Last Day in India!!!

Well, technically its the second to last day since I leave early tomorrow morning, but I like to be a drama queen sometimes. (Shut up).

Anywho, there are sooo many things I haven't written about India, either due to lack of time or lack of internet facilities. I have yet to comment on:

*Cochin
*Trivandrum
*Kerala in general
*Madikeri/Coorg!
*Mysore
*Bangalore
*Kolkata's Art scene
*India's trains
*India's planes
*India's insane

I'll be writing them in the next couple of days when I return to Bangladesh. Lots of pics and pop-quizzes, so stay tuned!

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Wishing you a Merry merry Christmas from the city of Mysore!!

Xmas was one of those holidays that always confused me. Though our family didn't celebrate it religiously, we observed it with big family get-togethers, full of food and good times. This was going to be my first Xmas away from family ... and as the day creeped closer, I felt my emotions rising. Where is Santa?? Where are all those red, green, gold light bubls?? Where is ma familia!
But thank Yahweh for friends. I met up with Marie Jose and Dick in Mysore, then joined by Mark and Hannah ... and surprisingly Mark's uncle ... for a very unusual yet amazing Christmas Eve dinner. And yes my Dutchies, amazing is the correct word --- ah-hemmm.

Christmas in India. Never thought it possible... but this is India. Anything is possible.

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Ooty'd Out

They call Ooty the Queen of the Hill Stations. Unfortunately, this queen is lamer than the British monarch. I've heard mixed reactions about Ooty before coming here, but once again, decided to find out for myself. With heaps of buildings and dirty roads, this is not your dreamy hillside cottage destination.
I'm sure others will find a way to enjoy Ooty's ootyness, but I'm gonna say sayonara today. I don't know whether it was the bitter cold, the lack of teastalls, or just a serious case of itchy travelers feet... but i'm once again on the move.
I'm most likely going to travel to Mysore, Karnataka ... then from there go to Coorg. Yes, I think I'm gonna go to Coorg after all...

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Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!

Last night was perhaps one of the coldest nights I've experienced in my life... and guess what... it was in South India!! Ooty is about 2500 meters (thats about 7500 feet for Americans) above sea level. Though the plains and the coast are sweltering hot, Ooty and the Nilgiris are remarkably cold. Daytime temperature is perfect ... brisk, slight sunshine, and cool breeze. But as soon as night fell, I thought I'd lose a toe from hypothermia. I had a kind German fellow-traveler keeping me warm at night, though I shivered under 5 blankets.
The main reason of course is the region's lack of heating system. Second reason... i friggin didn't expect subzero temps in South India!

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Kanyakumari Pics

Sitting at the tip ... surreal moment. If you go straight ahead from where I'm sitting, you'll hit Antarctica.
There are two islands at the tip. Both have memorials ... above is the one to Swami Vivekananda - a Bengali freedom fighter who attained saint-like status in South India, and below is the Colossus-like statue of Thirulluvar (an ancient Tamil poet).


You can see the white-washed cathedral ... this picture does not justice. The scene was simply breathtaking. Interestingly, during monsoon season, you can see three distinct water colors of the three bodies of water that meet here. Allah... You are the Creator indeed.


Here are just a couple of pics ... have bazillion pics from kanyakumari.

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Pichaz.... On my way to Kanyakumari

Kerala means "Land of Coconuts". After my travels there, I could see that its aptly named.




I'm in love with this landscape. Maybe I'll settle down here... hmmm...
If you are interested in more pics, please feel free to message me... but please please don't copy/paste without permission. <3

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The Blue Mountains

The Nilgiris ... Sanskrit for Blue Mountains ... contain some of the highest peaks in South India. These misty mounts covered with beautiful fine forests, giving it the namesake blue hue. Along with pines, the mounts covered with vast tea estates, coffee fields, and various temperate climate fruits and vegetables. It doesn't feel like India at all ... the weather is much cooler, the air is cleaner, and the people are... well, the people are the same. Mehh.

I'm going to take it easy in the Nilgiris. I feel like the previous days were very hectic, constantly changing routes, trains, and sleeping in bus stations. I'll follow the pace of the mountains... nice and slow. I'm staying near Ughadamandalam, or better known as Ooty. (For the Bollywood fans out there, this is where the song "Chal Chaiya Chaiya" from movie Dil Se was filmed). If all goes accordingly, I'll spend Christmas here ... surrounded by pines. Yay! Wow, never knew I'd miss pine trees so much.

Coorg is no longer on my travel plans... why? I think I'll save it for my next trip to India. I don't want to rush Coorg the way I rushed Kanyakumari. If life permits, I want to spend at least a month there. Ooty suffices for this trip.

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Off to the Nilgiri Mountains

So far, I've been to Kolkata, Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Cohin, Kumarakom, Trivandrum, and Kanyakumari. I was going to linger on a bit along the coast but one thing keeps driving me crazy... it's too damn HOTTTT!

So what do? Oh thats right ... pack up and go to Udagamandalam!!

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KANYAKUMARI .... :sighs:

So the day finally came for me to meet Kanyakumari. And just like to any other momentous meeting, this too had its many hindrances. A freak cyclone lashed the southern coast of India only a couple of days back, and its remnant clouds were still pouring torrential rain. The morning of, the rain subsided, though huge cumulous clouds lingered. I arrived at the train station an hour early, simply because. But the train was delayed an hour, so I sat eating diabetic biscuits with a man whose only English words were "Obama good blackman".

During the train journey, I saw some of the most beautiful scenery India (or anywhere else in the world) could offer. On my left side... the lofty Cardamom Hills, green from fresh rains rose abruptly from the greener rice paddies. On my right side... the rice paddies slowly dissappear as the dunes to an unfathomable sea appears. This journey alone could've made a man happy, but not me... for She awaited.

After three happy train hours, I arrived at Kanyakumari. It was what I expected... and not. Torquoise waters, pastel-colored houses, beautiful weather .... and.... tourists! AHHH. What was I expecting? Only me and the tip of India? One on one with the seas? A poem written with winds and waves? :Sighs: I guess those things are better left in my imagination. Hundreds of tourists, mostly local Tamils and other Indians, flooded the small town, which I realized is also a pilgrimage site for followers of Vivekananda.

Nonetheless, I was happy. Happy to see the beauty of this spot. Happy to have made it here after years of pondering. Happy to have touched the very tip of India - whose geographic, historic, religious, etc significance is beyond words. I was happy. Not Cloud 9 happy... but happy.

(Pics coming soon!)

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The End of India

Ever have one of those feelings... I must do this or else the whole world around me will crumble...When mixed with wanderlust, it's not just a matter of stubborness or persistence. Rather, a scene of close madness prevails. For many years, I had a borderline fascination slash obession with two very specific locations in India. First is Coorg (or Kodagu), a region of misty hills and spice gardens populated by a group of people called the Kodava - warrior community thought to have migrated from Persia millenia ago. The second region is Kanyakumari... ah yes ... Kanyakumari, Sanskrit for "La Mademoiselle Virgine".

My interest in Kanyakumari started about five years while speaking to my dad about his worldwide adventures. He worked in a ship, so the list of ports he visited was endless. However, his eyes sparkled when he spoke of one particular place... The Cardamom Coast. This coastline winds down India's southwestern coast and ends at Kanyakumari. Also called Cape Comorin, this is where the contiguous Indian Subcontinent ends - a meeting point of three bodies of water... the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea. I really never knew why this particular place interested my father so much, consider he's been to far more crazy places. Though Allah has every right to take away what He has created, a small convo with my dad wouldve sufficed. But since there is no long-distance call to Heaven, I decided to find out for myself.
I have overlooked the tourist gems of India, the advice of Lonely Planet (o my!), and invitations from friends just to come to HER. I don't know what to expect ... a cool sea breeze at least if nothing else?
Ah yes... Kanyakumari ... even before touching you, why must you enchant me like so?

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Wedding Pics ... Take 1

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A Wikipedia Wedding

I could write a book on Ana's wedding, and guarantee it'll be a bestseller, but this nig ain't got no time!!

I received the wedding card about two weeks before the wedding, and after opening it, I immediately went on wikipedia. The wedding card(s) seemed like a Sanskrit dictionary, each word tantalisingly harder. After experiencing the wedding, it all seems a piece of cake now (... I lie).

The wedding was split into several parts, spanning four days.

Mehendi - putting henna on bride and her friends/family
Cocktail Party - intimate, casual party with close family and friends
Vardham - Premarriage ceremony
Sangeet - dancing and singing, mirth, glee
Nischayathartham - The engagement ceremony
Muhurtham - the wedding proper

This wasn't your typical Bollywood wedding... we're talking about the real South India Tamil Brahmin wedding hur!!

Wedding pics coming soon!

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La marriage de Anasuya Ramanan

When I first say Ana in Singapore, I thought she was a middle school student on a field trip to the National University. Then I found out she was a year older than me. Damn.

Now to think she was gonna tie the know was ridinculous. After months of futile courtship, she refused to marry moi simply because my last name was not Rahimachandra. So I left her marry the next in line, monsieur Ashrith RAMAchandra. I don't hold grudges for long, so decided to attend the wedding nonetheless :p

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Do you Speak Amurken?

When Brits, Ozzies, Canadians, and a sole American meets in a Hinglish speaking country, you get very very confused autorickshaw drivers. I also realized I was forgetting my Amurken and developing an odd Ozzy-Brit hybrid sprinkled with Canadian "aboots". Perhaps this was an adaptation - an environmental mimic reaction. Could have also been a suppression of my NYC metro accent and its eccentric vocabulary ... i.e. Badonkadonk.
Or it simply could've been my meager attempt at wooing the hotties at the wedding. Mehhh.

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Tower of Babel over Chennai

In any other situation, getting together people from different parts of the world with different backgrounds in one crowded city could get you into alotta trouble... We spoke a handful of languages, and even if we spoke English, our respective American, Canadian, Ozzy, etc accents would creep in. Whether Hannah yelling "kinder supriz!" or Mark and I arguing over the correct term for Soda, this reunion was a recipe for disaster... but then again, this was us. For some odd reason, I somehow managed to portray more of me to them then to most of my other friends back home.

Which brings me to the concept of esoteric bonding. Most religions say that one's spouse and/or soulmate is predestined, however I believe that friendships also fall into this category. There has to be Nur in such relationships, for if not, how can total strangers from opposite sides of the world come together and form unbreakable bonds?

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Squishy Post #2

I know it is a great faux pas to post two squishy posts consecutively, but it just had to be done... I experienced another of those "omg-friends-are-amazing" moments in life. When we think of friendship, we usually think of close associates that we often see and hang out with, talk to, etc. This is often the case for me too, but there is one group of friends that does not fit this mold. They iz ma Singapore exchange nigz .... hollah!!!

We met about two years ago, and each went our own way after the semester. However, the experiences we shared created such strong bonds that we never lost in touch. We may not see each other every day, or month... or year... but we had such strong feelings for each other that when we did meet, it felt like it was just yesterday that we were walking down the squeaky-clean streets of Singapore. However, it is true that distance makes the heart grow fonder, thus our hearts were in hyper mode to meet up.

Et voila! What better occasion for a reunion then a wedding of one of these Singaz. And so it started... us walking down the streets of Chennai as if nothing really changed.

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Squishy Post # 1

Dont kno if it was another one of them traveling lows, but I cried in my pillow two nights ago for a man I ment only thirty hours prior. He was one of the Bangladeshi patients I traveled with on the train and with whom I decided to share a room for the night. There was I - an educated American-Bangladeshi, exposed to worldwide ideas and experienced the spectrum of pains and pleasures of life. Then there was A---, who lived his whole life in a little faming village, whose only knowledge dealth with goats and cows, and who - for the first time left his little village - to a region previously unimaginable to him. Why the difference? Why the barrier?
Simply because of Freedom. Freedom to move ... physically. A--- was partially paralyzed waist down, and walks with help from others. All these differences from one small accident while playing 15 years ago. His innocence was piercing, his curiousity could kill every cat. He wanted to learn, see things, experience things...
So I cried, and perhaps in one of those very rare total-selfless moments, I whole-heartedly prayed that Allah give him hope, if not a cure, and keep him smiling.

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Selling out...

I love you Lonely Planet publishers!

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Kolkata Pix

The Victoria Memorial was built to honor Queen Victoria during the British Raj... yet in actuality, it was built to show Britain's superiority over the Indians by building a grander memorial then the Taj Mahal. I'm sorry to those that consume heavy amounts of fish n chips - but Victoria memorial can never compare with the Taj Mahal. And I say this without ever seeing the Taj...

Monuments along the Maidan


Above is the largest Church in Kolkata. Beautiful to say the least.

The heart and soul of Bengal ... well, at least for the West Bengalis. Rabindranath Tagore was a major contributor to the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th Century.

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Choo-choo to Chennai

Claustrophobic? Howrah-Tiruchchirapali Express aint for you...


First of all, don't hate my very creative post titles <3 style="font-size:85%;">
O my gurd! What if i'm stuck with people that just stare out the window and pretend the endless scenery is just too precious to even make a single eye-contact with the fellow cabin members?? What if I'm stuck in the middle bed and some snorzillas sandwich me? Worst of all, what if I'm stuck with crates of chickens (yup, happened) ?... what if... what if..

But then the whole notion of kismet/naseeb/risq/fate fell upon me. There were six people in m cabin - five of whom where Bangladeshis! What were the odds of that! They were in couples, father-son and uncle-nephew, both going to Chennai for medical purposes. So came the bonding ... of cultural similarities, differences, my accent, their hometown, how Dhaka sux, how Indians are cheap, yada yada yada... most importantly, they were genuine people, guys that wholeheartedly appreciated my presence there. And I was satisfied, knowing that my background and knowledge truly helped them out.

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In the uhhh?... India!

So why am I in India? Was the craziness of Dhaka or the stench of post-Qurbani Chittagong? Was it my travel lust or India's lure? I myself don't know the reasons why I am here, but hopefully I get something out of it... as in...

1) Get to see diversity of South Asia that I always read about and cherished... not just in languages and cultures, but also the diversity of ideas, faiths, and faces.
2) See the different landscapes and climates since I'm a nerd.
3) Feel that certain something that drives me
4) Meet that certain someone... anyone ... either a fellow traveler, rickshaw puller, CEO of Tata, etc ... to connect with and rid myself of humankind's plague of spiritual isolation.
5) Procrastinate from work.

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Mid-morning Madness at the Maidan

Last night, I basically spent a bazillion hours at a local pub where I met an awesome Sufi-centric-cum-engineering guy that will let me [crossing my fingers] crash at his place next time I visit Kolkata. Plane journey + super cheap Tiger + mental stimulation = zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... Holy crap! Gotta catch train to Chennai in four hours!! Must take full advantage of Kolkata ... thus ran to the Maidan, often called "the Lungs of Kolkata". If these are the lungs, then Kolkata needs a major nebulizer. Dust, beggars, and litter. Half-burned grass. Japanese tourists saying "cheese" (chee-za-ru). In all of this madness, I found a quiet lil spot under a banyan tree. For one minuscule second, I felt what Buddha felt.

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Oh ...Kolkata

I arrived in India yesterday. But... where is India?

I took a direct flight from Chittagong to Kolkata, two of the three major cities of the Benglosphere (Dhaka sucks... ah-hem). For some odd reason, I was expecting Shah Rukh Khan and Bipasha Basu to greet me at the airport. Well, didn't happen.
Then, I was expecting crazy pickpocketers harassing me till I give them everything but my cardinal treasures. That also didn't happen.
I was also expecting a cosmopolitan megalopolis brimming with activity. Fortunately... that happened.
Kolkata was built during the British Raj (colonial era) as the capital if British India. This is reflected by its very Victorian monuments, architecture, and obsession with 'elite culture'. People from all parts of India and abroad migrated here for the many economic, political, and cultural opportunities.
However, post-independence Kolkata is very different. Gone are the days of its prominence, as New Delhi and Bombay stepped in the arena. Gone are the days of Zamindar Babus walking in their super-starchy pleated dhotis. However, one can still see the monuments and colonial buildings that line Park Street and the Maidan.
(Can't post pictures yet... will in couple of days)

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A Hidden Treasure

The area of Chittagong city I live in is called Hauli Shahar (from Haveli Shahr, Farsi for 'City of Mansions'). It was the residential area during the Mughal reign over the city. I always wondered where the hell the mansions were?? Well, turns out most were destroyed over the centuries due to South Asia's super comfortable (sarcasm) hot, humid climate. The rest were demolished or redone with modern architectural elements. However, in my mom's neighborhood - called Choudhury Para - I realized there were some remnants. One was the Choudhury Mosque, built around 1780 and mom's relative's haveli, from the mid-1800's. The pix are included below. Still digging around town to find these priceless pieces of history...


^ The ghats to the pond...
^ The outside of the mosque; it's half hidden in lush vegetation.

Below, the inside of the mosque... the pillars are massive, and the air circulation is beyond my comprehension. Islamic architecture is bound for a revival due to its eco-friendly elements.

^ The haveli in mom's neighborhood... the top portion was recently renovated; the rest is still in decrepid condition. There are two more smaller quarters on both sides of this main building.

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Indian Visa !!!

I got my Indian Visa! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

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