Pondycherry - two day trip from Bangalore

Planned to visit Pondicherry for a two day weekend outing with hubby. I booked the KSRTC volvo club class multi axle bus on Thursday and we left on Friday night. Our bus was from St.John's and we had a tough time searching for the KSRTC pick up point. We had a nice plate of chitranna and curd in the bus stop and boarded the bus for a short peaceful journey to Pondy. What I had thought was a short journey took almost 10 hrs.

After landing, we were told that there is good accommodation near the bus stand area. My husband is the kind of person who searches for Udupi bhavan/ hotel everywhere he goes. We searched for a good number of hotels and resorts before we got one next to the Udupi bhavan on the main streets of Pondicherry and we checked in for a cozy twin AC suite.

It has become a hobby that when we land on a new land in the mornings of the journey, we roam on the streets of the city after a cup of hot tea. So once we checked in we dumped the luggage in the hotel room, we had hot watery tea in the Udupi bhavan. The tea was sick. The search for other tea shops which sell good tea was not very fruitful.

I noticed that the whole of city was dirty on that sun risen morning. There were bars across every second building and people were happily littering, loitering, puking in front of the bars. There were tea stalls on the gutters. Some kerala parota stalls were lined up the road where white dough is knead near garbage junks. One scene took me by shock. A man was peeing to the high lamp post that stood at the center of a large bus stand. In the midst of 2000 people, 200 buses, 50 tea shops, how one could take out to pee without any embarrassment is what I wonder about.

The day was too sunny. The breakfast was a little better than the morning tea from Udupi bhavan. We took a share auto to go to the rock beach. The idea of going in the share auto was to know people and their life styles. At the end of the caravan, all we got to know was that, the people are too rude and no body understands a single syllable if its not Tamil.

The rock beach is a sweet place to be. We imagined that the place will have tides where we can touch waters and take a dip. But it turned out that they have cut short the shore area by throwing stones at the sea. Its breezy and lots and lots of shopping options are available for sea made items. Plenty of eateries are also present which sell french pasta, Chinese momos, manchurian, Modhak(they call with tamil equivalent), peanuts, sweet candy, bhel puri, vada, bajji etc etc..

Out of heat and humid weather, we were exhausted. We had fish for the dinner at Annaporna hotel. The specialty of Pondy hotels is that they don't serve any dish with spoon. You insist on getting a pair of spoons and it comes to you probably after you complete eating the dish.

Next day was very eventful. We took a early rise to catch the sun rise at the beach. The rock beach was not all that peaceful. There were people jogging, hogging here and there. After a long time the sun rose and it was a stunning scene. Some pics follow below.

We booked a taxi and visited Aurbindo ashram, Ganabadi temple(yes, its pronounced as Ganabadi and not as Ganapathi), Narasimha temple, Govt Museum, Auroville, a beautiful and handsome church near the railway station. All this took around 4 hours. For the afternoon we settled for the Auro beach. The water was too good for anybody to refuse it. We got wet and played all the possible sport on the beach. There were French men and bikini clad women. The bikini women, as usual had a great bunch of followers, fans and admirers. They term them all as stalkers.

We made some shopping in the Auroville and had good food to eat at the Adiyar Anand Bhavan. The evening tea was held at beach. We returned to catch the bus back to Bangalore.

How to reach from Bangalore:
By Bus: From Majestic, there are many buses that go to Pondicherry. Buses that go to Thiruvannamalai also go to Pondicherry. It takes around 7 to 9 hrs.
By Car: The route is via Hosur, Krishnagiri. Takes 6 hrs.
By Train: There is a railway station at Pondy.
By air: Airport is in Chennai and from Chennai it takes 3 hrs to Pondy.

Places to see: Aurobindo ashram, Auroviile, Thiruvannamalai temple, Ganabadi temple, Narasimha tempel, Church, Rock Beach, botanical garden, Auro beach.

Best time to visit: Oct to Dec

Kudteri Shantha Durga MahaMaya Temple

Kudteri Shantha Durga MahaMaya Temple

Recently I visited this place as this being our Kula Devatha place. Before visiting, I browsed to no end to know about the place and its surroundings. But there was no blog/site that would help to sojourn  in this place. Hence I decided to write about Kudteri Shantha Durga Mahamaya temple located in Ghudo, Avedem in Quepem(pronounced as Cafe as in Cafe coffee day). The devi is kuladevatha for Kamaths with Vochcha gothra. Kudteri is famous not only among Kamaths but among all konkanis with Vachcha gothra.

The temple is built recently - May be in the last decade. Inside the temple, there are two Goddesses. One Murthy is of Shantha Durga and other is of Chamundeshwari. The murthys are placed side by side in two different sancta sanctorum. The murthys are made of white marble stone and dressed with clothe and jewelry. There are different sevas available to be performed by the devotees which range from 20 INR to 2 lak INR. The temple also houses two - three storied lodges. The admission is strictly reserved for GSBs who have their family tress imprinted in the records of the Temple. So when you go there and want to reserve a suite, you tell a name of your ancestors and you get it booked. You can also update their records with your name and your children names in the family tree.

The accommodation is plush with a view of the forests in the backdrop of the balcony. I enjoyed being on the balcony where I could hear the birds chirping, croaking of frogs, clucking of chickens and whole lot of mysterious sounds which I could not identify. In the ground floor of the lodge, there is a canteen maintained by a certain Nitte uncle. He's been living in the temple surroundings for nearly 10 years doing seva to the Goddess by feeding the devotees. He is available 24/7 and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner along with coffee and tea during the evening times. All the temple goers visit him. His tariff is from 5 INR to 30 INR for two course meals of Dalitoy and variety of madgaNes. His Dalitoy is one of the authentic konkani delicacy that I have tasted ever. It was an ecstatic feeling.

It is believed that when the outsiders attacked on the temples of India to loot the treasures hidden in the temples, the Mahamaya temple associates safeguarded the shrine and transferred it to a remote village in Goa from West Bengal. There they hid the actual Mahamaya shrine and installed the Chamundeshwari shrine in the place of actual shrine. After many centuries, when India was independent of foreign rule, they resumed to offer prayers to Mahamaya shrine in the foreground along with chamundeshwari shrine.

Some of the pics taken here are as below:

Here is the address to reach the place:


Samsthan ShantaDurga Chamundeshwari
 Kudtarai mahamaya 
Ghudo, Avedem, Quepem, Goa - 403705
Ph: 0832-2662423
      0832-2663881
      09822131503


How to reach from Bangalore:

Train and Bus services are available to Mudgaon.
From Mudgoan, hire taxi to Ghudo, Avedem or Kudtarai(Both mean the same)
Show the above address to the taxi organizer and he gets you a prepaid taxi for 400 to 500 INR.
The ride is about 20 min(taxi) to 40(bus). The temple is a little interior to reach by bus. The bus stops at the main road and have to walk around 7 to 10 min to reach the temple.

There are no other attractions in the surrounding locations except for Mudgoan. Mudgoan is a world in its own - very beautiful with old Portuguese buildings. The beach is a nice place to visit but crowded most of the time.

Celebrating Love by Sri Sri Ravishankar Guruji

This book belongs to more of spiritual than personality development category. There is much of non-human component and it treats the reader as some Godly creature who has overcome the human inadequacy.

It aides in understanding the purity that rest within us. Purity by meaning to say the innocence and genuineness of the soul. 

Secretes of Relationships by Sri Sri RaviShankar Guruji

The book starts with the definition of the relationship and lets us understand the types of relationships we hold with the people, society, world and the lethargic components of the surroundings.

This book did not hold my interest for long and I skipped pages reading the same gyaan. But when I was reading the book, I made a great comparison between the preaching of Ravishankar Guruji and Sri Sri Bhramha nanda Swamiji. The basis for both is same but the way in which Ravi Shankar Guruji preaches  is more famous among the  fast, modern, youth whereas Bramha Nanda Swamiji’s is more applied to the  middle aged,  family stuck and troubled people.

Secretes of Relationships is available as CD and book. The book cost is around 50INR and available in all AOL stores. 

Mind Matters by Sri Sri RaviShankar Guruji

Of late I have been reading a lot of books by Ravishankar Guruji because I get them all free of cost.  This one is the best of the whole lot. It talks about the importance of mind control and the ways to achieve mind control. The book is quite small but speaks in volumes.

The author tells about the difficulties of not having the mind control and then about the benefits of mind control and many challenging ways to achieve it.

Mind control is a technique through which one can achieve immense elation of the spirit. It basically means controlling the turbulence of the mind and keeping a steady state of mind in the moments of glad and sad. It prepares one accept the surprise of the birth and grief of the death alike. Though a man having worldly regulations and disciplines may not achieve such a state of calmness, he would get a blissful mind which enables him to see good and bad as one.

The book is a great eye opener and lets us understand the barriers that lay deep inside us for pursuit of truth.

ಬೇಡ ಮಾಡಬೇಡ ???

ಎಣೆ ಎಣೆಯಾಗಿರುವ ನನ್ನ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯನ್ನು

ಎಣ್ಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕರಿಯಬೇಡ |

ಮೃದುವಾಗಿರುವ ನನ್ನ ಹೃದಯವನ್ನು 

ಬಾಣಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹುರಿಯಬೇಡ ||

ಬೆಂದಿರುವ ಭಾವನೆಗಳನ್ನು 

ಬಿಸಿನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕುದಿಸಬೇಡ|

ಕಲ್ಲೋಲವಾಗಿರುವ ಮನವನ್ನು 

ಮಾತಿನಿಂದ ಕದಡಬೇಡ|||

ಅರ್ಥ ಮಾಡಿಕೋ ನಿನ್ನ ದುಗುಡವ 

ಪಡೆದುಕೋ ಉಸಿರಾಟದ ಹಿಡಿತವ |

ಬಿಗಿದಪ್ಪಿಕೋ  ನನ್ನ ನಿನ್ಹಿಡಿಥದಲಿ

ಸೇರುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ  ನೋವುಗಳು ಮನೆಯ ಗೂಡಿನಲಿ||

ಹೋಲಿಸಬೇಡ ನಿನ್ನ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯನೇನಕೂ

ಸಿಗುವುದು ನಿನಗೆ ಶಾಂತಿಯ ಬದುಕು |

ವಿಶ್ವಾಸವನಿಟ್ಟಕೋ ನಮ್ಮಿಬ್ಬರಲಿ 

ದೊರಕುವುದು ನಮಗೂ  ಸ್ವರ್ಗದ  ತಪ್ಪಲು||

 ಜೀವನದ ದಾರಿ  ಬಲು ಕಷ್ಟ 

ನೋವ ನುಂಗಿಕೊ ??????

ಆಗ ಆಗುವುದು ಇದು ಬಹಳ ಇಷ್ಟ || || ||| |||

                                                                             ಚತುರ್ಮುಖ 

Hai Hum me Hero

Yesterday was the 64th Independence Day of India. As usual I was jobless and happened to watch the movie Gandhi on sony pix. (My dad has been persuading me to watch it since I was 4yrs old when I won the awards for speeches on Gandhi’s biography. I remember precisely every time the competition is over on the mornings of 15^th Aug, he would hurry down the award giving ceremony and rush back home to watch this movie. I’ve had never been keen on it to watch. This time I made it)

The movie starts with the day of Gandhi’s death where he quotes ‘When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.’

It shows how Gandhi had been successful in winning the rights of Indians in South Africa, his journey to India and non- cooperation and non-violence. The movie also fables on how Gandhi fought with the Muslim communities and Jinnah against the India – Pakistan partition.

It’s a four hour movie and a lot slow paced compared to the contemporary movies (Eg: Avatar which I also watched yesterday). At the end Gandhi’s death scene has been recalled from the beginning of the movie.

More than the movie, what moved me most was the intermittent Hero Honda ad by AR Rehman singing ‘Hai Hum me Hero’. The ad has a gymnast, a dancer in the India challenge TV show, an old Sikh climbing a hill, an IAF pilot and a bungee jumper. The gymnast falls in the practice sessions but wins the grand finale, the dancer battles the challenge and wins, the Sikh views the panoramic view from the top of the hill and by that they show that all of us have a Hero in Us.

With the ad in the background, I concluded that Gandhi had a big job to do and so does Anna Hazare or our most gallant army soldiers. Gandhi was identified as the leader of the Independence struggle and he did his job great. Our army officers are also doing their job right. I say anybody who does his job right without any flaw is a Hero. Every day at 11 o’ clock, a BBMP guy drops at my door to collect garbage and he’s never missed a minute ever. I always wonder how someone can be so perfect. If his effort is very ordinary – so is Gandhi’s. I find a Hero in that garbage collector.

We are all heros in our own self because we have a goal to achieve and we are all doing it just right or we are only ordinary including Mahatma Gandhi. For now let’s just say ‘Mujme hai Hero'.

Where's God?

I am literally mad over this song.

Sung by Shreya Ghoshal, its rich and consummate in meaning.

Na kuch poocha

Na kuch manga

Tune dil se diya jo liya

Na kuch bola 

na kuch tola

Muskura ke diya jo diya

Tu hi dhoop tu hi chaoon

Tu hi apna paraya

Aur kuch na jana

Bas itna hi janu

Tujh mein rab dikhta hai

You didn’t ask anything  

You didn’t demand for anything

Whatever you gave, you gave from your heart 

You didn’t say anything

You didn’t weigh the pros and cons

Whatever you gave, you gave with a smile

You’re the warmth, you’re the shade

You are my own yet a stranger

I may not know much

but this I do know

I see God in you

Honor among thieves: Jeffery Archer

It is a thriller set in the United States of America, Iraq, Israel and Middle Eastern countries. The plot is that Saddam Hussein plans to avenge America by stealing the declaration of independence after his defeat in the gulf war. 

Saddam and party contact international mafia don and set a deal to steal the declaration of independence from the national archives of America in Washington.  When the declaration is stolen, it is passed on to the Iraqi ambassador at the UN and in turn brought to Iraq. 

One CIA agent Scott Bradley and Mossad- Hannah Kopec together bring back the declaration with illogical, poorly built Jeffrey Archer drama before the press gets to know about the theft. 

The book is disappointing even for hard core Jeffery Archerians.  May appeal the naïve readers.

Train to Pakistan: Khushwant Singh.

This is one of the most acclaimed books about the India Pakistan partition happened in Aug 1947. It talks about the human dimension of the partition in comparison to the political and economic dimensions of the contemporary books.

The story is set in a fictional village of Mano Majra on the borders of India and Pakistan and dominated by Sikhs. The protagonist- Juggat Singh is a Sikh in love with a Muslim girl. The day before the call is given for Muslim separation in Mano Majra, the village’s only rich man is murdered and Juggu is captured in relation to the murder.

The lover girl is pregnant and she with her blind father leave for Pakistan to be taken as refugees. Juggu is released from jail to find that there is a train arriving at Mano Majro full of dead Sikh bodies. There’s not a lone man who is alive.

There is more violence and bloodshed. Muslims say Hindus planned and started the killings and Hindus in turn say Muslims are to blame. But the fact is both are killed. Both are stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped.

If the initial down-for-count pages are passed through patiently, there is a good picture of the 1947 partition event and a wonderful narration follow.