Couple of Days in Deoghar

Whenever we gather together i.e. my cousins and aunts and uncles, it invariably leads to a trip plan. The success rate of that plan turning to reality is albeit pretty low but there is never any lack of enthusiasm or a cringe of excitement during this planning phase. So, a couple of months back, when a bunch of us boarded the Jana Shatabdi train heading to Jasidih, it was indeed an unreal moment to cheer! The train was right on time, chair cars were pretty comfy, the big windows served nice views and the AC vents kept us necessarily cool. We started our journey about midday and when we stepped into the Jasidih station, the Sun had just set for the day and a cool breeze brushed our cheeks! It was pretty hot back in Kolkata that time, so we weren’t expecting anything different there either. Is it going to be cold here?! - everyone seemed to wonder. The question was justifiably answered when we all of us tucked ourselves under duvets at night! This was March and we were in Jharkhand, after all. We were anything but dreading the heat. So, the soothing cool breeze was a pleasant surprise.

Just me being me ;)

Our hotel was about a 30 minute drive from the railway station. It was a nice big house repurposed for tourism. The front of the house had a little garden, a fountain and a swing. After checking in, we spent the evening in the garden, sipping tea and munching pakoras.

Just by our hotel

The next morning I saw everyone was up and about pretty early. Nope, it wasn’t just the keenness to travel though. The restless, barking dogs outside the garden did the trick! We were at the ground floor and the dogs seemed to bark all night long, right by our ears! The house owner seemed to have three big cranky dogs who would be sleepy and lazy in their locked rooms all day and were left to bark and mess around at night! C’est la vie!

Trikut Parvat in the distance

Deoghar is a pretty well known name for us. Old story books and grandpas and grandmas always talk about visiting Deoghar for a change of scenery, for its good weather and water and so on. The very popular Jyotirlingam and Usri falls and lots of tiny scattered hills that have been identified with mythological stories of Ramayana - everything together paints an interesting picture.

Temple campus

After having our morning tea and nosing around a bit in the neighbourhood, we set off for Baidyanath Dhaam (one of the twelve Jyotirlingas where Lord Shiva is supposed to live.) What amused me was, how could the Lord, if there is, live amidst such chaos! We were literally pushed by certain guards and pandits into the inner sanctum. The chaotic scene, however, had a drastic change when it was getting broadcast in one of the big television screens outside the temple later in the day. Anyway, besides the apparent chaotic devotion, I must say, the lingam was very unique compared to the ones which I had seen so far (possibly not many, forgive my religious ignorance).

Lovely rock art..somewhere near Khandoli dam

After the super-contact mayhem, I definitely needed a boost which came in the form of the best pedha I have ever tasted! The sharp kheer, the smooth blends, the slight touch of cardamom - Ah! You must take a bow. It was indeed heavenly and I felt pretty pious whilst relishing an array of those pedhas! I possibly could visit again just for this.

Burrp! Okay, I am back.

After some pedha followed by fresh sugarcane juice, we arrived at Trikut Parvat - 3 small peaks which the locals refer to as Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar. Powered by pedhas, we all got out of the car and just as my youngest aunt sneaked her head back in the car to grab god-knows-what, a monkey vaulted itself inside the car, grabbed a bag of pedhas and jumped out of the window! Everything happened so fast, that when we tried to spot the monkey, he had already devoured his snatch of the day (or maybe just one of the snatches!) A happening start indeed! A guide immediately recruited himself to escort us up to the top. Okay, the top was really a very short climb to a slab of flat rock looking out at the three hill tops. On the way, we saw quirky rocks - some shaped like boats, some like elephants and so on! These were all naturally formed and hence pretty interesting. The ‘falls’ as promised by our guide was however a disaster! It was water coming out of a small pipe. This water apparently had “gut healing” quality but I had a pretty gut wrenching episode in the toilet the very next morning, so pardon my scepticism!

Trikut Parvat, just before going up

After Trikut, we drove up to the Tapovan. Now, this was quite exciting! As you go to the top flat bit, you would feel a huge gust of wind and hence the nickname ‘buk dhorphori’ (fluttering heart - pardon my poor translation!). You would then cross over to visit the monkey hill or otherwise known as ‘hamaguri pahaar’! This is just uber cool in my mind! I just can’t find a translation that can do justice to these sentiments! ‘Hamaguri pahaar’ (crawling hill - again I beg your pardon!) was really fun! That my body could twist and turn into so many strange shapes and sizes was an enlightenment ! And the fact that I could slide through hill cracks and slip between rocks and sneak in narrow gaps like the way we did - was completely bizarre! To top it off, my not-so-thin mother (Nope, it’s not body shaming if it’s between me and my mom. :P ) with her still-healing fractured arm could do the whole walk (it was more a twisty drag than a walk!) as well, which was a bigger surprise! We were going about exploring this hill all by ourselves. There were multiple guides calling out to us. But nope, we were super confident and went ahead with constantly wavering agility!

Slicing through the rocks :D

We came across a big boulder where three or four locals perched themselves and called out to help. Nope! We shook our heads. We climbed on top of the boulder but then there was no way forward! We just couldn’t figure out which next boulder or rock to set out to! It all looked like a dead end or a dead edge. We caved. We agreed for a guide then and Voila! The way forward magically appeared right in front of us! Albeit through a small slide between the rocks! We were barefoot the whole time. People are asked to take their shoes off at the foothill because it’s considered holy. The other theory is - with shoes, there is a very big chance of losing grip and getting stuck in these rocks! Well, all’s well that ends well and this “hamaguri” (crawl) on the “hamaguri pahar” (crawling hill) rightly ended with some hot piping tea with big laughs and broad smiles!

From the top of Tapovan

After clashing our way out of the temple (!) and a good bout of “buk dhorphorani” and “hamaguri” with Mother Nature, we returned to the hotel for some rest.

Naulakha Temple

The next day’s highlight was Usri Falls. But before arriving at the Usri Falls, we made our pit stops at various places like - Naulakha temple (a lovely architecture indeed!), Nandan Pahar (I was expecting some exciting monkeys here, but nope! Just an array of gods and their tiny series of temples :D This was the first time I saw Yama, the Hindu god of death established in a temple), Khandoli Dam (a dam in its peaceful state at the time, a park by the side and a little climb up some stairs to get a good view of the town - all put together in a nice little area).

Khandoli Dam

After a touristy stroll in all these various places, under the scorching heat of the Sun (yup! The bright Sun was back again!) and some random tummy-fills with chats and ice creams and jhalmuri and what-not, we headed to Usri Falls - finally, a place away from the crowd, with the light soothing breeze, gushing water, nice big boulders to relax on and cool gargling water to dip our feet in.

Usri Falls

The short and sweet trip ended in due time. Deoghar felt special to me especially for the lovely pedha that I must have hoovered up like a maniac (not guilty!), the funny, ticklish hills that made us twist and turn our muscles in precarious angles and finally, the success of having a trip together that we always seemed to plan! We boarded our train back home, holding an usual promise for the next trip together…

With the promise for tomorrow...

Dubai, Habibi!

When I landed in Dubai, the city of sand and money and tall buildings (or so I thought), I really had no expectation or plan for the days to come. In my pre-consumed mind, Dubai was a jungle of posh concrete. My rigid heart and soul are ever so preoccupied with green grass and rolling hills, that it has little room for anything else. But oh my! I had to salute the architects who turned this barren desert into an architectural wonderland! The new Dubai area is full of tall buildings forming exquisite shapes that can give you a cranked neck if you are marvelling at them for far too long. All the buildings – hotels, offices, museums, apartments look to be competing against each other on shape & height!

And just after I checked in.. :)

So, as I was getting transferred from the airport to my hotel (JW Marriott Marquis- which happens to be my favourite shaped building in that lot! It has this crown-like contour which I loved), I was gaping at these twisty, curvy, pointy structures standing tall and proud and shiny (thanks to all their glass facades). The tallest (and hence, ridiculously famous) building, Burj Khalifa made its presence felt right away - looking like a giant syringe with a needle at the top, trying to burst the cloud up in the sky! Pardon my queer eye but it makes me chuckle to think of it that way! Another building that makes itself impossible to ignore is the Future Museum – looking like an egg-shaped donut (just in my odd eye. A proper way to say this would be – torus shape), it has a sleek metallic finish with Arabic calligraphy on its entire body, which enhances the beauty even further. I quite admired this one.

Future Museum - this click doesn't do justice to the artchitecture

I made the mandatory visit to Burj Khalifa in the evening and the whole area was all lit up. There was a vibrant vibe going all the way from Dubai Mall to the Burj. It’s all well connected by Metro – so much so, you don’t even have to step out on the road to walk from the Mall to the Burj!

Burj Khalifa

Everything is so interconnected, and this similar theme goes around in many parts of the city. We experienced the same in Nakheel as well (on our way to the famous Palm!) where you could get off the monorail and walk straight inside the mall and then straight to the hotel! It’s like the outside world doesn’t exist! :D In the mad hunt of checking out more hotel structures, we ubered around the city in search of Burj Al Arab, only to have lost our way and then we ended up in Jumeirah Beach. If nothing else, it indeed gifted us with a good-hearted laugh. But as a top tip, you can safely skip this beach and rather visit JBR.

Dubai Mall

Sadly, I lack the finesse to appreciate all the fine modern architecture. So, I quickly got used to the overwhelming and towering parts of the city and rather got drawn towards the Dubai Water Canal that meandered right by my hotel. The canal meets the Jumeirah beach at one end and takes a horseshoe bend all the way to join the Dubai creek which again meets the Persian Gulf water a bit further up along the coast. There is a nice path laid out for walking, running, cycling all along this canal. This part was my personal favourite. I couldn’t finish the whole walk, but I would do that if I were ever in Dubai again. (Alert: Itineraries do mention Dubai creek but not about this walk. So, this might not be the most touristy thing people do!)

Dubai Water Canal

My next favourite is the Al Seef area in old Dubai. It's full of old shops by the Creek, and has a vibe of a whole different era altogether. In the evening, the lanes half lit with dull yellow lamps, brick walled shops selling attar and other handicrafts, the Creek full of bright lights, the boats ready to give you a water tour – everything comes together to give you a glimpse into the old yet charming days of Dubai. And man, it was a relief not to crank your necks up to look at tall structures all around!

Al Seef

After being to Al Seef, I really had the craving to visit Gold Souk but didn’t get time after all. Perks of not planning things out! However, some of my ‘friends with purpose’ did visit the Souk and the famous Meena Bazaar and had a haul! Dubai is indeed a crazy place for shoppers! I was amazed by the extent of details people have planned out for their shopping loot from Dubai! Their bags and they themselves weighed a few good kilos extra when they returned. And what did I buy? Well, Dates! Big Arabian dates stuffed with dry fruits, lemons, apricots, chocolates and what not! I did get accused of having a tummy in place of a brain but c’est la vie. I do not regret it. I live for food – which reminds me, do try out their amazing Kebabs and Lebanese spread and some camel milk chocolates too! (I didn’t like them though but do try for yourself; many loved those!)

Falafal, Fatoush & Mixed Meat Grill, with to-die-for fluffly Bread!

So next time if I am in Dubai, I will surely go for the canal walk, visit the Gold Souk and maybe go for a Safari to meet some amazing belly dancers and try their Bedouin food! Unfortunately, this trip was more about work (as if!) and less about exploration, but I am now glad to have visited this unique city. Every new place offers a new perspective and this one is definitely very different from every other place I have visited so far.

Look at that pointy needle in the distance - Burj Khalifa! :)

FYI…Emirates flights give out a very detailed itinerary of all things you can do. So, rest assured, you won’t miss anything unless you play dumb like me.  But I must say, there is a certain charm in not knowing anything about a place and discovering it in your own naïve way! So maybe, do not plan and be lost in some old Arab lane! But hey, that’s just me and my quirk, Al Habibi! Masalamah till the next one!

Masalamah, Al Habibi!

A Bird's Eye View of Ratha Yatra (Ulto to be precise :D)

A sudden drum roll started. My flat is just beside the main street and there was a sudden commotion that made its way through - a celebratory noise of sorts. I rushed to the top of the building and looked down from the edge of the rooftop.

Lord Jagannath along with his siblings - Balaram and Subhadra were going back home from his aunt’s house after their week-long vacation - the occasion known as ‘Ulto Rath Yatra’, one of the well known celebrations among the long list of Hindu festivities. The ratha aka chariot was gleaming with vibrant flowers and confetti. It had a long rope that was used to draw the chariot along the road. A long parade escorted their ride back home. It was a jolly crowd. They had drums and trumpets and keyboards. People were dancing and making merry.

The bird’s view that I was getting from atop was unique. The tuk-tuks with their yellow tops were stranded at one side of the road, waiting and watching the Yatra; the little people were flaring their arms and legs, jiggling their bums to the beats of the music; the neat order in which the procession marched ahead, pausing and showing off their skills intermittently; the white uniformed traffic police constantly managing the usual overpour of vehicles; and in the middle of everything, the gorgeous chariot caught the most attention, inside it sat the siblings - the Lords; there was a method in the madness, a happy cheer amidst the chaos.

The sky reflected the colours on the road as yellow and orange painted the wide canvas. The Sun was almost done with his duty in the Eastern hemisphere, slowly crossing the horizon whilst the Ratha took the Lords back home. Two crested bulbuls with their red whiskers flew by, they had their nest in the corner of this rooftop. The parade faded in the distant road, the Sun set, I went back to my room.

Trivandrum Travel

Mr. God (if there is one) has efficiently busted my plan to visit ‘the God’s very own country’ for quite some time now. But this time, Work (The Demon God!) finally dragged me to Kerala (which as you might already know is also known as God's very own country). To be honest, I have only just seen the tip of it though (literally!)

My flight landed in Trivandrum on a pitch dark evening. The first thing I noticed while Ubering to the hotel was the big bright green chilies hanging in bunches in the street side vendor stalls - waiting their turn to become pakoras! Ah now that I remember those, I regret not remembering it on time, whilst I was still there! :(

Might have missed the Chilli Pakoda, But didn't miss this Kingfish Tawa Fry. Still drooling!

Kanyakumari

The morning next to my arrival, I found myself getting driven to Kanyakumari. I know I know… It’s a dragged drive of 2 hours straight. But as the car hit the road, I found myself enjoying this city cruise. Once we were a little outside the city, it was even better. The roads were very clean and the road sides were very, very green. You can never have too much green! I was loving the ride.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Kanyakumari Temple

But disappointment struck when we reached there and I found myself at the back of a very long queue. Not able to see where that queue leads to, it was one sweaty, smelly affair! Testifying my stupidity yet one more time, I was there right when the Sun was hot, conveniently missing out the Sunrise or the Sunset. It was scorching, I could feel every inch of skin burning! (I can still feel it!) After a long and grumpy wait of 2.5 hours in the queue, we were about to board the boat that would take us to the Vivekananda Rock, just a few metres into the sea. I didn’t understand why after waiting in a queue, everyone felt the need to start a stampede just before getting on the boat! But all of that angst vanished when I set my foot on the Rock. The Sun was still hot but the breeze from all sides was soothing. There is a monument on top of the rock. This serves as the main Vivekananda Rock Memorial. There is also a temple dedicated to Goddess Kanyakumari. The best bit was a little meditation hall at the base of the monument. When I entered this hall, my eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness and quietness inside. I sat there for a bit, closed my eyes and was almost on the verge of dozing off! It was that peaceful indeed.

The Vivekananda Rock Memorial - View after the boat ride to the Rock.

Having walked around this rock, we kept marvelling at Swami Vivekananda’s immense rigour to have swam this part of the rough sea to get to this rock, to have climbed up this rock through its slippery mossy edges and to have spent 2-3 days & nights there, meditating and attaining enlightenment whilst the huge waves might have splashed around the rock from all the sides! It is something extraordinary, a miracle beyond my imagination. My respect for this great personality just increased ten fold, yet one more time.

Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea & Indian Ocean - A perfect Merger!

Once back on the mainland, we walked further ahead and came by a rocky shoreline. Lots of people were enjoying a splishy-splashy afternoon in the sea. We found a quiet corner and sat there, overlooking the sea, the Rock in the distance, wondering about which particular rock bit could be considered as the southernmost tip of the country’s triangular section (the southernmost tip of the country is actually in the Nicobar island) and then devouring a juicy succulent mango sprinkled with some chilli salt and a bag of peanuts from a street side vendor! Perfecto. This part of the beach was very quiet, except for a few crows who kept budging their necks to steal a share of our peanuts.

Khatta-Mitha (Sweet n Sour) Mango with Chilli Sprinkles.. yum yum!

Poovar

After spending almost the entire day at Kanyakumari, we started our drive back to the hotel at around 3:30ish in the afternoon. When the car was running through a shady sleek road, our driver mentioned, ‘that’s poovar on the side’. We peeked, but couldn't see much. ‘Should we have a quick look?’ And just like that, we got out of the car and found ourselves standing in front of the Poovar backwater. I have heard so much about Kerala backwaters and the scene in front of me did a complete justice to it.

Serene Backwater at Poovar

The person in front of me didn’t do much justice though. He quoted INR 8000/- for a 2hours boat ride in the backwater. I don’t know what made him think that under my shabby look, I could be that rich! No point in bargaining - we thought. We nodded negative and turned around to go back to the car. And just with that simple gesture, the quoted fare came down to INR 2000/- magically! Even that seemed a bit pricey and with no local friends around, we were a bit out of depth. But we gave in and got in the boat.

While cruising through the water...

We cruised through the winding water surrounded by long slender coconut trees, heaps of mango trees and so many others. The boat took us to the beach where the backwater meets the sea. We strolled around the beach, watched the sky turn golden and then orange. The Sun set in the distance and we tracked our way back through the steel grey water of the evening. If I had time, I would probably go back there once again, just to be a bit more familiar with the silent turns of the meandering water and the muffled sways of the trees.

Took another turn there...

Work & Play!

The rest of the week went by in a whirlwind of activity. I met my team - the team with whom I have spent days and nights and sometimes even weekends over virtual mediums, was finally in front of me, after about 2 years; courtesy Covid. In spite of working for digital transformation and being in this world of digitisation, it’s funny (and ironic) how satisfactory it can be to meet people in flesh and blood as opposed to some pixels on screen! I loved going to work every day there, meeting people, sharing a good laugh. Be it the Banana chips I was welcomed with on the first day in the office to the Filter Coffee that was brought in a foil pack to save me from the yucky vendor-coffee in the office to the adhoc trip to the beach or to the Silk shopping in the major shopping street in the city with our product owner or those lavish lunches and the office tours that the team endearingly took me to, I felt extremely loved and blessed.

Kovalam

Kovalam !

It was one afternoon at work, suddenly few of us started white-boarding - what should we do this evening! Turns out, the flowchart on board led us to Kovalam beach! It was pitch dark when we arrived at the beach after an eventful Uber ride. The sequence of the event was such that - we got a drop off at one road junction and then decided to book an Uber. Only one of us knew Malayalam, so that helped because the driver couldn’t be convinced for the ride in any other language (or so it seems!). Finally, a deal was struck - the Uber was cancelled - but the driver agreed to pick us up (from wherever we were! We were on the highway somewhere in front of a SBI stop!) and drop off at Kovalam and then again pick us up from there and drop us off at the hotel. Well, all set and done. We waited for another 15-20mins after which the car arrived and the first question the driver asked was, ‘Where are we going!’ Isn’t it too late for that question, bro!

Fish on Display - at one of the Shacks in Kovalam!

Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, it was already super dark when we got to the beach. We were only about to make out the white foams on the water when a wave splashed in the otherwise dark canvas. The other side of the beach was lined up with extremely busy shacks - shacks with a whole variety of fish on display, proudly showing off their catch of the day! We picked a big red snapper and in no time, the bright red gorgeous looking fish turned up in our plates, fully covered in Kerala spices and fried shallow in a tawa!

And we chose the Red Snapper!

Pushing our sympathy for the fish aside, we gorged on it; except our only vegetarian friend who sat in a corner and had some veggies (She is always going to be special as she is my first ever Keralite Vegetarian acquaintance! A true contradiction in herself! :D) The vibe in the shack was pretty cool - tawa fry fish, sea breeze from the limitless darkness in front, white sparkly foams and beer bottles covered in newspapers! (apparently, liquor is not legal there, but I’m sure the police know that!)

Now we killed the fish! :/

We paid a visit to Kovalam once again on our last day of the trip. This time during the day. We climbed up the rocks and the big boulders at one end and also the Lighthouse at the other end. The best part of this day was a long idle chat in one of the shacks, overlooking the sea and sipping cold coffee and lemonades. We watched a few people running along the beach, getting some cardio done whilst we slumped in our comfy chairs, munching finger food. The usual crows paid us a visit, looking for french fries and fish fingers. The idling continued…

Lazying at Kovalam...Pic Idea - Rana

Varkala Beach

On our last working day of the week, our entire team set off for an evening in Varkala Beach. It is a tiny hamlet with a beautiful beach skirting the cliff that adds to the rugged, green vibe of the place.

Varkala

I read that this place is famous for an ancient temple, medicinal water springs, also an ashrama but as you can imagine, none of that fit into our itinerary for just one evening. Priority assigned on going down to the beach and gorging on some more sea fish in one of the shacks. The beach was gorgeous with its green and brown outline of the cliff. As soon as I arrived there, few of us went down the beach for a bit of splish splash. An end of the week winding down in such a scenic place is always perfect. We watched the sun go down on the beach and then retired to our shack for an evening full of chit chat and rolls of laughter.

Sunset at Varkala. Pic Courtesy - Ligin

Padmanabhaswamy temple

On my last day of the trip, after spending the entire day in Kovalam, I thought of checking out the Padmanabhaswamy temple which was only a couple of KMs away from the hotel I was staying in. I had to wrap a saree around my waist (men had to wear a dhoti) - it’s a mandate there. Conveniently, you can buy these sarees or dhotis just outside the temple. There was a little lake in front of the temple and the golden reflection (as all the lights were lit in the evening) on the water looked beautiful. The architecture of the temple was magnificent. I loved its long corridors and intricate wall designs. When I set my foot in the inner chamber of the temple, I had the feeling of being transported to a different era altogether. It had a strong mystic vibe in the air and everything looked straight out of some period movie. I was quite pleased having made that choice about visiting the temple but when I came back to the hotel, I learnt that our client, being a non-resident of India (and possibly for being a non-Hindu) was not allowed an entry inside. Apparently, this temple is considered as the richest place of worship in the world (source Wikipedia). Sadly, it didn’t feel so rich to me after I heard about the incident.

No, this isn't the temple! :D Just a church I liked on a random city stroll..

And that's a Wrap!

All in all, it was a good trip, jam packed with work, site scenes, events, fun and food! If I am being very honest, I haven’t really explored Trivandrum. I did go to Kovalam, Varkala, Shangumugham Beach, Poovar, Kanyakumari, Padmanabhaswamy temple and walked around the main streets of the city. But nope, I haven’t really been there. I haven’t walked around the city till my legs throb, I haven’t really sneaked into the green outliers there, haven’t quite soaked in the waves of the many different beaches there and so much more.

Until we are back again!

Next time, (if there is a next time), I would love to go back to Trivandrum. I would want to spend a while in Varkala (that has been my top favourite in this short quick trip!), explore all those medicinal water springs and Ayurveda massage centres there; I would want to cycle my way through narrow green roads to Poovar and all the hidden unknown backwaters of the area; Oh, and the next time, I will definitely carry SPF100+ sunscreen so I don’t have to burn again. Ouch! :D

Misty Arabian Sea at Night - Varkala. Goodnight :)