposing whitewashed structure, the campus also houses the office of the ASI and another Museum of Christian Art. The white imposing structure of the Cathedral is set in the midst of a sprawling manicured garden. By the time we approached the entrance to the Cathedral, we were so tired that we decided to limit the photos here and head for a good meal.
The last sightseeing spot on our itinerary was the Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception – the site of many Hindi movies – right from Amar Akbar Anthony (remember the white church with criss crossing steps) to Bichhoo (Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Chandrachur Singh).
Before that, however, I was keen to get my bike checked up at a Enfield service centre, for the engine was now sounding like a rattling old ceiling fan. The service centre we found easily. The mechanic grumbled that we had dropped in un announced, that he had several bikes to service and that we should come back the next day or leave the bike with him for a couple of days. That was ruled out since we had to head back the next morning. However, the legendary Bulletteer camaraderie surfaced when we told him that we had biked down all the way from Mumbai and that we had to leave the next morning and could not afford to set off on a bike that was probably unfit for such a long travel. The service centre in-charge immediately directed the more than willing mechanic, who had by now dropped whatever he was doing to inspect our bike. After the mandatory check of the engine oil level and gearbox oil level and tightening of the various levers and cables, he gave a satisfactory nod. He also took it for a short ride and assured a concerned me that the noise was routine (this is a Bullet you are riding, he reminded) and nothing to be bothered about. Reassured, and proud once again to be riding a great bike, we set out for the Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception. With no other bikes can you witness such camaraderie. Bullet! What a legend!
Finding the Church, which by all description ought to be famous, was another matter altogether. While I was asking locals for “the Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception” (you can imagine the bewilderment on their faces!), wifey dear reminded me to go by a much simpler description, for no one would probably use such a long name to refer to a name so long. Imagine asking a Juhu panwalla for a temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness! He would probably think you landed on the wrong planet! So it was that we asked for “bada church”, “famous church”, “purana church” etc., and finally landed at the appointed place. The façade of the Church was pretty – with symmetrical, criss crossing stairs. We took many snaps here. After seeing the grandeur of the Basilica of Bom Jesus and the majesty of the Church of St Cajetan and St Augustine, the inside of this Church was a bit disappointing, though to be fair, the comparison was not called for. A Kamath restaurant nearby beckoned us and two weary nomads walked in to the welcoming AC (never realized AC could be so refreshing!). The fare, though average, was far better than what we sampled at Sawantwadi. As dusk fell, we turned our backs to Panaji and headed back to Calangute for another evening of peace with the surf and the stars! And peace we had! Building sand castles, though we could never agree on the architecture, resulting in our sand castle resembling something of a cross between St Augustine’s Tower and the Aguada Fort!
Day 7 – Homewards drawn
The thought of home and work beckoned us and we packed up our few belongings and headed home. But only, the trip back home was vastly different from the one onwards. While the Ghats were as wonderfully breathtaking as ever, this time we too ended up getting as rain-soaked as the Ghats! Incessant driving rains hampered our way, but not our spirit. Riding through clouds lifting up from the valley lifted up our spirits with them and we rode on – sometimes along with the clouds, sometimes into them, sometimes chasing them and at other times being chased by them. Thanks to our riding jackets, we managed to avoid getting soaked to the last bone, though there weren’t many bones left undrenched! Finally, and thankfully, well before dark, we reached Chiplun, our destination for that night’s halt.
The ride back upto Chiplun was wonderful and we rested a bit easy, in the knowledge that there was nothing wrong with the bike and the fact that we now knew the way back! The ride upto Chiplun was otherwise, without incident if you discount the fact that we got soaking wet (inspite of the thick jackets!) and my riding boots were sloshing with several litres of rainwater!
Chiplun was a surprise package altogether. We hadn’t realized until then that Chiplun could be a good weekend getaway in the monsoons! Located in the midst of Ghats among floating clouds, a beautiful Savitri River flowing by (in spate during the monsoons), and a good star resort to stay, Chiplun is a good destination to spend a quite weekend away from Mumbai. Once again, we didn’t have reservations at the resort, and this time our story of ‘riding-all-day-&-dead-on-our-toes’ story didn’t work too! (Moral of the story: you can fool some people with some tricks, but you can’t fool all people with the same tricks!) Fortunately though, the people at the resort were good enough to direct us to another hotel some 6 kms ahead towards Mumbai and even called up and blocked a room for us there while we made our way thither. And luck was on our side this time too! The hotel (called Hotel Pagoda for some strange reason), though small and rather no-frills type, is total value for money. And their restaurant just left us licking our fingers! Apparently, this place is quite famous even in Chiplun town and several eminent companies (Chiplun being an industrial town) and social groups (such as the Lions Club) prefer to conduct their meetings and conferences here.
Day 8 – Back to the madding crowd
What was of interest to us in Chiplun though was an ancient temple of Parashurama Rishi. Over 700 years old, the temple is around 6 kms outside of Chiplun town on NH17, towards Mumbai.
The temple of Bhagawan Parashurama is located near the apex of the Parshuram Ghat. To reach the temple, we had to backtrack and hit the ghat road again. As we climbed the ghat, a passing cloud cover hit us head on and we were literally riding through the cloud. It was exhilarating to ride through the clouds in visibility less than fifty feet, on a steep ghat road with no idea of the oncoming traffic or the bend in the road, headlights on high beam (it was eight in the morning). How I wish I had a point and shoot to immortalize these moments in print. A rock strewn road led us to the Parashurama Temple, which was indeed old world. Legend has it that Bhagawan Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu, threw his axe into the sea and the Konkan emerged out of the sea. The Parashurama Temple is said to be the very spot where his ashram stood. The temple itself is of ancient construction, with shoddy renovations and improvisations. The sanctum has the idols of Bhagawan Parashurama with kala and kama - whom he conquered - on either side. Remember to ask the pujari for the sthalapurana i.e., the legend of the place. Though the outer structures are badly preserved, their condition worsened by shoddy additions / renovations, the sanctum itself vibrates with a powerful energy. Spend some time here, if you will. Though, oil lamps in the stead of fluorescent lights would have been better. Remember, that photography in the temple premises is prohibited.
The cloud cover had passed by the time we completed our darshan of the temple and we rode back in relative ease (but far less thrill). It was now time to hit the highway back to the madding crowds of Mumbai.
Rejuvenated by an early morning visit to this temple, we proceeded on our way to Mumbai. It rained cats and dogs and several other animals that day and we were soaked and shivering by the time we approached the outskirts to Mumbai.
This was the second day in running that we were riding in driving rain, the rain today far worse than yesterday. Our attempts to outsmart the rain gods were in vain, for wherever we went, it was heavily overcast and pouring. On the way, we crossed several rivers in spate, their water levels visibly higher than during our onward journey. Crossing the Kashedi Ghat was thrilling again, as we rode through clouds of mist (it was noon) and several steep curves. But for a speeding Tata Sumo that almost pushed us off the road, the ride through the ghats was without incident. Nor did we savour the lunch at a nondescript place, since we were keen to get home at the earliest. In the process, we even skipped the mandatory stop for late afternoon snacks, choosing instead to ride home non-stop, without even stopping for the hourly break.
We knew we were nearing civilization as we ran into a mad stream of trucks, buses and other assorted vehicles at Vadhkal Naka. Rain had slowed the traffic to a crawl and I had to wind up the throttle to zig zag through slow moving heavy vehicles. The traffic condition improved somewhat as we approached Panvel and we bid goodbye to the last of greenery as we exited Panvel and headed towards Vashi. The last bend in the highway before you hit the straight stretch to Vashi has the last spots of greenery. It was back into the concrete jungle and pollution again. What a torture to get into the smog barely hours after riding through the clouds! An hour later, after negotiating crazy traffic at Vashi, Chembur, Sion and BKC (and attracting curious glances of fellow motorists who were no doubt awed / amused at the bundles of luggage strapped to the bike and the riding gear that we were in) we hit the last mile that separated us from home – the Western Express Highway.
The soaking condition that we were in, and on a stomach fed on poor lunch, made us even overlook the jarring contrast of the never ending concrete in Mumbai to the beautiful hues of green and brown that we had just left behind. We were just longing to get back into the cozy warmth of our home, feel the fingers of hot jets of water from the shower caress our skins, eat some deliciously mouthwatering home cooked food, and curl-up in bed tucked into warm sheets! Bliss! Now I know why its called Home Sweet Home!
As I rolled into the parking lot of my apartment block, the speedometer read 2047 – 1,600 kms, a stiff back and a sore bottom! What a holiday it was!
ous day’s fading light has prevented us from clicking. Across the road from the Basilica is the Se Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of St Catherine of Alexandria. An imposing whitewashed structure, the campus also houses the office of the ASI and another Museum of Christian Art. The white imposing structure of the Cathedral is set in the midst of a sprawling manicured garden. By the time we approached the entrance to the Cathedral, we were so tired that we decided to limit the photos here and head for a good meal.The last sightseeing spot on our itinerary was the Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception – the site of many Hindi movies – right from Amar Akbar Anthony (remember the white church with criss crossing steps) to Bichhoo (Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Chandrachur Singh).
Before that, however, I was keen to get my bike checked up at a Enfield service centre, for the engine was now sounding like a rattling old ceiling fan. The service centre we found easily. The mechanic grumbled that we had dropped in un announced, that he had several bikes to service and that we should come back the next day or leave the bike with him for a couple of days. That was ruled out since we had to head back the next morning. However, the legendary Bulletteer camaraderie surfaced when we told him that we had biked down all the way from Mumbai and that we had to leave the next morning and could not afford to set off on a bike that was probably unfit for such a long travel. The service centre in-charge immediately directed the more than willing mechanic, who had by now dropped whatever he was doing to inspect our bike. After the mandatory check of the engine oil level and gearbox oil level and tightening of the various levers and cables, he gave a satisfactory nod. He also took it for a short ride and assured a concerned me that the noise was routine (this is a Bullet you are riding, he reminded) and nothing to be bothered about. Reassured, and proud once again to be riding a great bike, we set out for the Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception. With no other bikes can you witness such camaraderie. Bullet! What a legend!
Finding the Church, which by all description ought to be famous, was another matter altogether. While I was asking locals for “the Church of our Lady of Immaculate Conception” (you can imagine the bewilderment on their faces!), wifey dear reminded me to go by a much simpler description, for no one would probably use such a long name to refer to a name so long. Imagine asking a Juhu panwalla for a temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness! He would probably think you landed on the wrong planet! So it was that we asked for “bada church”, “famous church”, “purana church” etc., and finally landed at the appointed place. The façade of the Church was pretty – with symmetrical, criss crossing stairs. We took many snaps here. After seeing the grandeur of the Basilica of Bom Jesus and the majesty of the Church of St Cajetan and St Augustine, the inside of this Church was a bit disappointing, though to be fair, the comparison was not called for. A Kamath restaurant nearby beckoned us and two weary nomads walked in to the welcoming AC (never realized AC could be so refreshing!). The fare, though average, was far better than what we sampled at Sawantwadi. As dusk fell, we turned our backs to Panaji and headed back to Calangute for another evening of peace with the surf and the stars! And peace we had! Building sand castles, though we could never agree on the architecture, resulting in our sand castle resembling something of a cross between St Augustine’s Tower and the Aguada Fort!
Day 7 – Homewards drawn
The thought of home and work beckoned us and we packed up our few belongings and headed home. But only, the trip back home was vastly different from the one onwards. While the Ghats were as wonderfully breathtaking as ever, this time we too ended up getting as rain-soaked as the Ghats! Incessant driving rains hampered our way, but not our spirit. Riding through clouds lifting up from the valley lifted up our spirits with them and we rode on – sometimes along with the clouds, sometimes into them, sometimes chasing them and at other times being chased by them. Thanks to our riding jackets, we managed to avoid getting soaked to the last bone, though there weren’t many bones left undrenched! Finally, and thankfully, well before dark, we reached Chiplun, our destination for that night’s halt.
The ride back upto Chiplun was wonderful and we rested a bit easy, in the knowledge that there was nothing wrong with the bike and the fact that we now knew the way back! The ride upto Chiplun was otherwise, without incident if you discount the fact that we got soaking wet (inspite of the thick jackets!) and my riding boots were sloshing with several litres of rainwater!
Chiplun was a surprise package altogether. We hadn’t realized until then that Chiplun could be a good weekend getaway in the monsoons! Located in the midst of Ghats among floating clouds, a beautiful Savitri River flowing by (in spate during the monsoons), and a good star resort to stay, Chiplun is a good destination to spend a quite weekend away from Mumbai. Once again, we didn’t have reservations at the resort, and this time our story of ‘riding-all-day-&-dead-on-our-toes’ story didn’t work too! (Moral of the story: you can fool some people with some tricks, but you can’t fool all people with the same tricks!) Fortunately though, the people at the resort were good enough to direct us to another hotel some 6 kms ahead towards Mumbai and even called up and blocked a room for us there while we made our way thither. And luck was on our side this time too! The hotel (called Hotel Pagoda for some strange reason), though small and rather no-frills type, is total value for money. And their restaurant just left us licking our fingers! Apparently, this place is quite famous even in Chiplun town and several eminent companies (Chiplun being an industrial town) and social groups (such as the Lions Club) prefer to conduct their meetings and conferences here.
Day 8 – Back to the madding crowd
What was of interest to us in Chiplun though was an ancient temple of Parashurama Rishi. Over 700 years old, the temple is around 6 kms outside of Chiplun town on NH17, towards Mumbai.
The temple of Bhagawan Parashurama is located near the apex of the Parshuram Ghat. To reach the temple, we had to backtrack and hit the ghat road again. As we climbed the ghat, a passing cloud cover hit us head on and we were literally riding through the cloud. It was exhilarating to ride through the clouds in visibility less than fifty feet, on a steep ghat road with no idea of the oncoming traffic or the bend in the road, headlights on high beam (it was eight in the morning). How I wish I had a point and shoot to immortalize these moments in print. A rock strewn road led us to the Parashurama Temple, which was indeed old world. Legend has it that Bhagawan Parashurama, the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu, threw his axe into the sea and the Konkan emerged out of the sea. The Parashurama Temple is said to be the very spot where his ashram stood. The temple itself is of ancient construction, with shoddy renovations and improvisations. The sanctum has the idols of Bhagawan Parashurama with kala and kama - whom he conquered - on either side. Remember to ask the pujari for the sthalapurana i.e., the legend of the place. Though the outer structures are badly preserved, their condition worsened by shoddy additions / renovations, the sanctum itself vibrates with a powerful energy. Spend some time here, if you will. Though, oil lamps in the stead of fluorescent lights would have been better. Remember, that photography in the temple premises is prohibited.
The cloud cover had passed by the time we completed our darshan of the temple and we rode back in relative ease (but far less thrill). It was now time to hit the highway back to the madding crowds of Mumbai.
Rejuvenated by an early morning visit to this temple, we proceeded on our way to Mumbai. It rained cats and dogs and several other animals that day and we were soaked and shivering by the time we approached the outskirts to Mumbai.
This was the second day in running that we were riding in driving rain, the rain today far worse than yesterday. Our attempts to outsmart the rain gods were in vain, for wherever we went, it was heavily overcast and pouring. On the way, we crossed several rivers in spate, their water levels visibly higher than during our onward journey. Crossing the Kashedi Ghat was thrilling again, as we rode through clouds of mist (it was noon) and several steep curves. But for a speeding Tata Sumo that almost pushed us off the road, the ride through the ghats was without incident. Nor did we savour the lunch at a nondescript place, since we were keen to get home at the earliest. In the process, we even skipped the mandatory stop for late afternoon snacks, choosing instead to ride home non-stop, without even stopping for the hourly break.
We knew we were nearing civilization as we ran into a mad stream of trucks, buses and other assorted vehicles at Vadhkal Naka. Rain had slowed the traffic to a crawl and I had to wind up the throttle to zig zag through slow moving heavy vehicles. The traffic condition improved somewhat as we approached Panvel and we bid goodbye to the last of greenery as we exited Panvel and headed towards Vashi. The last bend in the highway before you hit the straight stretch to Vashi has the last spots of greenery. It was back into the concrete jungle and pollution again. What a torture to get into the smog barely hours after riding through the clouds! An hour later, after negotiating crazy traffic at Vashi, Chembur, Sion and BKC (and attracting curious glances of fellow motorists who were no doubt awed / amused at the bundles of luggage strapped to the bike and the riding gear that we were in) we hit the last mile that separated us from home – the Western Express Highway.
The soaking condition that we were in, and on a stomach fed on poor lunch, made us even overlook the jarring contrast of the never ending concrete in Mumbai to the beautiful hues of green and brown that we had just left behind. We were just longing to get back into the cozy warmth of our home, feel the fingers of hot jets of water from the shower caress our skins, eat some deliciously mouthwatering home cooked food, and curl-up in bed tucked into warm sheets! Bliss! Now I know why its called Home Sweet Home!
As I rolled into the parking lot of my apartment block, the speedometer read 2047 – 1,600 kms, a stiff back and a sore bottom! What a holiday it was!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Of "the whole and the part"
Received this comment from Meenal on my post Time travel, space time and the works; it is so thought provoking that I had to post it in full. Here goes...
In your posting on Time travel, space time and the works dated Wednesday, August 08, 2007 you have mentioned: "... purnasya purnamadaya purnamevava shishyate...Purna can be roughly translated as 'the whole', the translation being a far cry from the true meaning. Purna is the whole, the all encompassing ... the everything. In that sense, purna is nothing but the universe, because the universe is the whole, the all encompassing, the everything. Now, a translation of the verse would be: "if you remove the whole from the whole, the whole remains!" That is, if you remove the universe from the universe, you are left with the universe!"
There is another interpretation to this. Krsna has used this sloka in the Gita to describe to Arjuna how we all are united with the God in spirit. That our soul, that we, are nothing but Him. The Whole, the all encompassing, the everything, is God! The human soul has been formed out of Him, the Supreme. Therefore, applying the above sloka, we are HIM.
Let me make this simpler with an example. Consider an Apple. For the time being, the Apple (we’ll call it Apple1) is the Whole. Now, cut a portion out of this Whole Apple (say 1/4th) (we'll call this portion Apple2). Now what happens??? If you ignore the quantitative aspect (whereby you are left with 2 apple pieces) and concentrate ONLY on the qualitative aspect, you will see that the Apple1 is still, in essence, an Apple though a portion has been removed from it; whereas now Apple2 as also become an Apple (as it now has the standalone essence of an Apple in itself). Thus, when you removed a part from the Whole (ie our Apple) the Whole still remains the Whole and the part also has become the Whole. Once again, I urge you to concentrate only on the qualitative aspect of this.
Apply this example to the human soul. Let God be the Whole. The human soul is formed out of Him. While a part of Him has been transformed into the human soul, He still remains the Whole; and by virtue of having a part of his essence in us, we too have become the Whole – Him!
Let’s take this to the next level now. And let's take our Apple1 again – the Whole. Beat it into a pulp. What happens? It becomes Apple pulp. What if instead of pulp, you decided to make juice out of it? Then it becomes Apple juice. How about a milk shake? Or tarts? Then we'd end up with Apple milkshake or Apple tart. No matter what you do to the Apple, it always retains its basic essence; that of being an apple! The Whole! An apple seed will always sprout only into an apple tree – never into a coconut tree!
Now consider the processes we performed on the Apple (viz beating into pulp, making juice, milkshake, tarts, etc). The Apple has to bear the brunt of the process performed on it and will hence take the next external form accordingly (as pulp, liquid, solid, etc). But no matter what process is performed, the Apple NEVER EVER loses its essence (that of being an Apple)! Akin the processes performed on the Apple to the actions performed by us, humans – our Karma. Our soul too has to bear the brunt of our actions, our Karma, and in the next birth it will take form accordingly. Hence, depending on our actions, we will be born as higher mortals or lower mortals (such as animals). But, alike the Apple, our soul never ever loses the essence of being Him!
This leads to the most conclusive proof that we all are indeed truly and closely attached to God! We ARE Him! And He IS us!
Krsna has beautifully summarized into a few words the greatest knowledge that a man can ever aspire to learn!!!! May this knowledge be with us and lead us to realizing our true selves!
Om shantih shantih shantih!!!
In your posting on Time travel, space time and the works dated Wednesday, August 08, 2007 you have mentioned: "... purnasya purnamadaya purnamevava shishyate...Purna can be roughly translated as 'the whole', the translation being a far cry from the true meaning. Purna is the whole, the all encompassing ... the everything. In that sense, purna is nothing but the universe, because the universe is the whole, the all encompassing, the everything. Now, a translation of the verse would be: "if you remove the whole from the whole, the whole remains!" That is, if you remove the universe from the universe, you are left with the universe!"
There is another interpretation to this. Krsna has used this sloka in the Gita to describe to Arjuna how we all are united with the God in spirit. That our soul, that we, are nothing but Him. The Whole, the all encompassing, the everything, is God! The human soul has been formed out of Him, the Supreme. Therefore, applying the above sloka, we are HIM.
Let me make this simpler with an example. Consider an Apple. For the time being, the Apple (we’ll call it Apple1) is the Whole. Now, cut a portion out of this Whole Apple (say 1/4th) (we'll call this portion Apple2). Now what happens??? If you ignore the quantitative aspect (whereby you are left with 2 apple pieces) and concentrate ONLY on the qualitative aspect, you will see that the Apple1 is still, in essence, an Apple though a portion has been removed from it; whereas now Apple2 as also become an Apple (as it now has the standalone essence of an Apple in itself). Thus, when you removed a part from the Whole (ie our Apple) the Whole still remains the Whole and the part also has become the Whole. Once again, I urge you to concentrate only on the qualitative aspect of this.
Apply this example to the human soul. Let God be the Whole. The human soul is formed out of Him. While a part of Him has been transformed into the human soul, He still remains the Whole; and by virtue of having a part of his essence in us, we too have become the Whole – Him!
Let’s take this to the next level now. And let's take our Apple1 again – the Whole. Beat it into a pulp. What happens? It becomes Apple pulp. What if instead of pulp, you decided to make juice out of it? Then it becomes Apple juice. How about a milk shake? Or tarts? Then we'd end up with Apple milkshake or Apple tart. No matter what you do to the Apple, it always retains its basic essence; that of being an apple! The Whole! An apple seed will always sprout only into an apple tree – never into a coconut tree!
Now consider the processes we performed on the Apple (viz beating into pulp, making juice, milkshake, tarts, etc). The Apple has to bear the brunt of the process performed on it and will hence take the next external form accordingly (as pulp, liquid, solid, etc). But no matter what process is performed, the Apple NEVER EVER loses its essence (that of being an Apple)! Akin the processes performed on the Apple to the actions performed by us, humans – our Karma. Our soul too has to bear the brunt of our actions, our Karma, and in the next birth it will take form accordingly. Hence, depending on our actions, we will be born as higher mortals or lower mortals (such as animals). But, alike the Apple, our soul never ever loses the essence of being Him!
This leads to the most conclusive proof that we all are indeed truly and closely attached to God! We ARE Him! And He IS us!
Krsna has beautifully summarized into a few words the greatest knowledge that a man can ever aspire to learn!!!! May this knowledge be with us and lead us to realizing our true selves!
Om shantih shantih shantih!!!
Monday, August 27, 2007
1600 kms, a stiff back and a sore bottom!
That doesn’t quite sound like a relaxing holiday does it? But what a holiday it was! Absolutely kick ass! Mumbai to Goa and back, on a biking trip: 1,600 kms in all in eight days! In those eight days, we rode through scorching sun, driving rain, floating clouds (yes!), winding ghat roads, steep climbs, rocky mountain trails and what not! The best part of the trip? Riding a gleaming new Royal Enfield Motors Bullet with my wife, no e-mails, no phone calls, not even tracking the rise and fall of the Sensex! Of course, a lot of preparation went into this trip – most of it planned by Meenal, who also doubled as the navigator for the trip. And what a trusty navigator she was! Onto my navigator for a kilometer by kilometer account of the trip, with interruptions by yours truly in italics.
Hi from the navigator! Before I start giving u an account of what was truly a wonderful holiday, I must confess that the credit for my navigational abilities goes to Ram (who gave me the links below, and who – unlike the most popular cliché about men – has no hassle asking for directions!), the Outlook Weekend Traveller (Mumbai Getaways) and Google!
Having bought a Bullet (we have named it Gudugu), we had some major ambitions like a biking trip to Ladakh! Soon, however, we realized that we were in no fit shape to undertake such an adventure. After considering virtually every goable place in and around India, we finally hit upon the idea of a biking trip to Goa. Then were spent days and days of preparations – researching the route (to this end, the links below were of immense help), selecting interesting places to be covered, getting the bike and us ready for the trip (road maps, bike spares, bungee cords, riding jackets & what not!). And then we were set to go! Set to Goa!
http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/drv_may01_02.htm - this gives a very detailed and reliable route guide from Mumbai to Goa (mentioning even the best eateries and 24 hour petrol pumps enroute)
http://www.imd.ernet.in/section/satmet/dynamic/insatsector-ir.htm - if u are crazy enough like us to undertake a biking trip in the middle of the monsoons, do be sure to look up the satellite map posted by the Indian Meteorological Department to know what u r driving into!
In retrospect, exhaustive research and planning and picking the right gear were key to this trip in more ways than one. We had planned to the extent of pre-determining at which hotel / inn we would stop at for snacks, tea, lunch etc.,. A word of advice for riders – wear a comfortable, but thick jacket – even if it is not cold. Apart from the obvious protection from rain / chill, this serves two purposes: one, it saves you from nasty bruises in case of a fall and two, it prevents dehydration. Without any protection from dehydration, gusts of wind (if you ride at 50 kph in still air, it is the equivalent of a 50 kph gust of wind) and the sun will squeeze you dry. For our trip, we picked winter jackets with a rexine outer layer and thick felt lining on the inside, rather than leather jackets, which are bulkier and difficult to handle and maintain.
Day 1: Mumbai - Ganapatipule
After a ceremonial breaking of a coconut outside a Ganapati temple near home and fuelling up the petrol tank, we zoomed off into the riding sun towards NH17. Once past the concrete jungle that is Mumbai, we encountered a riot! A riot of lush green! Fresh rain, new leaves, budding flowers, chirping birds, mountain streams – sights and sounds we had almost forgotten in the rush of traffic and local trains! It had been raining for a few days prior to our trip and the result was rainwater streams cascading down the Ghats, a pretty sight to behold. The Ghats themselves were breathtakingly beautiful after the rains. And the road, winding through them, was quite a pleasure to ride on.
The highway roads taught me to take innocuous road signs seriously. Ranging from “saavdhan! Pude gaanv aahe! Saavkaash za!” to “pude gatirodhak aahe” interspersed with witty slogans such as “this is a highway, not a dieway!” that only the traffic department can come up with, they help wake you if your alertness is waning. Ofcourse, it helps if you can read and understand Marathi, since most lifesaving signs are in the Maratha language. Something that I should have realized to prevent some unpleasant consequences: there was this sign that I was trying to decipher when the road suddenly started to heave up and down! Only then did I realize that the sign which read gatirodhak aahe meant speed bumps ahead!
Having done long trips before, me realized the wisdom in taking frequent, but short breaks. We took a 5 minute break every hour or so. A bite of chocolate, a sip of water and sugar rich soft drink provided the necessary rest and energy shots for the remainder of the trip. They are also necessary to keep up alertness, lack of which on a highway ghat road can be fatal.
The ride to Ganapatipule took us through some truly amazing sights. Riding parallel to the Konkan Railway for some distance, we realized how awesome a ride on the Konkan Railway would be. There are three long ghat stretches that you hit before Ganapatipule. The first – Kashedi – is also the longest, at about 18 kms base to base. Apart from being the longest, Kashedi is also the most thrilling ghat to ride on. It has several hairpin bends, sharp S curves and steep gradients. Watch out for corners covered in gravel – can be treacherous, particularly when driving downhill. Honk away to glory to warn drivers who think SUV’s come with 4 wheels and 2 wings.
With only an occasional drizzle to hamper our progress, we were well on track to reach our destination for night halt well in time before darkness fell. But thanks to a sore bottom (which required us to halt a few times) and some misdirection by an idiot, we reached our destination – Ganapatipule when it was quite dark. The road to Ganapatipule is on the right off NH17. Once off NH17, though the road is a state highway, it gets pretty isolated and its advisable to get to Ganapatipule before darkness falls.
There are several Vithal Kamath’s outlets on the way – stop by for a quick breakfast / lunch / snack. Breakfast at Mathais Manthan – 5 kms before Vadhkal Naka is a good place for breakfast. They have one of the best highway omelets.
On reaching, we checked into the MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation) resort. If you are fond of 5 star comforts, this is not the place for you. The cottages are very cleanly maintained, but are most certainly lacking in ambience. But if you are the kind who means business, then you’ve come to the right place! This is the only resort in Ganpathipule which is bang on the beach. And when I say bang on the beach, I mean BANG on the beach! The resort is about 100 mtrs from the sea, and during high tide, the water almost reaches up to the compound wall of the resort. A rear-side pathway leads directly on to the beac
h and all the balconies open out onto a splendid view of the sea. And the beach here is just spectacular! The sea – sparkling clean! Furiously roaring! Crashing on the rocks as if it wishes to eliminate anything that stands in its way! Infact, the sea here is so loud you can hear it in your room even when the balcony door is closed! Our original plan was to stay at Ganapatipule for only the following day, but love at first sight with the place and the constant reminder from a sore bottom for rest decided that we stay on for another day!
The tides close in pretty rapidly at the Ganapatipule beach, with strong currents – the sea moved in several ten feet in a matter of minutes that we were clicking snaps on some faraway rocks, drenching us to the bone. We were fortuitous enough to have a live encounter with some denizens of the sea – portugese men of war that look pretty in aquariums. But not when they sting you! The incoming tide swept hundreds of them onto the shore, several of which stung us with their long tentacles. Boy, did that hurt! While on the beach, we gorged on awesome nariyal paani – the best that I have had in India and the closest contender to those available on the beaches of Bali. The authorities have also put up a billboard that explains in detail how to calculate the exact time of incoming and receding tides. We spent several minutes trying to decipher the devanagari on the board, but finally gave up. Why didn’t I learn Marathi in the last couple of years that I’ve been here.
Also, 100 mtrs away from the sea and opposite the MTDC resort is the Sw
ayambhu Ganapathi Temple. This ancient temple is constructed at the foothills of the Ghats where an idol of Ganapathi appeared out of the stone. While other features of Ganapathi are left to a devotee’s imagination, the right hand of Ganapathi, raised in blessing, is very distinctly visible. The temple’s fame is wide spread and devotees throng this place on festival days. While at the temple, do try to get your share of the Khichdi distributed as Prasad every day between 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm. Hot khichdi + spicy mango pickle = awesome. Can I stand in line for the Prasad again?
The food at the MTDC resort is average fare. Step outside the resort and walk into any of the several hotels (khanavals) for better tasting, konkani fare. Sabudana khichdi at the MTDC was a different matter though – hot and tasty, try it with mango pickle... mmmm…
While at Ganapatipule, you can also explore some nearby places of tourist interest – Ratnagiri and Jaigad. Ratnagiri is about 35-40 kms south of Ganpatipule, whereas Jaigad is 20 kms north. If you aren’t on a bike or a car, you can easily hire a local auto from outside the resort to take you to these places.
Day 2: Ratnagiri
The road to Ratnagiri is quite an experience in itself! You will encounter some of the steepest gradients you have ever seen in your life! Maneuvering a vehicle on these curves needs some skill. And for this very reason, and the fact that the road tends to get isolated at times, it is better to head back to Ganapatipule before dark. Ratnagiri contains a light house and a sea fort. Of the fort (Ratnadurg) only a few crumbling walls remain (and some of the credit for this goes to the Govt also, which used the stones from the fort remains to construct the new jetty!). One can visit the light house though between 4.00 pm and 5.30 pm. If you are interested in some more history, you can visit the birthplace of Lokmanya Tilak, which is located in the heart of Ratnagiri town. But getting a clue into this great man’s life and past can be a difficult task as all information here is in Marathi, with some photos and a family tree (which no one has taken the trouble to explain!) The authorities have also put up a 6 ft tall replica of the Lokmanya’s birth chart on a wall. Why????
The ride to Ratnagiri was the highlight of the day. Rather than take the longer route from NH 17, we turned off right from the District Highway about 5 kms from Ganapatipule. Its called the Nevre Road. I have seen roads carved into mountainsides – in the form of hairpins and S curves but nothing unlike what I was to see here. This mountain road is cut into the face of the hill and drops from top to bottom in a straight line, just like that. No curves, no bends. Just a straight drop. Imagine the steepest and longest slide that you have ridden as a kid. Now make that steeper and longer, say a kilometer. That should give you an idea of the mountain road that I am talking about. And there were three of them! The downhill ride was exhilarating and the uphill climb arduous, with several stretches covered on the first gear. That was one unforgettable ride! But for the ride, you can give the Ratnagiri fort a miss.
Day 3: Jaigad, Ganapatipule redux
The Jaigad Fort (also a sea fort) is in some better state. Atleast, it looks like a fort once stood there. Surrounded on all sides by the sea and located on top of a cliff, the fort offers a spectacular view of its surroundings. From here, one can also view the confluence of the Sangameshwar River into the Arabian Sea. At Jaigad too you can visit the light house between 4.00 pm and 5.30 pm. To get to the light house though you will need to ride/ drive over barren rock on the top of the cliff. Once dark, the faded tracks left by a jeep on this rock are no longer visible and you may have some problem getting back. And do make sure you are back out of Jaigad before nightfall, as the road from Ganapatipule to Jaigad (though very beautiful – as it runs along side the sea most of the time) is very isolated, and with some sharp turns too.
To be able to visit the insides of a lighthouse is an experience in itself. Don’t miss it. The downside though, is that you are not permitted to click snaps. Have a trusty point and shoot handy – I regret not having one. (We were however able to click some shots of wild creepers flowering on the walls of the Jaigad fort - have uploaded a few of them at the end of this post). Exhilarating views of the western ghats and the sea emerge dramatically as you turn around bends in the road. The rain soaked ghats, cloaked in lush green and dotted by mountain streams are a sight to behold…
Hi from the navigator! Before I start giving u an account of what was truly a wonderful holiday, I must confess that the credit for my navigational abilities goes to Ram (who gave me the links below, and who – unlike the most popular cliché about men – has no hassle asking for directions!), the Outlook Weekend Traveller (Mumbai Getaways) and Google!
Having bought a Bullet (we have named it Gudugu), we had some major ambitions like a biking trip to Ladakh! Soon, however, we realized that we were in no fit shape to undertake such an adventure. After considering virtually every goable place in and around India, we finally hit upon the idea of a biking trip to Goa. Then were spent days and days of preparations – researching the route (to this end, the links below were of immense help), selecting interesting places to be covered, getting the bike and us ready for the trip (road maps, bike spares, bungee cords, riding jackets & what not!). And then we were set to go! Set to Goa!
http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/drv_may01_02.htm - this gives a very detailed and reliable route guide from Mumbai to Goa (mentioning even the best eateries and 24 hour petrol pumps enroute)
http://www.imd.ernet.in/section/satmet/dynamic/insatsector-ir.htm - if u are crazy enough like us to undertake a biking trip in the middle of the monsoons, do be sure to look up the satellite map posted by the Indian Meteorological Department to know what u r driving into!
In retrospect, exhaustive research and planning and picking the right gear were key to this trip in more ways than one. We had planned to the extent of pre-determining at which hotel / inn we would stop at for snacks, tea, lunch etc.,. A word of advice for riders – wear a comfortable, but thick jacket – even if it is not cold. Apart from the obvious protection from rain / chill, this serves two purposes: one, it saves you from nasty bruises in case of a fall and two, it prevents dehydration. Without any protection from dehydration, gusts of wind (if you ride at 50 kph in still air, it is the equivalent of a 50 kph gust of wind) and the sun will squeeze you dry. For our trip, we picked winter jackets with a rexine outer layer and thick felt lining on the inside, rather than leather jackets, which are bulkier and difficult to handle and maintain.
Day 1: Mumbai - Ganapatipule
After a ceremonial breaking of a coconut outside a Ganapati temple near home and fuelling up the petrol tank, we zoomed off into the riding sun towards NH17. Once past the concrete jungle that is Mumbai, we encountered a riot! A riot of lush green! Fresh rain, new leaves, budding flowers, chirping birds, mountain streams – sights and sounds we had almost forgotten in the rush of traffic and local trains! It had been raining for a few days prior to our trip and the result was rainwater streams cascading down the Ghats, a pretty sight to behold. The Ghats themselves were breathtakingly beautiful after the rains. And the road, winding through them, was quite a pleasure to ride on.
The highway roads taught me to take innocuous road signs seriously. Ranging from “saavdhan! Pude gaanv aahe! Saavkaash za!” to “pude gatirodhak aahe” interspersed with witty slogans such as “this is a highway, not a dieway!” that only the traffic department can come up with, they help wake you if your alertness is waning. Ofcourse, it helps if you can read and understand Marathi, since most lifesaving signs are in the Maratha language. Something that I should have realized to prevent some unpleasant consequences: there was this sign that I was trying to decipher when the road suddenly started to heave up and down! Only then did I realize that the sign which read gatirodhak aahe meant speed bumps ahead!
Having done long trips before, me realized the wisdom in taking frequent, but short breaks. We took a 5 minute break every hour or so. A bite of chocolate, a sip of water and sugar rich soft drink provided the necessary rest and energy shots for the remainder of the trip. They are also necessary to keep up alertness, lack of which on a highway ghat road can be fatal.
The ride to Ganapatipule took us through some truly amazing sights. Riding parallel to the Konkan Railway for some distance, we realized how awesome a ride on the Konkan Railway would be. There are three long ghat stretches that you hit before Ganapatipule. The first – Kashedi – is also the longest, at about 18 kms base to base. Apart from being the longest, Kashedi is also the most thrilling ghat to ride on. It has several hairpin bends, sharp S curves and steep gradients. Watch out for corners covered in gravel – can be treacherous, particularly when driving downhill. Honk away to glory to warn drivers who think SUV’s come with 4 wheels and 2 wings.
With only an occasional drizzle to hamper our progress, we were well on track to reach our destination for night halt well in time before darkness fell. But thanks to a sore bottom (which required us to halt a few times) and some misdirection by an idiot, we reached our destination – Ganapatipule when it was quite dark. The road to Ganapatipule is on the right off NH17. Once off NH17, though the road is a state highway, it gets pretty isolated and its advisable to get to Ganapatipule before darkness falls.
There are several Vithal Kamath’s outlets on the way – stop by for a quick breakfast / lunch / snack. Breakfast at Mathais Manthan – 5 kms before Vadhkal Naka is a good place for breakfast. They have one of the best highway omelets.
On reaching, we checked into the MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation) resort. If you are fond of 5 star comforts, this is not the place for you. The cottages are very cleanly maintained, but are most certainly lacking in ambience. But if you are the kind who means business, then you’ve come to the right place! This is the only resort in Ganpathipule which is bang on the beach. And when I say bang on the beach, I mean BANG on the beach! The resort is about 100 mtrs from the sea, and during high tide, the water almost reaches up to the compound wall of the resort. A rear-side pathway leads directly on to the beac
h and all the balconies open out onto a splendid view of the sea. And the beach here is just spectacular! The sea – sparkling clean! Furiously roaring! Crashing on the rocks as if it wishes to eliminate anything that stands in its way! Infact, the sea here is so loud you can hear it in your room even when the balcony door is closed! Our original plan was to stay at Ganapatipule for only the following day, but love at first sight with the place and the constant reminder from a sore bottom for rest decided that we stay on for another day!The tides close in pretty rapidly at the Ganapatipule beach, with strong currents – the sea moved in several ten feet in a matter of minutes that we were clicking snaps on some faraway rocks, drenching us to the bone. We were fortuitous enough to have a live encounter with some denizens of the sea – portugese men of war that look pretty in aquariums. But not when they sting you! The incoming tide swept hundreds of them onto the shore, several of which stung us with their long tentacles. Boy, did that hurt! While on the beach, we gorged on awesome nariyal paani – the best that I have had in India and the closest contender to those available on the beaches of Bali. The authorities have also put up a billboard that explains in detail how to calculate the exact time of incoming and receding tides. We spent several minutes trying to decipher the devanagari on the board, but finally gave up. Why didn’t I learn Marathi in the last couple of years that I’ve been here.
Also, 100 mtrs away from the sea and opposite the MTDC resort is the Sw
ayambhu Ganapathi Temple. This ancient temple is constructed at the foothills of the Ghats where an idol of Ganapathi appeared out of the stone. While other features of Ganapathi are left to a devotee’s imagination, the right hand of Ganapathi, raised in blessing, is very distinctly visible. The temple’s fame is wide spread and devotees throng this place on festival days. While at the temple, do try to get your share of the Khichdi distributed as Prasad every day between 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm. Hot khichdi + spicy mango pickle = awesome. Can I stand in line for the Prasad again?The food at the MTDC resort is average fare. Step outside the resort and walk into any of the several hotels (khanavals) for better tasting, konkani fare. Sabudana khichdi at the MTDC was a different matter though – hot and tasty, try it with mango pickle... mmmm…
While at Ganapatipule, you can also explore some nearby places of tourist interest – Ratnagiri and Jaigad. Ratnagiri is about 35-40 kms south of Ganpatipule, whereas Jaigad is 20 kms north. If you aren’t on a bike or a car, you can easily hire a local auto from outside the resort to take you to these places.
Day 2: Ratnagiri
The road to Ratnagiri is quite an experience in itself! You will encounter some of the steepest gradients you have ever seen in your life! Maneuvering a vehicle on these curves needs some skill. And for this very reason, and the fact that the road tends to get isolated at times, it is better to head back to Ganapatipule before dark. Ratnagiri contains a light house and a sea fort. Of the fort (Ratnadurg) only a few crumbling walls remain (and some of the credit for this goes to the Govt also, which used the stones from the fort remains to construct the new jetty!). One can visit the light house though between 4.00 pm and 5.30 pm. If you are interested in some more history, you can visit the birthplace of Lokmanya Tilak, which is located in the heart of Ratnagiri town. But getting a clue into this great man’s life and past can be a difficult task as all information here is in Marathi, with some photos and a family tree (which no one has taken the trouble to explain!) The authorities have also put up a 6 ft tall replica of the Lokmanya’s birth chart on a wall. Why????
The ride to Ratnagiri was the highlight of the day. Rather than take the longer route from NH 17, we turned off right from the District Highway about 5 kms from Ganapatipule. Its called the Nevre Road. I have seen roads carved into mountainsides – in the form of hairpins and S curves but nothing unlike what I was to see here. This mountain road is cut into the face of the hill and drops from top to bottom in a straight line, just like that. No curves, no bends. Just a straight drop. Imagine the steepest and longest slide that you have ridden as a kid. Now make that steeper and longer, say a kilometer. That should give you an idea of the mountain road that I am talking about. And there were three of them! The downhill ride was exhilarating and the uphill climb arduous, with several stretches covered on the first gear. That was one unforgettable ride! But for the ride, you can give the Ratnagiri fort a miss.
Day 3: Jaigad, Ganapatipule redux
The Jaigad Fort (also a sea fort) is in some better state. Atleast, it looks like a fort once stood there. Surrounded on all sides by the sea and located on top of a cliff, the fort offers a spectacular view of its surroundings. From here, one can also view the confluence of the Sangameshwar River into the Arabian Sea. At Jaigad too you can visit the light house between 4.00 pm and 5.30 pm. To get to the light house though you will need to ride/ drive over barren rock on the top of the cliff. Once dark, the faded tracks left by a jeep on this rock are no longer visible and you may have some problem getting back. And do make sure you are back out of Jaigad before nightfall, as the road from Ganapatipule to Jaigad (though very beautiful – as it runs along side the sea most of the time) is very isolated, and with some sharp turns too.
To be able to visit the insides of a lighthouse is an experience in itself. Don’t miss it. The downside though, is that you are not permitted to click snaps. Have a trusty point and shoot handy – I regret not having one. (We were however able to click some shots of wild creepers flowering on the walls of the Jaigad fort - have uploaded a few of them at the end of this post). Exhilarating views of the western ghats and the sea emerge dramatically as you turn around bends in the road. The rain soaked ghats, cloaked in lush green and dotted by mountain streams are a sight to behold…
Friday, August 24, 2007
Time travel unravelled
Time travel has always intrigued me. Be it Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which states that the faster you travel, the slower time moves, or HG Wells' Time Machine, the possibility of time travel itself is exciting!
Let me share the result of my recent thought experiments:
We know from our physics textbooks that the faster you travel, the slower time moves. i.e., if you travel faster than the speed of light, you can travel back in time. Find it difficult to believe? Here's how:
Imagine that you are taking off from the earth in a super speed rocket. For simplicity's sake, imagine that your body itself is the rocket and you are moving away from the earth, into space. After moving several million miles into space away from earth, you reach the speed of light, and move forward at that constant speed. Now, at the precise moment (lets call this z)when you achieved the speed of light, certain light beams emitted by the earth were right next to you i.e., you were neck to neck with those light particles, which portrayed a scene of the earth at time n. Lets call this scene s. In the next one second, you have travelled 300,000 kms which is the speed of light. The scene s has also travelled the same distance with you! So it you look at the earth at z + 1 seconds, you see the same scene that you would have seen at z! This is because the scene has moved with you! If you continue to move at the same speed, you continue to see the same scene! Its as if time has stopped!
Let me extend this thought experiment further. Imagine you are travelling at twice the speed of light. Now, as you move ahead, you are overtaking the light particles! So, at z+1, you will watch a scene that is equivalent to z - 1. If you continue at this speed, you will progressively overtake light particles and will progressively watch the scenes in reverse! Which means, you will see the earth rotate from west to east! IT'S AS IF YOU ARE TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME!
Are you with me so far? Good! Now let me introduce a twist in the tale. All this while, I told you that you were moving away from the earth. Imagine now that you spontaneously turn around and move toward the earth. As you move toward the earth (say faster than the speed of light), the light particles overtake you. This means you again see the earth moving from east to west, but at a faster rate than what the physics text books say. i.e., if a is the moment of time when you turned around spontaneously, at a+1, you will see the scene from a+2! The faster you move toward the earth, the faster these scenes will hit you. The earth will now appear to whir rapidly from east to west. Its as if you are catching up with the backlog of time (remember - you were moving back in time till now). Its as if you are moving forward in time! By the time you are back on earth, you are at that precise moment that you would have been, had you not undertaken your space odyssey! (This is an important result, as it resolves the grandfather paradox - we will get back to this later).
Let me now extend the second part of the above experiment further. We have noticed that when you moved toward the earth faster than light, you moved forward in time. So, instead of moving toward the earth, had you moved toward the Andromeda galaxy, you would have been moving forward in time with respect to the Andromeda Galaxy! Which means behind your back you were moving back in time and on the front, you were moving forward in time! This sounds absurd, how is it that the same person can move both forward and backward in time at the same time? Actually, its not that absurd. Imagine a line connecting points E and A. Now, imagine you are an ant walking along that line, from E towards A. As you walk from E to A, you move away from E and towards A. Wow! This means behind your back you are moving away from E and on the front, you are moving toward A! See the connect between moving from E to A and Earth to Andromeda Galaxy??
You still with me? Good. Now for some complications.
We have described what happens when we move in a straight line. What if, instead of moving away from the earth, you moved around the earth, circling it? With one complete circumnavigation, you are back at the same point where you started. So, you moved away from point X and moved toward point X, at once! So when you land back at X, are you ahead in time? Or have you moved back in time? The answer is neither! You will actually be in the present i.e., where you would have been had you not traveled at all! That’s for another post!
Confusing? Its actually quite simple. Remember that in our earlier example, we moved away from the earth in a straight line and turned around to move back in a straight line. The result, you were back where you were supposed to be. Effectively, you moved, turned, returned, completing a loop. A circumnavigation of the earth is also a loop! Its just that instead of moving in a thin oblong loop, you have now moved in a wider, elliptical loop! So, you started from Mumbai, India, moved west until you hit say Mexico, and returned. Just that instead of retracing the path, you instead continued around the earth! So, how is that different from our oblong loop? Not convinced? Let me explain further. We have established that as we move away from a given spot, we move back in time and as we move toward a given spot, we move ahead in time. If you are starting from point X on the equator in your world tour, as you move away from it, you are moving back in time vis-à-vis point X. After you are halfway around the earth, if you continue moving along the equator, you are in effect moving toward X. Which means, you are moving ahead in time vis-à-vis X! With every step that you take towards X, you cancel out the time lag and catch up with time, such that when you reach X, you are exactly at the moment that you would have been, had you not moved at all!
Now back to the grandfather paradox of time travel that I said is resolved. This is the grandfather paradox: imagine I travel back in time and kill my grandfather. Since my grandfather is dead, there is no way that I could have been born. If I was not born at all, then how did I go back in time and kill my grandfather in the first place? So, if I did not kill my grandfather, then I am born and hence can go back in time to kill the grandfather! The loop continues. From our explanation above, we have demonstrated that you can only “view” the past, but not affect it! This means, you can go back in time and see your grandfather, but can’t shake hands with him. The same holds for your grandfather – he can see you, but can’t hug you! Can you hear what he is saying? My guess is you can’t. Neither can you smell the aroma of the rich coffee he is brewing on the stove.
I do not know if my theories above stand up to the scrutiny of the equations and theories of higher physics. This thought experiment has however, given an incomparable joy…. the kind of joy that I experienced when I tallied my first balance sheet. Is this close to ananda???
Let me share the result of my recent thought experiments:
We know from our physics textbooks that the faster you travel, the slower time moves. i.e., if you travel faster than the speed of light, you can travel back in time. Find it difficult to believe? Here's how:
Imagine that you are taking off from the earth in a super speed rocket. For simplicity's sake, imagine that your body itself is the rocket and you are moving away from the earth, into space. After moving several million miles into space away from earth, you reach the speed of light, and move forward at that constant speed. Now, at the precise moment (lets call this z)when you achieved the speed of light, certain light beams emitted by the earth were right next to you i.e., you were neck to neck with those light particles, which portrayed a scene of the earth at time n. Lets call this scene s. In the next one second, you have travelled 300,000 kms which is the speed of light. The scene s has also travelled the same distance with you! So it you look at the earth at z + 1 seconds, you see the same scene that you would have seen at z! This is because the scene has moved with you! If you continue to move at the same speed, you continue to see the same scene! Its as if time has stopped!
Let me extend this thought experiment further. Imagine you are travelling at twice the speed of light. Now, as you move ahead, you are overtaking the light particles! So, at z+1, you will watch a scene that is equivalent to z - 1. If you continue at this speed, you will progressively overtake light particles and will progressively watch the scenes in reverse! Which means, you will see the earth rotate from west to east! IT'S AS IF YOU ARE TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME!
Are you with me so far? Good! Now let me introduce a twist in the tale. All this while, I told you that you were moving away from the earth. Imagine now that you spontaneously turn around and move toward the earth. As you move toward the earth (say faster than the speed of light), the light particles overtake you. This means you again see the earth moving from east to west, but at a faster rate than what the physics text books say. i.e., if a is the moment of time when you turned around spontaneously, at a+1, you will see the scene from a+2! The faster you move toward the earth, the faster these scenes will hit you. The earth will now appear to whir rapidly from east to west. Its as if you are catching up with the backlog of time (remember - you were moving back in time till now). Its as if you are moving forward in time! By the time you are back on earth, you are at that precise moment that you would have been, had you not undertaken your space odyssey! (This is an important result, as it resolves the grandfather paradox - we will get back to this later).
Let me now extend the second part of the above experiment further. We have noticed that when you moved toward the earth faster than light, you moved forward in time. So, instead of moving toward the earth, had you moved toward the Andromeda galaxy, you would have been moving forward in time with respect to the Andromeda Galaxy! Which means behind your back you were moving back in time and on the front, you were moving forward in time! This sounds absurd, how is it that the same person can move both forward and backward in time at the same time? Actually, its not that absurd. Imagine a line connecting points E and A. Now, imagine you are an ant walking along that line, from E towards A. As you walk from E to A, you move away from E and towards A. Wow! This means behind your back you are moving away from E and on the front, you are moving toward A! See the connect between moving from E to A and Earth to Andromeda Galaxy??
You still with me? Good. Now for some complications.
We have described what happens when we move in a straight line. What if, instead of moving away from the earth, you moved around the earth, circling it? With one complete circumnavigation, you are back at the same point where you started. So, you moved away from point X and moved toward point X, at once! So when you land back at X, are you ahead in time? Or have you moved back in time? The answer is neither! You will actually be in the present i.e., where you would have been had you not traveled at all! That’s for another post!
Confusing? Its actually quite simple. Remember that in our earlier example, we moved away from the earth in a straight line and turned around to move back in a straight line. The result, you were back where you were supposed to be. Effectively, you moved, turned, returned, completing a loop. A circumnavigation of the earth is also a loop! Its just that instead of moving in a thin oblong loop, you have now moved in a wider, elliptical loop! So, you started from Mumbai, India, moved west until you hit say Mexico, and returned. Just that instead of retracing the path, you instead continued around the earth! So, how is that different from our oblong loop? Not convinced? Let me explain further. We have established that as we move away from a given spot, we move back in time and as we move toward a given spot, we move ahead in time. If you are starting from point X on the equator in your world tour, as you move away from it, you are moving back in time vis-à-vis point X. After you are halfway around the earth, if you continue moving along the equator, you are in effect moving toward X. Which means, you are moving ahead in time vis-à-vis X! With every step that you take towards X, you cancel out the time lag and catch up with time, such that when you reach X, you are exactly at the moment that you would have been, had you not moved at all!
Now back to the grandfather paradox of time travel that I said is resolved. This is the grandfather paradox: imagine I travel back in time and kill my grandfather. Since my grandfather is dead, there is no way that I could have been born. If I was not born at all, then how did I go back in time and kill my grandfather in the first place? So, if I did not kill my grandfather, then I am born and hence can go back in time to kill the grandfather! The loop continues. From our explanation above, we have demonstrated that you can only “view” the past, but not affect it! This means, you can go back in time and see your grandfather, but can’t shake hands with him. The same holds for your grandfather – he can see you, but can’t hug you! Can you hear what he is saying? My guess is you can’t. Neither can you smell the aroma of the rich coffee he is brewing on the stove.
I do not know if my theories above stand up to the scrutiny of the equations and theories of higher physics. This thought experiment has however, given an incomparable joy…. the kind of joy that I experienced when I tallied my first balance sheet. Is this close to ananda???
Bullet is a Bullet is a Bullet
Can't but stop ogling at my new dream machine - a full blooded Bullet! Its a gleaming black and chrome Royal Enfield Motors Electra 5S. We call it Gudugu, which means thunder in Kannada. Have done 2000 kms in about 40 days. Watch this space for more on Gudugu. Till then, happy riding. Gudugudugudugudugudugu....
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Time travel, space time and the works
Meenal has lent me a wonderful book: Hyperspace by Michio Kaku. This is probably the most thought provoking book that I've read in recent times. Thanks Meenal, for introducing me to this book that has caused me to sit up, think, ask tons of questions and find the answers.
In this book, Michio Kaku simplifies such heavy technical concepts as space - time curve, quantum physics, quarks, mesons, bosons etc., and puts them within the grasp of the common man. If he could make a technically challenged person like me understand concepts of higher physics, then anyone else can understand them too.
This book in a way explains and proves concepts that our rishis have spelt out in the shastras aeons ago, though without any direct reference. A few, which are my personal favourites:
... purnasya purnamadaya purnamevava shishyate...
Purna can be roughly translated as 'the whole', the translation being a far cry from the true meaning. Purna is the whole, the all encompassing ... the everything. In that sense, purna is nothing but the universe, because the universe is the whole, the all encompassing, the everything. Now, a translation of the verse would be: "if you remove the whole from the whole, the whole remains!" That is, if you remove the universe from the universe, you are left with the universe! Which means that if you step out of the universe, you have a universe! Another universe??? Out pops the concept of parallel universes in different dimensions!
You thought that the Big Bang was propounded by the modern western physicists??? Nah! Our shastras have this to describe the origin of the universe:
... hiranya garbhat samavartatagre...
which translates as "arising from the golden womb"... everything emerged from that one mass of energy / matter (hiranyagarbha)
How did our ancient rishis discover these concepts? Thats in a later installment. Watch this space.
Om shantih shantih shantih!!!
In this book, Michio Kaku simplifies such heavy technical concepts as space - time curve, quantum physics, quarks, mesons, bosons etc., and puts them within the grasp of the common man. If he could make a technically challenged person like me understand concepts of higher physics, then anyone else can understand them too.
This book in a way explains and proves concepts that our rishis have spelt out in the shastras aeons ago, though without any direct reference. A few, which are my personal favourites:
... purnasya purnamadaya purnamevava shishyate...
Purna can be roughly translated as 'the whole', the translation being a far cry from the true meaning. Purna is the whole, the all encompassing ... the everything. In that sense, purna is nothing but the universe, because the universe is the whole, the all encompassing, the everything. Now, a translation of the verse would be: "if you remove the whole from the whole, the whole remains!" That is, if you remove the universe from the universe, you are left with the universe! Which means that if you step out of the universe, you have a universe! Another universe??? Out pops the concept of parallel universes in different dimensions!
You thought that the Big Bang was propounded by the modern western physicists??? Nah! Our shastras have this to describe the origin of the universe:
... hiranya garbhat samavartatagre...
which translates as "arising from the golden womb"... everything emerged from that one mass of energy / matter (hiranyagarbha)
How did our ancient rishis discover these concepts? Thats in a later installment. Watch this space.
Om shantih shantih shantih!!!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
What lies beyond the universe?
Physicists and mystics galore have pondered over the question perennial “what lies beyond the universe?” Why did this question come up? Simply because we imagine the universe to be “in” something, to be part of something. There is something beyond the fish because you imagine the fish to be “in” something… in water.
Let me take a different view here… instead of thinking that the universe is in something, what if we took the approach that the universe is “the” thing, the universe is everything…
The question of what lies beyond the universe now sounds so out of place and irrelevant… stupid even!
Profound!!!!
Let me take a different view here… instead of thinking that the universe is in something, what if we took the approach that the universe is “the” thing, the universe is everything…
The question of what lies beyond the universe now sounds so out of place and irrelevant… stupid even!
Profound!!!!
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