the Vishwapriya marriage, the heat, the food, the travel and the ruins of Hampi

Nikam weds Kadam:

The original reason for our trip, Vishwa’s marriage to Priya. It was my first experience of a marathi wedding and it was an amazing experience. Vishwa with a fur hat for haldi ceremony on the day before the marriage was something altogether. The welcome ceremony for the groom from the  girls side was 7 savashne* ladies applying tika on his forehead. Once he went into the marriage hall, he soon changed to a white kurta and pajama that would make any Nirma ad proud. Within a short while, Priya arrived and she too got the same savashne* ladies welcome, this time from groom’s side. The stage was already ready for the haldi cermony and both Priya and Vishwa were taken there directly. Soon there was a flurry of activity during which all lady relatives and friends applied turmeric paste to Vishwa and Priya’s face, hands and legs. They also had a tuber of turmeric tied on their wrists. The next day we went with him in a marathi style barat, with him on a horse with a sword in hand which had a lemon at its tip and a turban to go with, to the temple and back. By now, we had noticed that all guys had a gandhi topi and being as hot as it was, we didnt want to be left behind. We got ourselves our own khadi topi’s from the nearby vastralay and rejoined the barat party.  For all we knew, dhurakad and dacha might have just walked out of a freedom fighters movement, the cap was such a perfect fit for their khadi kurta outfit. The party arrived at the wedding hall to a resounding welcome of fire-crackers. As the muhurtam time was getting nearer, the groom was quickly taken upto the platform and was soon joined by the bride. After the pandit finished the ceremonial shlokas for the marriage, with the exchange of garlands and tying of mangalsutra the marriage was soon over. vishwapriya as we used to call vishwa now became a reality.

*savashne lady : sumangali – tamil/telugu,  married lady-english.

The Heat:

I was in Sangola/Solapur for less than 2 days, but I wont be able to forget the summer heat there for a long time to come. In Chennai, summer means sweating, sticky smelly shirts, hot chairs,  and not matter what you do, you feel as if your body is melting away drop by drop litre by litre. I am used to that. After sometime the odour becomes so much a part of your life that you hardly notice it when it emerges, mixed with smell of fresh coconut oil, from the scalp of the guy standing very close to you in Bus no.12G, while you are trying to avoid the thick curly mass of oil dripping hair everytime the bus jerks and curse yourself for being taller than him at the same thankful that you are tall and dont have to avoid his arm pits. But in Sangola, there was no problem with sweaty arm pits or an assault on olfactory nerves, it was the immense heat. The room which was booked for us was Airconditioned and when we came out to board the car, it was like walking into a furnace, I felt as if my pants were on fire. It is such a dry heat that not a drop of sweat trickles down. We had to only stand near the gate until the car arrived and all I could think of at that time was running back into the room and refusing to come out. The car arrived and we got in. If standing in the sun was like walking into a furnace, sitting in the car was like sitting on the furnace and with the cool air inlet tightly shut. It took a whole ten minutes for the AC in the car to kick in and only then we started feeling a slight cool breeze and it took a lot longer to actually feel cool inside the car.

Hampi was relatively lot cooler than Sangola, but while in Sangola all we had to do was run from the shade of one building to the car to the next building, in Hampi we were roaming around in our rented TVS Xl super from one monument to another. The place was so hot and inhospitable that we had to wonder why did the Vijayanagara kings decided to set up shop here of all places in Karnataka, why not a Coorg or a Bangalore? We survived thanks to the soda shops near every monument and temple, where we had refreshing Goli soda many times and Bindu Jeera Soda once – we could never find another shop selling Bindu soda, there were shops selling different brands of Jeera soda but none was as good as Bindu soda. The Granite tiles which look very pleasing to the eye were not so pleasing on my foot, scalding them the moment I set foot on them and all the temples had scores of these tiles. We were so tired and drained by the afternoon that we slumped under a big peepul tree and slept on the grass for 20 mins.

The Food :

We had typical maharashtrian food from the moment we stepped out of Solapur railway station until Raichur station at 12 in the night the next day. We started our day in Solapur by having Puri Sabji & Vada Pav followed by sweet milky tea from ‘Shri Guruprasad’ restaurant.  By lunch time we had settled down into Hotel Abhinav and the food there was amazing. We had complete 8 course meal including the most softest yummiest chapati I had ever had and wonderful variety of side dishes and tasty Kashmiri pulav (not the colored rice I am used to getting in Lumiere or 360 degree hot), with the best butterscotch icecream for desert. Dinner on the day before marriage was a wonderful marathi styled one with mouthwater sheera (kesari), vada and chapati with brinjal curry.  We thought things could not get any better but it did, the lunch on marriage day was even more yummy and tasty which we gobbled up merrily and completed the course with traditional paan.

After the marriage we reached Solapur to board the trains to our respective destinations. Since the trains were delayed and we had time to kill, we decided to have snacks, this time at Vishwa restaurant, adjacent to Shri Guruprasad restaurant, where we had tasty paav bhaji and sweet creamy tea ( which one might mistake for kheer if not for the slight tea taste). Night dinner comprised of a slightly iffy samosa, Lays and vada pav with tea (the reason behind this sudden drop in food levels comes up in travel section).  The next day we were in Hampi/Hospet where we enjoyed typical Karanataka style food with Paddu and Poori for breakfast at Aunty’s shop near our Gopi guest house, Jowar roti and rice meals for lunch at ‘Sri Bhavani Family restaurant’ in Kamalapur and dinner of veg pulav and chapati at ‘Moonlit’ restaurant adjacent to Prince restaurant.  Last day at Hampi we had paddu again for breakfast and lunch again from Sri Bhavani aunty restaurant. Just before we boarded train to Bangalore from Hospet we had wondeful dinner at ‘Sharana Basaveshwara Bhojanalaya’  for 40 rupees per plate.

The Travel:

Fate can be very cruel at times. I can find no other explanation for the fact that our ticket from Solapur to Guntakal did not get confirmed, when out of the 4 ppl who booked all tickets in the entire journey, 3 of us were on that particular train. So me, dhurakad and nbathi along with dacha found ourselves in Solapur without a confirmed ticket with just an hour to go for the train. Our next leg of journey from Guntakal to Hospet had confirmed tickets so there was no option of looking for another train later in the night. So we bought ourselves an open ticket and asked TT if he can find us some seats or berths in Sleeper as our AC tickets did not get confirmed. At first he allowed us to sit in sleeper compartment saying he can find out by Gulbarga station but an hour later, he asked us to deboard and come in general unreserved compartment. So at 9pm on 26th April all 4 of us standing in general compartment with just enough place to stand. Gulbarga was still an hour away and we found people who were getting down there and promptly at Gulbarga we got their seats. Though we had option of sitting face to face 2 on either side, the Ant hill under one of the seats made us sit side by side. Once we had our seat we thought of dinner plans, the option of getting down at the station and finding food from the last compartment was not there, the compartment was so far off from the station centre that hardly any shops were visible let alone hawkers selling proper food. Finally we did manage to get some food. The general compartment was already crowded with people sitting all over on the floor and it became more crowded, soon six of us sitting in place of 3. Somehow each of us managed to find some comfortable position and tried to sleep the remaining 4-5 hours. But it wasn’t to be that day. Soon at Raichur around 12 in the night boarded 20 more people who were at once shouting and fighting with one another and with other passengers. Someone pushed, 3 or 4 women fell on top of the women already on the floor. It was utter chaos. Whatever little sleep I got was by now gone, but that was not my main problem, I saw a small figure had somehow crossed a sea of legs and settled in between my legs. The child might have been 4 years old and he was sleeping standing up leaning on my leg. I was already in a lot of discomfort and the arrival of the child meant I could not move my legs either side. We soon found out his name was Suman and that he had not intention of going to his mom who was sitting on the floor near the door, neither did she want her son. It was a very sorry state of affairs, I had nothing to offer ‘tirumalshetty’ suman ( as we called him that time). The only choice I had was getting up and making him sit in my place which I wasn’t ready to do so I bore the guilt of it. I tried to sleep holding him, but the next time i got up, he had plopped down on the floor and slept under our legs. He slept until we got down at Guntakal at 3:05 am, while all we could manage was try not to sleep so that we do not trample him while sleeping, while his mom kept complaining why people were keeping luggage under the seat as it was blocking her legs from stretching and slept intermittently. This train – Basava express- was one of the worst trains one could pick to travel in general compartments, it stopped every half hour for 10-15 mins to let other express trains pass through.

Fate wasn’t going to let us get away even after reaching Guntakal, our connecting train was more than an hour late and we slept on the raised platform for 1/2 hr to 40 mins until we realized that we did have a confirmed ticket this time and we can rest in waiting room. The train came only at 6:10 in the morning – a hour and 25 mins late, but it managed to catch lost time and reached only 20 mins behind schedule at Hospet.

The Ruins :

Hampi – the seat of Vijayanagar Empire could have been an awesome spectacle even if half the monuments were left untouched. But the victorious Sultans who won the war made sure they destroyed every single monument. So meticulous was the destruction that one would find it very hard to find a single idol or statue with all body parts intact. If the limbs were there, the head is missing, if the head is there, the nose is cut and in some extreme cases entire upper body is missing leaving us to guess what the statue might have been. The archaeological museum at Kamalapur near Hampi has a collection of all such statues salved from the temples and royal enclaves. We must have seen hundreds of Lakshmi Narasimha statues with limbs missing, Krishna with Gopikas with all their noses missing, Nandi without Head or limbs, Hanuman without a face. At Krishna temple and Hazarama Temple, there are statues on the gopura which have heads missing !! People actually took pains in climbing up 20-30 feet to cut off their heads. And it was not barbarous destruction with a sledge hammer but work of chisel and hammer. What must have taken a hundred years or more to carve out such beautiful temples and sculptures destroyed in a matter of years. We took 2 TVS XL super ‘bikes’ for rent and visited most of the monuments on the first day itself  – ‘Kadalekal Ganesh’, Krishna temple, Lakshmi narasimha temple, BadaviLinga, Underground Shiva temple, Royal Enclave and mint, the Stepped Tank, Hazarama temple, Queens bath, Chandrashekara temple, Bhima’s gate, Jain Temple ending with Vithala temple on the banks of Tungabhadra. The terrain stretched our little tvs xl to its limits and at places where it could not climb the steeo slope, we got down and pushed up it ourselves:). The second day we crossed the river on a boat to Kishkinta – the place where Rama met Hanuman, fought with Vali in Ramayana. There we visited Anjanaparvat – Place of birth of Hanuman, Sabari Ashram, Vali and Sugreeva Cave and the place where Rama killed Vali in Ramayana, we also visited Aanegundi where there was Queen’s palace.

The millepede we found at the entrance of Vali Sugreeva cave was one of the biggest i have seen, it was larger than my hand, though the photo does not show it exactly

Puss in room

Last night I was watching Prison Break on my pc with headphones on. Now, PB is a kind of serial, with its so serious background score, just like old Hindi/tamil suspense movies (Shaalimar, Woh kaun thi, Ade Kangal, Poovizhi Vasalile types) and where the characters keeping moving in dreary and dark places – well, its after all prison, so i didn’t expect much. Anyways, given the loud volume of the headphones and the background score, my attention wasn’t exactly in my room. Now, I don’t believe in ghosts or spirits walking up on me except when I watch Ring or Grudge, where for many nights I make sure there are no obstructions on my way from the switchboard to my bed before walking up to switch off the lights, and on throwing the switch I rush with aid of light from my cellphone and rush to bed and duck under the blanket leaving the smallest trail of light from the window to fall on my face.

Yesterday was no such night, I knew exactly what was in the house, the rustling sound was just the newspaper, the rolling movement on my periphery was just the curtain in the air circulation created by the ceiling fan, and that shadow from the kitchen light was the last bee from my honey bee hive. But then, while Scofield is still figuring out how to get his brother out of prison on screen, I see a shadow move from under my bed towards the hall. Now, it was too consistent and straight for it to be some random paper moving in air currents whipped up by the fan. I turn my head to see a grey cat strolling around in my house.  My last experience with cats was when I was in 5th standard I tried to spoof a cat in my apartment complex, I sneaked up on it and said ‘bhoo’ and it stood up hunched its back and with all its feline ferocity gave me a hissing sound and was on the verge of making an attack on me after which I ran.  Now, I am much more bigger and this cat in my house didnt look all that bold either. So I ran behind the cat into the hall, it ran first this side then that side then rushed into the kitchen where the window was open, but then it ran back in the hall as if forgetting that I am still there. It saw me again, then ran to the other bedroom in which there was no window open and settled there making loud meows. The house was very dark with only the kitchen light on, I needed lights to find this cat and to shoo it away.  After closing the first bedroom door, lest it runs into that I switched on all lights, left the main door open and peeped into the second bedroom.

At first, I could not seen the cat, then I found it behind the laundry bag. I went behind it with a broom in my hand and the cat ran into the kitchen again. I somehow managed to bring it back to the second bedroom and out to the hall. It ran away. Then after a short failed investigation where I could not find whether the cat came from bedroom window, hall window or kitchen window, I went back to PB. Scofield was still figuring out.

see no bad

Sitting in the hall with a nice cup of coffee in my hand I see what my mom is looking at.  The little girl on the terrace across the street is studying or so it looks like. Almost at once, we can see that she is hardly interested in studying, the book lies open beside her, the gentle breeze has already turned a few pages and yet she appears to be a picture of concentration staring at it. I wonder how she managed to go through the pages in the millisecond it takes the wind turned the pages.  I laugh out loud, my mom is clearly not impressed. While I am able to relate to the girl and visualize how she was told to ‘study’ up in the terrace where there is little disturbance whereas all she wanted was a relaxed morning and is now just waiting for her mom and dad to go to their respective offices. My mom meanwhile has vented out her frustration on how the current generation in heading out, the girl out there fooling her parents while they assume she is putting all her efforts for the upcoming examinations. She does not spare the parents of current generation also, they want to get their children out of the house and want peace inside, don’t take time to sit with the child and let her study and what. what other important job do they have other than making sure that their son or daughter is infact studying.  I am trying hard not to laugh at the antics of the girl who by now has even stopped pretending to study and is playing with a twig nearby and at short intervals throws a pebble or two at the pigeons which are feeding on the terrace. I tell my mom to stop worrying about the girl, I remind her that these days there is no concept of ‘fail’ in school and no matter what she writes in her annual exams she is sure to proceed to the next class anyways.

While the little girl is still engrossed in her studies, I notice movement in the adjacent terrace.  A couple of boys have come up. They roam around here and there picking a pebble here and there and throwing in on the pigeons.  They lose interest soon and settle down near the ladder.  The smaller kid brings out a matchbox and is lighting bits of paper. After two or three attempts, he loses interest in the paper, then he brings something from his pocket and lits it, I don’t see any fire but he seems to be satisfied. He then proceeds to take a puff from it, it is then I realize that he is holding a bidi.  This little boy who might not be a day over 7 or 8 years, wearing a pair of loose fitting pants which keep sliding down on his backside and has to be held in place ever so often is smoking. Not to be left behind the bigger kid brings out something from his pocket and lits it. He now holds a cigarette.  One puff at a time they are enjoying their new found cool game, while having nervous looks here and there. It goes on for few seconds before they see the studious girl from next door, who by now has fixed her eyes on something far more interesting than her drab book. Having been caught red handed, the boys quickly throw away their bidi and cigarette and go in deep defensive mode. They try to negotiate a deal with the girl and plead to her to not their parents. Until now they think she is the only person who has seen them smoking and hence they plead with her. They then notice that across the street there is a door opens and see me and my mom. They quickly strike a deal with the girl and run for cover. The girl not studying no longer appears a major thing to my mom now, I have nothing to say for the bidi boys and I quickly say something about meeting in office, have to go early and rush to the bathroom.  Whatever is said or put on the packs cigarette smoking is considered ‘cool’ by the people who smoke and is depicted as such in movies and serials and until this mindset changes among big people, little boys will keep becoming beedi boys and my mom will keep slapping her head at the state of affairs and blame rajnikanth for this even if I do put in my word of defense for rajnikanth and say that  off late he has been seen popping Parle G biscuits into his mouth rather than cigarettes with his unique style.

irctc

There used to be a time when irctc website used to be busy and unresponsive only during morning ‘tatkal’ window. Nowadays it appears to be in tatkal state through the day. Most of the times it does not even login, and throws up ‘Session expired’ upon entering id and password.  Whose session is expired and why it expired? Nobody knows.  Guess you feel the pinch of competition even in irctc bookings these days?

Like everywhere else where someone who is cleverer or faster at doing somethings – because he has more data available in his hands or is more prepared, not necessarily because he is working against the rules – here too he is punished and penalized to make the competition more even. Enter the Quick book rule for tatkal tickets. If you had all data available in your hand like train number and station code, you can enter those along with the passenger details in same page and proceed to next step of payment, thus quick book allowed a person in a single click go directly to bank and make payment, the alternative being, entering ‘To’ and ‘From’ stations, date then click ‘Find Trains’, a new page will be loaded, where you select your train, then the website loads the availability for that particular train. Then once you select ‘Book’ a new page loads where you enter passenger details. After this another page loads, which asks you to confirm the details. Then a third page loads which gives you Bank options after which you go to bank website and make payment.  If you had the train number available with station codes, you need not go through this 5 to 6 page loading trouble especially when the tickets are running out. But now that option is gone. Realizing the ‘unfair’ advantage gained by few, our dear railway removed the quick book option during the time window 8 am to 10 am, making it an even page for all and sundry.

Today, I found something which is even more clever.

Apparently now, I cannot have more than two transactions between 8 am and 10 am, not necessarily ticket booking.  And not even from the same user id.  I am told that railways keeps updating its rules to prevent misuse of the facility by agents who book multiple tickets and hence normal ‘aam admi’ isn’t able to get tickets. But the clever person or people who came up this forgot to think that all tatkal tickets nowadays have mandatory ID proof required during booking, so the only ones booking them would be the very aam admi who requires tickets urgently either himself or for someone whom he knows who has given his credentials or maybe even an agent.  Given the horrible state of the website during tatkal peak hours I don’t think anyone has the patience or time to sit and try make multiple bookings. If at all the person has multiple pc’s and multiple accounts and hence is clever enough to know about the IP address and circumvent the above stupid error, I guess then he will anyways book the ticket no matter what, the prohibitions only trouble the normal person who just wants to cancel a couple of old tickets and book new ones for himself and does not understand why he is unable to book the ticket.  The clever guys who come up with these brilliant ideas can use their creative juices in making a better faster website which works all the time and not say to be session expired when I try to login. Its just another case in our country where clever guys sit around and come up with rules and regulations and prohibitory measures rather than make the system better.

Small travel companies which work with just a fraction of the money which railways has, manage to keep clean websites which works ALL the time. Yes the traffic there is also a fraction of what railways gets, but with the resources which railways does have already, it can do a far better job.

Added later (Thanks to Rajan)

Outsider just pointed me the link to the complaints cell  for irctc. Below is the link. When I first opened it, I thought it was a link for General complaints, but the dancing marquee asks me to be specific and clear about the problem,  so I guessed that if I had a general complaint I cannot give it there !! But then I read the link carefully, then I realized that I was wrong, I had to give specific complaints only as it was not a link for general complaints.

http://www.irctc.com/gerenalComplaints.jsp

See if you are able to find out why it isn’t for general complaints.