Over the seven seas
Posted by Guhan | Filed under thoughts, travel
After all the planning, the process churn, the paper work, the farewells and coordination, it is finally time that I write my first blog from the United States of America ! A 22 hour flight across the seven seas is literally a pain the ass. Who ever said the “world is shrinking” might have traveled first class, because when you travel coach class on a 777-400 its always 90 seconds for a minute. This travel time was even longer for us thanks to the Ayodhya verdict, the curfew scare forced us to reach the airport 6 hours before the actual departure of the flight. During all this, I never really felt we were relocating to a far away land to start fresh. It always felt like it was yet another trip to an exciting destination, following the usual protocol, check in luggage, pass x-ray scans, count the foreign exchange, check and double check our passports and over pay for pretentious airport food. When you are on a long haul flight, you never really know when you are awake or when you are asleep. The artificial pressure and cliche air freshener add to the daze. The huge collection of programs and movies on the in-flight entertainment is just another piece in the dream like daze.
I think the reality of the relocation hit me somewhere between the 2nd in-flight Asian veg meal and watching a pale looking vampire trying to save the anemic looking Kristan Stewart ( ironic, I know !!). I started to fear the things I will miss being at home, I started to miss my family, I envied the fun times ill miss with loved ones and friends, I started to fear the possibility that I might get sucked into the band wagon of Indians settling in the US and I started to think whether I had thought this whole thing through. For that moment I know I was awake, because it was a moment of a lot of introspection and re-confiirmation that all this was part of a plan I had in my mind. I told myself that it was all for good, it was all for an experience. I will come back wiser, more knowledgeable and with more ingredients for a possible larger plan.
Its always amazing to see the flood of people at the USA immigration gates. Having been part of that queue 5 times before, I was acting out my “knowing it all” role trying to explain to the wife how the things go down in this joint. The on time baggage and pick up by a cousin was a comfortable welcome for us to San Francisco. I once again was trying to show off my knowledge about the terrain there by discussing the highway names and landmarks with my cousin. It was good that we landed there on a Friday, gave us the weekend to settle in. The Suite America apartment was well decorated. Its actually overwhelming to see the number of Asians in this land, specially Bay area. Walk down any street and it feels like a walk down MG road on a cold cloudy winter day. We constantly kept telling each other that we are just adding to the “Desi” crowd here. The temple and Indian grocery store close to our apartment did not do any good to shatter that bubble.
Flying the team gifted chopper around my apartment in Sunnyvale
Its been 3 weeks since we stepped off that flight and I would say that the days have just zipped by. Its been tonnes of paper work, procedures, signatures, applications etc. In all this, the only thing that stands out is the amount of Paranoia that is built around everything here. For such a advanced country, there is way too much paper work for everything. Its as if everyone wants to save their tail from almost everything under the sun. Bootstrapping here is hard. You need an SSN when you start earning, you need a permanent address to apply for an SSN, you need a ID to buy a Telephone connection, You need your Drivers license to hunt for apartments, you need your house address and your SSN to apply for a Drivers License. In computer science, this would be a classical case of a resource dead lock. The other realization you have is government offices all over the world are similar in ways, though some are corrupt and some are not. A document processing will take atleast 10 days. The paperwork and procedures here really pisses you off at times. But then, for a set up where the system is stronger than the people, these things are bound to happen. The other thing you realize is that if there is one industry that thrives on all the paranoia in this country, it is the Insurance sector. Every single thing needs an insurance and some fee has to be paid.
The other thing I noticed myself doing in the 3 weeks is constantly trying to compare the life we had in Bangalore with the life we might have here. I tried to draw parallels to everything. In the process I tried to nit pick a lot, listing out negatives and positives. These are symptoms of being outside the comfort zone. When you start driving, its a whole new feeling as well. You need to un-learn everything you did while driving in India and start learning the art of driving on the “right” side of the road. Driving in India felt natural to me, it was an extension to myself. Here, when you consciously tell your self about the rules, you become a nervous driver. The ultra big and hopeless turning radius on the Chevi Malibu does not help in getting over the nervousness. But I am getting use to it, and starting to enjoy driving in the the controlled environment, a interesting change from the orderly chaos that is driving in India. If you dont drive, moving around here is really a pain. But since I have started driving, moving around the bay has been fun. The irritating electronic voice of Jill from the Garmin Nuvi helps tells us explore the neighborhood. Work in the new office has started in full flow. It has been fun and I enjoying learning new things. Cricket has started full swing. So the settling in process seems to have begun well.
As time passes, I am hoping the deadlocks, the nervousness, the dual income question, the paperwork etc all sort them selves out and we can truly start enjoying the stay here for we have already crossed over the seven seas, jumping over a few more hurdles should not be hard.
28 boxes and its a wrap!
Posted by Guhan | Filed under memories, travel
This is our first major packing exercise as a couple. I earlier packed up my stuff from Chennai and moved to Bangalore, but somehow I felt packing this time around was more personal and tiring :-)
I knew we will have to move out by Sept 25th for over 3 months, but like always its a mad rush to the finish in the end. It felt so much easier setting up the empty house, than emptying out a set up house. There was a feel good factor and some excitement when we bought new stuff and decorated the house bit by bit. There was always something to look forward to when we came back home, constantly trying to improve the decor. We changed curtains, added new cushion covers, moved the sofa set around, put in a make shift deewan, rotated the table etc. Then there was a phase when we shopped for birthday and anniversary gifts in the home furnishings section. She gifted me a recliner chair and I gifted her a book shelf. During anniversary, we either got our photos framed or we bought candle stands and aromatic candles. I have been lucky to have great cooks around me all the time ( I know it shows !! ), and the wife is no exception. So when opportunity presented itself, the kitchen was updated with cool new gadgets that can assist in creating great tasting meals.
There was a quote from the movie Fight club, “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need”. I would not fully agree to that quote because we worked in jobs we actually liked and never chased cars, but we did buy a lot of stuff and clothes. No one would compliment me for my dressing sense, but after I got married, my fashion sense did get a wake up call. I was willing to experiment a tad bit more than before, which meant more shopping. The apartment closets are like a bottomless pit, There always seems space for one more item.
As we got closer to the date, we started selling off all the big stuff in the house. All the things that we so carefully bought, matched and arranged in the house. It got quiet emotional at times, specially when we saw the recliner sofa go. It was a birthday gift, and was a perfect companion after a hectic day. Then the car, memories of our fond trips to Mysore came rushing in when the new owner drove it off. One by one everything was sold off and we reminisced about the good times. It sounds foolish in retrospect that we attach emotion to wood and metal, but then its not foolish that we can actually say that the stuff we bought gave us a good life in our first home.
When it comes to packing, all the sweet memories and feel good purchases bite you back as seemingly unwanted purchases. I had no idea we would have so much stuff coming out of the 2 bedroom Bangalore house. Every time we pulled out stuff, it almost seemed like it occupied the whole room. The packing material around did not help either. Stuff was folded or wrapped into big boxes, padded with bubble wrap or paper and sealed tight with crown relocation branded scotch tapes. We constantly got into an argument about what to take, what to pack into the suitcase, what will be immediately useful, what will be actually useful, what can be given off to some one etc. Bottom line, I hate packing, but I love traveling. In all our travels so far, we have traveled lite. So the thought of carrying so much stuff to a “trip” to the US is overwhelming. We are going away for over 3 years, so are we justified to carry so much stuff ??
After 3 full days of packing, we are officially done. 28 boxes and its a wrap !!
All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go
Posted by Guhan | Filed under travel
Vacation time is here !! Its a great feeling to start a vacation. This time we are off to Turkey, the land of the Ottoman Turks. This was another must see place in my Bucket list and I am really excited that I am finally going there.
This time, more fun traveling because Mom and Sis are joining us. Its a 11 day 10 night trip, covering all the important historic sites and some natural beauty. Our trip itinerary is
11 May 2010 – Arrive Istanbul on Air Arabia flight via Sarjah
12 May 2010 – Byzantine and Ottoman Relics Tour
13 May 2010 – Bosphorus and the tour of the 2 continents. Will see the water way that divides Europe and Asia
14 May 2010 – Off to Izmir to see the houe of Virgin Mary and the Greco-Roman city of Ephesus
15 May 2010 – Pamukkale and Heirapolis tour
16 May 2010 – Off to coastal town of Anatalya
17 May 2010 – Off to Cappadocia and a day to relax
18 May 2010 – Visit the ruins at Devrent and Terra Cotta art work from 3000 BC
19 May 2010 – Natural Rock formations south of Cappadocia
20 May 2010 – Back to Istanbul
21 May 2010 – Leave back to Bangalore on Air Arabia via Sarjah
There are many more historic places we will be seeing, like the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, the grand spice bazars and the famous Topkapi palace. We also plan to visit the Temple of Artemis, one of the older 7 wonders of the world.
I will blog about the places in detail when I get back, or if the computer gets the better of me, will blog from my hotel room :-p
Off we go!
Vacation!
Posted by Guhan | Filed under travel
Its that time of the year when I gear up to go on a vacation. This time, its exotic Turkey that I will be visiting with family. Looking forward to the trip. Last year, I had been to Jordan on work, and managed to sneak a trip to Petra. The grand structure at Petra which makes an appearance in the Indiana Jones movies was a spectacular sight. Petra as the capital of the Nabataeans, is enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a perennial stream. Petra not only possessed the advantages of a fortress, but controlled the main commercial routes which passed through it to Gaza in the west, to Bosra and Damascus in the north, to Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf. During this trip I also managed to go to Dead sea, a salt lake bordering Israel and Jordan.The dead sea is the lowest elevation on the Earth’s surface. It is also one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water, with close to 40 % salinity. This makes floating on the dead sea a one of a kind experience. Its like sleeping on a water bed. You just have to ensure you dont dip your head in water, because the salt and minerals can give you an eye burn to remember.
Turkey is one of the must see places I have in my Bucket list :-) and I am really happy I have finally planned a trip there. My mother will be coming along, and its going to be really great because she is an ocean of knowledge. I am sure by now she knows a lot of history about all the places we are going to see in Turkey. So apart from the tour guide, I am going to have a walking talking encyclopedia with me :-)
Its also a much deserved break. Work has been hectic and have been working my ass of for a long time now. Plus some frustrations over the last few months to get over and some happy moments to celebrate. The vacation is coming in good time. Will unwind, forget work, forget routine and hopefully come back refreshed to make some important decisions in career and life in general.
More on where all we are going will come shortly
Splendour amidst the rocks
Posted by Guhan | Filed under travel
I had a great 2009 and I was happy it ended with my trip to Badami, North Karnataka. Badami is a taluk in the Bagalkot district of North Karnataka. This is the place where the Chalukya kingdom flourished 1500 years ago. My mother has been itching to go to Badami for a while now. I had been here about 15 years back and I remember calling this place the grand canyon of India, because I remember the red rock and the rocky canyons.
South India is famous for its temples, intricate stone work and extravagant structures in honor to various deities. Temples in south India follow the Dravidian architectural style. Mamallapuram or Mahabalipuram, ( 60 km south of Chennai ) is a representation of the earliest surviving Dravidian style temples (around A.D. 500). This style flourished for centuries and reached its zenith when the massive structures in Madurai and Rameswaram were built.
The Chalukyan style originated in Aihole around A.D. 450 and was perfected in the neighboring villages of Badami and Pattadakal (all in Bagalkot district of Karnataka). Chalukyan artists are known to have experimented with different styles, blended the Indo-Aryan Nagara and Dravidian styles, and evolved their own distinctive style. We went to Badami, Pattadakal, Lakkundi and Aihole and were completely awed by the temples. Each site represents very vividly the experimentation by the artists and we could clearly make out the evolution of this unique architectural style.
The Bagalkot district is about 480 kms from Bangalore, which is a over night journey by bus or train. The Yeshwanthpur Bijapur express has a 3 min stop in Badami ( by popular demand I am sure ). Hampi Express is another train which reaches Gadag which is about 70 kms from Badami. Going to Gadag might be a good options because its closer to Lakkundi and is a much bigger city than Badami. These trains are popular and one must book at-least 2 weeks in advance. The trains follow Indian Stretchable Time which is +- 1 hour :-)
The best hotel in Badami is Badami Court. But this hotel is about 3 kms away from the town. We stayed at Hotel Raj Sangam which is about 1 km from the Badami temple. The rooms are big and all basic necessities are available. One of the better food joints is in the same compound. After check in, we were all really eager to swing into action. The first day we choose to go to Aihole and Pattadakal. Aihole is about 35 kms from Badami and Pattadakal is about 10 kms from Aihole. Aihole has its own historical significance and is often the Cradle of Hindu rock architecture.
Aihole was the first capital of the early Chalukyas. There are close to 100 temples around this region and its easy to see why this place was considered to be a test bed for rock cut architecture. Each temple site is different and grand in its own right. Aihole was the first capital of this region before Pulakesi I, one of the greatest rulers of this dynasty, moved the capital to Vatapi, also known as Badami. The main temple site is really well maintained by the Archeological survey of India (ASI). The Durg temple is a stunning sight. Crowds flock here because its the most prominent and any tourist brochure or word of mouth will suggest this being the only place to see. But if you are interested, going around some of the smaller roads will take you to some of the other stone temples. Galaganatha group temples is one of nearly thirty temples on the bank of the Malaprabha River. It is sad to see how badly such beautiful temples are maintained. The sites around the temples served as grazing grounds for cattle and shelter for the tired farmer. One of my favorite temples here was the Ravana Phadi cave, one of the oldest rock cut temples in Aihole. I think this temple is similar to the rock cut temples in Badami. 
This temple dates back to the 6th century, with a rectangular shrine, with two mantapas. There is a Shivalinga in the inner room or sanctum. The Sculpture of Nataraja or Dancing Shiva is a stunning sight. The carving is intricately decorated and various avatars of Lord Vishnu is all around the cave temple. The sculpture to look out for is that of Bhringi, who was considered to be a saint who vowed not to eat anything. The statue shows a malnourished saint in prayer to the lord shiva.
With the experience gained by working on the soft rock in Aihole, the Chalukyas went on to build the great temples of Pattadakal. Again, the main temple site is well maintained by the ASI. There are ten temples including a Jain sanctuary surrounded by numerous small shrines and plinths. Four temples were built in Dravidian style, four in RekhaNagara style of Northern India and the Papanatha temple in mixed style. The best temple here is the Virupaksha temple, built by Queen Lokamahadevi (Trilokyamahadevi)in 745 to commemorate her husband’s victory (Vikramaditya II) over the Pallavas of Kanchi. The temple closely resembles the Kailashnatha temple in Kanchi which served as a model for this temple. The architects of the kailasanatha temple in kanchi was assigned to built the virupaksha temple as well. The pillars in the temple’s mukha mantapa contains scenes from mahabarath, ramanyana, bhagavatham and kiratarjuneey. There are 8 pillars in the temple with the sculptures of amorous couples and the fascinating this is the hair-do of the men and women in the sculptures, Each hair do is unique and dare i say fancy. The temple walls are embellished with scultpures of lingotbhavar, pikshandavar, Rathi-Mamatha, Harihara, Ugranarashimar. In a pillar near the main entrance you will see a scultpure of a ten headed ravana lifting mount kailasa. The sangameshwara temple in pattadkal is the oldest temple in pattadkal. King Vijayadithya commenced the work of this temple but this temple was never completed. The walls of temple and the pillars are decorated with mythical animals like Yali. The sculptures and designs found in this temple has a striking similarity to those found in the Ankor region of Cambodia.
The next day, we drove down to Lakkundi which is about 70 Kms from Badami in Gadag district. Lakkundi is famous for its intricately carved stone pillars and shrines. A old villager in that area told us there were around 100 small shrines and most of them are destroyed by the locals and some of them have become walls of a village house. There are around 11 temples in this area and only 6 of them have been selected by the ASI to be preserved. Among the well preserved the Brahma Jainalaya and Kasi visvanatha are the most beutiful temples. There are few temples for Lord Brahma in India (even though he is a creator of all living beings), This temple has a beautiful scultpure of a four faced Brahma in mukha mantapa and Mahivira in the main sanctum. My favorite temple here was the Kasivisvesvara temple. The stone carvings are brilliant, some of them stand out, literally. The carvings are so beautifully done that some of the elephants and figures are in not fully part of the stone panel, they are intricately carved. 
The Kasivisvesvara temple epitomizes the shift in Chalukyan artistic achievements, the carvings are much more detailed and complex. Lakkundi is also famous for its many stepped wells. One of the main kalyani can be found in the nanneshwara temple. The structure is impressive, but the area around and the approach is really bad. Compared to the main temple site, the other temples are not too attractive, and the town growing around the heritage site does no justice the splendor of the stone work.
On our way back to Badami we stopped in Gadag to visit the famous Triambakeshwar temple, which has a shrine for Sarawathi and if I am correct the only temple shrine saraswathi. According to indian mythology Saraswathi and Brahma are not to have shrines dedicated to them. The pillars in the Saraswathi temple are exquistely carved. The ceiling of the temple contains sculptures of all navagrahas. The pillars are made of green stones and the carvings in the pillars contain sila balikas and mini rekha nagaras. The entrance to the main grabha griha is exquisitely carved. The panels had sculptures of kinaras and gandharvas playing music instruments. These sculptures were carved out of a single and rock and the insides were scoopped out and made into a hollow structure.
We drove back to Badami by 4:30 pm in the evening. Badami was earlier called Vatapi. The name Vatapi has origin in the Vatapi legend of Ramayana relating to Sage Agastya. There were two demon siblings Vatapi and Ilvala. They used to kill all mendicants by tricking them in a peculiar way. The elder Ilvala would turn Vatapi into a ram and would offer its meat to the guest. As soon as the person ate the meat, Ilvala would call out the name of Vatapi. As he had a boon that whomsoever Ilvala calls would return from even if dead, Vatapi would emerge ripping through the body of the person, thus killing him/her. Their trick worked until Sage Agastya countered them by digesting Vatapi before Ilvala could call for him, thus ending the life of Vatapi at the hands of Ilvala. Two of the red rock hills in Badami represent the demons Vatapi and Ilvala.
The urge to see the grand cave temples of Badami was too much to resist. The beautiful red rock canyon houses many spectacular sculptures a sign of Chalukyan art work. A Rs 10 ticket seems modest for maintaining such a great site. The Badami Cave Temples are composed of four caves, all carved out of the soft Badami sandstone on a hill cliff in the late 6th century. The four caves are simple in style. The entrance is a verandah with stone columns and brackets, a distinctive feature of these caves, leading to a columned mandapa and then to the small square shrine (sanctum sanctorum) cut deep into the cave. The temple caves represent different religious sects. Among them, two are dedicated to god Vishnu, one to god Shiva and the fourth is a Jain temple. The first three are devoted to the Vedic faith and the fourth cave is the only Jain temple at Badami. Their architecture is a blend of North Indian Nagara Style and South Indian Dravidian style. As described above each cave has a sanctum sanctorum, a mandapa, a verandah and pillars. The cave temples also bear exquisite carvings, sculptures and beautiful murals. The best sculpture is in the 3rd cave entrance of Dancing Shiva or Nataraja. The carving represents nataraja with 8 arms in various dance poses. The statue is said to represent the 64 dance poses of Bharathanatyam in great detail. All the statues in the cave temples are stunning in their own way.The view of vishnu sitting on a serpent seat amidst the sand stone pillars in cave 3 is breath taking. Apparently all the caves were decorated with colorful paintings. Today there are only traces of this art work. These paintings were all seen even till 1975, but since then most of them have been erased. Only a photograph of this art work can be seen in the museum on the other side of the Agasthya lake.
The last day, we had to go back to the cave temples, and decided to get there early in the morning to beat the crowds. The play of the early morning sun light over the red and brown sand stone rock with the back drop of the Agasthya Lake and the Boothnath temple at the far side of the lake is truly one of the best sights I have seen in all my travels. This is feast for people interested in photography. A leisurely climb up to the 4 caves was the perfect early morning exercise.
We visited the Bhoothnath temple next which is really scenic when seen from the steps to the lake. I did not find the architecture of this temple particularly beautiful compared to some of the temples we saw in the last couple of days, but there is something really divine about a old temple on the banks of an ancient lake with the red rock canyon all around. Next we visited the Kappe Arabhatta rock which is the the first Sanskrit inscription in old Kannada script. This rock is part of Kannada history and has a lot of significance in Kannada literature. They have cordoned off the approach to the rock and for good reason. Tourists touching and rubbing the script might destroy it like the paintings in the caves in badami. From here, we visited the museum and climbed up the other hill to the left of the Agasthya lake to reach the fort and shiva temples. 
Its a bit of an adventure to reach the temple, walking through a natural gorge.
It was a tiring day, but a fitting end to the trip to this beautiful and historical part of Karnataka. Our yeshwanthpur express train back to Bangalore was late by about 1 hour :-)
It sure was a memorable trip. I clicked over 500 pictures, some of them are uploaded to my flickr stream.
My mother has written a much more detailed blog about the place and the history
- http://ilupeju.blogspot.com/2010/01/time-travel-to-chalukya-desaday-1.html
- http://ilupeju.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-2-nursery-of-styles.html
