Tale of three cities

India is a land of mystery and contrasts. The history of India fascinates me and even a life time is not enough to read and understand her. Born in this land, I witnessed many interesting facts and amazed by the diversity. India gives diversity a different meaning. As rightly said by the founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew “India is not a real country. Instead it is thirty-two separate nations that happen to be arrayed along the British railway lines”. The best experience to feel and sense the diversity of my homeland is to travel in Indian Railways from south to north. The vendor selling Iddiappam and puttu in Kerala changes his menu to Idli vada in Tamilnadu and it will be replaced by uppit and sera in Karnataka, followed by Dosa in Andhra, Vada Pav in Maharastra, Samosa in Madhya Pradesh, Kachori in Delhi, Aloo partha in Punjab, Kahwah in Kashmir. The food cuisines not only change, the language, people, dialects, clothes, climate and landscape changes within few kilometers. I was flabbergasted in this peculiar diversity and most of all this was emphasized to me by my French friend Ms.Ann Plummer, who spent her 30 years of life in India.

Lord Krishna & Lord Radhey in Mathura

The three cities in India had enthused a lot in many ways, which epitomizes the extreme diversity. The first tale is about the city Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. Mathura is the birth place of Lord Shri.Krishna and he has spent his youth in the little hamlets on the banks of river Yamuna in Vrindavan, Mathura, Goverdhan and Gokul. The city today is thronged by Lord Shri.Krishna worshippers and you can find people from all across the globe here in Vrindavan chanting the prayers and dancing to the songs and harmonies of Radhey Krishna with prayer beads. I was amazed to see people across the globe cutting across their religion embraced the Hindu religion tonsured their heads, wear tulsi mala, clad white and saffron clothes and read our holy book – Bhagavad Gita in the Krishna temples. 

Illuminated Prem Mandir

ISKON devotees celebrating god in the streets of Mathura

Roam in the streets of Mathura and Vrindavan; hear the chants of Radhye Krishna; you will be taken to the transcendental abode and mystical mantra of heavenly god. You truly surrender yourselves to the eternal and supreme feet of Lord Krishna. The best time to visit this holy place is during Krishna Janmastami and the festival of colours – Holi. You will be choked in the festive celebrations. One should not miss the sumptuous sweet lassi served in small earthen pots and it has a special flavour. Visit to the holy place of Mathura and surrounding hamlets mesmerizes your mind, rightly if you want to celebrate the holy god – sure one should pay a visit to Mathura. 

The T-Shirt in a souvenir shop in Goa. Perfectly said about Goa

 Few hundred kilometres down south in the western coast of India lay a paradise – Goa. I’m not going to write much about Goa. If you need to know more about Goa, backpack and hit the Goan roads and sea shores. Pristine beaches, white sands, green fields, holiday mood, beer in hands, the air with electro, rock, trance, metal and Bollywood music is a perfect relaxation formula. Goa is my one favourite holiday destination, been there several times, roamed like a crazy guy from North Goa – Arambol to South Goa - Palolem. I prefer lonely beaches and places in Goa and mostly travel single with company of books. Mostly it would be a reading vacation for me. I spent some of my  post graduate study holidays in the beaches and backwaters of Goa with my textbooks. (Of course, some Budweiser & KF at night to beat the summer scorching sun and exams in summer is a curse for the students)

The name says it all

 What got stuck me to this paradise is the night life and Arambol. Most of the tourists visit beaches in Goa like Baga, Calangute and Candolim, often crowded. I prefer the hidden treasure troves in Arambol where you can meet different types of tourists and travellers in informal groups like hippies and shiva freaks. This placed is quiet picturesque against the blue sky and ocean jutting out with black rocks. I like to swim in the freshwater lake for hours near the Kalacha beach and the magical banyan tree, under which the world famous music band “Beatles” had meditated. The trance night Thursdays in the beach shacks of Arambol gave me an impounding touch to my heart. The high voltage trance music will infuse adrenalin in your blood vessels and you can’t stop your heads and feet to the music. I was fortunate; I got a brilliant Russian DJ playing wonderful numbers of Trance the whole night. The “End of the world” restaurant on the top of a small hillock facing the ocean was much-loved by the tourists, because of its perfect location to watch the sun setting in the waters of Arabian Sea. The ambience, golden yellow sky and glittering waters during sun set and the resto name “End of the world” is picture-perfect to soothe my soul. My other hangout places in Goa are Shiva Valley and Curlies shack in Anjuna beach. You need to navigate in narrow roads, villages, paddy field, small bridges and bushes to reach these spots. 

River Mandovi in Goa

 The entire Goa bubbles with holiday mood all times, people more relaxed on week days, tourists with high energy on week end nights in pubs, discos and shacks. That’s why Goa is called as Bachelor’s paradise.

Blue sky, White clouds, Green paddy fields and Brown boulders,,,, Magic of Nature in Hampi

Few hours from Goa, Hampi in North Karnataka, the erstwhile headquarters of the Vijayanagara Empire ruled by Krishnadevaraya is the best tourist spot in Karnataka. Hampi is one of the UNESCO world heritage site in the banks of the river Tungabhadra where east and west live together. The village is alluring even in its ruined state of the temples, palaces and monuments. Every rock and boulders narrates you a story of a bygone era, I was surprised and spellbound on seeing the miles of undulating terrain, green palm grooves, paddy fields and plantations.  

The famous stone chariot in Hampi

I was lost and mesmerized simply by the vagaries of the nature, wondering how the empire was built in olden days without any scientific advancements and technology. Most of the tourist attractions are found around the famous Virupaksha temple and Hampi Bazar. The whole Hampi has few hundred houses and mostly turned into souvenir shops, browsing centres, money exchange shops and guest houses. The Archaeological department has enforced restrictions to start commercial establishments recently to protect the magnificent monuments. The people from far and near places come to Hampi to perform their last respects to their departed family members in the banks of the river. The orthodox Brahmin families living in Hampi perform the religious rites and rituals to the departed souls. Take a leisurely walk in the streets of Hampi by night; you can find the ultra-orthodox Brahmins chatting with the foreign tourists. 

Virupaksha Temple in Hampi

The temple priests of the Hampi village speak fluent English and impress the foreigners with little French, Spanish and German vocabularies.  Hampi being located in remote place, it is known across the world among the travellers. The tourists flock this village to experience the sheer architectural marvel. One should cross the river Tungabadra by country boat from Hampi and try to explore more in the Virupapur Gadde and Anegundi village. Small and sleepy village, no commercial establishments, budget accommodation, SPECIAL lassi, SPECIAL cookie, tranquil and solitude location made Hampi, hit among the back packers. I had been thrice to this incredible place and the last one was few days ago with my friends Maria-Inti Metzendorf from Germany and Jonathan Sternberg from US. Maria made a small assignment about Hampi and its places; she took us for a river side walk in the evening, crawled inside the boulders cave, crossed many courtyard ruins of Vijayanagara Empire and climbed on top of the hill to view the sunset. Breath-taking and incredible view of the ruins made us spell bound. Sitting there on the hillock, watching the golden sun disappearing in the distance clouds, massive boulders in hectares of rice and plantations with bright green contrast was beautiful to behold in our eyes and souls. It was surreal experience for all three of us watching the sky turning into emerald blue with white stars and gentle cool breeze from the river Tungabadra.

Me, Jon & Maria.

The celebration is unique in all these three cities; the way they rejoice differs in all these three places. Mathura is the place, where the Hindu tradition lives even today and people literally celebrate the god Krishna. On the contrast, Goa is found to be more relaxing where you can find e-generation unwinding their stress with night life. Hampi to me resembled a perfect blend of past and present, narrating the warrior story of Vijayanagara Empire to the future.

Incredible India! I am blessed to born in this holy land and more fortunate that I had the opportunities to see and experience the sheer diversity of my country. My love for this country and its places grow manifolds, as I keep exploring each corner of my homeland.

 Hampi Photo Courtesy : Maria-Inti & Jon