Sita Mardi

On the way back from Allahabad, the driver strongly recommended a stop at Sita Mardi.

There are signs to this place from the time you leave Allahabad and a lot of hype. What beat us was that we had never heard of this place before as an important historic place in connection to the Ramayana. Ayodhya yes! Panchavati, yes! etc. etc. Sita Mardi. . not really.

Still curiosity and the fact that we had exceeded the daily limit of 200 km and were paying extra anyways made us say "okay. it is on the way and a small detour.. so take us there"

Amazing artwork on the dome!

Was told by driver that the wall work was done by Japanese artists. Do not know if it is true..

Some really nice bas relief murals on the walls..

Shiva with the ganges from his head flowing on steps into a pond. Nicely done!
The place definitely had some unique artistry compared to typical temples.. There was almost a feeling that a FengShui expert had designed the whole premises!

Shopping for trinkets. What would any trip be without it?

Flit like a butterfly, sting like a bee?
Jr. boxes flies like Mohammad Ali!

It was so funny to watch her being so mad and angry and trying to box the flies away with her fists!

The Giant Hanuman was nice but there was no place to stand in a shade and admire it. Lot of concrete around the statue, that was too hot to step on barefoot. No footwear and lot of heat with no shade was difficult for me to walk around and take photos, and it was impossible for the kids. So it was a one minute trip around this statue.

We went through a one lane mud road for 9 km and finally reached a market. There was a beautiful temple there (built by Birla is what we were told but could not see any signs there) in what was a gorgeous setting. A small river, temple on the river and a bunch of shops around it. Apparently the small temple has been built over many times and the later attractions like the Giant Hanuman statue were built by Japanese architects. The Hanuman for some reason looked more like a Japanese Hanuman than an Indian Hanuman!

The kids were not impressed what with the heat and the flies in the place. We stopped there for an hour and enjoyed the temple. On a cooler day with some breeze, this would have been a great outing.

Definitely recommend a visit if you are going on the Varanasi - Allahabad route!

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The mighty Ganges

My fondest memories in Banaras are from two places..

The IT-BHU Campus and areas surrounding it and the Hanuman Ghat area, which is like a little Madras within Banaras.

It was fantastic to go back to the Ghat and take a dip in the Ganges on a quiet morning! It is frozen in time.

When the streets are 4 feet wide and you can only access interior areas by bicycle, the place does remain unchanged over time! Even cows and bulls passing each other within the four feet feel the traffic jam!

Some photos..

This place had all the old folks gather at 8PM every night for a prayer. I used to tag along with the gang for the prayer and the prashad that followed..

Wide streets with lot of Tamil folks !

It was so much fun to watch the kids navigate a Banaras galli, avoiding the dogs, cows, cow dung on the floor and the odd moped or bicycle at "speeds" through the narrow lane with a loud honk!

The Hanuman temple brought back so many memories as well. The mighty river Ganga was in full flow.

My parents wanted me to get them some Ganga jal(water) in a bottle. People in India from Brahmin households usually have a bottle of water from the Ganges in their Pooja shelf. When some auspicious event happens, they sprinkle the Ganga water as it is considered holy. Also when someone dies, they pour a little bit of Ganga water into the dead persons mouth.

When dipping the small water bottle (courtesy of the spice jet flight) into the ganges along the edge of the Ghat steps, what I got was more like "Ganga Gel" than "Ganga jal" and chances were if someone was not yet dead, pouring this into their mouth would definitely seal their fate!

Had to wade a few steps in to get the flowing water to do any cleaning, but clean it did, the mind and the body!

There is something to be said when it comes to saying a prayer to the Sun and having a dip in the Ganges.

Words cannot explain that experience.

You have to do it to realize it!

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Saturday Night Food

Another blast from the past post from the good old Banarasi Babu days. We used to go to a dhaba on the edge of Lanka road, outside the college gate called Sebak and eat the "usual" dal tadka and tawa rotis, followed by some rice with yogurt.

Then we used to stroll across the street (which was all of 10 feet wide) to get some hot milk or rabdi (this is north Indian liquid'y Therattupaal for those South Indians reading this blog) before getting back on our bicycles and riding back all the way to the hostel. By the way, the only two cycle shops in Lanka gate which compete with each other are still there but we see a lot more bikes and scooties inside BHU than cycles!

We stopped at Sebak and my wife and FIL gave me a look. San's eyes said "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?" while my FIL looked at this thing with amusement. He said "I am not sure if Sangeetha or the kids will come and eat at this dhaba but if you want to go ahead, eat".. so off I went and ordered the usual and finished it off in record time.

The street outside sebak is only wide enough for two autos or pat-pats. A Toyota Innova completely blocks the road and that meant I had to eat before a cop came and pushed us out. We took the Dahi and rabdi "to go" and Pahelwanji said thank you in his usual style..

He asked me "Aap kitne saal baad vaapas aaarahe hi?" (after how many years are you coming back?). Must have been an obvious guess from the way yours truly was drooling at the rabdi on that giant plate!

Later at night the little one who loves sweets gave her verdict

"This is really good Appa!"

It is a crying shame that we don't have the likes of Sebak and Pahelwan here..

One can always wish!

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Sundar Salmon Narayanan...

My visit to Varanasi aka Banaras for a few days made me realize why Salmon get so much hype when they swim upstream to visit their birthplace!

Twenty two years since I first set foot in Banaras as a kid who had not yet sprouted a moustache, it was a wonderful experience to just go stand in the place where I spent most of my happy times..

No, not the Department of Metallurgical engineering (which gets a 2nd place) or my hostels but the chai shop that made me want to wake up on many winter mornings and may have been the single motivating factor for going anywhere outside the hostel on hot summer days!

The highlight of this India trip was two days in Varanasi and one day in Allahabad. The rest of the trip was a little on the dark and gloomy side what with us coming to grips with "Chennai becoming a large scale old age home", not my words but my mothers!

Back to lighter subjects... Chai!

Jr. was the only one brave enough in the family to volunteer to take the EOS 5D and shoot this picture. Gave her a crash course in holding a heavy camera so we could get this moment saved for the blog.

There were changes. The son runs the shop now after 20+ years. We used to see him as a small boy running around the shop. Missed the old mans smiling face, but the young Bihari is a replica of the father. He even spoke through gritted teeth with his paan filled mouth and said "photo keechna hai to keechiye saab!". He must be used to it with all the alumni coming to relive their chai drinking days!

His dad used to make special "tulsi" chai for me when I would come wheezing into his shop on some winter days and give me advice on how to deal with breathing problems.

Today, the gutter that runs between the shop and the place where we eat still flows like a mini ganges. Prices are in line with inflation. Probably the only thing that was inline in the trip. A chai used to be 75 paise and a samosa 1 rupee. Today the Chai was 3 rupees (4x) and the samosa 5 rupees (5x). Prices double every 10 years at 5% inflation and in quadruple every 4 years. We might as well graph inflation with the Bihari Chai price index!

While the price and the generation have changed, the taste of the Chai and the samosa have not changed a bit.

Absolutely divine!

More on my eating and drinking nostalgia binge tomorrow..

ps. Never missed a certain Durgaprasad Rajaram more than those few minutes at that tea shop.
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