"At Home in Hyderabad"

Final African Safari Blog - Lake Naivasha and home again...

2012-02-02T02:31:00.000-08:00

We left the main part of the Masai Mara and made our way to the Simba Lodge, which is surrounded by gardens and located near the shore of beautiful Lake Naivasha. We had planned to just spend one night at the Simba, but when we extended our itinerary, we decided that an extra night to get ourselves (and the "treasures" that we purchased along the way!) together for the trip home. We did, indeed, buy a few souvenirs from Kenya and Tanzania - so many that we had to purchase TWO additional suitcases to fit everything inside!

The Simba Lodge was much more "hotel-like" than the last few camps we had stayed at. It was just what we needed...some Internet time, showers you could take any time of day - - and very close to our final experience - the hippo-boat cruise and a brief game-walk where we actually were walking amongst the wild beasties right by the boat-launch!

We had our guide take us to the hippo-boat-launching area in the morning...and - we had no expectations whatsoever. If I had any expectations at all, it was that the boat-ride would be kind of lame at best...but certainly something different. We got in the boat with our driver-guide, who was very knowledgeable and talkative - and got us pretty-close to some bathing hippos... I had no idea those big monsters could swim so bloody fast!!

The lake itself has a definite problem with an overgrowth of water hyacinth - - One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, which eventually form daughter plants. It also produces large quantities of seeds, and these are viable up to thirty years. The common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) are vigorous growers known to double their population in two weeks.

It is all over this part of Africa.. in addition to Lake Naivasha, the infestation of water hyacinth affects the Lake Victorian population in many negative ways. There are economic impacts when the weed blocks boat access. The effects on transportation and fishing are immediately felt. Where the weed is prolific, there is a general increase in several diseases, as the weed creates excellent breeding areas for mosquitoes and other insects. There are increased incidents of skin rash, cough, malaria, encephalitis, bilharzias, gastro intestinal disorders, and schistosomiasis. Water hyacinth also interferes with water treatment, irrigation, and water supply.

Our boat-driver certainly had issues with the plant getting wrapped-up in the propellor of his outboard motor! He used-up so much petrol trying to get our boat un-stuck that we had to have a rescue-boat come out with some extra fuel!! I think the motor was thrashed and he was going to have to do some major repairs!!

After our great boat-tour, we got a chance to walk around with the animals that were grazing by the lake shore...zebras, giraffes, wildebeests...so close you could touch them! What an awesome way to top off our 18 wonderful days in Africa!! So many thanks to go around... Eve Wertsch at Fugazi Travel, Kensington Tours on the ground in East Africa, Christopher and Infante, our priceless guides.

We spent our last night in the Simba Lodge - - had a nice buffet breakfast there - then drove a short ways back to Nairobi where we caught our flight to Doha in Qatar, then on to Hyderabad.

Here are the last two of my Facebook Photo Albums from Lake Naivasha:

Lake Naivasha Hippo Cruise!!

Final Game Walk, Our Room at Simba - and home :-(

Our African Safari Continues...Masai Mara!!

2012-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

I sure hope that all of you are still enjoying reading about our African Safari and seeing our photos. I've gotten some great feedback from people at Boulder Hills Golf Club who have looked at our Facebook albums...I really like to hear the feedback, but the fact is that I took all my pictures with a "snapshot" camera - point-n'-shoot style. It's a Sony and it seems to have a pretty good lens and decent zoom. I have not even done a "Best of Amy's" album...I think she took over 2,000 pictures...I will get around to it, I promise.

On to this episode: We left the Serengeti National Park, prepared for what our itinerary said would be "...a LONG drive (and the) road will be rough and unfinished...the total drive to Masai Mara will take approximately 6-9 hours depending on game drives and any breaks taken."

The road we were supposed to take ended-up being completely washed-out and un-passable in certain places...meaning we had to take the long-way around the mountain...it took almost five-hours to get to the border-crossing - it was the bumpiest part of our journey, by far!! We had a few places where our guide, Christopher, had to really concentrate on making it through some washed-out sections. We crossed the border at a place called Isebania - and the same program exists going from Tanzania to Kenya: check OUT of one country and check IN to the next... thanks to Christopher and Infante who got us moved-up in the lines. We said our sad goodbyes to Chris...and - then asked how long it would take from the border to the Masai Mara "camp" - - and he said "five hours"!!

Amy's response was classic and I will never forget - - she exclaimed: "FROM HERE???"

Well...it ended up being quite a bit longer because we had to go another "long way". We picked-up a passenger at the border...one of the managers from the Kensington Mara West Camp. The road remained rough and some parts were really tough to cross...total time in the cars - driving from the Serengeti to Masai Mara - 12-HOURS!! The last hour-or-so was in the dark!! We were just wasted from the drive...and - we were hoping the new camp was going to be nicer than the last one. Well - - we hit the jackpot - this was an awesome place!! You almost couldn't call the chalet we stayed in a "tent". Yeah...it had a canvas roof and partial walls - - but it also had hardwood floors and french-doors with etched-glass - - and matching etched-glass wine-glasses!! The view of Masai Mara from our wood-deck was stunning - sunrise in the morning was stunning! Check out their website (above) - the place is really special!!

The next day we started out in the early morning, right after sunrise and the incredible breakfast served in the beautiful dining-room - for a day-long game drive. The numbers of animals in the Masai Mara seemed to be down from what we were expecting...but - the animals we did see were awesome!!

Here are three Facebook albums with 88-total photos - - and - the YouTube link is of a leopard that walked right by our van, right out in the open!! Even our guide said that seeing a leopard out in the open for so long was amazing!! Enjoy!!

Masai Mara West - The NICE Tent!

Wild Beasts of the Masai Mara...

Masai Mara Hippos and Other Creatures

Leopard in the Masai Mara (YouTube Video)

Leaving the Plantation (Lodge) for Serengeti...

2012-01-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

Leaving the beautiful Plantation Lodge was not easy. But considering that they had booked our Zanzibar Suite to someone else... it seemed as if we had to get back on the road. According to my notes and Facebook status, that was on 2 January 2012.

Here's my FB entry for that morning: "Off to drive into the Serengeti National Park today....unknown about future Internet connections in next few days....we'll check in when possible. — at Plantation Lodge, Karatu, Tanzania"

As Willie Nelson sang, we were "On the road again!" And what a road it was!! Our brochures and travel itineraries were filled with warnings about "LONG drives", "rough roads", "6-9 hours driving-time". If anybody else is planning a safari-trip to East Africa...when you see those words printed in a slick brochure...YOU HAD BETTER BELIEVE THEM!! As India does, Eastern Africa has a rainy season...and it seems that they had a beaut the month before we arrived. Traveling out of the Ngorongoro are and over to the Olduvai (really the "Oldupai") Gorge - (the name is a misspelling of Oldupai Gorge, which was adopted as the official name in 2005. Oldupai is the Masai word for the wild sisal plant Sansevieria ehrenbergii, which grows in the gorge.) - we crossed some areas where the roads had been completely washed away and large river-rocks were being cleared away by heavy equipment - but much of it was being done by hand by the local villagers. The tourist-trade and the dollars that travelers bring into this part of Tanzania are all-important - and it is essential to keep the roads open. Sometimes the "roads" were so poor that you literally had to turn around or go a different way.

We did have a very educational stopover at the Olduvai Gorge. Made famous by Dr. Richard Leakey and his family - and by the skeletal remains of the 3.2-million-year-old "Lucy", discovered by his wife Mary Leakey in 1959 - Olduvai is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and has been instrumental in furthering the understanding of early human evolution. This site was occupied by homo habilis approximately 1.9 million years ago, paranthropus boisei 1.8 million years ago, and homo erectus 1.2 million years ago. Homo sapiens are dated to have occupied the site 17,000 years ago.

Our driver/guide, Christopher, then took us for a little "off-roading" - and - I swear - OFF the road was sometimes smoother than ON the "roads"!! This was in a flat area of grasslands that seemed to go on forever. As a matter of fact, the Masai word Siringet from which the name Serengeti is derived means "endless plains, where the earth meets the sky".

What a perfect name for an awesome place! We finally began to see wildebeests on the horizon, and drove over toward them. At one point, we were in the middle of grazing wildebeests as far as the eye could see in all directions. It was probably the most incredible sight of our entire safari!!

We were pretty whipped from the drive...and could not wait to arrive at our next stop for the night, the "Kensington Serengeti". Now - again - I do advise any future safari-travelers to READ THE BROCHURES you will no-doubt receive very carefully and know that words really do mean something. Our next lodging was to be at a place described as "A tented wilderness camp in the Serengeti, this is and intimate connection to nature in the world-famous park..."

There were no untruths in that description. It was exactly what we got!! Unfortunately, having spent the last four nights at the Plantation Lodge - our arrival at the tented-camp was a bit of a shock to the system...especially because - much to my immediate shock and dismay, Amy Suzanne had never slept in a tent!!

After the initial shock wore off (and the fact that they were having trouble with the piped-in water and there was not to be even a cold shower for us (you see, when the water is functioning properly - the staff fires-up a wood-burning boiler that warms the water ... but only once in the morning - so - you gotta be quick. The water seems to hold its temperature throughout the day, as it's pretty warm in the Serengeti, year-round...but - we were dusty and hot and - well - I wasn't sure if Amy was going to make it through the night.

After a pep-talk from Christopher around the campfire before dinner (and during a glass of fine South African wine - the place wasn't THAT primitive - - and the mess-tent and food were actually quite nice!) - we convinced her that these two nights were going to be an integral part of our "safari experience" and to enjoy every minute of it. With a new-found positive attitude, I think she really did enjoy our Serengeti stay...but - my beautiful wife is really a "Plantation" girl...roughing-it in a canvas tent. She was a trooper, I must say.

We spent the next day on the longest (and perhaps the best!) game-drive of the entire trip. We saw the whole spectrum of African wildlife...still some remaining wildebeests from the migration we had driven through the day before, elephants (with many babies!), hundreds of hippos, giraffes....and even a pair of mating lions who were enjoying an active sex-life (they do it quite often, so we heard and saw!).

Here are some links to our Facebook Photo Albums for these two days, showing the Serengeti, our camp, the incredible wildlife, and - in retrospect - two of the very best days of the whole trip!! Thank you Christopher...you were right!

Entering the Serengeti and our "Camp"

Serengeti HIPPOS!!!

Out in the Serengeti

There's Lions Making Love (on the rocks)

Next blog....Out of Tanzania, back to Kenya and the "nice tents" in Masai Mara!! Stay tuned!!

Manyara and Ngorongoro...and the Plantation Lodge

2012-01-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Whoa!! It's almost the end of January! My birthday is tomorrow and it will be the second one I have spent "At Home in Hyderabad" It is hard to believe that we have been happily living in India for almost 20-months!! If Amy Suzanne had not gotten her extension, we would be starting the process of ending our ex-pat assignment here and packing for going home in June. I really need to keep at this blogging project....there is just so much information, so many photographs...and I promised Amy that I'd finish before we go to Goa early next month for the Deloitte USI Partner/Director Retreat there. We just got back from a quick trip to Delhi for a recruiting trip and I didn't have time to write at all. Today is "Republic Day" here in India and most places are closed... I think Amy will go into the office anyway to get some things done as the traditional Tax Busy Season is now officially here!

Let's see....where did we leave-off?? After we left Tarangire, we headed for a smaller, more compact game preservation area in a place called Lake Manyara.

Stretching for 50km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a truly a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I had seen in Africa”. Our guide-book said that "The compact game-viewing circuit through Manyara offers a virtual microcosm of the Tanzanian safari experience." Actually...in the "animal department, we were a little disappointed, but the place was certainly beautiful!

From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest where we saw hundred-strong baboon troops lounging and playing nonchalantly along the roadside and blue monkeys scampering nimbly between the ancient mahogany trees.

There are distinctly different ecological areas within this park area. And they are noticeable as you drive into the park. Contrasting with the intimacy of the forest is the grassy floodplain and its expansive views eastward, across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Masai Steppes. We saw large buffalo, wildebeest and zebra herds congregating on these grassy plains, and several giraffes – some so dark in coloration that they appear to be black from a distance.

Inland of the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland is the favoured haunt of Manyara’s legendary tree-climbing lions (although here we didn't see any!) and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of searing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lake shore in the far south of the park.

Our hotel for the night was up on an impressive hill formed by the Rift Valley millions of years ago. I must say that the view (and the bar overlooking the lake and valley below!!) was beyond spectacular and all expectations!! The Lake Manyara Hotel is very well located and built. Management seemed a bit cold going by the overall warm standards of the hotels in this part of the world. Rooms are a bit cramped and food is not so generous as in other competing properties like Sopa. It didn't help matters any when we found out they had mis-filed our reservations under a different name and it took a while to get things right (we waited in the bar, which helped speed things along) - - also - it was at this hotel that we had to have words with our hotel neighbors. The walls were very thin and the group of people (and I do mean a GROUP) were noisy-beyond-belief and we asked nicely twice to have them "STFU!!" ...and finally felt it necessary to call the front desk.

The next morning we took a beautiful drive toward the Ngorongoro Crater and our next stop...the Plantation Lodge. Both are equally spectacular in their own way!! That says a lot for the Plantation Lodge.

Before we go to the photos...I need to say a bit about both places. The Ngorongoro Crater is really other-worldly - as you drive down to the bottom, descending through the rain and clouds, it's like going through a time-portal to prehistoric times. The concentration of wildlife here exceeded all expectations...here we saw lions and rhinos and elephants and - - well - - just about anything you might expect to see on safari. My comment to Amy was: "Honest to God! If I saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex eating a Brontosaurus - it would look perfectly normal here!"

The "Plantation Lodge" just may be the nicest place we have ever stayed. And having stayed at the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, the Leela Palace in Bengaluru and the Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur - this is the highest praise I can give to a hotel. But the Plantation Lodge is not just a hotel...it's - - well... I will let the photos (below) tell the story. We stayed in the Zanzibar Suite... a fabulous and huge suite with an upstairs loft and it's own patio and garden. It was so nice...that we decided that it was too nice to leave...so we didn't!! We ended up touring Ngorongoro and then staying until after the New Year!! Once again, Eve Wertsch from Fugazi Travel to the rescue...despite the holidays, she was able to make the arrangements for our staying longer and changed our flight-times home!!

Here are links to two of our Facebook Photo Albums:

Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater

The Plantation Lodge in Ngorongoro

African Safari Part IV - On to Tanzania

2012-01-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

It was difficult to believe that we had only been in Africa for four days, and we had seen so much! The beauty of the savanna and grasslands sprinkled with the occasional flat-topped acacia tree is breathtaking! Some real "Out of Africa" stuff! Much of that classic movie was shot in the Kenya and Tanzania landscape that you almost feel like you have been transported through the screen and into the movie!

Our driver/guide in Kenya had been a wonderful man named Enfante (not really sure how to spell this!) - - and it was his job to get us safely to the border-crossing with Tanzania at a spot called Namanga. Our ultimate destination at the end of the day was to be the Tarangire National Park and the Sopa Lodge inside the park.

Our new driver was to be Christopher - who turned out to be a wonderful tour guide, a most knowledgeable expert on Tanzania and a terrific guy all-around! We got dropped-off at the border and - well - - let's be honest for a moment...Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania are not the most wealthy places on the planet. We live in India, which has it's own problems, to be sure....but the poverty in the area is pretty striking. The Masai tribesman look perfectly happy, herding their cattle...but - the rest of the place looks so downtrodden. Everything needs paint, the roads (LOL) are unpaved if they exist at all, the actual customs-stations for both countries are poorly organized and mismanaged - - and - unfortunately you have to check OUT of Kenya on one side of the border...and then check IN to Tanzania!! Kind of a Mess.

Tanzania is a socialist country...and one sees many more soldiers with automatic weapons on the Tanzania side of the border. And - purely by observation, I would say that Kenya is the far-more-wealthy of the two East African countries. Transportation is terrible...everybody walks! Out in the middle of NOWHERE you will see kids walking to school, women carrying water and children and bundles of wood...and one has to wonder where the hell they are going! They do have large (usually Toyota) vans....this is their "bus system" - they pack 20+ people into these things...I got claustrophobia just watching them drive by!!

But we came for the animals!! After a brief stop at a hotel for lunch in the town of Arusha - we pushed onward into Tarangire National Park. As you leave Arusha behind, you start seeing the landscape changing constantly. Turning into the actual park is amazing....the animals are all over the place....zebras, giraffes, elephants...the cutest little creatures called the dwarf mongoose that take over termite mounds - - and hundreds of different kinds of birds!! This part of the world is a bird-watchers paradise - - I don't consider myself much of a bird-watcher - but this place may have changed me for good!! Beautiful birds of every size and color!! And the unique baobab trees (see my photo above left) that surround the Sopa Lodge...makes it feel like you are on another planet!!

Below is a link to our photo-album on Facebook of our stay in Tarangire and the Sopa Lodge...including a snapshot of a monkey that had gotten inside of the dining room there, elephants, giraffes, the dwarf mongoose, beautiful birds, impalas, zebras, baboons, monkeys...and a few shots I took around the lodge:

Africa Safari #3 ... Tanagire to Lake Manyara

Amboseli ... The Second Day - Christmas!

2012-01-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

We had such a good time during the first two days of our African Safari in Amboseli and at the Serena Lodge, that Suzanne really didn't want to leave. She said that she was afraid that "we might be leaving the best place behind and we might not see any more animals!" Well...I kind of chuckled at that and told her that we needed to push on and see what adventures lay ahead....secretly hoping that I was not wrong. Man, was I ever NOT wrong!

It was Christmas Day... we woke up to crazed monkeys and baboons playing outside of our room, just off the patio. What fun it is to watch these guys play. All the baboons are not the giant, angry ones that we saw in The Omen - in fact - they are pretty cute, swinging from tree to tree, falling a lot, big ones chasing little ones...it's really a three-ring circus that we watched for hours!

We had two official "game-drives" that Christmas Day...one in the morning and on in the evening. You don't really have to go far from "camp" to see the animals that live in Amboseli...there are zebras and monkeys and giraffes just outside of the gate...and it doesn't take long to see the elephants. Our "game van" was an older Toyota - kind of like an "Inova" as they have here in India... but the top opened-up for easy-viewing. Amboseli if famous for it's great herds of elephants. The African elephants are distinguished from Asian ones that are common here in India and Thailand, etc. - most noticeable are the HUGE ears on the African ones (they use them to fan themselves and keep cool in the African sun, which can be intense!! They have lots of circulatory veins in those big ears, so - it works like an air-conditioning system for the whole body. The African variety is also a big larger overall, has a concave backbone, both male and female have ivory tusks and are much less hairy than their Asian cousins.

On our game-drives this day, we saw a wide variety of God's creatures...the big male lion we saw - (see photo above), hyenas, giraffes, a bald eagle, lots and lots of African elephants, the stately impala (I couldn't tell if they were '63 or '64 Impalas, actually, badda-boom!!) and many others.

The photos for this day are found on this Facebook Album: Africa Volume 2 - Amboseli to Tanzania

The last few snapshots in this album are actually from after we crossed the border into Tanzania (quite an experience!) - more about that later!

Next up: Leaving Amboseli behind, crossing the border at Namanga, lunch in Arusha, and into Tarangire National Park!

African Safari - Part Two - Amboselli National Park

2012-01-11T01:58:00.000-08:00

Jambo!! It's Day Two of our safari adventure...and - it's Christmas Eve!! We got up bright-and-early and had a pretty good buffet at the Norfolk. I was already getting the feeling that two-full-weeks of buffet food was going to take it's toll on my waistline...but I also didn't know how long of a drive it was going to be from Nairobi to Amboseli National Park. I mean...I didn't want to risk starving to death out in the middle of the African Savannah!!

It turned out that the drive was scheduled for 4-hours - I think it took closer to 5-hours, but the scenery got nicer and nicer as we got out into the country. Amboseli itself is kind of a barren plain - but most of the grasslands of East Africa are that way. The iconic flat-topped acacia tree is all over the place...but the stand completely alone, not growing in groups or groves. As you approach the park, you notice a large cloud....sort of high on the horizon...not to far away. It's a daily fixture, actually. It's Mount Kilimanjaro - shrouded in clouds. The mountain is so big (the world's largest free-standing mountain!) - that it has it's own weather systems! It's actually in Tanzania, the result of some negotiations with neighboring Kenya when the United Republic of Tanzania was formed back in 1963-64. Funny...I always wondered whatever happened to the country of Tanganyika - the one I used to read about in my Colliers Encyclopedia. Now I know...it merged with the Island of Zanzibar and became Tanzania after the British left.

As you enter Amboseli - there's nothing really special about it...BUT - almost immediately you begin to see the animals. I'm afraid the photography from our initial days in the park were not our best efforts... We would see a herd of zebras or a few scattered elephants on the horizon...and out came the cameras! Little did we know on the first day that we would soon have our car surrounded by elephants and zebras and wildebeests and buffalo.... The photography actually gets much better as the safari rolled onward.

Our first two nights on safari were spent at the beautiful Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge - located far inside the parks borders - and with a beautiful view of....a bunch of clouds shrouding Mt. Kilimanjaro !! It seems that, despite all the wonderful photos you can see online, the giant hides behind the clouds 99% of the time!! Sort of frustrating...but on the day we left - - the clouds parted for a few minutes - and we got a tremendous view of the mountain - and I must say - it is spectacular!

We went on three very special game-drives in Amboseli - each better than the last and the animal count grew and grew. It was on the second day in the park that we saw our first lion - a big male just sunning himself in the grass, without a care in the world!

The part of our visit to the Serena Lodge that we will remember the most? The monkeys and baboons playing right outside of our room!! We sat on our rear patio virtually for hours, just watching these clowns tumble and play and jump from tree-to-tree - - they were hilarious!! I posted a few photos from the Lodge - although the Internet speeds were slow (and in Tanzania, virtually non-existent!!) Here is a link to the Facebook Album: Monkey Mayhem (on our back porch!!)

From our first day game ride I was able to capture and upload the following photos to another Facebook album called Africa Safari Part One (Amboseli)

In there are some good elephant photos, a good one of a tiny BABY elephant (they are soooo cute!!)...

I posted this little album from the Lodge...there may be some duplicates in here...but - it shows that first big male lion, a couple of goofy giraffes, two male elephant teenagers sparring - and even our first hippopotamus!! Link album here: Not a bad second day!!

That's about it for now. More later on Christmas in Amboseli, leaving for Tanzania - and many, many more animal photographs!!

Our African Safari - Part One

2012-01-10T02:50:00.000-08:00

Jambo, everybody!! Thanks for reading our blog today!! "Jambo" means "hello" in Swahili - and is the all-purpose greeting for any and all things in East Africa!!

I want to begin today with this fun-fact: My wonderful wife is impossible to shop for at Christmas time. Especially nowadays since she's not involved in the horse-show world at present, due to our living in India. I used to be able to go to Broken Horn, fill up a shopping cart with riding crops and socks and gloves and a few cute horsey-things, and I was good-to-go. This year, she actually made a request...all she wanted for Christmas this year was that I digest our African Safari and begin to blog about it as soon as we got home!! We got home early yesterday morning...and - after a day of recovery (and unpacking all of the treasures we brought back from Kenya and Tanzania!) - I got to uploading photos to Facebook (a link to my page is on the right-hand column of this blog-page!) - and now - it's almost 3:30 P.M. on Tuesday, January 10, 2012....and here I begin!

First of all - - Happy New Year, everybody!! Heri ya mwaka mpya!!

It's actually quite a good thing that I'm starting to blog about our trip while things are still fresh. You see, I will be turning 55 later this month...and - it's not that my memory is failing, exactly - actually - it functions just like a computer. The data is in there, somewhere - but sometimes it gets put into the wrong file and gets hard to access properly!! Also - sometimes I think my brain is a Commodore 64 living in an iPad 2 world!

I will be relying heavily on the Safari Itinerary provided for us by Eve Wertsch at Fugazi Travel in San Francisco - that way I won't miss any large sections of our trip and can concentrate on recalling the smaller details. If you have any travel needs - Eve is the best - and - unlike many travel agents - she has actually been to any of the places you might be considering. Her advice is golden - and - all of the trips we have booked through her have been beyond outstanding!

The safari that Eve booked for us was called the "Kenya and Tanzania Game Tracker". You see, for Amy Suzanne - it's all about the ANIMALS! Everything else is secondary. And the trip is aptly-named. Man - did we see a lot of game!! Everybody who goes to Africa on a safari like ours wants to see the so-called Big Five animals (see photo above)....it doesn't always work out that way. As our guide told us during one of our last game-drives (in Kenya) told us - - "These are wild animals...and this is not a zoo!"

Well...the Game Gods were certainly smiling on us - - during our two-week-long safari (it turned out to be longer - more on that to come!!) - our totals on seeing The Big Five was:

Lions: 21
Rhinos: 10
Leopards: 3 (and they are shy and rarely seen, so we found out!!)
Elephants: I can't count that high!
Cape Buffalo: Hundreds, maybe thousands!

As I continue to write this blog (it will be in several parts - I don't want to bore you, dear reader!) - I will be posting links to our Facebook photo albums - so - if you want to be surprised - don't peek!! There are lots of photos of all of the Big Five and many, many, many more incredible animals!!

The Safari Begins: We left Hyderabad at around 3:00 A.M. on Qatar Airways - for a quick 3.5-hourflight to the capital city of Doha - a brief layover there - then on to Africa!

After another 4.5-hours of flight-time, we arrived safely and comfortably in Nairobi, the bustling capitol city of Kenya. Highlights of the day were that we flew to Qatar on the first leg of our journey with our ex-pat friend from Manchester, England, Graham Hardyman (we quaffed a few cold ones at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Lounge). Our flight-attendant's name on the flight from Qatar to Nairobi was "Pei Yu" - I am not lying and I thought I was going to lose it! The airport arrival was flawless (typical for a Fugazi Travel-arranged holiday!) - but the Nairobi traffic is almost (but not quite!) as bad as Hyderabad. It took us almost 2-hours to get to our hotel - the beautiful Fairmont Norfolk Hotel! We actually saw our first animal just outside of the airport - some giraffes were right there in town - grazing on flat-top acacia trees! We had a late-lunch - forgot to wake up for dinner - slept a needed 12+ hours - - then we got up for the first real day in Kenya!! As they say in Swahili: Hakuna matata!! Everything was going to be all right!!

Please stay tuned!! Next up: Amboseli National Park in Kenya

Getting Yellow Fever Vaccines...

2011-12-09T01:10:00.000-08:00

When we first arrived in India, an ex-pat friend of ours told us something interesting that had happened to her. She said that "after a while, you begin to realize that there is no way possible to explain to people who live in the U.S. just exactly what it's like living here...so you just stop trying." Truer words were never spoken. Unless you've spent any time as an ex-pat living in India...you really cannot come up with the words to describe what a day-to-day existence is like here.

Oh, there are pet-phrases and pat-answers you can give like "You need to have a lot of patience" - - or, "Things take forever to get completed...everything runs late..." or..."The traffic is just insane!!" But unless you are here to experience it for yourself...you really can't get a taste of what it's like!

One of the things we have attempted to do with this blog is to be as accurate (and hopefully, entertaining!) as we can about life here "At Home In Hyderabad"....and sometimes a tale just needs telling as soon as it happens so the memory is fresh in our minds. Here is one such story.

Today, Amy Suzanne and I went into the city to get our vaccinations and certificates for yellow fever for our upcoming trip to Africa (Kenya and Tanzania). Although we had been human-pin-cushions when we came to India..."yellow fever" vaccinations are not required or even recommended - the outbreaks of the disease seem to be limited to central and eastern Africa and now...South America as well.

It seems that there is only one government-approved vaccination clinic here in town...even the nicer, larger hospitals like Apollo tell you to go to them. You find out online that yellow fever vaccinations are only given on Tuesdays and Fridays at this clinic. Booking online is "available" - but neither Google Chrome or Internet Explorer liked the system very much, so I ended up composing an e-mail. I must say that they were very quick to respond...asking us for the pertinent information like our passport numbers and where/when we would be traveling.

We got an appointment for today, Friday 9 December 2011 - and our time was sort-of flexible - anywhere from 10:45 A.M. until 11:15 A.M. Obviously everybody at the clinic is aware of the traffic problems in the area...especially in the more Muslim areas of town on a Friday morning (the Muslim "sabbath" for lack of a better term...I'm sure there's a more proper one!)

Now - one of the things that you really need to experience for yourself is the fact that - here in Hyderabad - and just about every city or town in India - there are street names...but no street SIGNS!! There are addresses (called "plot numbers") - but nobody uses them and they are not displayed on buildings. Instead - there are neighborhood names (like Ameerpet, Begumpet, Madhapur, Somaji Guda...) - today's appointment was south of the main landmark in town - the Hussain Sagar Lake (which many of the locals still call "Tank Bund" - so it helps to know both names!) - - in a neighborhood called Narayan Guda.

There are no real "stay right-turn left-go straight" directions used in telling somebody how to get to some place or another...they use "landmarks" here - like for us...we say we live "in Banjara Hills, near the Q-Mart". Exact addresses are never given - because - as I said - they are not painted or listed on the buildings, so what would be the use?? Instead...you would say that a certain place is "next to" or (my favorite because it has so many meanings) "adjacent to"...or "opposite" - what we in the U.S. would call "across from" - but again - "opposite" has a wide-ranging set of meanings - it could actually mean a block-or-so away in either direction...

Today's location had been given to us as: "In Narayan Guda, near YMCA, next to Madapati Hanumantha Rao Girls High School" Actually - by most standards...that's a pretty good set of "directions" right there. Our regular caretaker/driver Radha Krishna has had the week off to enjoy a festival in his home village - - so we had our backup driver - our security man - Sangamesh - take us to the clinic.

Things could have gotten off the rails quickly, because we got to the place and - it was not to be found. The contact number we were given in case we got lost just rang and rang and rang with no answer. Sangamesh gets out of the car and asks a few people on the street if they knew the place...and they did, thank God!!

Now - pulling into the place...both my reaction and Amy Suzanne's were the same...although unspoken. "What the hell is this place...?? I'm not even going in the door...much less let them give me a shot!! A M*A*S*H unit would have looked more stable! An old dilapidated building with peeling paint an falling plaster. The signage didn't exactly say what the place was...but when Sangamesh asked the guy standing in front, we got the full-on Indian head-bob which indicated we were at least close to being in the right place.

Below are some photos so you can see what we mean!!

Anyway - - thank God we ran into a man who spoke perfect English who took pity on "the big white couple" who must have looked like a couple of deers in the headlights. It turns out that you go and pay your fees at one place (around the corner) - then come back with your receipt - and get in line for the vaccinations. Thanks to this kind man, the process actually went very smoothly. Once we paid, we got seen immediately. Suzanne went first...and - after making double-sure that the syringes were new in the wrapper and that alcohol was being liberally used...she got her vaccination and I did likewise. They processed our passports in almost no time at all...gave us our stamped and signed certificates (good for 10 years, thank God!)

Overall - it was a good experience that went smoothly...

We Need a Brew Pub in Hyderabad...

2011-11-20T23:20:00.000-08:00

I was lamenting with a dear old friend in Southern California about the lack of good beer and craft ales here in India. I would cut off a pinkie-finger for a decent India Pale Ale!! ...strange anomaly ain't it? No IPA in India! I guess it really isn't that strange, because real IPA back in the day was shipped TO India from England...and it was an ale that was heavily hopped to make it last during the journey around Africa.

Truly, though...the beer sitch here is pathetic... Kingfisher draft (lager) is drinkable - but the bottled stuff is poison. There are a few other Kingfisher products (Kingfisher "Blue" isn't bad - - but I've only had it in Pune and Delhi. Around there (especially at the golf course, we mostly drink Tuborg and Carlsberg....but there is also an Indian-made Budweiser and sometimes Heineken and Corona available (for a price)...but nothing with any real flavour.

As for opening a brew-pub, although the idea sounds awesome, the truth is that bringing in grains, malted barley, hops, etc. is so closely monitored and taxed it's pretty much illegal. As a matter of fact, the whole alcohol situation here is closely monitored (controlled) by the state government - in this case: Andhra Pradesh.

Taxes on beer/wine/booze, especially imports, are excessive... We can now get Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Bombay (or is it Mumbai?) Sapphire, most Johnny Walker products - you gotta be willing to pay top rupee ...NO California/French/Euro wines (only Oz, S. Africa)... A brew pub would be huge here. The best beer I've had since I've been here was draft Guinness in Bangkok and - - last trip to Pune for golf we found THIS:

Banjara Hillbillies Update - LIVE at Beyond Coffee

2011-11-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Performing live in front of a crowd is always fraught with challenges and difficulties. Especially one filled with rambunctious kids screaming and running around. Here, The Banjara Hillbillies, Hyderabad's ONLY Bluegrass Band, practices John Prine's "Paradise" - one of the new additions to our live set.

The sound quality is not great, and the camera battery went dead in the middle of the second chorus, but I thought it captured all of the problems of performing live in just a short 1:28!! Enjoy!

"Paradise" by the Banjara Hillbillies

Hyderabad Golf Update....

2011-11-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

I have really fallen down on the job, haven't I?? I think I'm something like four-months behind in my blog-posting!! I have our trip to the Maldives to write about...our trip to Bangkok with "Jay Laurila the Vanilla Gorilla"...and our last minute trip to Goa!! We're also trying to book a trip to Singapore for Thanksgiving and we're almost booked with our African Safari to Kenya and Tanzania over Christmas and New Year. It's not an excuse, but over the past several weeks, I've been trying to finish up with our Flintstone's Men's Club Match Play League before I leave for vacation...

It's an interesting format. Nine-hole, match-play, two matches if you play 18-holes. We had eight Flintstones in the league, but two dropped out due to health reasons...and one other fellow stepped in to fill that final spot. It's been a hard-fought set of matches - and - although I started slowly... I'm pretty sure that I secured first-place in my division when I won today!! The story of the victory I will relate in detail (below)...but it was a classic match-play war!! As of this morning, all my rounds are now complete...including a split with an Aussie named Gabriel (which didn't count because he had to withdraw!) and an injury withdrawal from an Indian guy named Suresh - he had an oblique-muscle strain on the second-shot of our match and went down like he was shot!! Another match that did not count!!

All of the matches I was in were hard-fought and close...any one of them could have gone either way. Especially with a fellow 16-handicapper named Satish (what a battle!!) and Sakaar - who I had to give one-shot-per-side (two days of nine-holes each - - only a few bad shots separated us! )...and truly a see-saw battle and probably the most enjoyable matches I have ever had in my life (a 35-foot birdie putt by him that I will never forget!!) Hopefully my 3-3-0 on the front and my 4-0-2 on the back will secure me enough points to make it into the next round.

I leave for Pune (PRONOUNCED POO-NAH - not "POON") on Friday for an Indian golf safari where I will be playing Oxford, the Poona Club and Aamby Valley Golf Club.

As for today's round....

In this tale, I wish in NO WAY to denigrate my new friend Sakaar or his golf game...he is a gentleman and a good golfer who tested me to my limits on both of our nine-hole matches this week. Any hole or either match could have gone a different way. I missed some short putts (so what else is new??) and he had some bad bounces today...

Here is the brief tale of how our match ended today...I should have been three-up and none of this would have mattered...but the greens were sanded and plugged for aeration and a bit of a mess....that's no excuse...both of us made some stellar putts, as well as missed a few...

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO - - AERATION ALERT!! If you're planning to play Boulder Hills in Gachibowli in the next week....they have plugged and sanded the greens and they are a disaster!! Anyway - - here's today's story:

#1 1-up #2 1-up (Sakaar stroked and I held him off!) #3 AS (great birdie-putt by Sakaar after a great tee-shot) #4 AS #5 1-down (Sakaar had an amazing sand-save and I missed an easy putt to square it) #6 AS (I played really well and made par!) NB - "AS" means "All Square" or "tied".

Now it starts. File this one under "Never Give Up"!! #7 (Par-5 - uphill) We both hit decent drives...me with my 3-hybrid and he hit driver....I hit first from the middle of the fairway. I hit the same club and pull it badly into the brush on the left. I put a provisional in play and cranked it even higher up the hill with a wicked yank! I drop another and finally split the fairway - - but unless I manage to find my original ball - - I'm laying SIX and he hasn't even taken his second shot!! He hits a rescue-club a little off the toe and ends up in the right rough, about 165 yards from the green. I go over and I FIND my first ball - - and I declare unplayable and take a drop. I decide to play it save and hit a five-iron back into the middle and leave myself about a shot 190-yard...now I am laying three and he's inside of me laying two. I crush one that comes up short...leaving me about a 50-yard chip to the elevated green.

Sakaar has no reason to lay-up - - he's got a stroke on me and he's easily in range of the green. He takes the rescue-club and....comes up a bit short. BUT!! He hits the rock in front of the green and the ball bounces forward and to the right - - probably in the bougainvillea behind the green. I leave my pitch-shot just a little short...but I'm now there in FIVE. We get to the green and search for his ball and never found it. He has to go back to the 165-yard spot and hit again. He does...and slices it a bit...it ships over a flat rock to the right of the green and lands in some thick nasty rough. Now we're both there in five...but - I'm on the front of the green and he's in the sh$t e. He hits a pretty good shot but leaves about an 18-footer to make 7. I choose to putt up the hill to a blue-flag and hit it well....left myself a 3' gimme which he graciously gave me. I'm down in 7. he missed his putt and took an 8 - and I won the hole with a double-bogey from out of the brush!! I am 1-up with two-to-play.

All I have to do is win the par-three #8 and I win!! We both hit good shots ...but I'm in the garden-spot...with a 15-footer up the hill for birdie, from just off the green. Sakaar is about 35-40-feet to the left of the flag (red flag - short and right) I come-on to the green and leave myself a deadly 18"-er for par... Sakaar takes a long time to line his putt up - - the greens are in terrible shape because they have been plugged and sanded over the last 2-days. He lets it rip and - - - the ball finds its' way through he sandbox and the freshly-drilled holes...and he drains it...right into the cup for birdie!! The match is all-square coming into the tough 9th and final hole!

On #9 it's Sakaar's honors - and, walking up to the tee-box - I see that he has a five-iron in his hand for the lay-up. I know this is the smart-play and I grab my 5-iron as well. He hits a smooth lay-up to about 20-yards before the creek. I hit my 5-iron REALLY good...but it's towards the bridge...it looked as if I took one hop and right into the hazard!! We pass his ball to check on mine...and - - miracles of miracles - we see it!! There it is...my bounce took me to the other side of the creek by about 5-yards!!

We go back to his ball which has a good lie - - but it's a little tight....not much turf on the short-side of the creek/hazard. I don't know what club he chose....but it was obvious he was aiming left toward the 100-yard stake to take the water out of play and lay-up. He's been hitting the ball great all day, so there is no reason to suspect that he would do anything else.

And he proceeds to chunk a fat-one about 40-feet and directly into the creek!!!!

Obviously not a happy-camper - he takes his drop on the tee-side of the creek (we still haven't gotten to my ball!!)....and whacks it about 30-feet ahead with another chunky-monkey!! He is laying 4 and I'm still laying one! I get to my ball and take the safe-route...I take an 8-iron and lay-up to about 90-yards. Laying-four, Sakaar grabs the rescue-club and gives it a mighty whack!! It comes up short of the green....hits a rock on the edge of the lake and bounces God-only-knows where...it looked like it went into the bushes up by the clubhouse!! I hit a gap-wedge on...and - - when we can't find his ball...Sakaar graciously concedes the match... 1 and 0 for me!

I enjoyed my two nine-hole matches with Sakaar very, very much. Had he hit a decent second-shot on #9 things could have ended all-square just like the day before!

I will try to post at least the Maldives trip and link to our Facebook Photo Album. Perhaps I'll get a chance to write about Bangkok, too. We are still loving India....miss all of you in the U.S.

Much love!

Golf Update - and an APOLOGY !!

2011-10-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

FIRST OF ALL...THE APOLOGY: I have been neglecting this blog...I have been relying on Facebook too much for my social-networking needs and I realize that many readers of this blog are not Facebook Friends. If you are not... send me a request. There is a link to my Facebook page on this blog! I promise to catch up soon...Amy Suzanne goes to the U.S. for some Deloitte training in Dallas, so I'll have time on my hands later in the month... Until then, here is a golf-update from Hyderabad:

It seems that my "Race to 100 Rounds in a Year" has hit a slight road-block....or at least a really big puddle in the road.

Hyderabad's yearly monsoon season ends traditionally on 1 October - - and we've had two days of pretty steady rains since turning the calendar page over.

I played in an interesting men's club tournament on Saturday (I play with the Flintstones Men's Golf Club at Boulder Hills in Gachibowli - we're called the Flintstones because our course looks just like a movie-set for "Bedrock Country Club" - see photo below) - - the format was "flags". You carried your "flag" (really just an 6x4 colored index-card with your name on it) as far as you could; you are given 75% of your handicap and those strokes are added to par-72 to give you the maximum strokes allotted until you have to "place your flag". I hit my limit just before the 17th green. I wasn't the first one out...there was on on the 15th, a couple on the 16th and one on the 17th tee-box. LOTS of people "went out" on the 18th...one guy in my group got to the greenside-bunker on #18. Our 18th hole is a 622-yard par-5 monster with the third shot over water.

Only one guy carried his "flag" all the way to the clubhouse. Which was a very good thing, because in our discussions about how to break ties...I casually mentioned that if there were two or more players who finished their round with their flags in-hand...I'd eat them all! Whew! This group would have held me to my word! I think they would have bought me beers to help wash them down!

So, I stand at 91 rounds...nine more rounds to be completed by the end of the month. I will try to get out Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. Monsoons permitting, that is!

Wow....it's been a while...Egypt (and Beyond)

2011-06-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have had time to write from At Home in Hyderabad...if the truth be told, we haven't actually been "at home" all that much! It was busy, busy, busy there for awhile...Amy Suzanne had her Spring busy-season at Deloitte .... and I went to the States for my home-visit (see last blog entry). I just had time to get myself un-jet-lagged - then we were off to Egypt, and a Nile Cruise - including an amazing side-trip Jordan, for a real out of India vacation experience of a lifetime... As always, we booked every iota of this amazing trip through our good friend Eve at Fugazi Travel - and once-again, five-star treatment all the way around!

We are so spoiled...it was almost like we had the entire country of Egypt to ourselves!! Because of the 25 January Egyptian Revolution, things in the tourist trade are down well over 50%. From what we could see, I'd say it was much worse....but - if anybody is planning to go, it is 100% perfectly safe and we never felt ill-at-ease at any time. If you book with a reputable travel company like we did (see link to Fugazi Travel, above) - the Ministry of Tourism gives you an armed security guard to go everywhere with you....our guy was named Mohammad - and he had a fully automatic machine-gun under his coat at all times...so - yeah...we felt like VIPs the whole time.

There were some instances where "we" were not protected...like every evening when we were in Cairo and Amy Suzanne needed her horse "fix" - - she made friends with a couple of brothers who owned a string of Arabian horses and went for sundown/moonlight rides around the Pyramids and the Sphinx - very special indeed, and the brothers took good care of their new American friend....I don't think they'd ever seen a tourist who could ride like Amy!!

I'll post links for our Facebook Photo Albums - at least the ones through our visit to Abu Simbel - below. The photos and their captions tell a pretty good story of our trip, so I won't bore you with the details here. Rest assured that we had a wonderful time and suggest that you go to Egypt this year before the crowds come back...you will be glad that you did!! By the way...the photograph above is an un-retouched, actual photo taken on our first day in Cairo...out the picture window from our room at the Mena House hotel - - the greatest view from a hotel room I have ever had. It would simply take your breath away...no lie!

Oh...as long as this blog is officially about Hyderabad and India...I think it bears noting that Amy and I and Beloved have been here for one full year (plus a few days!) now...and we still love it. Of course, I could do without the gridlock traffic (which is due to pig-headishness and not any accident) and the May/Summertime weather (although this summer in Hyderabad was one of the mildest on record...it was hot, but not so hot that it "would melt a brass doorknob")...

But some of the stuff that happens here is just so out of the ordinary, you just have to take in stride and make it a part of the experience. I think there are some ex-pats who make the mistake of moving TO India and don't ever experience living IN India. Hey, I enjoy the company of fellow ex-pats...and I certainly enjoy playing in Hyderabad's only Bluegrass Music Band (see the YouTube Channel for The Banjara Hillbillies Bluegrass Band ) - we will be playing at the World Music Day Festival at the Taj Deccan Hotel next Wednesday night, 15th of June. But we live in a neighborhood with very few white faces, a tea-shack down the street and lots of friendly Indian neighbors of all stripes...politicians, doctors, servants, Hindu and Muslim alike. I never thought it would happen, but I actually like cricket...and watch most of the games that are televised, as well as the Deloitte Tax Tournament....which is pretty good cricket, too!

But there are still some very strange things that happen here....things that just make you shake your head and say "I don't think we're in Kansas any more, Dorothy!"

Take today for example: Coming back from Beyond Coffee, I saw some bizarre-looking Indian transvestites harassing people at the Jubilee Hills Checkpoint...I know they try to disrupt weddings and parties... and try to extort money or they will cause a ruckus...(I read about them in Sarah Macdonald's book, Holy Cow! If you have never read it, I highly recommend it - - if you are planning to come to India, consider it REQUIRED READING, along with William Dalrymple's Nine Lives ) But what these colorful transgender wackos were up to today, I have no clue. I will say that in the future...if they get too close to me, they will find a cricket bat up their wazoo!!

Anyway...on to the Egypt Photos:

Cairo, Egypt - Part One

Cairo Egypt - Part Deux (includes photos of us with Mohammad's machine gun!!)

Cairo - Part III

Luxor, Egypt 2011

Nile Cruise - Part ONE

Nile Cruise - Part Two

Abu Simbel

Thanks for reading our blog...as infrequent as the updates have been. Next edition: Jordan and the Banjara Hillbillies public debut!

Catching up! The "Banjara Hillbillies" and Travel Updates...

2011-05-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since I last updated our blog! Team India beat Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup semi-finals (on the night I left for my first-annual "home visit" to Southern California) and went on to beat Sri Lanka in thrilling style to capture the World Cup for the first time since 1983 by a score of 277-274! I actually wish I had been At Home in Hyderabad for that one!! I heard it got pretty wild!

Then ... I spent a little over two-weeks visiting our home-base in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura Counties. On my very-first day home...I picked up some new golf-clubs after spending an hour with the club-fitting guy at the TaylorMade Center at Roger Dunn in Santa Ana...and spent 8 of the next 16 days trying them out at a variety of courses in the area... Robinson Ranch, Goose Creek, Hidden Valley, Rustic Canyon, Hacienda C.C. - it was a virtual Tour de Golf!!

I had strategically planned a number of geographical gatherings to get together with friends...one in Thousand Oaks for the NCAA finals, another in Alhambra for a night of general "beer and fellowship", a night out at Bahooka Restaurant in Rosemead with the Tiki Crowd, a super-nice night out with friends for wine and dinner in Santa Clarita... We had a reunion dinner for my old parish of St. Barnabas the Apostle... I had lunch with Fr. William Bower, I went to Mass at St. Mary of the Angels in Hollywood. I went to two different L.A. Kings hockey games, an L.A. Angels game and a Dodgers game at Chavez Ravine. My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mark put me up in their extra bedroom in La Habra and put up with my late-night comings-and-goings (which was awesome (thanks so much, guys!). And - the visit closed with a super-dinner with great friends at the "Cat and the Custard Cup"!

Basically - with all of the golf and partying - I burned the candle at both-ends so bad that the flames met in the middle and I was a total burn-out!! I got sick in the middle of the trip and actually didn't shake it until I had been home for a couple of weeks! I don't think I will make the same mistake of "over-booking" my calendar...I needed a "vacation-from-my-vacation.

Getting home meant getting back to work on the music. "Music?" you ask? Yes...due to some word-of-mouth and a world-class venue (the Beyond Coffee shop in Jubilee Hills) - a few other ex-pat fellows and I have formed a Bluegrass band!! It started just as a "pickin' session" on Thursday nights...just a couple of guys who love the music and have fun playing. We expanded our repertoire to include some Celtic songs for St. Patrick's Day....and now (Hyderabad is a big city but really feels like a small-town the way news and info spread through our ex-pat community!) - we will be playing at "World Music Day" some date around the 21st of June (with bands and musical acts from all over the world) - and then...the U.S. Embassy has asked us to play at their annual 4th of July party!!

When we are all together (something that has not actually happened yet!!) the line-up includes myself on guitar and spoons and some lead and background-vocals, "Dan the Banjo Man" who works for the U.S. Consulate, along with another great guitar-player and vocalist, Elvin. The Banjara Hillbillies (that's the name we came up with for the band....some of us live in Banjara Hills!) line-up is complete with Patrick on mandolin and backing vocals. If I do say so myself...I think we are beginning to sound pretty good...

See for yourself and tell us what you think - check out our Banjara Hillbillies YouTube Channel to see videos of some of our weekly practice-and-pickin'-sessions. If you are in Hyderabad, be sure to stop by Beyond Coffee on Thursday nights from 7:00 P.M. to 9:30 P.M. - and Sunday afternoons from around 2:00 P.M. onwards...and hear us perform live! There will be more updates coming about our upcoming gigs!! It's all for fun and it's pretty exciting to watch it all come together so nicely!

Amy Suzanne and I were planning to take an "after-busy-season" vacation to South Africa...but - we really couldn't get a trip of that magnitude on the calendar in so short a time. Then, we thought briefly about Thailand or Cambodia....but - those places look like they'd be even hotter than Hyderabad right now (we've been as warm as 44-degrees C. this last week - that's almost 112 F.!!) ...

So...we have decided to go to EGYPT!! The recent troubles there have subsided and the discounts really cannot be passed up!! We leave in just two-days (on Thursday the 12th of May) and we will be returning (hopefully with a few hundred photos for our Facebook page!) We will try to check-in from our tour - - actually Egypt and Jordan - and provide updates...

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers....we have a friend house-sitting and watching Beloved the Lhasa Apso while we are away! Check back often for updates!! God bless!!

Jaipur Once Again...(Elephant Polo Photos, too!)

2011-03-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

It's a good thing we like Jaipur so much. The first annual R-10 Deloitte PPD (Partner Principal Director) Retreat was scheduled to be there and we were definitely going to be there as well !! Not only was this a chance to return to this wonderful city...but Suzanne has been wanting to go to the Silver Spurs Equestrian Stables since before we even fully decided that we were coming to live in India!!

This time we would fly direct and non-stop to Jaipur...and not have to endure the torture of an 8-hour drive from New Delhi. The flight was pleasant enough (more on the return flight later in this post!) - both taking off and arriving right on time. We decided to go a full day early and spend two extra days after the actual retreat for some horse activities...so - this was as much a "mini-vacation" as it was a business trip.

The Deloitte Retreat was to be at the Jai Mahal Palace Hotel ...one of the Taj group of hotels, so - you have to know that it has to be a special place... We arrived at the hotel and just sort of unwound a bit...saw the bar and partook of its wares. The pool was too far away to go to, but it was very pretty. The grounds of the hotel were spacious...it had a walking/running track, lots of open spaces...a giant, life-sized chess board (that was set up wrongways...I had to explain this to the manager!!) and - - a huge grass field for...of all things: ELEPHANT POLO!!!

That's right... on the morning of the first day of the retreat...there was a group of tourists taking one of those fancy five-star trains around the Golden Triangle...and one of their events was to play elephant polo on the spacious grounds of the Jai Mahal Palace!! We got to go down and "inside the ropes" (it helped to look like the Euro-tourists...we never got asked for our tickets!!) and pet the elephants and a big old camel named "Raju"... Amy Francis was thrilled, to say the least. She wanted to actually get on one of the elephants and play some polo - but - I think that's where the tour-guides from the train company drew the line!! THAT was to be for paying customers only.

Pay we did, actually....we bought a ton of "Jaipur Polo Club" gear...while we were shopping at the makeshift souvenir stand set up by the polo club...one of the Deloitte partners from Hyderabad - Wally W. (he affectionately calls me "Stuart" because of a misprint in a local Hyderabad magazine a few months back!) cracked me up.... his wife was trying on a "Jaipur Elephant Polo" fleece vest and I said it looked "cute" on her...

Wally said to me: "Gee, 'Stuart'....we don't need any help spending my money here!!"

The polo was fun to watch...albeit really SLOW as you can imagine...elephants don't exactly "gallop" to the ball!

After polo...the Partner/Director Retreat started so I lost my wife for a few hours. I had made an appointment in advance via e-mail (what a small world this has become....Jesus never got more than 100 miles from his home-town!!) to meet with the fellow who sold us our rugs last time we were in Jaipur...so - he sent a car around to get me and I got to indulge in some serious shopping.

Here are photos of Day One (and part of Day Two) in Jaipur (including the Elephants!!) on our Facebook Photo Album Page

The evening came and we were treated to a festival-style dinner with Rajasthani dancing girls with pots of fire on their heads, brightly-painted elephants (see photo of ASB and one of them at the top of this page!) and decorated camels...a great spread of Indian foodstuffs and an open bar...what's not to love about that!! The feast was at the Rambagh Palace Hotel....truly a hotel beyond anything I have ever seen before. We were so taken by the place that we got a tour...and - - when we inquired about pricing for the next two nights...we decided against staying there...we'd have to take a second-mortgage out on our house!! What a palace, though!! I also need to mention that it was COLD....really, really cold!! 1-degree C. (about 34-degrees F.) - - the first time I have been cold since we arrived in India!!

The next day found Amy Suzanne back in retreat meetings and I killed time around Jaipur...

That night was another dinner...this one was truly strange...

A long long long bus-ride was taken to a place I'd have to say was like a Disneyland version of a Rajasthani "village"...it was called the Chokhi Dhani Resort - and - well....it was interesting, to say the least. Dinner was served "ethnic style" sitting on the floor and eating God-only-knows what. Had this been our first week in India...I would not have touched anything on my plate...but - I've gotten to be pretty adventurous...even Amy ate most of hers...

Maybe I'm not supposed to say anything....but, evidently some of the other partners did not think it was all that hot because some took cabs out of there almost as soon as we arrived... and the hotel restaurant was packed when we finally got back to our rooms!

The best way to describe what it was like is to show our photos from our Facebook album: Jaipur Part Two

As you can see from those photos....the next day was spent out at the Silver Spurs Equestrian Stables where Amy was able to get her show-jumping on. She had such a great day...and I had a great time watching her!! The place will have a bed and breakfast soon (if they don't already!) and we will certainly be back!!

The next day she rode again and we got to bed early so we could make the 06:30 A.M. flight back to Hyderabad. Needless to say...I'm the one who like to get to the airport early and Amy has learned that it's better to give-in and go along with me. Unfortunately...this day there was a ton of ground-fog and the flights were all delayed up to three hours!!! Amy was not well-pleased...but she found a way to make herself comfortable and got some much needed Zzzzzzz's. See photo below:

Anyway....we made it back to Hyderabad and all was well...another amazing trip to Jaipur...we will be back, that is for certain!!!

Next up....Falaknuma Palace and our new Bluegrass Band..."The Banjara Hillbillies"!!

Bangalore...a quick trip...too quick!!

2011-03-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

I made myself a promise....I was going to catch up on my blogging and get the last post done before I leave for my first official "home visit" to the U.S. in just three short days. There were two other trips we took as 2010 was coming to a close and 2011 was beginning. First was a business-related trip for Deloitte recruiting to Bangalore (now called "Bengaluru", but I don't know anybody that calls it that...). It was a Sunday morning...we had a flight at around 8:30 A.M. Amy Suzanne was coming down with the flu of some kind (terrible chest cold and fever) and really wanted to cancel or at least postpone the trip. I talked her into flying and convinced her that getting into a nice big fluffed-up hotel bed for a full day of uninterrupted sleeping is just what the doctor would order...

She slept a little on the plane...she really felt crappy...but the show must go on... we had booked on-line what looked like a great hotel that was really close to the Deloitte campus in Bangalore. We didn't know how nice it was until we arrived. Overall...it may be the nicest hotel we have stayed in ANYwhere. It's in the same hotel family as the Kempinsky Falkenstein in Frankfurt where we stayed on our way over last May. The Bangalore version is called the Leela Palace - and a palace it was.

The bed in our room could not have been more like my "doctor's prescription" if I had designed it myself. Amy was in it before the staff brought our bags up to the room...and there she stayed for most of the next 12 hours. It was a big poofy bed with all white sheets, pillow-cases and comforter. They even had a "pillow menu" so you could choose your own goose-down firmness. Laying there in that bed, it looked as if the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man had halfway eaten my wife!!

While she slept, I checked out the hotel...an excellent pub called "The Library" (and Bangalore is civilized...they had Jameson Irish Whiskey for Irish coffees!!) - a super buffet (the one that they have on Sunday is legendary - and this particular day, it was really crowded...but I did not partake...too much food!) The whole place was huge...and even the lifts (elevators) were cool. We had a nice room with a cool view of the front of the hotel. It truly was at least one of the top five hotels I've ever stayed at!!

Suzanne finally felt like getting up and we had dinner and drinks... Even sleeping all day, she still got into bed early for her big days of interviews....

We got up and I spent the day sightseeing...and she spent hers at the Deloitte office interviewing candidates. My day included a wonderful visit to the beautiful temple called the Sri Radha Krishna-chandra Mandir (it's ISKCON's local masterpiece...if you don't know the acronym "ISKCON" - it's the Hare Krishnas...) Overall, it was one of the most beautiful Krishna temple I have ever seen...it was HUGE!! Much, much larger than the tiny one here in Hyderabad... or, the one I know best, the Los Angeles temple in Culver City on Watseka Avenue. I bought a calendar and a few odds and ends...got a private puja (it came with my entry-ticket...and everybody was interested in the fact that I had actually seen their founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada one day back in the early 1970's at the L.A. temple. Prabhupada had evidently personally help to install and dedicate the Radha and Krishna Deities (see photo, upper left) in the Bangalore temple...and they have another even bigger temple on their "drawing-board" and it will be even more magnificent!!

After spending a good three-hours at the temple, our driver took me over to the local golf and country club so I could see what that was all about. It was in the city and surrounded by those really tall mesh fences that you see around mid-city driving-ranges in Southern California...I really wished that I had brought my clubs because the first hole was a really short par-4 that I really wanted to play. Even though it was a private club, staying at the Leela Palace got your day-privileges with them...so I could have rented clubs, but it was almost mid-afternoon and time to pick up Amy at the office.

We had a great dinner and she was feeling much better! My prescription for sleep really did the trick. We made it to the airport the next morning on time and made our way home to Hyderabad in time for her to spend most of Tuesday at the office catching up.

Overall, Bangalore is one of the prettiest cities we have been to. It looks very well laid-out, was full of big trees and lovely parks. Many of the government buildings were built by the British (Bangalore is the capital of the India state of Karnataka and is a pretty busy place...) - as were the many parks. It's a very green city with open spaces preserved for green ways and parks. People always talk about the horrible traffic in Bangalore...but we didn't find it all that bad... not any worse than Hyderabad, and certainly nowhere close to being as congested as the streets of Mumbai or New Delhi!

I think I could live there...

Next up: Our second trip to Jaipur!

The trip home: Kudos to Kingfisher Airlines!!

2011-03-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

We had a nice breakfast and did some other light sightseeing. Suzanne did some shopping (didn't buy anything, to her great credit...she couldn't get the guy to move his price on some very expensive Pashmina scarves...and - for some reason - the wool scarves in this one shop caused me the allergy-attack from hell!! Thank God we had our bags packed for the flight home, so my eye-drops were just a dig-through the suitcase to get at. Our guide was pretty tired I think...we asked him to take us to a nice restaurant so we could have a bit of lunch before heading out to the airport for out flight to Delhi and then on to our "Home in Hyderabad".

I must say that she has come a long way since we arrived in India...but - on this vacation...Amy Suzanne was not exactly "Miss Adventurous" when it cam to dining out. We pretty much ate at our hotel wherever we stayed... and this restaurant was a little more...how should I say..."ethnic" than we had expected. Our guide dropped us off and we walked inside. Amy wasn't near "panic stage" - but I could see by the look in her eyes that she was NOT comfortable in this restaurant at all (I will spare the owners of the place and not mention it by name!!)

We were seated and it took her about 15-seconds to say, in no uncertain terms: "I am NOT eating here!!" I thought we were going to bowl-over our guide as we bolted from the door of the place... as he was still standing right outside! We told him to please find our driver and have him take us back to the Ista so we could have a proper last meal. I must say, I truly didn't mind the looks of the place at all...and - I think if this had happened now, Amy would have ordered her food and loved it...I've seen her eat in much more questionable circumstances since then!!

So....we went back to the hotel and ate...and drank...and drank a little more...preparing for the trip home. I was prepared for the small plane this time...and had fortified myself with several doubles of Jameson Irish Whiskey.

We arrived at the airport. The best way for me to tell the tale of what happened next would be to re-print the letter that I sent to the Chairman of Kingfisher Airlines I cannot give them high-enough praise!!

30 November 2010

To: Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman and CEO
Kingfisher Airlines, Ltd.

Dear Dr. Mallya:

On the short video we saw on our flight from Delhi to Hyderabad last evening, you told us that you wanted feedback from your customers. Here is some feedback, and I do hope that you take the time to read it.

Yes, we are real customers. Yes, we flew with Kingfisher Airlines last night. It was our first experience with your airline.

Here are are particulars (as far as I remember them):

Names: Fr. Scott E. Kingsbury and my wife, Amy S. Brubaker

We are not "King Club" members, but we will be!!

We currently live in Hyderabad (Banjara Hills). We are living in India on a 2-3 year assignment for my wife's firm, Deloitte. We are both expatriate Americans from California, U.S.A.

Our only land-line number is a U.S. line 626-789-6288
My mobile number: 789-300-3111
Amy's mobile number: 800-812-1114

My e-mail address is fatherkingsbury@yahoo.com or scott.e.kingsbury@gmail .com

I write a blog entitled: "At Home in Hyderabad" - http://fatherkingsbury.blogspot.com/

The flight numbers in question from yesterday's adventure: Flight number IT 4310 from Amritsar to Delhi...connecting to flight number IT 804 (I believe that was the number) in Hyderabad. I think on the first flight to Delhi, we were in seats 5 A and C. On the flight to HYD, we were in Business Class, seat numbers 2 A and C.

I will try to keep this short and to the point - but I do hope that you read all if this report. In general, this report is about the OUTSTANDING service that we received from Kingfisher yesterday. As expatriates overseas, as you can imagine, both my wife and I fly a lot. You probably cannot name a domestic U.S. carrier (and most international ones as well!) that one or both of us has not flown at one time or another...

As I mentioned, yesterday was our first experience with Kingfisher...and I can guarantee you it will not be our last. While each-and-every Kingfisher employee that we dealt with was professional and simply wonderful, there is one particular young man who stands-out in our minds, and is the reason for our writing this e-mail! I will do this in list-form so I do not forget the incredible way that this professional exhibited poise and hospitality to us and all of the Kingfisher guests on our flight...professionalism, it would seem at first-glance, to be far beyond his years! I am usually not one to write an "attaboy" letter...but never has one been more deserved!

His name: Mr. Gurpreet Singh, a member of your Kingfisher Staff based in Amritsar. Our story:

1) We arrived at the Amritsar airport early...our flight was due to depart at 6:20 P.M. We had three bags to check - with a transfer from our Delhi flight to our home in Hyderabad.

2) A nice gentleman at the counter began to check us in...but he seemed to be having some computer problem with the continuing flight. Mr. Gurpreet Singh stepped in and took over....

3) He greeted us warmly and apologized for the delay....he, too, was having a bit of computer difficulty, but took our e-tickets and my passport, and kindly directed us to have a seat so we didn't have to stand at the counter.

4) We did as directed, and - it probably took more time that we had expected...but while we were waiting, every five-minutes or so, Mr. Singh sent over another member of the staff to give us updates.

5) When the problems were resolved, Mr. Singh personally left the counter and delivered our boarding-passes, not only for Amritsar to Delhi...but our connection from Delhi to Hyderabad as well. In addition, he handed us our baggage tickets, again apologized on behalf of Kingfisher - and wished us a happy journey.

6) As sometimes happens with all airlines, there was a delay in the flight. For whatever reason, our flight to Delhi was going to be late arriving and departing. So - we all sat and waited.

7) Again, here comes Gurpreet Singh to the rescue. Leaving his post at the check-in counter, with his handheld radio in hand, he proceeded to walk about the gate-area, and personally gave each and every guest an update on the status of our delayed flight. According to him, the new time was going to be around 8:00 P.M. This new departure-time was a concern to us, because it seemed by what he was telling us, that we might miss our connection in Delhi to our home in Hyderabad.

8) Over the next 20-30 minutes, Mr. Singh stayed in the boarding-gate vicinity and visited with my wife and I at least three times while we were sitting at the departure-gate, giving us updates and explaining how a "plane-to-plane" transfer of us and our baggage would work when we arrived in Delhi. He assured us that Kingfisher would make it happen!! Of course, my wife and I looked at each other in amazement. Quite frankly, one NEVER sees this kind of customer care and service in the U.S.

9) When our delayed plane arrived on the ground in Amritsar...who grabs the microphone to make the announcement that we would be boarding and departing soon? None-other-than Mr. Gurpreet Singh!!

10) We take the short bus-ride to the tarmac where our plane was waiting. The flight was delayed almost two-hours, but because of Mr. Singh's confidence, we were not worried about anything. As we approach the ramp to enter the plane....who is it at the bottom of the stairs, collecting our boarding passes? Mr. Gurpreet Singh!

11) I jokingly asked him "if he was going to jump into the cockpit and fly the plane as well...??" He laughed and said that he wanted to go home...it had been a long day for him as well...and his mother was waiting for him. I can tell you, Dr. Mallya, that Gurpreet's mother is very lucky to have a son like him....and you are blessed to have such a caring and talented member of your Kingfisher Team!

12) But the story does not end there! As promised by Mr. Singh, not only was there a Kingfisher representative waiting for us on the tarmac in Delhi, but - the ground-team personally grabbed all three of our checked bags, - placed them (and us!!) onto a private Kingfisher bus...and took us directly to the jetway. We were escorted to our seats by the wonderful crew on-board Flight IT 804 (your Business Class is outstanding, too, by the way!)...and we just smiled at each other in amazement!! Again, this could NEVER happen on any airline in the U.S.!!

13) After one of the most comfortable and relaxing flights I've ever been on....we arrived in Hyderabad at the exact time Mr. Singh told us we would...and, all-in-all - we were only about 30-minutes later that we were scheduled to be!!

Dr. Mallya, our experience with your airline was on the very last day of our Northern India vacation. I need to tell you that, on our trip, we saw New Delhi, rode an elephant in Jaipur, saw the Taj Mahal for the first time, visited the Golden Temple...and stayed in five-star hotels the entire 8-days we were on the road.

But the thing that I will remember most? The special way that we were treated by Mr. Gurpreet Singh and all of the staff at Kingfisher Airlines. We are loyal customers now, for life.

Any chance you will be flying to Los Angeles, California by 2013??

Many, many thanks.

Most sincerely,

Scott Kingsbury and Amy Brubaker
Hyderabad

His answer back follows:

Rev. Scott E. Kingsbury,

Thank you for your gracious message of 30 November to me.

I truly appreciate your taking the time and effort to share details pertaining to your experience at Amritsar Airport prior to your travel on flight IT4310 to Delhi for your onward connecting flight IT804 to Hyderabad. I also note that this was your first flight with Kingfisher Airlines; in this context, I am pleased to know that you and your wife enjoyed the high standard of service and hospitality extended to you by staff at Amritsar Airport.

It was also kind of you to single out for mention the exemplary service and commitment of our staff, Mr. Gurpreet Singh at Amritsar Airport. It is indeed heartening to learn of the manner in which he ensured that you had a seamless and comfortable travel experience at Amritsar Airport, as well as on arrival at Delhi Airport when you had to take your connecting flight to Hyderabad. I am delighted to share your kind words of appreciation with Gurpreet and his team at Amritsar Airport.

I strongly believe that every interaction with a guest is a "Moment of Truth" which provides us an opportunity to deliver an exemplary level of service. This philosophy forms an important part of the daily work ethic of staff at all levels. Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your experience with me.

I value your patronage and look forward to the pleasure of welcoming you and your wife on Kingfisher Airlines again.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Vijay Mallya
Member of Parliament
Chairman and Managing Director
KINGFISHER AIRLINES LIMITED
A UB Group Company

Well...here ends our Golden Triangle Vacation story. It was a wonderful trip from beginning to and...and = we had experiences that wee will remember forever.

Next up: Our Trip to Bangalor and our Return to Jaipur!!

The Most Horrible Woman on the Planet!

2011-03-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

Both Amy Suzanne and I were looking forward to the famous "flag lowering and gate closing ceremony" at the Wagah Border between India and Pakistan. Ever since I had seen this video on YouTube about this wild ceremony (that occurs each and every day at sundown!!) - I could not wait to go!! I hadn't realized when we first began to talk about making a journey to Amritsar, that the famous border-crossing was just a short drive away from where we were staying!! How exciting!! Even more exciting was the fact that our guide told us to bring our passports because a foreign passport got you seats in the very best part of the bleacher-style seating!!

We arrived amongst a literal crush of people! The security (as you can imagine!) was extra-super-special-tight and everybody had to go through a metal-detector (not a big deal...we have to go through a metal-detector to go to Q-Mart in Banjara Hills and virtually any mall in Hyderabad!). But in addition, each person had to get a pat-down search before they would let you in. It was a bit of a madhouse...a couple of Indian soldiers on horse-back did some basic crowd-control when things got a little tight. This included threatening, but never quite hitting people, with long sticks.

They separated men from women going in for the metal-detector and pat-down...our guide stayed with me until the end...and then waved good-bye as I went in... It was a little disconcerting being separated from Amy in that crush of people...but we had picked a place to meet and I found her straight-away. When we got all sorted-out...she pointed at this lady...a fierce-looking older German woman (see photo of her at the top of this post) with a menacing scowl. Amy said... "That woman right there is just horrible...she was pushing in line and I told her to stop it...and she yelled at me... f---ing b----!!"

I chuckled because Amy is generally a real dove when it comes to confrontation! Anyway...on to the bleachers for the ceremony!!

As I said...our foreign passports got us great seats....and we were comfortably seated with a nice PIO (Person of Indian Origin) - a sweet girl with a heavy Australian accent....and began to do some serious people-watching.... The Indian side is much more crowded - and much louder...there was chanting ("Jai, Jai, Hindustan!!") and dancing...it was very much like a college football game-day atmosphere!

The striking thing is on the other side of the border-gate....on the Pakistani side. I saw one section with very brightly-colored clothing and the other bleachers were filled with people in fairly drab colored clothes. It didn't take me long to figure out that it was because the men were not allowed to sit with the women in an Islamic Republic like Pakistan. Chalk up one victory for freedom for the India side!!

The Pakistanis would shout something and the Indian side would chant back louder...this went on for some time. Suzanne didn't know what to chant...so - she did the only chant she knows...the chant for her Deloitte PSW cricket team...the "Stunnerz". Here is a cute video of that that I posted on YouTube:

Amy chanting "Stunnerz....Stunnerz...."

Then the actual ceremony began...it's sort of like war without actually being war...the two sides are dressed in colorful uniforms and hats...and they march around like something right out of Monty Python's "Ministry of Silly Walks"

It's part peacockery and part cockfight warm-up....I have another short video that I took as the festivities began:

Our Visit to the Wagah Border Ceremony

Here is also a link to our Facebook Photo Album:

The Last of Our Vacation Photos (Volume Four)

The whole thing probably took only 20-minutes beginning-to-end.... but it was really worthwhile...I am so glad we went. The people were all dismissed and an orderly (sort-of) parade headed for the exits. Here is where things got a little off track.

Now...dear friends and readers of "At Home in Hyderabad" ...please know that I am not particularly proud of what happened next...but - this blog has always been about honesty...so here's the unvarnished truth...

Amy and I were walking down the bleachers toward the road below us. We stopped briefly to check out the scene and decided that it was best to go to the right (toward the parking areas) - - a much better plan than going the way the police were suggesting...back behind the bleachers the way we came in. As we were nearing the bottom of the stands...perhaps two steps up...Amy grabbed the hand rail and - - a women runs directly into her arm.....Aims turns around to protest...and sees who it is.

Yes...you guessed it. "The Most Horrible Woman on the Planet" - - that beastly German broad was directly behind Amy Suzanne!!

What happened next actually shocked me!! This horrible excuse for a human being PUSHED Amy from behind...HARD...and she stumbled a bit and landed on both feet on the street below. Then something snapped!!

In a blind rage after seeing my wife get pushed from behind...I grabbed the woman by the throat really hard...and pressed both of my thumbs into her scrawny neck and Adam's apple.... I screamed at her in the most gruff-sounding and severe way I could muster:

"If you ever lay hands on my wife again you bitch, I will f---ing kill you!!!

Her squinty eyes bugged-out behind her sunglasses like a stepped-on toad - - and she looked genuinely scared. She should have been!! I have never been that pissed-off in my life!! I let go of her neck with a strong push and she began to walk away briskly...

Her husband saw what was happening and came up and said something to me in German. He was a fat beer-soaked little geek of a man...so I yelled right in his face... "And f--- you, too!!" He asked the rhetorical "F--- me?"... but then he saw my wrath as well...and decided it was best to skedaddle. Two young Indian fellows saw the incident and one says to me in perfect English... "Dude...you better cool it...." and motioned for me to notice three very armed soldier/police-types who looked as if they would just love to throw some crazed American into their jail!

During the walk out to our waiting guide and our car...Amy was holding me back because my dander was still up and I was still ready to kill that horrible lady. I finally calmed down with the help of some gentle words of thanks from my wife...and we never saw those miserable German pantloads again...

And that, my friends, is the story of "The Most Horrible Woman on the Planet"

Blog Extra! The Great Boulder Hills Seven-iron Experiment

2011-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

I was talking with my friend (and fellow "Flintstone", Bill Sullivan just the other day about how best to play our golf course. By the way, the "Flintstones" are a local group of guys from all over the world who live in Hyderabad and play golf together at the Boulder Hills Country Club where we are all members. Bill was saying that he'd like to go out to play Boulder Hills with "nothing but a seven-iron and "below" - - just to prove to himself that the game is not about power, but more about control of the golf shot and keeping the ball in play.

It sounds obvious...hit the ball down the middle and keep it in play and you will score better. Well, today, I decided to put this challenge to the test. And I found the results to be very interesting and quite telling...I learned a lot and had a ton of fun pulling it off. Now, for those of you who play golf in the U.S. (or virtually anywhere else in the world, for that matter) - "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME" - I was literally the only golfer on the course all day long and played two-balls per hole at one time. My fellow Boulderians...please don't tell the management that I did this on the day before the Audi tournament...and please note that I fixed each and every divot and ball-mark!

Here is the hole-by-hole account of the round(s) - I played one game "regular" - using all the clubs I would regularly hit - and the second game I never used anything over a 7-iron:

Front Nine:

Hole #1 376-yards - Par 4

Regular game: Hit a perfect 3-wood right down the middle, left myself 160-yards up-hill to a middle flag. Hit a duff rescue-club about 70-yards, hit a PW deep over the flag, two-putts. Typical opening hole for me. Score - 5

7-iron game: Hit 150 down the right side, hit a second 7-iron perfectly, hit a wedge to the right edge of the green, putt from off the green close...one-putt. Score - 5

Hole #2 400-yards - Par 4 (#1 handicap monster with a lake)

Regular game: Did what I always seem to do...put one into the lake on the right on the fly. Took a drop, hit a 6-iron to the flat area before the green, chipped on, two-putt. Score - 6 One lost ball

7-iron game: 150 yards straight. another 7-iron 150 yards straight, PW to the green, two putts. Score - 5

Hole #3 127-yards - downhill Par 3

Regular game: No difference here between the two games. Hit PW a little long. Two-putts for par. Score - 3

7-iron game: PW to the right side of the green - white flag. Two putts for par. Score - 3

Hole #4 395-yards - Par 4

Regular game: Kept the driver in the bag, (playing it "safe") hit a slicing 3-wood onto the rocky hillside, took an unplayable drop Hit a 5-iron into the gaping green side bunker on the right, came out nicely, two putts for double-bogey. Score - 6

7-iron game: Perfect 7-iron off the tee - second shot a safe 8-iron short of the green. Sand-wedge to within 10-feet. Drained the putt for PAR! Score - 4

Hole #5 518-yards - Par 5

Regular game: Like to hit driver here to gain distance...didn't work. Hit a line drive towards the rock on the left...had to punch out (hit a good shot!) - hit an 8-iron down the right side to the garden-spot in front of the tree with room to the left - PW went a little long - chipped on and two putts for a double-bogey. Score - 7

7-iron game: Perfect 7-iron from the tee...another put me down by the lake in two...pinched a little by the lake on the left and the rocks on the right...hit an 8-iron down the right to a garden-spot to the right of the tree...SW on the green short of the flag - two putts and made bogey. Score - 6

NOW - IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT NOTICED - - AT THIS POINT, MY 7-IRON GAME WOULD BE THREE-UP IN MATCH-PLAY VS. MY "REGULAR" GAME!!

Hole #6 369-yards - Par 4 (The Temple Hole) Not much difference here...I usually play it safe to end up short of the creek...the only difference was I usually hit 6-iron off the tee and play it like a Par 5.

Regular game: Hit a great 6-iron short of the creek, hit a 5-iron just short-right before the bunker, chip was deep onto the green. Nice putt - tap-in for bogey. Score - 5

7-iron game: I may hit 7-iron off the tee from now on...actually ended up in a better place than I did with the 6-iron. Nice flat lie short of the creek, hit a smooth 8-iron into the middle of the fairway, left 100-yards even. SW to the right of the flag - two putts for a nice bogey. Score - 5

Hole #7 495-yards uphill - Par 5

Regular game: Hit a great 3-wood down the left side, hit another great 3-wood to the 100-yard marker on the right, stuck a PW hole-high, two putts for par. Score - 5

7-iron game: Perfect 160-yard 7-iron, then another, then another...three very good shots!! Left an easy SW to the green...left about a 10' putt - which I drained for par!! Score - 5

THE 7-IRON GAME IS STILL THREE-UP IN MATCH-PLAY!!!

Hole #8 173-yards downhill - Par 3

Regular game: I like to hit 5-iron to a back-flag and a 6-iron to the middle. Chose 6-iron and hit it too well....back left - just off the green. Putted it very close. Made the putt for par! Score - 3

7-iron game: Problematic. No place to lay-up really because of the lake short-left. I don't think 7-iron is enough club. Over-swung and put it over into the rocks on the right. Hit a second ball on, but short-right. Two-putts for double bogey. First lost-ball with the 7-iron game. Score - 5

Hole #9 382-yards - Par 4 (second shot over water)

Regular game: Need driver here....hit it perfect...right down the middle but too short to go for the green in two. Hit a 9-iron to about 65-yards short. Hit a SW really deep. Lucky I didn't 3-putt. Great putt...tap-in for a nice bogey. Score - 5

7-iron game: Not sure 7-iron is the right club...could go into the creek. Hit an 8-iron perfectly. Nice-lie - short of the creek - took out the trusty 7-iron and bladed it directly into the creek!!! Took a drop, hit an 8-iron onto a small hill on the left, hit a great PW out of the rough - two-putts for a TRIPLE bogey 7.

FRONT NINE-HOLE SCORES:

Regular game: 45 (on handicap)
7-iron game: 45 (on handicap)

7-iron game is 1-up after nine in match-play

Back Nine:

Hole #10 378-yards - Par 4

Regular game: I have not been hitting driver here lately. There is a stand of trees down the right and there is a rocky wasteland to the left. I took the 3-wood out of the bag to "play it safe" and hit a line-drive into a patch of rough and a bush and a rock. Unplayable. Took a drop and hit an 8-iron just short of the green. Hit a SW spot-on and luckily I made the putt for a scrambling bogey. Score - 5

7-iron game: Put a nice 7-iron down the right side and safe...hit another nice 7-iron short of the green to the right. Hit a nice wedge from almost the identical spot my "regular" ball was, but not as close. Two-putted for bogey. Score - 5

Hole #11 183-yards - Par 3 (downhill)

Regular game: I know the perfect club for this shot. The Gold tees were playing at the Blue Tee markers...and I almost had a hole-in-one from this spot last June. It's a smooth 6-iron. I hit it a little too-well and was long and left of the flag with about a 30' downhill putt. Put it about 5' away - missed it and three-putted for a bogey. Score - 4

7-iron game: Hit the 7-iron high...too high. Fell short of the green. Chipped straight over the hole long. Two-putted coming back down the hill...it could have been worse. Score - 4

Hole #12 396-yards - Par 4 (#2 handicap hole on the course.)

Regular game: Took out the 3-wood and pulled one dead-left and O.B. into the brush. Re-teed and pulled another one dead-left and O.B. into the brush. I decided not to lose a third brand new ball and picked up and just played the 7-iron shots. Score - 7x

7-iron game: 7-iron right of center. Another 7-iron to the perfect spot - 110-yards from the pin. Hit a PW that I wanted to bounce onto the narrow green and it got caught-up in the long Bermuda grass that fronts the putting surface. Putted through the long grass (afraid of the dreaded "flyer") - and it worked. One-putt for a nice bogey. Score - 5

NOTE: "7-IRON GAME" IS NOW TWO-UP IN MATCH PLAY!

Hole #13 324-yards - Par 4 dogleg left - tricky hole

Regular game: Hit one of the best 3-woods I ever hit on this hole...gave myself a good look at the green...but couldn't really see the flag. 110-yards out...chose a 9-iron and pulled it badly - up into the rocky hillside to the left of the green...bounced out and onto the left fringe. Putted off the fringe and left a tap-in for a nice par. Score - 4

7-iron game: Not so good this time. Hit a good 7-iron off the tee...put a nice soft wedge over to the garden-spot at about 75-yards. Sliced a PW into the brush. Lost ball. Went back and hit a better wedge...two putts for a triple-bogey. Score - 7

Hole #14 539-yards - Par 5

Regular game: Need the driver here. Hit it pretty good but I was too far right and ended up behind a tree, Misjudged the club and hit a 7-iron trying to clear the tree...caught a big branch and it bounced straight down into the leaves and rough. Punched out by the big tree in the center of the fairway - hitting four with a long way to get home. Hit a good 3-wood to about 70 yards. One in five and two-putted. Lousy double-bogey. Score - 7

7-iron game: Here the "7-iron game" gets interesting. I know for a fact that there is no way to cross the creek with a seven - even a well-struck one. I chose a nine-iron to push the limits of the grass on the near side of the creek...and - that is not an easy shot. I hit it perfectly. Then I hit a 7-iron and another 7-iron and was in the middle of the fairway in three. I hit another 9-iron just short...chipped on and made two putts for a double. That's a long hole with nothing to hit over a 7-iron!! Score - 7

Hole #15 434-yards Par 4

Regular game: Chose the 5-wood to get out and into the middle. Hit it a mile-high and only about 140 yards long. Needed to lay up to the lay-up place, hit a third shot on the blade and barely across the creek - chipped on and made a two-putt double. Score - 6

7-iron game: Hit the 7-iron off the tee further than the 5-wood. Still not enough to challenge the creek...laid up. Hit the CPR rescue-club perfectly - jut off the green to the right, hole-high in three. Putted on and made the 2-footer for a winning bogey. Score - 5

SEVEN IRON GAME IS BACK TO 2-UP!!

Hole #16 197-yards Par 3

Regular game: Distinct advantage for the regular game here. Hit the CPR just short of the front edge of the green. LONG uphill putt - left it about 4' short. Rimmed the putt...went in and came out. Took a bogey I didn't deserve! Score - 4

7-iron game: Hit a nice high draw - landed 5' from the cart path on the left. Hit a beautiful PW on to the middle and two-putted for a tie. Score - 4

Match is DORMIE!!! Regular Game is 2-down with 2-to-play!!

Hole #17 387-yards Par 4

Regular game: Hit driver...and hit a good one. 155-yards left from the left side of the fairway. Wind was blowing so I chose a 3/4 5-iron. Big mistake. Hooked it into the left trap! Duffed one in the trap for three...skulled one over the green in four, chipped-on and two-putted for a match-losing triple-bogey. Nice. Score - 7

7-iron game: 7-iron, 7-iron, PW, two putts for a bogey. This 7-iron game was working!! Score - 5

SEVEN-IRON GAME WINS 3-1

Hole #18 622-yards Par 5 into the wind.

Regular game: Actually played this hole pretty well. Hit a great drive...a perfect 3-wood and left me 225 to the green over water. Not a chance with the wind. Lay-up shot to 110 yards. Stiffed a nice 9-iron to within 8-feet when the wind held it up. Made two-putts for a 6 and that is a good score on this hole!! Score - 6

7-iron game: Hit a PW to a side-hill lie next to the ladies tee. Hit three more great 7-irons (laying 4) to almost the exact same place the "regular ball" was in three. Hit the same 9-iron a little right of the white flag and made two-putts for a respectable 7. Score - 7

BACK NINE-HOLE SCORES:

Regular game: 50 (terrible)

7-iron game: 49 (just slightly less terrible)

SEVEN IRON GAME WINS MATCH 3-1

Total stroke-play:

Regular game: 45 - 50 = 95

7-iron game: 45 - 49 = 94

So, boys and girls...what did we learn?? First off...I suck at this game...even though I love it so much!! Secondly...something I knew all along but refused to believe...straight and in-play is much better than O.B. and in the weeds!!

Jallian Wala Bagh (Site of the Amritsar Massacre)

2011-03-10T00:45:00.000-08:00

There is a stark contrast between the Golden Temple experience and that of visiting the site of the Amritsar Massacre. It lies only 400 meters north of the Golden Temple. Most Americans, if they know anything at all about this tragic massacre, know it only from Richard Attenborough's film... "Gandhi"....

In case you have forgotten....here is how it looked in the movie:

Jallain Wala Bagh

In a nutshell....the story goes like this:

In Amritsar, India's holy city of the Sikh religion, British and Gurkha troops massacre at least 379 unarmed demonstrators meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh, a city park. Most of those killed were Indian nationalists meeting to protest the British government's forced conscription of Indian soldiers and the heavy war tax imposed against the Indian people.

A few days earlier, in reaction to a recent escalation in protests, Amritsar was placed under martial law and handed over to British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer (a seriously bad man if there ever was one!!) who banned all meetings and gatherings in the city. On April 13, 1919... the day of the Sikh Baisakhi festival, tens of thousands of people came to Amritsar from surrounding villages to attend the city's traditional fairs.

Thousands of these people, many unaware of Dyer's recent ban on public assemblies, convened at Jallianwala Bagh, where a nationalist demonstration was being held. Dyer's troops surrounded the park and without warning opened fire on the crowd, killing several hundred and wounding more than a thousand. Dyer, who in a subsequent investigation admitted to ordering the attack for its "moral effect" on the people of the region, had his troops continue the murderous barrage until all their artillery was exhausted. British authorities later removed him from his post.

The massacre stirred nationalist feelings across India and had a profound effect on one of the movement's leaders, Mohandas Gandhi. During World War I, Gandhi had actively supported the British in the hope of winning partial autonomy for India, but after the Amritsar Massacre he became convinced that India should accept nothing less than full independence. To achieve this end, Gandhi began organizing his first campaign of mass civil disobedience against Britain's oppressive rule.

There is a beautiful mural of the incident inside the museum portion of the memorial. General Dyer's face has been gouged off of the painting on the wall: (Photo credit: Me!!)

It was here that we had our first run-in withe the local "paparazzi". There were many children visiting the memorial the day we were there...and most of them had cameras or mobile phones with built-in cameras. If ever we felt like we were visiting from the moon...this was it!! We were literally surrounded by school kids (see photo upper left)... Everybody wanted a photo with the "strange white couple from the moon"...and we kindly obliged, of course... It was pretty wild.

After the kids left us alone...we had some time to reflect on the horror of the place. There are places in the walls where they have left the bullet holes - and have highlighted them. Original and huge holes in the mud-bricks made by the Lee-Enfield No. 4 rifles carried by Dyers' goon squads. The place where the people died in the well is preserved, untouched.... It is a monument to man's inhumanity...and lies just a stone's throw from one of the holiest sites on the planet...a place dedicated to peace and tranquility and charity and the love of God manifest amongst His people. An amazing contrast.

We were pretty emotionally spent by the mid-afternoon...and we opted to pass on some of the other sites on our tour. Instead, we went back to the Ista Hotel in Amritsar for a shower and a nap before our sundown visit to the Wagah Border Ceremony... Stay tuned for that....we have video (coming soon!)

The Beauty of Amritsar

2011-03-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

Amritsar was by far my favorite place that we have visited in India since we arrived. Srisailam was cool, too.... but the Golden Temple makes Amritsar such a special, spiritual place. And I think Amy Suzanne might say the same. We liked Jaipur so much that we actually went twice...but for different reasons.  In Jaipur, she found a place for show jumping long before we ever left for India...a wonderful place called Silver Spurs Equestrian Stables (ASB's testimonial is on this site...check it out!!) and we went there on our second trip to Jaipur in January...more on that later...) But Amritsar?? A slice of heaven on earth. Allow me to explain:

The Golden Temple is so beautiful. The very gleam and luster of the gold on the incredibly ornate and yet elegant exterior looks like God's own throne-room - - As Christians, we sometimes talk about the "pearly gates" and the "streets of gold" in Heaven....well... that's what the Golden Temple looks like. But the amazing part is not the grounds, it's not the temple itself...it's the atmosphere of the whole place. It's the people. It's the spiritual nature of the place ... and it's the Sikh religion that envelopes the place....it's hard to put a finger on just what I felt there....

Suzanne took a lot of pictures there. Here is the link to our Facebook albums that include Amritsar and the Wagah Border Ceremony.... Our First India Vacation (Part Three of Four) and The Last of Our Vacation Photos (Volume Four)

As you can see from Amy's photos...there is a lot of charity going on in the place. One of the hallmarks of the Sikh religion is their dedication to works of charity. Feeding the poor is not only a Sikh practice...it seems that it's a mandate! I know of the ritual "free meal" of the Sikhs before I came to India... the Vermont Gurdwara is right down the street from my home parish, St. Mary of the Angels.

The Langar or free kitchen was started by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It is designed to uphold the principle of equality between all people of the world regardless of religion, caste, colour, creed, age, gender or social status. In addition to the ideals of equality, the tradition of Langar expresses the ethics of sharing, community, inclusiveness and oneness of all humankind. "..the Light of God is in all hearts."

For the first time in history, Guruji designed an institution in which all people would sit on the floor together, as equals, to eat the same simple food. It is here that all people high or low, rich or poor, male or female, all sit in the same pangat (literally "row" or "line") to share and enjoy the food together.

The Langar has served the community in many ways. It has ensured the participation of women and children in a task of service for mankind. Women play an important role in the preparation of meals, and the children help in serving food to the pangat. Langar also teaches the etiquette of sitting and eating in a community situation, which has played a great part in upholding the virtue of sameness of all human beings; providing a welcome, secure and protected sanctuary.

Everyone is welcome to share the Langar; no one is turned away. The food is normally served twice a day, every day of the year. Each week a family or several families volunteer to provide and prepare the Langar. This is very generous, as there may be several hundred people to feed, and caterers are not allowed. All the preparation, the cooking and the washing-up is done by volunteers and or by voluntary helpers (also known as Sewadars).

Besides the Langars attached to gurdwaras, there are improvised open-air Langars at the time of festivals and gurpurbs. Specially arranged Langars on such occasions are probably the most largely attended community meals anywhere in the world. There might be a hundred thousand people partaking of food at a single meal in one such langar. Wherever Sikhs are, they have established their Langars. In their prayers, the Sikhs seek from the Almighty the favour:

“Loh langar tapde rahin."

"May the iron pots of Langar be ever warm (in service).”  (Thanks to SikhiWiki for the info that I pirated!)

And it's not just the Langar pots (and ovens and chapati making machines - they feed so many people at the Golden Temple that not all of the chapatis and pulkhas can be made by hand!) that are warm. It's the warmth of the people that really struck us. Our guide could not have been more pleasant...very knowledgeable about all things Sikhi (and we discussed the deeper things of life throughout our visit...I'm sure this drove Amy Suzanne crazy...which is I'm sure why she took such awesome photos when we were in Amritsar!) Although we got stared-at quite a bit (let's face it...look at the pics...Suzanne could not have looked any whiter and I was looking like a biker Priest from Mars...with my black clergy shirt and a bright orange "Golden Temple" bandanna on my head!) - we were made to feel as welcome as visiting royalty!

We spent the most amount of time wandering about the grounds of the Golden Temple as we did any other time on our vacation. The place was just magnetic...a place that made you want to stay.

The most interesting part (for me) was when our guide asked if I wanted to meet a Sikh Priest (called a Granthi, I believe)...and of course we said "yes!" We walked past some guards and up two flights of stairs to the building full of "clergy" quarters that surround the shrine and lake. We were ushered in and given tea. The cell looked like any monk's cell...small...one bed.... icons on the walls (various pictures of Guru Nanak and the Golden Temple...along with pictures of all the Sikh gurus) - - and a state-of-the-art treadmill in the corner!!!

The priest who lived in this room came in and greeted us...but it became apparent that he spoke no English whatsoever. I asked a couple of questions through our guide as our interpreter - - the priest was a tall man...the longest gray beard I had ever seen...past his waist... surrounding the greatest smile and wrinkled brown skin.  The whole time he was with us....he was getting dressed in his most traditional Sikh garb because, as it turned out, he was officiating at a wedding that afternoon. He had on a sharp blue turban, a white kurta and white linen pants...covered over by a long woollen sweater-vest in gray. He attached a long ceremonial sword to his belt...and calmly put all THREE of his cell-phones into various pockets!! One was a BlackBerry!

I had one last thing to say. I simply had to mention the nice treadmill. As the kindly old priest was saying his goodbyes and making his way toward the door, I knew that the time of our visit had come to a close. I said to our guide... "Tell him that I admire his dedication to God...and to physical fitness!!" - as I motioned toward the treadmill... It was just then that I realized that he did speak at least some English after all - he gave a hearty laugh and shook my hand long before the guide got around to interpreting what I had said into Punjabi!

Here ended our stay at the Golden Temple. Stay tuned for more!! Next up... our visit to the memorial site for the Amritsar Massacre (also known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre) and the Wagah Border Flag Lowering Ceremony)

Amritsar (and the Golden Temple)

2011-03-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

If you are a stickler about itineraries that stay "on time" - then traveling by road in India is not for you. Our carefully planned schedule declared that the drive from Agra back to New Delhi was to take "4 hours" after an "early breakfast". In retrospect, I am extremely happy that we took the "early" part of breakfast seriously. Our flight from Indira Gandhi International Airport to Amritsar was due to take off at 4:00 P.M. We finished our delicious Indian breakfast at straight-up 8:00 A.M. - knowing that we would arrive at the airport at least two-hours early.

Then...on the road to New Delhi..."a little bit of India" happened. There were wandering herds of goats crossing the road...a truck loaded with about 300% more rice than it could have possibly held had broken its' axles and spilled it's load all over the only road out of town, several other overturned trucks and assorted "goods carriers...and, of course, the the occasional broken-down auto-rickshaw that was completely blocking traffic. All of this...coupled with the traffic-jam-from-hell that started at the very outskirts of Delhi and lasted all the way to the airport....we came very close to missing our flight. The drive took almost exactly eight hours instead of four!!

We made it through security and out to the gate where our ride was to take us out to the tarmac and our plane... just as the first bus was loading. As we are driving along, looking at each other and wondering aloud just how we managed to make our drive in eight hours instead of the recommended four (kudos to our driver, Raj - - he really cut through the traffic jam like a champion!)...it dawned on me that there was no large plane parked anywhere near where we were headed. The only airplanes on the tarmac were small, propeller driven ones. Let me say up-front that I am not a fan of small planes.

I know Amy was as frightened as I was. Not of the plane...but of the fact that I might not able to get ON the plane. I dug deep and found some bravery that I didn't know that I possessed - - and we got on to the tight and claustrophobic interior of Kingfisher Airlines Flight No. IT 4309 and found our seats for the just-over one-hour and fifteen-minutes flight to Amritsar.

We landed a little later than expected...but our travel staff from Zutshi Travel World Services were right there outside the terminal at Amritsar airport awaiting our arrival. The airport was brand new looking...and looked very much like the same architects that did the airports in Hyderabad, Bangalore, the new terminal in Delhi had designed this one. Our guide was with the crew...and he asked us if we were interested in keeping to the schedule to see the Golden Temple at sunset. To be truthful...the idea of spending one extra minute in a car after the drive from Agra to New Delhi was pretty unappetizing. we opted to go straight to the hotel for a good dinner and good nights' sleep. The hotel that was booked for us was the Ista Hotel - - and - a huge brand-new mall had been built right next-door to it...very similar to the InOrbit Mall in Hyderabad. We checked in and got started on our wonderful stay in Amritsar....by far our favorite place on this leg of the journey into the Golden Triangle.

On the morning of Sunday 28 November - we got up and met our guide in the lobby. He was a devout Sikh, which turned out to be very interesting and a tremendous boon to the discussions we would have throughout the day. The drive out to the Golden Temple was a bit longer than we had figured on...but - it was so worth it!! One can not help but notice that the place is truly "holy ground". After parking the car...you only enter the temple grounds after carefully washing your hands and feet in the fountains and pools provided... there is this... - I guess I'll call it an "aura" about the place that is unlike anything I have ever felt before. I have never been to the Vatican...I can imagine that the feeling there is similar...

When the actual temple comes into view...it is so stunning...so... well.... GOLDEN!! The day itself was a little hazy...but the golden glow of the temple cut through the light fog like a beacon. The male pilgrims visiting the temple were surrounding the lake that surrounds the structure...taking religious baths with their children - there was a special area for the women to bathe. The line that crossed the bridge over the shrine lake that led to the temple for the daily reading from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib was daunting...and - we never braved it to go inside. This was O.K. for us...because it took us the better part of the morning to take-in the beauty of the place!!

More on our day at the Golden Temple to come....stay tuned!!

Here are the photos that Amy Suzanne took during our first full day in Amritsar: Our First Indian Vacation Part Three (of Four)

Agra and Off to Amtirsar...

2011-02-26T05:21:00.000-08:00

I really do need to catch up on my blogging.... it is hard to believe, but the trip we took up to the Golden Triangle of India took place in November 2010 - - and now the calendar is about to flip-over to March 2011 in just a couple of days!! I must say that the time we have spent here has flown by like you cannot believe. On some days it seems like we arrived just last week...but... the calendar does not lie: we are coming up on our tenth month "At Home in Hyderabad"...and it really does seem like home now.

I am planning a visit to Southern California at the very end of March for the first few weeks of April. My good friend Fr. William Bower said that I might experience a little bit of "reverse culture shock" upon my return!!

So...when last I wrote, we had arrived in Agra, and we had seen the Taj Mahal ... and we were both completely blown away by it. As a matter of fact... A. Suzanne was so blown-away, that she decided to take the next day off to do a "spa-day" - and I couldn't blame her !! I got up and had breakfast on Friday the 26th of November - - and just our guide and I went out and saw whatever it is that was left to see in Agra. Truth-be-told...once you have seen the Taj Mahal...any other local sights just seem pale by comparison...

We saw the Agra Fort first...it was actually pretty interesting... It is one of the large fortified residences built at various strategic points of Mughal Empire; it had over five hundred buildings, as mentioned by Abul Fazal in his chronicles. Most of the buildings added later use marble as the chief construction material. At the time of Akbar, River Yamuna touched the fort and thus, a number of ghats were built here. Some of these ghats were meant to load and unload goods transported through river and other covered passages were for use by the harem inmates only. It was nice to be a Mughal king!!

Then we drove a short way to Sikandra to see the Tomb of Akbar the Great In may ways, this tomb was like a mini-Taj Mahal. Akbar's tomb built in a pyramidal shape, with an open terrace covered with carved latticework screens. The actual grave is in the basement and is decorated with paintings in colorful golden, green and blue hues on the stucco walls. There was a man down there who would chant "Allah'hu akbar" (Allah is the greatest) every so often...and the echo was incredible!! While the tomb is not magnificent in the manner of the Taj Mahal, it has a quiet dignity that befits this regal emperor. There are lawns outside the impressive gateway, where deer can be seen. Birds nest in the trees leading to the gate and monkeys, which have got used to visitors, scamper up curiously hoping to be fed. There was a German guy who tried to pet one of the monkeys on the head...and - the guy almost lost a hand!! Some tourists are just plain stupid.

After my day of sightseeing, Suzanne and I stayed around the hotel, we went out bu the pool to enjoy the sunshine...and ate a final meal at what had become our favorite restaurant, the Peshawri in the ITC Mughal Sheraton in Agra. A really great restaurant (and a huge amount of food!!)...and the grounds of the hotel are really stunning...with a "butterfly garden", croquet field, great pools and a truly wonderful spa! Definitely worth staying there...and - from one of the hotel rooftops, you can see the Taj Mahal in the distance.

We got a good nights' sleep and the next day...we drove to New Delhi to grab a plane to Amritsar and the Sikh Golden Temple. I didn't think anything could be as impressive as the Taj Mahal....but - stay tuned to this blog for the story of our trip to Amritsar...truly a piece of heaven on earth!

Some pics from Agra...

The Beautiful City of Agra....and the Taj Mahal

2011-02-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

Fairly-early on Thursday morning, after a great Indian breakfast at the ITC Mughal Sheraton, we left the wonderful city of Jaipur. We had arranged to have our carpets shipped to the Deloitte office in Hyderabad, and the clothing and other things we had purchased along the way were beginning to make our luggage stretch at the seams...thank God for the invention of the "expandable zipper" function on the modern suitcase!! Since we arrived in New Delhi, we had been in the capable hands of our driver, "Raj". He was a real professional at getting around in the craziness of the Northern Indian traffic! We were travelling by car in a Toyota Innova (think "mini-van") - one of the two "family cars" one sees around the cities in India...the other being the "Scorpio" (think "part Land Cruiser/part Hummer"!) The back of the Innova was pretty well packed...we had some extra bottled water (something you don't want to be without on an Indian road-trip!) but no extra food. This meant we would have to take our lives in our hands and stop at a roadside diner between Jaipur and Agra. I have never been overly concerned about the food here. Amy Suzanne is much more concerned and probably more careful. But we have both spent our 12-hours kneeling before the "porcelain goddess" in our first nine-months here. So - - when you eat you takes your chances. It's worth it. I think the food here, for the most part, is simply awesome!!

Before I continue on to the wonders of Agra and the beauty of the Taj Mahal....I feel a need to say a few words about the wonders and beauty of my incredible wife, Amy... I don't think I have spent nearly enough time in this blog saying just how much our little family owes to A. Suzzanne Brubaker (there...I spelled it with two "z's" like she does at work!!) We would not be doing any of these wonderful things if it were not for her!! It's really a brave thing to do to pick up ones' life and move halfway around the world. It would be brave for anybody. But I think more so for Amy. She had a great position as a Director for Deloitte in the Los Angeles Office...she rode horses competitively all over the country (something it was NOT easy to give up, let me tell you!) - and had the habit of winning no matter what horse she was on, what stable she was with, what hunter-ring she was in!

Now....here she is, at the age of "forty-something" (this year is a BIG birthday...she was born in 1961 - you do the math!) trusting that God still make all of our lives go smoothly, packing up everything we own, and flying to Hyderabad, India. A place where five years ago, neither of us had ever even heard of, much less thought about living there!! She has taken to her new position here like a duck takes to water....although she really had to spend the first few months figuring our where the boundaries of the lake were! She has done so well here. I think her Indian professionals are some of her biggest fans, because she really sticks up for them and has become their advocate in so many ways. She has had to learn the Indian style of communication and doing business (books could and have been written on this very subject!) and I think she's really hitting her stride, career-wise.

And she's a tireless worker, too...her shift is 5:30 A.M. until 2:30 P.M. - Tuesday through Saturday....but she almost always works Mondays and generally has conference-calls until 10:00 or 11:00 P.M most nights. And she usually does it all with no complaints. I owe so much to my wonderful wife...she is, as the words to The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi says: "The girl of my dreams." Thanks, Sweetimus Maximus!! I love you!

So....on to yet another "monument to love" - the incredible Taj Mahal !! The drive from Jaipur to Agra was supposed to be 4-5 hours...but with a stop at the ancient (and abandoned - they had no real water supply!! Kind of like Southern California before William Mulholland!) city of Fatehpur Sikri and a bit of lunch (it was a nice place but we really didn't eat much...) it would be closer to eight-hours and nearly dusk by the time we got to the Taj. We had picked our guide up at a pre-determined spot on the road to Fatehpur Sikri

We checked into the hotel (The ITC Mughal Palace - there is a view of the Taj Mahal - you have to climb a few stairs to see it - but it's incredible...we didn't go up to the roof until the next day...) and - our guide asked if we wanted to do some sightseeing or see the sunset at the Taj. We said we wanted to see the Taj now...or maybe both days... but - back in the Innova we went.

We parked the van and got our tickets....the guide was such a professional...he knew all the places to go...all of the things to do. We boarded a small tram/bus for the short ride to the entrance gate to the Taj Mahal - the gateways are pretty awesome...made of the same carved red-sandstone you see in Jaipur...as I recall there are gates at the North, South, East and West entrances to the actual Taj complex. It turns our that it really doesn't matter which side you come in on...or what side of the Taj Mahal you see first. It is a perfectly symmetrical building. Everybody knows what the Taj Mahal looks like. There can be no more iconic building in the whole world. Or, more photographed.

Let me say that there is no photograph you have ever seen of the Taj Mahal that can do it justice. Even the words "there are no words" fail to say what needs to be said. It is awe-inspiring, breath-taking.... No. It's beyond description. Even though it was a place that I knew we had to see...I really thought I was going to see some touristy place with little marble structure and that would be it. Not a chance. First of all...the Taj Mahal is HUGE!!! And it's perfect!! I mean...simply...perfect.

The history of the Taj Mahal tells us "why was the Taj Mahal built" and many other myths and facts associated with this wonderful structure. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan erected the Taj Mahal in the memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan (then Prince Khurram) met Mumtaz Mahal (then Arjumand Banu Begum) at the age of fourteen and fell in love at the first sight. She was a Muslim Persian princess and Shah Jahan was the son of the Mughal Emperor, Jehangir. Five years later, in 1612, they got married. As you read further you will come to know more about the history of the Taj Mahal at Agra…

Mumtaz Mahal, an inseparable companion of Shah Jahan, died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14th child. It is believed that during her last moments, Mumtaz Mahal obtained a promise from Shah Jahan that he will build world's most beautiful monument in her memory. But this has not been proven to be true, till date. However, Shah Jahan did indeed build a magnificent monument as a tribute to her wife, which we today know as the "Taj Mahal". Shah Jahan, himself also, lies entombed in this mausoleum along with his wife.

The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631 and it took approximately 22 years to build it. An epitome of love, it made use of the services of 22,000 laborers and 1,000 elephants. It was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia. After an expenditure of approximately 32 million rupees (approx US $68,000.00), Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653. However, the history of Taj Mahal of India still has some gaps. For example, there are many theories regarding the architect of this magnificent monument.

As it turned out, the time of dusk was an outstanding time to visit the Taj Mahal. As the sun began to set, the color of the sky (and the resulting color reflecting the light of the perfect white marble of the dome of the Taj) changed from gray (there was still a lot of leftover cloudiness from the storm that blew through Rajasthan) to orangeish to reddish...to a bluish color ... just as the sun set for the evening. It was one of those moments in life where you just have to stand and say "Wow. Just amazing!" and leave it at that!

We probably stood and sat at the West side of the Taj until it was too dark to see anything - maybe 90-minutes. An interesting fact is that they do not have lights on the Taj Mahal. The reason being is that light attracts bugs and bugs attract bats and bats make bat-guano (bat poop) by the tons...not something you want to clean off of thousands of square feet of pure white marble every day!!

So that ended our first day in Agra. Here is a link to our Facebook photo album - which includes most of Jaipur and forward to Amritsar and the Sikh Golden Temple.... Our First Indian Vacation - Part Two

We returned to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Oh. Did I forget to mention? As I mentioned...this was Thursday. And it was Thanksgiving Day!! Let me tell you, it was the most memorable Thanksgiving....ever. Thank You, God. Thank you, Amy. And thank YOU, Uncle Deloitte !!!

TravelBlog....Jaipur Part 2 - the Elephants!

2011-02-08T01:50:00.000-08:00

As I said, the ITC Sheraton hotel in Jaipur is really something!! Modern, very clean...super bar and restaurants. Everything that you could want. I could say that everything was perfect....except, during our first night, Jaipur began experiencing the first November rain in anyone's memory...which included the memory of our tour-guide, who had lived there all of his life. The roof over the lobby of the ITC Sheraton had obviously taken a hammering during this year's monsoon season, because, during the night, it had begun to leak terribly. One might even call it a "flood", as the staff was having difficulty getting a handle on things to keep the marble floors dry-enough so nobody would slip and break their neck! As we looked outside of the hotel restaurant, we could see a steady rain falling...and we began to wonder aloud if our elephant ride up to the top of the Amber Fort was going to be cancelled due to the inclement weather.

Walking outside to meet our Jaipur guide (who looks incredibly like Ray Romano from "Everybody Loves Raymond" - check out the photos on our Facebook Album ...) we immediately realized that rain cancels nothing in India. You just buy a cheap umbrella from one of the many hawkers...and get your day started!!

Amber Fort is actually located in the town of Amber (it's just outside of Jaipur), which used to be the capital of the Kachhwaha clan, until Jaipur was made the official capital in 1727. As you drive up the hill, raining or not...the Amber Fort looks stunning, all-built in white marble and red sandstone. To add to its charm, Maotha Lake makes its foreground. The crystal mirror image of the Fort, on the still waters of the lake, seems almost to be a beautiful illusion. Amber Fort is usually pronounced as "Amer" Fort. In 1592, construction of the Fort was started by Raja Man Singh I. However, the Amber Fort took its present form during the reign of Raja Jai Singh I. You learn all of this stuff from your guide...

The line for the elephant ride up the hill was shorter than it usually is (according to "Ray Romano") due to the rain. You could see that all of the elephants (about fifty of them, I would guess) had fresh paint-jobs (bright, day-glo colors...) - not so much for us - - but - Jaipur is a major destination for weddings and - lots of people evidently like to hire elephants for their wedding! You walk up a staircase that leads to the "loading platform" for getting on the back of your elephant...Amy Suzanne was thinking that she was just going to hop up on the elephants' back and ride him bareback - but - no such luck. I think she was a little disappointed, actually!

But...as we crested the final stairs and I got my first glimpse of the top-side of the elephant we were to get on top of... and suddenly three things dawn on me... #1) It's a long way to the ground from an elephants' back (maybe 15-feet?) ... #2) The road up to Amber Fort is made of slippery-looking, very hard-looking stones...and #3) I'm afraid of heights!!!

We got on the back of the pachyderm and I was in a state of complete panic. Acrophobia is much like chaustrophobia (which I also suffer from...) - you have no control over it once the waves start. Thank God the elephant "jockey" got his beast right up to the loading-dock because if there was any distance whatsoever between the edge of the safety of the patio deck...and the platform on the elphants' back - I wouldn't have been able to get on. I don't think I am actually afraid of "heights" per se - I believe that I am more afraid of falling a long way down to a stone road beneath me !! Once that I did get on and situated (no seatbelts are provided!) - I am sure that my wife was sure she was going to lose me - I had a death-grip on the metal bar that was all that was between me and a death-fall to the road below!! She is such a trooper. She talked me into a state of semi-calmness ("Don't look down, Sweetie...look up!!") - and I actually began to enjoy the journey. I'm not that all that happy with the photos of us on the elephants' back because they were taken from a bit of a distance... but - there is photographic proof that I did it!!

The tour of the actual fort was fascinating...and the weather began to break a little and the rain stopped.

We spent the rest of the day seeing the City Palace and the Jantar Mantar - an observatory that would have been a lot more interesting if the sun was out - - the highlight was a HUGE sundial that they say is extremely accurate. It was still very cool. We went to a great carpet and textile factory and and saw how rugs were made and ended up buying three incredible carpets...and I got some traditional Indian clothes made for myself. We needed a good night's sleep after our busy day... for tomorrow (Thursday - THANKSGIVING!!) we would be heading for Agra and the amazing Taj Mahal!!

Stay tuned for our next TravelBlog: Beautiful Agra

So....does he look like Ray Romano or not???

Travelogue Part Deux - Our First Time in Jaipur...

2011-01-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like about blogging here is that I get to re-live the vacations we have taken and the places we have been! The memory, as they say, is the "second thing to go". Hopefully Amy Suzanne and I will have this blog as a record of the wonderful times we have had here in "Incredible India"! Just a quick health update...overall, things are wonderful...but - as some people know, I sprained or damaged tendons in my left wrist over a month ago while golfing at Boulder Hills Country Club. I have stayed off of ANY golf course this whole time...and except for hitting a few chip shots at the hotel "pitch n' putt" last time we were in Jaipur...I have not swung a golf club "with intention" during all of that recovery time. I have borrowed a set of Callaway X-20's (with graphite shafts to lessen the vibration) and I intend to go to the driving range tomorrow to hit a few wedges and see if there is something more I need to be doing. I really do not want to see my golf career cut down in the prime of my life (I will be officially 54 in one week - on January 27th - and - yes, I am still and will always be, an Aquarius!)...but we will have to play this one by ear.

Where we left off....we had just finished two lovely days in Delhi, and - we woke up fresh for the first "road trip" of the journey. Our itinerary said that this was the day we would be driving from New Delhi to Jaipur in Rajasthan

This famous city is the capital of Rajasthan and has earned universal renown as the "Pink City ", and pink it is, with beautiful constructed palaces, havelis and forts!! Just like all of the websites about Jaipur show, there are indeed tall, rugged men with handle-bar whiskers sporting bright pink and orange turbans. Jaipur (which means the city of victory) was built exactly 273 years back and is 262 km by road from Delhi. Our journey by road was supposed to have taken "five hours" - but if you are traveling by road in India, plan to double that time if you have an appointment to keep. Our trip took exactly EIGHT hours, with two stops. A strong wall encircles the old city and even today has a suggestion of formidable strength, its function of protecting all within is obvious.

The plains of Rajasthan of which Jaipur is the capital once thundered and echoed with clash of swords and the drums of wars. Built in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh-II, Jaipur was the first planned city of its time (the earlier planned city in northern India having been built near Taxila sometime in the 2nd century BC).

Jaipur was planned by Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya, a Bengali architect, in a grid system with wide straight avenues, roads, streets and lanes and uniform rows of shops on either side of the main bazaars, all arranged in nine rectangular city sectors (chokris). The city itself is an attractive creation worthy of universal admiration. I must say that I was duly impressed from the moment we entered the city limits!

If you should ever decide to go to Jaipur, there is a feast in store for you!! There are dozens of beautiful monuments where one can "breathe the fragrance of history". We have now been there twice (another blog in the near future will tell that interesting tale!)...and we have found several comfortable and luxurious hotels, once the proud palaces of kings, beautiful parks, well-kept Mughal gardens, and excursions to nearby places of interest, simply make Jaipur a tourist's paradise. You cannot go wrong by planning a trip to see Jaipur, unless you go in the summer-time - when the heat there will remind you of the famous quote:

"When a person is accustomed to 138 in the shade, his ideas about cold weather are not valuable....In India, "cold weather" is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass door-knob and weather which will only make it mushy." ~ Mark Twain

Our driver took us the direct route into Rajasthan, right though the middle of a variety of Indian towns and villages. When you travel on the highways of India, one must always be prepared to brake suddenly...you never know when you will come up upon a slow-moving truck, bus, a bicycle rickshaw loaded-down with anything from a shipment of shoes to a variety of plumbing supplies or metal duct-work...not to mention the occasional overturned auto-rickshaw or the ever-present herd of goats. In every single village that you enter, there is guaranteed to be a traffic snarl of some kind. This travel-day was a Tuesday (23 November 2010) and every town and village was buzzing with normal activity...meaning that people were double-parking and taking up both lanes of traffic by stopping to chat or ask for directions. The traffic rules in India all seem to revolve around the idea that the person with the "right of way"...is the person in front!

We stopped at a place on the way called the "Shree Ganapati Resort" - probably not a place we would have stopped-by on our own...but our driver, "Raj" - told us that it was a good and safe place to eat. Here we stretched our legs and got a bite to eat. This is the place where Amy began to take pictures of everything I ate, just so she'd know "what to tell the doctors should I get food-poisoning". No-doubt, I am by-far the more adventurous eater between the two of us...I ordered a local thali - which was pretty tasty.

It was at this lunch that I was once-again reminded of the reason God sent me an accountant to be my wife. The bill for the food came and I glanced at the bottom number and stuffed a fistful of 500-rupee notes into the little leather sleeve that the check came in. Amy caught sight of the money and said... "Hey...how much was lunch anyway?" I said "1,800.00 rupees..." and handed the bill to her. For those of you not familiar with the rupee-to-dollar exchange-rate...that's about forty-dollars American...

She had a shocked look on her face and she looked me right in the eye and asked: "Don't you find that a bit odd??"

Sure enough...she was absolutely right (as usual!). The bill that we had received was fro the table across the way, where a group of loud Ukrainians had ordered just about everything on the menu...and about a dozen Kingfisher beers!! This was not our bill!!

The waiter came over and could not have been more apologetic...I'm sure it was an honest mistake. Our bill ended up being Rs. 620.00 - or about thirteen U.S. dollars, which included some Diet Cokes to go! From now on, I will let A. Suzanne Brubaker, CPA, audit the bill before payment!!

After the long drive, we checked into the ITC Sheraton Rajputana Hotel. Amy was a little nervous when we first drove into town...she saw a couple of hotels and hostels that were....well, let's just say that they were not "5-star" hotels...and began to think that we were going to stay in a real pit. When we came to the front of the hotel...we came up with the second-most-famous quotation of our trip so far (right after "Doesn't that seem odd??" )....our travel arrangements had been made by our good friend Eve, who is a travel agent...and who has traveled extensively in India with her husband, Wally.

When we saw the beautiful hotel....we reminded ourselves: "W.W.W.E.S.?"

"Where would Wally and Eve Stay?" The hotel was fantastic and we have now stayed there twice!!

Here is a link to our Facebook photo album for this part of the journey:

Our First Indian Vacation (Part One)

India Travelogue - New Delhi

2011-01-18T19:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday, 21 November 2010. Dateline: New Delhi. My apologies for the delay in posting this. I suddenly realized that it was a completely New Year (Happy 2011, everybody!!) - and I am about five cities and three "trips in India" behind! Mea culpa! I'll try to be more regular from now on!

Our trip actually started on a down note...but we learned something that we will never, ever forget: When traveling in India, check the website for the airline and make sure your flight is still scheduled! Not just for information about flights being "on-time" or "delayed"...those might be important, as well. But in the case of our Hyderabad-to-Delhi flight...it wasn't even on the schedule anymore!! Thank goodness I'm the one in our traveling duo who likes to get to the airport early...while Amy Suzanne thinks that it the flight-crew is not closing the cabin door as she is sprinting down the jet way, she has wasted valuable time out of her day!!

As it turned out, Air India Flight 603 (non-stop to Delhi) had been taken off the schedule completely. We tried to book another flight (our original tickets were "business class" and refundable...so - it wasn't going to cost us anything. As a matter-of-fact, the fact that Air India is the only airline that has a business class section that time of day...we were probably (and we did!) get some rupees back!) The first flight we tried was literally pulling away from the gate, so - obviously when we went to check our bags - the lady at the counter looked at us like we had lost our minds. A really nice guy from Air India - along with the poor guy who was working the morning-shift all by himself at the Spice Jet ticket counter - got us all squared-away...and soon (by Indian standards) we were on a non-stop airplane that was going to arrive in Delhi two-hours later than we had figured on.

We were pleasantly surprised that the good people on the ground from Zutshi Travel World Services were on top of the matter and had traced our status from the moment they were aware of our predicament...and they were actually at the exit door waiting for us with a "Kingsbury/Brubaker" sign - - at a completely different terminal than we were supposed to land at. That doesn't sound like much, but - the Delhi Airport is HUGE...and the "new terminal" and the "old terminal" seem like they are about ten kilometers apart!!

We each got colorful orange flower wreaths around our necks...and - since it was getting late...we did a quick run by the government buildings. The sun was waning, so - the reddish stone that is used so much in palaces and government and court buildings turns an even deeper red. Our first impression about the beautiful city of New Delhi is that it's a real world-wide honest capitol of a Nation with over 1.1 billion souls crammed into it's borders. Like London or Dublin or Washington D.C, or Peking...it's a real center of the machine that make things tick here in India. Let me tell you...dear Americans...politics in our country is tame compared to how things are run here...in India, politics is a "full-contact sport"!! Throughout the governmental part of the town, there were soldiers virtually everywhere - each with a nasty-looking automatic weapon in his-or-her hands, but - I guess that's just the way things have to be!

A vibrant melting pot, we heard (and saw) a jumble of vernaculars spoken in Delhi, the most common being Hindi, English (thank God!), Punjabi and Urdu. Now that we live full-time in Hyderabad, one of the first things I noticed was the lack of Telugu on signs in the city. In terms of its layout, Delhi actually encapsulates two very different worlds, the ‘old’ and the ‘new’, each presenting totally different experiences. Spacious "New" Delhi was built as the imperial capital of India by the British; and totally claustrophobic "Old" Delhi served as the capital of Islamic India. We found that we could easily dip into both, as on day two, we spent half the day immersing ourselves in history at the dramatic Red Fort, Jama Masjid and medieval-flavoured bazaars of Old Delhi, and the other half checking out the wonders of a thoroughly modern city!

We made dinner reservations at what is supposed to be one of the nicest restaurants in all of New Delhi...the "Spice Route" - - but, as sometimes happens...we took showers and - whatever dust was holding our bodies together, washed right down the drain...and we crashed and burned in the ultra comfy bed at the Shangri-La Eros Hotel The bar was nice...kind of tucked-away in the corner. The entire hotel was spacious and grand!

Because we didn't have much time on day one to see many sights before the sun went down...we did a blitzkrieg of sightseeing the next day...our tour-guide was an older woman who was a retired school-teacher...and her knowledge of Delhi and India in general was unbelievable! Amy did turn to me at one point and asked: "Who are the "Muggles" she keeps talking about??" Uh. No, Sweetimus... they are called Mughals !

Along with our super-smart guide for the day, we saw: The India Gate, Humayun's Tomb, the Qutab Minar, the Red Fort, the HUGE mosque, called the Jama Mashid, and ended the day at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial, in an area filled with such memorials, called the Rajghat

In the middle of our day, we had the absolute best part of our tour of Delhi. In "Old Delhi", there is a marketplace which really made us say: "Dorothy, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!" It's called the Chandni Chowk - and it is a congested, wild, crazy place packed with shops (some really nice ones!) and some food places. We did this part of the tour by bicycle rickshaw....we wanted to ride together so - the poor fellow had to really huff and puff to tote us around!

I took a few photos on the ride. One time, I was not quick enough with the camera:

We're going down one of the tight "alleyways" of the market....and - there was some commotion to the right of the rickshaw, where Amy Suzanne was sitting. There, about six-feet from her right shoulder, in all his glory, was a completely naked, large brown Jain Priest!! Did I mention that he was a LARGE man?? Yes, indeed, he truly was!

After we passed the holy man (and his small entourage of followers) - she turned to me and said: "He was naked!!!" I said: "Yeah!! How cool was that!?! He is a Jain Priest, Sweetie. The truly devout ones don't wear clothes! Looked perfectly normal to me!!"

"Not to me!!!" Amy said in wide-eyed retort.

We took a ton of photos....here is the Facebook album for this part of the trip: Delhi, New and Old...

Merry Christmas, Hyderabad Style...

2010-12-27T03:22:00.000-08:00

Amy Suzanne and I were thinking about getting out of town and heading down to Kerala for the holidays. We decided to stay "AT HOME IN HYDERABAD" instead. I think it was one of the best decisions of the year!! Hyderabad really does feel like home now...well, mainly because it is!! Being far away from our Pasadena home feels a little funny...maybe a little sad...but we talked to friends and family both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on our Magic Jack.

I wouldn't say that we were getting "homesick" - - but it certainly has been a different kind of Christmas. For the record...Amy says that Christmas in Hyderabad is "kind of cheesy". That's not really a bad thing...it's just that there are not enough people here that really GET Christmas. The population is mostly Hindu and Muslim....with a scattering of Christians of different denominations. But - there's not nearly the amount of hoopla and decorations in the stores and around town as in the States. The "Five Star" local hotels put up some nice trees and decorations....and we did a nice brunch for Christmas Day with the Deloitte "Strays". There are a lot of ex-pats who are "out of station" (Deloitte term for "out of the office having fun"!) - in South Africa, Thailand, the U.S. - - even Beirut, Lebanon! Those of us who stayed in Hyderabad are now planning a New Year's Eve party out at our landlords' farmhouse out by Gandipet Lake. Should be a blast!!

I actually broke my long-standing rule about driving a car in India earlier this week!! Here is that story...you can probably file this under "you had to be there" - but we think it was pretty funny. It all started when we gave Krishna the morning off to help a friend get to work on his first day on the job....

We woke up early and were both hungry. Well...in the interest of keeping this blog perfectly honest, I woke up and was pretty fussy. I actually woke Amy up (no big surprise, there!). As usual, she was a really good sport! I was pretty bored and really wanted to get out of the house. I was so bored that I was ready to risk my life and take an auto-rickshaw (see above in case you don't know what one of these death-trap contraptions is all about!) over to Jubilee Hills and Beyond Coffee.

In a moment of probable insanity, Amy suggested that we take the Skoda. Now...this wasn't completely an off-the-wall comment. Just the day before, Amy had gotten in the car and driven us around the corner and down to Stone Valley apartments. Not a very far drive, but - when we came upon a little traffic, she pulled over to the RIGHT!! Typical American reaction, of course...but - totally wrong for India!!!

I liked the idea!! I immediately ran downstairs and grabbed the extra car-key from the "secret" hiding drawer under the statue of Ganesha that Neeraj gave Suzanne for her birthday...and we headed out front to the car. Now...again to be perfectly honest...when she went to open the gate....I tried to get in the car on the riders' side!! This still happens to me after over six months!!

With the gate open, I started the car...which caused Jyothi, (our Caretaker Krishna's wife, who was sweeping the upstairs outdoor patio when we were about to leave) to look down in time to see Suzanne wave up at her and say goodbye!

In less than a split-second, Jyothi was on the mobile phone calling Krishna. Of course, the conversation was in Telugu, but Krishna told us later that it went something like this:

Jyothi: "Krishna!! Where are you??"
Krishna: "I am on my way home on the motorcycle. Why??"
Jyothi: "Sir and Madame are moving the car!!"
Krishna: "Oh my God!! What??"
Jyothi: "Yes...they drove down the street!! You have to stop them!!"

Anyway...off we went. It's a very strange feeling with the steering-wheel on the "wrong side" of the car...and with the gear-shift to your left. I negotiated the quarter-mile or so of Road Number 3 until my first left-hand turn. Again...left-hand turns are akin to our "right-hand turns" at home in the States. It's "safe", relatively speaking, but you still have to be aware of oncoming traffic...and the fact that there is an open-air fruit-and-vegetable stand right around the corner. There are two-wheelers and three-wheelers and other cars going both ways on a very narrow road! Thank God it was early in the morning and there was very little traffic.

I made another left-hand turn onto the main-drag (Road Number 2) - doing the same thing I have seen Krishna do a hundred times. The method: You barely slow down....you just pull out. People in other vehicles are supposed to watch out for you!! As long as you are even centimeters in front of them with your front-bumper.... YOU have the right-of-way!!

"Very good job, Sweetie!" said Amy, patting my left-leg in approval. We were now fully "out in traffic"....driving toward KBR Park and then to Road Number 36.

Now....you need to know that there are different ways of marking road hazards here in Hyderabad. Sometimes, it's as simple as a few stones placed in front of the hazard...sometimes it's tree-branches. If the work (on a pot-hole or sewer-pipe) lasts for more than a few days...the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) will put up a sign. There are no warning cones or flares...just a sign over the "hole". This has been the case for some work going on in Banjara Hills for a few weeks now. I have passed this particular sign with Krishna driving dozens of times!!

I saw the sign as I approached it. Amy said: "Do you see it?" ...I said "Yep..."

As I slammed the riders-side mirror right into the rusty metal frame of the sign!! BAM!!!

I was watching my front-bumper...but not the left mirror!!

"Didn't you see that sign??" Amy asked, in horror!

"Yeah, I did. All the way until I hit it!"

My mobile phone rang in my pocket. "Oh, man. I know that it's gotta be Krishna calling!!" I pulled the buzzing Nokia out of my pocket and handed it to Amy... "Don't tell Krishna about me hitting the sign!"

"Hi, Krishna. Yeah. We're fine. No problem!! We took the car. We're going to Beyond Coffee. Don't worry! No...we are fine. O.K. O.K...."

Well....?

"Uh oh. He's coming to Beyond Coffee to get us!"

And that's exactly what he did. Rode his motorbike all the way over and waited for us to come out. He left the bike there and drove us home. He had Sangamesh, our security man, take him to get it back later that night!!

When we saw him...he was shaking his head.

"Sorry, Krishna. Sorry, "Dad"... we're sorry we stole the car!!"

Here endeth my driving career in India!!

Our Christmas was wonderful...the best way to show you how wonderful it was is to show you the photos from Christmas Day. Here is a link to my Facebook Photo Album which I uploaded earlier today.

There is much more blogging for me to do. I still have not written about our trips to New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Amritsar and Bangalore!!

In the meantime...Amy Suzanne and I (and Beloved, too!) wish all of you a Merry Christmas and the happiest and healthiest 2011 possible!!

Our Official Six Month Report from India...

2010-12-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

On some days, it honestly feels like I've lived in India my entire life (this is usually the case when I am stuck behind some overturned auto-rickshaw... or even a large herd of goats in Hyderabad, Delhi or Bombay traffic!!) On other days, when I see something so new and so different from the norm that it takes my breath away...it feels like we just arrived - FROM ANOTHER PLANET!! The truth of the matter is....we have now been here for six whole months!! As unbelievable as it sounds: 25% of the time we "signed-up for" is now in the rear-view mirror!! Personally, I told Amy Suzanne that if she wanted to re-apply for a third year, I'm with her 100%.

Jokingly (but maybe not all THAT jokingly!) - I told her that if she wanted to stay for TEN years, I'd be O.K. with that!!

Say what??? What on earth would make a Southern California born-and-bred boy like me make such a bold pronouncement?? LIVE in India for the next TEN years? Somebody quick!! Call Dr. Will Caplan!! Has Scott "Cheeseburger" (yes, dear reader...there are many more people that call me "Cheese" than call me "Father" !!) Kingsbury lost his bloody mind at last?? No "Goose Creek Golf Club"? No "38-Degrees" or "Lucky Baldwin's"?? No Servite High football games??? No "Highland Tinkers Triathlon", no "Huck Finn Bluegrass Festival"?? No Sigma Chi Alumni meetings? No horses for Amy??? No St. Mary of the Angels???? Maybe someone needs to stage an intervention....or, better yet - an intervention along with an air-lift!!

As Samuel L. Jackson said so famously in "Pulp Fiction": "Well...allow me to retort."

I love India. We love India! There is nothing over-stated in the well-worn advertising jingle: "Incredible India!!"

Now, before I launch into my "Ten Points" defending my position on the proposition of a possible "Ten Years" - let me quickly admit that there are indeed some strange things that happen here on a daily basis - things that take a certain getting used-to....some are not so pleasant, some are just-plain weird!

Here are just a few:

1) It is still very strange to have to close the elevator door(s) by hand before it will go up or down. Usually a "see through metal collapsing door" - plus another one that keeps you from pulling an Isaac M. Jordan (only fellow Sigma Chis will get that one!) Also...they are not "elevators" at all...we call them "lifts" here. Not all lifts are this way...the nicer hotels have regular doors that actually close.

2) Traffic being held up by wandering water buffalo, cows or goats....all within 100-yards of the Deloitte Buildings in HiTec City!

3) A serious lack of understanding of the American/Western idea of having "personal space" in any situation. For the most part, there is no such concept in Indian culture, and it can get a little annoying (and claustrophobic) sometimes.

4) Another "traffic" comment: Plain and simple... I will never get used to it...period. And I most-likely will never drive in any of it as long as I am in India (although, our caretaker, Krishna, let me fire-up his Hero Honda motorcycle just yesterday...please...nobody tell Amy Suzanne!!)

5) People being late for appointments. "I.S.T." is supposed to mean "Indian Standard Time". Here you quickly begin to understand the concept of "Indian Stretchable Time".

6) "Getting stared-at". And I don't mean the occasional head-turning, over-the-shoulder "glance", either. I mean the full-on stare!! A problem that is much worse for Amy Suzanne than it is for me, because she's a woman... with very pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Even though Hyderabad is a mostly cosmopolitan city, you need to remember that here in Andhra Pradesh... many men, women (and most-of-all, children) - especially if they're in-town from one of the many surrounding villages), have never seen foreigners....and they just stare at us like they've seen somebody from the moon!! We have even come up with a joke between ourselves....when people stare or eve stop to take photos of us, we introduce ourselves to them by saying, "Hi, how're you doing? We're from the Moon, what part of the galaxy are you from??" In an upcoming addition for my Facebook Page Photo Albums, you will see a bunch of photos taken in Amritsar where we were literally surrounded by over twenty school-kids with their cameras...all snapping pics and wanting to pose with us!! Amy said "This must be what Paris Hilton has to deal with every day!" I've lost count of the number of times that Amy has had mothers bring their toddlers up to get a closer-look. That part is actually quite sweet, especially when they put out their hand (at "mom's" insistence!) to shake!

7) Did I mention the traffic?

8) Painfully slow greens at Boulder Hills Golf Course. I can guarantee that when Amy and I come home for a visit in May of next year, I will blow my first putt on American greens 40-feet past the hole!!

9) The concept of "decent beer" is totally lost here. Come on, people! It's called "India Pale Ale" for a reason!! Ask for one at a bar here and you will see a look on your bartenders' face that looks like you just ordered dylithium-crystals for your warp-drive. When "Carlsberg" or "Heineken" become your favorite beers, it's time to get on the next plane home to head to The Blue Palms in Hollywood for a pint of Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA!

10) Last but not least: There is no decent traditional Catholic liturgy to be found in Hyderabad. For my Catholic friends - let me warn you that I now firmly and truly believe that one of the levels of Dante's Inferno must include a non-stop Indian Novus Ordo Mass!! The man who wrote "Why Catholics Can't Sing" needs to write an addendum chapter, specifically on the modern Indian "Liturgy". It's almost painful to see/hear.

So....we've been here for six months and that's about all I can think of for the "negative column"?? That's not too bad, I have to say!!

Now....let me list the GOOD THINGS!! I will try to limit these comments to the "top ten" - (don't worry - a four-part blog re: our vacation to the "Golden Triangle" is "in the works"... I know, I know...I have some serious blogging to catch up on...but I'll give this one "excuse": I got off the airplane from Delhi and almost literally went right into the dentist's chair for two-and-a-half hours of root-canal surgery - - then - yesterday - I went back and got fitted for a temp and a permanent crown (that process is disgusting!!!) It was a crazy time right after the best vacation ever!!

Here are the TOP TEN REASONS I LOVE INCREDIBLE INDIA!!

1) Reconnecting with my wife!! This one stands as #1 for a good reason....without Amy Suzanne and Deloitte, none of this would be possible. I think that we have a good marriage (by all accounts! Twelve years now, and going strong) and we still love each other very much. But there's something about being alone together, 8700-miles from our home, family and friends.... and on the complete opposite side of the globe... to bring a married couple together. It's funny....we've heard that there are two different of things that can happen to expatriate married couples when they leave to take-on an international assignment. They can either succumb to the "pressure" and grow apart...or they can take the entire process as a challenge, one-day-at-a-time, and grow closer together, forming an even tighter bond. We've definitely been blessed. It's been the latter situation for both us from the moment we began the process to come to Hyderabad. This does not mean there have not been pressures and stresses unique to the situation we find ourselves in - but I have to believe that we have weathered the storm well!! Oh...well, also....Beloved the Lhasa Apso makes it all worthwhile...she's always the best part of every day!!

2) The Indian People. A country is only as good as its people. And, while every country has its share of @$$#@!&$ - a wide majority of the Indian people we have met could not be more gracious and kind. Now, we can hardly deny that being expatriate Americans has certain advantages. No doubt, we are truly catered-to and - many times, treated like royalty. Sometimes it can be overwhelming - but - I must say, overall - it's pretty easy to get used to! Amy said once - "When we go back home, get yourself prepared to be just one of the common crowd again!" As an unfortunate side-note (I always said that this blog would be the unaltered, unvarnished truth!) - while we certainly feel special and spoiled because of the way most Indians treat us - sometimes it's painfully obvious that often they treat each other like $#!+ !!! Now, one learns pretty quickly that there are certain class differences that come out in day-to-day dealings with each other - - the caste-system is by no means dead and buried. But...I did not come here to change India - I was told before I left by a fellow Priest to "let India change you!" I hope and pray that our experiences and observations here will make us better persons by the time we return home, whenever that may be!!

3) Our House. And, allow me to add - our wonderful landlords!! On the night (make that "early morning") when we arrived, our landlords, Hari and Sumeeta, were here in the house waiting for us with a warm greeting...and - more importantly...a cold beer for me!! It was so hot ... and so bloody humid when we got here...I actually wondered if I was going to be able to survive living here!! I've probably sweat 100-gallons since we arrived...but the weather now (it's officially "Winter" in Hyderabad...it was actually "brisk" up in Amritsar last week when we were there!) is quite pleasant...today is actually one of the nicest days since we got here...not quite 80-degrees F. and blue skies from here to Pakistan! If you have not had the pleasure to "see" our house - here is a link to the Facebook Photo Album - "Our House in Hyderabad". This house is beyond cool. It's probably nicer than our Pasadena home...and it certainly has more amenities. We have a full-sized projection movie theater in our "basement" - a semi-indoor pool right outside of our Master Bathroom, more bedrooms than we need (please save your frequent-flyer miles and come and visit us!!) Great satellite TV service (no Golf Channel and no American Football - - but we were able to watch the NBA Finals and the World Series - albeit at 5:00 in the morning!!!) and high-speed Internet as well. A fellow ex-pat brought us back a Magic Jack so we can make unlimited phone calls home. We have a local Pasadena phone number - if you want the number - leave a message in the comments section of this blog along with your e-mail address - and we will sent it to you. It has voice-mail as well. Anyway...we love this house and it make living here just that much more wonderful!! Thank you, Hari and Sumeeta!!

4) The FOOD. It's almost unbelievable how good it is!! Before we came to India, Amy and I got take-out (here it's called "take-away" - you get used to differing terminology!) from a well-known Tandoori eatery in Pasadena. I think we spent almost $70.00 on dinner that night. For goodness sake, you could feed a bloody ARMY with excellent Indian cuisine here for $70.00 - - that's over 3,200 rupees!! Hyderabad is such a boom-town right now...it seems like a new restaurant opens every week or so. The variety of cuisine here is better than home, I swear. Anything you desire can be found here...we have a few favorites...but - you could eat at a new place every week for a year and never hit the same restaurant twice!! Tonight it's probably N Grill and tomorrow maybe it will be Little Italy. Such great choices!!

5) Radha Krishna Pamba. Who is Radha Krishna? Well, besides being named after probably the most famous lovers that ever graced the planet... Krishna is our driver. That title does not come close to describing who Krishna is and what he does for us. He is certainly our driver. And a most competent one at that! He is also our servant (his description, not ours!), Man Friday, house caretaker, Beloved the Lhasa Apso's babysitter, first-rate fix-it man, laundry-guy, light-bulb changer, shopper and errand-runner....you name it - Krishna can get it done. I honestly cannot speak highly-enough about the man. Krishna is decent, kind, honest, funny, sweet and a hard, hard worker. We are paying for an English instructor to come to the house every day for lessons...and his English skills are improving daily (thank you, Kevin Potter, for getting the ball rolling with him during the two wonderful years you got to spend with Krishna - - your advice to us is well-taken - we intend to enjoy the blessings of having this man, his wife and two lovely children, living under the same roof as us... Radha Krishna is (obviously, from the name) a Hindu. Based on his actions daily, I'd also say he acts like the most "Christian" man that I know!! And that includes some noteable Bishops I know! He truly understands the Gospel admonition to be each others' servants... "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." St. Mark 10:45.

6) Yoga. What??? Father Cheeseburger does "yoga" ?? Yep. And Amy does, too. It seems so long ago...but - when we first started...I could do none of it!! Our yoga instructor (yet another thing we would never do at home - - we are definitely living a lifestyle that we could NEVER afford in Southern California!!) gave me a book: "Yoga for Women Over Fifty" !! I could barely do the poses (called asanas...) from a kneeling position... Now I crank out the Surya Namaskar (sun salutations) with the best of 'em - but - one knee is still a little dodgy - the beauty of yoga is that nobody judges your style...it's not a competition!! I am doing stuff that I never dreamed possible. I even made sure to stay current with my yoga while we were on our recent vacation!! Even I find that hard to believe!!! One evening, when Suzanne and I were side-by-side on our yoga mats, finishing a particularly tough pose on our stomachs - she turns to me, sweating from the hairline like Bridal Veil Falls - and says to me, breathless: "What has happened to our lives??" Only good things, Sweetie...and the best is yet to come!!

7) "Beyond Coffee". Beyond Coffee is our local hang-out. One or both of us goes in there probably 4-5 times a week. It's airy, comfortable, has a variety of art exhibits going on, has terrific coffee (I guess you can figure out that it's a coffee house by the name!!) and really, really good food!! The salads are fresh, the sandwiches are incredible - - we had them cater our Diwali party...and we'll have them do our New Year's Eve party as well!! The owners are our friends Vivek and Art - Art is an ex-pat husband (like me!) of a woman who works at Deloitte with Suzanne...they are usually always there for some good times and conversation. I bouught a new guitar here in Madhapur...and - just about every Thursday I go into B.C. to play (I'm still pretty bad!) - - sometimes we have a few other guitars and voices... and our friend Dan, who works for the U.S. Consulate, he brings his banjo for a little Bluegrass "pickin' session". Beyond Coffee has really become one of the high-points of living here in Hyderabad!!

8) Boulder Hills Country Club. O.K. - so it's not Augusta National. It's not even Goose Creek or Oak Quarry. But it's our club! Again....file this under "things we could never afford to do back in the U.S."!! I'm not sure exactly what we paid for a one-year golf membership at Boulder Hills - but I'm pretty sure the monthly bar-tab requirement at Lakeside or Riviera CC would cost more than our whole package!! The course is in pretty good shape, overall - the fairways can be a little thin at times, but for the most part, the ball sits up nicely on most of the holes....the greens can be painfully slow at times...and - the inconsistency of the cut is the biggest problem - - it will drive you batty!! It's a tricky course. I came here as an 11.9 handicap index - - now - at BHCC - I'm a legitimate 18!! Yeah, yeah....I know - my golfing buddies in the U.S. would (and have!) said that they will not recognize "third world handicaps" - - but I challenge any of them to come to Hyderabad and play this course for a month - - and see if it doesn't add 5-6 strokes to their handicaps!! The course is sneaky-tough and tight. Not too long...it can actually be as long as you want it to be...from the tips it's about 7,200 yards!! And - - if your ball goes off the fairway.... leave it there!! There are definitely cobras and vipers in the rocks and scrub-brush - - and - even the mongooses (mongeese??) that live on the front-nine can't control all of them!! Losing 3-4 balls per round is common...I know some people who have lost a dozen or more during an 18-hole match!! Breaking 90 for me is a real treat!! My best score is an 85 from the white tees...I've had an 86 from the "gold" tee-boxes...and - my last two rounds were 89's. I'm still trying to figure the place out!!

9) KBR Park. Living in Pasadena, we always had many hiking and walking options. The hills near JPL, Eaton Canyon...and of course, the venerable Griffith Park and Mt. Hollywood trail. In Hyderabad, we have Kasu Brahmananda Reddy National Park - sometimes described as a jungle amidst the concrete jungle. KBR Park covers an area of 156.30 hectares. The park established in 1994 to safeguard the biodiversity and richness of the area, is named after late Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. This picturesque park is unique in its own way. It houses the stately Chiran palace of the former Nizam of Hyderabad and also the other historic structures.

It is meant to safeguard the greenbelt and the existing variety of flora and fauna. It is expected to prevent pollution, replenish fresh oxygen and recharge ground water. It is also envisaged to be the centre stage for spreading environmental awareness among the citizens. Regular nature camps are conducted for school children and a full-fledged environment education centre is in the planning stages.

There is a well-marked (and extremely busy - - my God - you should see the place in the mornings and after work!!!!) trail that circles the inside of the park....exactly 4 km. around (I've done three laps once...that's 12K and plenty of walking for one day!!) - - mostly flat with a couple of hills - - but the real beauty is the plant life!! The flora is typically representative of southern tropical deciduous forests and the last vestige representative of the indigenous flora of Hyderabad region. According to a website: "...the park has nearly 600 species of trees, shrubs, climbers, herbs, grasses, besides several pteridophytes, bryophytes and xerophytes." I just say "it's really green and pretty"!!

It is also a home to nearby 113 species of birds, 20 species of reptiles, 15 species of butterflies, 20 species of mammals and numerous invertebrates. It serves as an urban refuge for Jungle Cats, Palm Civets, Wild Boars, Hares, Mongooses, Monitor Lizards, Pythons, Cobras and other snakes. There are uncountable peacocks!! No large mammals are present in the national park. At least none that I have seen! Yet!!
And finally....

10) The Lifestyle Change. For me, this yatra to India has been a real second chance. The change in diet, the daily walks, five-times-a-week yoga, working out at Latitudes gym...all of these have been a blessing beyond belief!! Since we arrived here...I have managed to lose 31 kilograms. For the metrically challenged (that includes me, by the way!!) - that's 68 pounds in six months! I still have a ways to go - - I'd like to lose another 25 kgs and get down to 200 pounds (for the first time since 9th grade!!!) - and leave India in the best shape of my life. It's been hard work, no doubt....this is something that I cannot forget. I need to focus and keep it up. I am through with "dieting" - - for me - this must be a lifestyle change. Both my mom and dad (and - if I remember correctly, my paternal grandfather) died at the age of 66. That's simply not long enough. God did not bring me this far along the path to drop dead so young! I love my life, I love my wife....those are some pretty good reasons to stick around!!

There are many other things that could have made the list...the road trip with Krishna to Srisailam - (click for my Facebook Photo album of this epic trip!!) - the travel opportunities, writing this blog, our last vacation (see this blog soon for the three-part tale of that trip!!), keeping up with my friends on Facebook, finding St. Mary's Church in Secunderabad, Indian weddings, Hindu temples, the Ganesha Festival (more fun photos there!), the road trip to Warangal - just the day-to-day living in such an amazing place!!

Here's to the hope that the next year-and-a-half (at least!!) is as wonderful as this first six months!!!

Namaste!

Cheking-in From New Delhi....

2010-11-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

I'll have to wait to tell the story of our first day of vacation....the cancelled flight, the mad dash to catch a plane...missing it...and then booking another last-minute flight on another airline. The travel-agency staff was adaptable and fully on top of things...so the day ended up just perfect! Delhi/New Delhi - and the hotel we are staying at - The Hotel Shangri-La Eros - simply incredible. The is truly a world-class capital city...a cool blend of new and old. No doubt that the British were here...the presidential palace, the parliament building, the government buildings...all built-to-last by the Brits. We'll have some pics up on Facebook when we get back....unless I figure out how to upload them from Amy Suzanne's computer. Upper-left is a photo of Amy as we toured Humayun's Tomb. In the meantime....more sightseeing in Old Delhi today...the afternoon is free to do what we want...then off to Jaipur, Rajasthan, by car, tomorrow!!

Leaving for our first Indian vacation tomorrow....

2010-11-19T23:51:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone!! Today we are preparing for our first Indian vacation!! Beloved the Lhasa Apso will be getting a haircut at Paw Prints in Begumpet - then...tonight after she gets off of work (she's teaching a class all day!)... A. Suzanne and I finally begin packing for our FIRST Indian vacation together. Actually, to be completely honest...this is our first REAL vacation together in almost 13-years!! We have never been away on a true vacation (at least one that did not involve some sort of horse-show or Deloitte function!!) since we met each other in 1998!! Amy, of course, has shown horses all over the country and taken me along, and, thanks to my wonderful wife, I've had the incredible opportunity to golf in Scotland and Ireland...plus my yearly Highland Tinkers Triathlon trips.... but it seems we've never been able to "pull the trigger" on just packing our bags and going someplace just for us!! We go to the Bay Area to be with family for the holidays every other year....but - building and running the mission of St. Barnabas the Apostle (the website is still up for some reason, even though we've been closed now for over a year!!) made it so taking a vacation was next to impossible. Now that I'm in "semi-retirement" (Priests never really "retire" - hopefully they die at the altar at a ripe old age!) - it's time we started looking after ourselves a bit....so - here we go!!

We leave in the morning from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad - a really nice modern airport to fly in and out of. Our first stop is the great and ancient city of Delhi - and the Indian capital city of New Delhi, where we will stay for two days seeing the local sights: the India Gate, Humayun's Tomb, the Qutab Minar, the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid. We have booked a cycle-rickshaw ride through the bazaar....should be a nice blend of new and old!!

Then, the next day, we drive through the countryside (actually, some of my favorite parts of travel in India are the road-trips - - the sights and sounds of the areas outside of the cities are really wonderful breaks from the hustle and traffic of daily life in Hyderabad!!!) and arrive in Jaipur in Rajasthan. We will go out to Amber (pronounced ""Amer") to see the Amber Fort (where we will be riding an elephant!!!)...and then tour the great palaces and the Hawa Mahal.

On Thanksgiving Day (this should be a memorable T'sgiving, even without the traditional turkey dinner!) - we will drive to Agra - and after we get settled in the hotel...we will get a sunset tour of the Taj Mahal (see photo, above left). I am going with no expectation, I really thought it might be just some touristy place (and I'm sure that it is, somewhat!) - but - everybody we've talked to says that the Taj is "all that" - - a really magical place that will stay in your memory-banks for a lifetime. Despite my first opinion....I am actually looking forward to it!!

The second day in Agra we will see the Agra Fort and the Sikandra ("Akbar's Tomb") and have a free afternoon for shopping. I imaging we can find some first-rate Taj Mahal souvenirs. No, John Adams - - since the Taj is a Muslim site...I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find a Taj Mahal shot-glass for your collection...however - - I will certainly look!!

We have an early breakfast on Saturday morning before the drive back to Delhi...where we will catch our flight to Amritsar and the Sikh Golden Temple (one of the few places I told myself I would not leave India without seeing!!) We will see the Guru Granth ceremony that night...and have most of the next day to explore the temple grounds and see the site called Jallian Wala Bagh - where the infamous "Amritsar Massacre" took place. If you saw the movie "Gandhi" - this was the horrifying scene where British General Dyer led his troops into the square and indiscriminately shot men, women and children...resulting in the deaths of 379 souls and injured more than 1,200. We'll see the Ram Bagh....the garden named in tribute to Guru Ram Das - along with the museum there.

That evening - we will make the short drive to the Wagha Border (with Pakistan) to see the flag-lowering and border-closing ceremony. This ceremony is another of the things I promised myself I would see while I am in India. I hope that Amy Suzanne is looking forward to it as much as I am!!

We will certainly have a blog-report.... and many, many photos to share when we return.... Also to come... on 2 December 2010 - we will have been here six whole months!! I can hardly believe it!! I'll have my Ten Point Report on our first half-year in Hyderabad. Amy asked me if it was O.K. for her to ask for an extension and stay for another year (for a total of three years!). I told her that if she wanted to stay for TEN YEARS, it would be just fine with me!!

Final, Final Mumbai Post...

2010-11-16T03:55:00.000-08:00

Amy had one last day of interviews at the India School of Business - - and this was to be the longest day...she figured she would be there the entire day (about 8:15 A.M. until 5:30 P.M.). There was no way that I was going to spend the entire time sitting in the hotel room - - even though the thought of going back out into Bombay's ridiculous traffic was starting to give me panic attacks!! Aims got a ride with one of the other Deloitters, so - I had Ganesh, our driver, take me from the hotel back downtown. There were three things that I wanted to see: The main train station (at the "end of the line" - a beautiful English masterpiece known as the Victoria Terminus, see photo above left - a building that looks like it belongs in a backdrop for a movie set in London!), Gandhi's House (where he spent much of his time when he was living in Bombay), and the old Prince of Wales Museum.

The traffic began right outside of the hotel. The biggest trouble with the Mumbai traffic (besides too many cars and too many people!) is the narrowness of the roads. As you leave the Ramada Powai driveway, you find yourself on a narrow road, which it seems is the only way out!! I knew from the day before that the main road that takes you south and into downtown Mumbai was not too far away...perhaps 3-4 km. But that morning, it took us 45-minutes to get to the road.

The actual main-road traffic was not too terrible (that's about the best thing one can say about it!) - - but there was a stalled bus on one of the roads near the Gandhi House. That'll mess up traffic anywhere...thank God that Ganesh knew what was happening up ahead and he was able to find us a clear(er) route to my destination!

The Gandhi House was really interesting...and quite moving. Despite it being a museum now, it remains pretty much unchanged from the days when The Mahatma lived there...not to make too much of it, but - you could actually feel his presence there!! The place was pretty crowded...there was a whole group of school children and their parents there...they were putting on some sort of reenactment/drama. I wish I had gotten a photo of this...but the room was so packed I couldn't really get a good angle. The kid who played young Gandhi had a painted-on mustache - - and he was pretty cute, I must say! Some of the exhibits were hard to see because the kids were using the various rooms as dressing/staging areas - - and - I had to keep moving large stuffed backpacks from in front of signs so I could read them.

It was not air-conditioned in the building...the the higher floors were unbearably hot...so I cut my trip short. There was no admission charge, only a box for donations...so I put in Rs. 100.00 and the man behind the desk seemed pleased. Ganesh had waited outside the gate for me, and it was a good thing...I had attracted a crowd of hawkers and beggars - sort of like running a gauntlet. I got to the car unscathed, and we took off toward the Victoria Terminus.

I don't know if it was because of President Obama's impending visit, but there was literally no parking anywhere around the train station. Ganesh told me that there was a parking lot (sort of - I think they would like to discourage people from bringing their cars downtown!) - but it seemed like a hassle to get to it - - so - I saw this next landmark in "drive-by" fashion. It's really quite spectacular, but there's no way I could risk an hour of getting stuck in round-a-bout for an hour....

Then Ganesh took me to the museum... also spectacular...but I gotta say, by Indian standards, it was a little pricey for tourists... For Rs. 700.00 you got admission (Indians got in for Rs. 50.00!) and a pretty good audio tour-guide. The building is four stories...the first story had the coolest stuff - - old carvings of gods and goddesses - of course, taking any photos cost another Rs. 200.00 - so - I was told to put my camera away. As you went up the stairs, however...the fact that the museum only had electric fans and no A/C became obvious. By the time I got the the third floor (too bad...this was the floor with an entire collection of paintings of Lord Krishna and his life... ) - it was hot enough to soak my shirt with sweat!

I bailed on the fourth floor. The time to leave the downtown area was at hand...and - sure enough - the traffic was horrific. I got back to the hotel and waited for Amy to get back from her long day. I took a nice shower...knowing that when Amy got home, we would have 2 1/2 hours to get to the airport. The drive to the domestic airport was supposed to be 45-minutes. No problem...right??

Sorry. Wrong again!! We were stuck in virtual gridlock for an hour and a half. Even the flyovers were jammed with cars!! By the time we got near the airport, there were businessmen in suits bailing on their cabs and running for the terminal. I swear...if we had known where the terminal was, we would have grabbed our bags and run for it, too. We waited at one signal through six full red-light, green-light cycles!!! With a little bit of luck the traffic began to move, and the terminal was finally in sight. We got to the Air India door with five, maybe ten minutes to spare....but there was a long security line (of course!)...and everybody gets a secondary search. Looking at my watch and the departure-board, I could see that the "boarding" light was not lit. I got through the men's line (the security lines are segregated by sex!) - - and Amy got stuck. They ran her carry-on bag through the x-ray machine two times. I walked over to her...and she was telling the security women that she was going to miss her flight if they did not hurry up!! We had already called Ganesh back and told him not to leave the airport...we might just be needing a ride to a hotel nearby. It was looking like we were going to have to spend another night in Bombay!!

Finally she asked a lady who looked like some sort of supervisor...just what the problem was. They asked her if she had "any wire-cutters" in her bag?" She said no, of course she didn't - - but they proceeded to take everything out of her bag. Right about now...Amy looks about as p.o.'d as I have ever seen her in 12+ years of marriage - - especially when they took away the offending item - her nail clippers!!!! To top it off, they left everything out of the bag and Aims had to put everything back. She told me to run for the plane and tell them to hold the door!! I ran down to the gate. The plane was late!!

Here endeth the tale of our Mumbai trip. It was my first - - and it shall be my last. I'm pretty sure that Amy Suzanne feels the same way!!!

Bombay - The Final Episode...(maybe...)

2010-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

Despite all of the traffic-related trouble getting there...Elephanta Island is a pretty cool place. I was told by more than one person that the ferry-ride from the Gateway of India docks to the island was "thirty minutes". Once again, "India Stretchable Time" was at play. It was almost an hour and a half from dock-to-dock. It looks like there might be faster boats out there on the journey (I'm sure for a price!) - I don't think it's even possible to go any slower on a boat and not sink!!

The deck-hands on the ferry sold bottle of chilled Kinley water (bottled by the Coca-Cola Company) and Diet Cokes (there are a lot of American tourists in India!!) and snacks. They also strictly enforced a "no photos" rule...the Mumbai Harbor is filled with large oil tankers...and I guess that the "no photo" rule has to do with an anti-terrorism campaign. Evidently, terrorists are fond of posing as tourists for their reconnaissance runs and take picture of their potential targets. This was the case with the terrorists the took-over, shot-up and set-fire-to the Taj Mahal Palace back in 2008. If you got caught taking a picture, you got yelled-at. I have a feeling that if you tried to sneak a second picture after your warning, you might just see your nice digital camera sailing overboard into the harbor waters!!

When we arrived at the docks on the Western side of the island....there were probably 12-15 almost identical ferry boats lined up at the dock...and they were three-deep!! Our crew tied-up along side one of the other boats and we had to step gingerly onto the old tires hanging from the port and starboard side of the boat-hulls to walk from boat-to-boat sideways to get onto dry land. The landing-dock is about 1/2-mile from the actual beginning of the trail up to the "caves" (a series of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, carved out of the solid stone of the island. It was never clear to me if the caves were natural or they were carved out of the actual mountain...but the stone-workmanship was amazing whatever the case!!)

Instead of walking...most people opted to pay Rs. 5.00 and ride this old and rickety train to the trail-head. Before I could reach the ticket-shack, a nice Indian fellow who was born, raised and lives on the island (and his kids go to school there - in the one village on Elephanta Island!) walked up to me and offered to be my guide. He seemed like the type of guy who would not take "no" for an answer...so - I let him do the "guiding" for the rest of the afternoon. I'll tell you now that at the end of my day on the island, I gave him Rs. 1,000.00 - a little more than $20.00 U.S.D. - - and it was the best twenty-spot I've spent in a long, long time!!

He told me that there is no running-water on the island....electricity only flowed through the primitive wiring during certain daylight hours...and the drinking water that they do have comes from the natural island caves collecting rain-water and other home-based rain collection systems. My comment to my guide: "For and American, that sounds more like 'camping' than 'living'..." He also said that his father was raised on the island as well...I can only imagine what THAT must have been like!!

Something that nobody told me about the trip to Elephanta Island is that...after the brief choo-choo train ride....there is a trail/stairway that goes up the side of the hill...probably 150 uneven steps - straight uphill. You walk past row after row of souvenir stands selling everything from trinkets to bangles to statures of your favorite deity...there are some pics on my Facebook Page Photo Album. By the time I got to the top...I was a little winded...but the island humidity caused me to sweat so much that it looked like somebody had turned a hose on me!! I never fully cooled-off until the ferry-ride back to the Bombay mainland where I paid Rs. 10.00 extra to sit up on the upper-deck where the breeze was blowing!

My guide asked me if I wanted to stop at the top...and I said that it was the best idea I had ever heard!! After I caught my breath, we walked toward the first cave...and I realized how essential having a guide would be toward my enjoying my tour of the island temples. This fellow (you have probably figured out by now that I have completely forgotten his name!!) knew the details and history of every single temple carving in the caves we explored. I'm now to the point where I can say that I am pretty well-versed in the Hindu gods-and-goddesses - and that certainly helped me to understand everything. But the sheer numbers of carvings of idols and Shiva lingam in the caves - not to mention the architecture, engineering and workmanship on the pillars that still support these structures after all these centuries...would be overwhelming if I was to "go it alone"... Again, the photos tell a better tale than I could do with mere words...

We explored four of the most important cave-temples before we sat down for a break. Here - the island monkeys were pretty aggressive and - a little scary. One man was walking by with a plastic souvenir bag...and a fairly large monkey thought there was a snack inside the bag.... The man ran like... well - he ran like a man who had a crazed monkey was chasing him... and it was a good thing that he was a little faster than the sprinting simian!! I had regained my wind and noticed that the time of the boat I had chosen to take back to shore was going to depart in about a half-hour - - and I still had the small museum to go through.

It was stiflingly hot in the museum...so - my tour of the inside was not overly long. There was an... errr... let's call it an "unfortunate unflushed overflow" in the men's rest-room - so - I was evidently a braver soul than most of the island visitors...I was the only one on the inside!!

My guide walked me as far as the train...then - took the ride down to the boats. He made sure that I was safely on-board...and I thanked him profusely. He gave me his mobile number in case I ever came back...but - I really can't imagine wanting to brave Mumbai traffic ever again. Wild monkeys are one thing...wild auto-rickshaw drivers....that's another thing all together!!

To be continued. Next edition...The Gandhi House and Museum...and the trip to the airport!!

Our Trip to Mumbai Part 3....

2010-10-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

If there are three words in the English language that can wreak more havoc on a diet than "Complimentary Breakfast Buffet" - - I don't know what they are!! Amy Suzanne had an 8:30 A.M. call to meet Ganesh, our driver, out in front of the hotel. I was dying for a cup of coffee, so I went downstairs first and read the complimentary Times of India newspaper. I took a look at the breakfast buffet...and opted for a nice, safe omelet...then I saw the other end of the line and all of the Indian specialties...paneer, roti, dal, dosa... I may have over-loaded my plate a bit. Amy came downstairs, studying her slide presentation (not really certain if she was going to use it or not...) and had a bit of breakfast as well. It was really quite good...the Indian choices were outstanding and the omelet-bar ladies knew what they were doing!!

We climbed into the back of Ganesh's car and Suzanne's stop was to be first. We told the driver to take us to "The Indian School of Business" - - which, it seems is universally known as "ISB". Evidently this is not known in Bombay. We told Ganesh "ISB'...and off we went. The traffic was bad...but not deadly-bad - - we wound our way around the "residential district" where our hotel was....and - - Ganesh stops the car and says "We are here, Ma'am..."

Well...as Suzanne pointed out immediately, this was definitely NOT "the place" unless Deloitte has begun recruiting students who are very young!!!! Walking up the steps to a place clearly signed as "ISB" - were dozens of small Indian children in school uniforms, with their huge book-bags strapped on their tiny backs (I call these "self-propelled backpacks!!") - - and each one had a badminton racket sticking out of the top pouch!! "Ganesh, I don't think this is the right place!!" said Suzanne...with a puzzled sound to her voice...

I chimed-in: "Yeah, Ganesh....I think this is the "Indian School of Badminton" !!"

Ganesh gets out of the car and goes and asks one of the parents (who were standing outside this "ISB"... busy getting their kids inside for class) for directions. NOT a good feeling when your 8,500 miles from home and your DRIVER doesn't know where the hell you are!! It must have been a common question, because another man began pointing straight and then gesturing to the right. It seems that the proper "ISB" was very close by! And it was. We got Suzanne to her destination on-time....I gave her a good-luck kiss and in she went!

I told Ganesh that it was a day to do sightseeing for me...and that I first wanted to go to Elephanta Island. He said "No problem, Sir" (the most common phrase that a driver must learn in "drivers school"!) And, while it really wasn't a "problem", per se...I don't think that even seasoned-driver Ganesh expected that it was going to take just over two hours to get to Downtown Mumbai!!!

The stop-and- go traffic was simply some of the worst I have ever seen in my life (and I have lived in Los Angeles all of my life!!) Almost beyond belief!! It was far more "stop" than "go" - - we crawled along, barely ever getting the car up to 20 KPH...even on the flyovers. There was a big backup at the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Bridge - also known as the "Bandra-Worli Sea Link" (see photo at the top of this article) - where we stopped to pay a toll. This is a relatively new bridge which was just opened this past June. India’s first open sea bridge, the bridge is a 5.6-km cable-held engineering marvel that was expected to cut travel time by 80 percent for this city’s harried commuters!! If this is so....then I daresay I would have slit my wrists driving in this town pre-bridge-opening!!

We arrived at the appointed drop-off place (at a park surrounding the Gateway of India monument) - - and I told Ganesh that I would like to be back in the car and headed for the hotel before the afternoon "rush hour" (as if there is any difference!) - which I had heard begins at 5:00 P.M. I thanked him....and was immediately descended upon by 4-5 people telling me that I should buy my ferry tickets to the Island from them!! Being totally lost...I chose the guy who seemed to speak the best English....and followed him to a row of ticket-shacks (I'd use the term "booth" - - but - that's really not what they were.) I paid my 200.00 rupees, which included my ferry ticket to Elephanta Island and a little photo and guide book that had a rudimentary map of the area. That's about $4.00 total in U.S. dollars.

The nice man who walked me to get my ticket told me that I had just missed the 11:00 A.M. boat (remember....it had been a TWO HOUR PLUS trip from the time we dropped Amy off at the REAL "ISB"!! It was now after 11:00 in the morning!) - but not to worry....there would be another boat on the half-hour and every half-hour until 5:00 P.M. In the meantime...he offered to "show me around"... I knew I was going to have to tip him for this "service" - - he was good company and knew his way around the square....but I should have known there was some sort of ulterior motive to his spending "quality time" with some American tourist like me! It seems there always is in these tourist destinations...you just sort of need to get used to it!! We walked around the park where the Gateway of India is - - and there were many Euro and American-looking tourists snapping pictures...and for every tourist - there were 25 Indians... all selling something - post-cards, trinkets and bangles, balloons, photo and printing services (I did this at Warangal and got some good photos from the experience....they take the pics...and sell you copies) The very best thing about having my "guide" with me was that he kept the hawkers and beggars away from me. Well...all but the really hard-core salesmen and women who simply did NOT know the meaning of the words "No thank you, I really don't need a 10-pack of balloons today!"

There were some beautiful old banyan trees in the park....lots of people sitting and enjoying their wonderful shade. While it was not "summertime-hot" during our short visit to Bombay - - it was plenty warm....and waaaaay more humid than on the Deccan Plateau where Hyderabad lies. It was pretty steamy by 11:15 A.M.

My new friend and I began to leave the perimeter of the park and headed up a small side-street. While I felt perfectly safe (this guy was really protective of me!) - I kept an eye out for the way back to the docks where the ferry boat was due to leave from in a short fifteen minutes. We made a left-turn and then a right turn....and - then he said the words I should have known were coming:

"Please, step into my shop!"

To be continued in the next two parts ...."Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Kashmir Rugs (But Were Afraid To Ask!)" - and - "The Boat to Elephanta Island"

Our Trip To Mumbai (Bombay) - Part Two

2010-10-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

Waiting for us outside of the terminal, in a group of other taxi and other professional drivers, was our "designated driver" for the week, a wonderfully competent man by the name of "Ganesh". I don't know what it is about us and our drivers....but - they always seem to be named after some very important gods! "Our" Ganesh had a little bright orange plastic idol of his namesake on the dashboard of his Toyota...so - along with my constant litany of Our Fathers and Hail Marys - I figured that we were covered across the wide Indian deity spectrum. You learn very quickly that fervent prayer while in the midst of Mumbai traffic is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

I never thought I'd say this....but traffic at home in Hyderabad is a smooth and easy as a merry-go-round ride compared to the streets of Mumbai. The lines painted on the street, while all-over-India are merely "suggestions" rather than actual "lane markers". It was in Mumbai that I finally figured out why it is that there are fairly high stone-and-concrete median-walls in the middle of roads to separate traffic going in opposite directions. If these walls were not there....whichever direction the most cars are heading in would win the battle and take over - - literally pinching everyone else off the street!!!

Our first official taste of a Bombay Traffic Jam (a good name for a rock-band, I'm thinking!) came on the way to the hotel. The domestic airport (the smaller of the two in Mumbai - - the other being the International Airport a little further up the road) is pretty-much in the central area of this enormous city of almost 14-million people. "Downtown" - the Old City - is to the south and on a peninsula - surrounded on three sides by water...on the east by a bay known as Thane Creek and the Arabian Ocean along the other two. Our hotel - the Ramada Powai - up in a more residential area and with its own "convention center" - was further to the north. Looking on a map you might think a 15-20 minute drive, tops. You WISH!!

There was stop-and-go traffic (more "stop" than "go"!) all the way to the hotel. Frankly speaking, the streets are simply too narrow in Bombay...but there's not a whole lot they can do about this because of the crowding...they have tried to build a few strategically-placed "flyovers" (long "bridges" of highway that run over some of the main streets and roads - Hyderabad has sucessfully done several of them ...and they seem to work...) - but even the flyovers are packed during peak traffic hours. "They" say it's 45-minutes to the hotel from the airport. It was 1.5 hours before we arrived.

We stayed at the Ramada Powai - - which really was a nice hotel...no complaints!! The restaurant was nice...the bar was really nice...and the breakfast buffet was complementary - - three things to always look for in a hotel! We called Krishna at home to makes sure that Beloved was O.K. - - and that our friend Aubrey had some by to pick up her dog, "Loki" the Yorkshire Terrier that we had been watching the week before. Krishna gave us the "Bee is good, sir" report that I always like to hear. And then we went to sleep. Amy had an 8:00 A.M. pick-up time for her recruiting trip to the Indian School of Business - and I was planning my day around going to Elephanta Island to see the caves and the enormous Shiva temples carved out of natural stone on the island.

Here are the photo links to my Facebook Albums:

Our Trip to Bombay 2010

Our Visit From Loki the Yorkie

More to come in parts 2 and 3 - - next: "The Indian School of Badminton and Elephanta Island!"

Our Trip To Mumbai (Bombay) - Part One

2010-10-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

In case the news has not traveled - - Amy's trip to the U.S. was more than just a little successful. After her trip to Orlando for some training with Deloitte - - she made her way to the Capital Challenge Horse Show in Maryland. This was an extremely important horse show for her...she was leading in the National points standings for the World Champion Hunter Rider overall title since just before we left for Hyderabad - - and her lead held-up even after four months of living in India - and not riding a decent hunter the entire time!! The biggest problem in her mind was that she was completely out of practice. She got to Maryland and did her best to get tuned-up in a hurry for the show. If she was going to win this year (she was the defending champion and nobody expected her to show up all the way from Hyderabad!) it was going to take a lot of skill, a good horse to borrow, a little luck, and the stars were going to have to be aligned just right!

Well....she did it....she rode just as well as she could and kept her lead throughout the show - - and was once again the World Hunter Rider series champion!! Here is the link to the news... In a nutshell - here is what it says:

"Amy Brubaker, who now resides in India, returned to the Capital Challenge to collect the WCHR Adult Amateur National title." and.... "Adult Amateur 36-50 division reserve champion in the division was El Raymond, ridden by Amy Brubaker for Jamie Donovan."

It was time to come home. As she usually does, ASB "hit the ground running" just as soon as she returned to Hyderabad...I literally had to talk her out of going straight to the office when we picked her up at the airport at around midnight on the morning of the 12th!! During the next week-or-so, (as the jet-lag slowly subsided) - she asked me if I wanted to go to Delhi along with her on a Deloitte recruiting trip. While that trip fell-through - - we did schedule a three-day-two-night trip to Bombay for the same purpose.

The story of that trip follows:

We were due to fly out on Monday afternoon at around 3:00 P.M. Keeping me happy by actually arriving an hour early for the flight...Suzanne and I did some poking around the Hyderabad International Airport and the shops inside. We were flying on "JetLite" airlines - - and - as it turns out...there is only one class of seats on this type of flight: "Economy". Think "Southwest Airlines" on a 737 - - with even LESS leg-room!!!

We got on the plane...and Amy drew the short straw. Not only tight-quarters - - but the dreaded "middle seat" was hers as well! Before we even got started complaining about the lack of leg-room....the people in front of us crank their seats back and begin crushing our knees. Before I could get adjusted to the pain and the cramped seating arrangement...my loving wife said, fairly loudly (she was in no mood, I can tell you!): "Would you please not put your seats back...you're smashing my husband's knees!!

Now...you don't need to have been living in India for very long to notice (and, believe me, this will come as NO surprise to my Indian readers...) that there is no concept of "personal space" in this culture. Other corollaries to this law of the land to are to be found in Indian auto traffic ("If you hesitate, you will never move!") and...my personal favorite: the concept of "standing politely in line" is virtually unknown here ("If you don't watch your spot or hold your place with aggression - you will lose!!")

Amy was ignored just long enough for her to grab the back of the lady's seat ahead forcibly push her forward!! I did not know that this was even possible. The lady looked back and Amy said to her: "Your seat is not supposed to be reclined at takeoff anyway (we were taxiing toward runway along the tarmac by this time...) Hey. it's not my rule...talk to the airline!"

There was a tentative truce until we got off the ground. The lady put her seat back again...but adjusted it forward about an inch. Her male travelling companion turned around and asked if this was O.K. - and Amy didn't really answer him...she just glowered at him...

We had picked up a copy of The Times of India (one of the actually decent newspapers here) at the bookstore...Amy began to read it...but not without some malice aforethought. With the lady's head tipped back toward her extended newspaper...Amy made sure that - every time she needed to fold the paper back or turn pages...she would thwack the woman on her head 3-4 times!! It was a thing of beauty!!

The flight was without incident - except for when the flight attendants announced it was time to "return our seat backs and tray tables to their upright and locked position" once again...Suzanne gave the lady's seat back a good, solid and purposeful shove with her knees. She folded her newspaper (with a quick thwack-thwack, just for emphasis!!) and we landed in Mumbai.

As we were leaving the plane...the Indian "no personal space allowance" became even more (violently?) evident...the man in the window seat literally began to climb over Suzanne's legs to get to the aisle where I was standing... The plane unloads from both the front and the back...so - I announced that we'd be heading out the back-way and that I would see her on the tarmac. It's the kind of airport without jetways...you board a bus that takes you to the terminal - - the personal space on the bus is laughable...it's indeed very "personal"...but with absolutely no "space"!!

As the people in front of me began to slowly make their way toward the door...I had to pause to let a very small girl, wrestling with her over sized backpack, get into the aisle in front of me. All of a sudden, I get two hard shoves in the back from this squat little Indian fellow who was evidently in too big of a hurry to make his connecting-flight to offer any common human courtesy. The little girl struggled in front of my knees, drag her backpack, and was beginning to head for the door. And I get another hard shove in the middle of my back.

My reaction was instantaneous - and - perhaps a little bit louder than I wanted it to be. Suzanne said she even heard me, back in our seats about ten rows up from where I was.

I turned around and bent slightly at the waist so I was eye-to-eye with the man.

"YOU'RE &%$#%$ KIDDING ME, RIGHT????"

He just looked down and mumbled, "I am sorry sir!"

Amy was still a while getting off the plane...and - by the time she got onto the tarmac, the first bus had left. This was O.K. with us - - because the final bus was much less crowded...and the people traveling in the seats in front of us...and the sawed-off little man who was shoving me...made a mad dash to the crush of people who were sardined-onto the first bus!

Amy decided that a cappuccino would help the situation...so - we walked over to a small coffee-stand in the terminal. There was one man in front of me in line. As he left...another man came along my left side and began to order and pushed his money toward the coffee cashier. I calmly (but forcefully) cut the guy off by putting my left elbow and forearm across his ribcage and gave him a bit of a hip-check. When in India....act like an Indian, I guess!!

Road Trip #2 - - Part Three (Inside the Temple!)

2010-10-21T03:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay - - Amy Suzanne and I just got back from a Deloitte recruiting trip to Bombay (to be honest, the name "Mumbai" has not caught on with everybody!) - - and - we slept the night through. It's now Thursday afternoon as I write this. Where were we? Oh, yes...we were in the anteroom outside of the Shiva Temple Sanctuary...waiting for the ceremony to begin!

Before the temple "band" was to begin...the doors opened to the actual Sanctuary (or, were they curtains? I forget!)...and inside there were four red-dhoti-clad Shiva Priests. Standing on either side of the room, they were quickly chanting a litany of sorts - - all in Sanskrit...it was probably something that they have done 1,000's of times...and it was hauntingly beautiful and strange to my Western ears all at the same time. In just a few short moments...my ears were never to be quite the same again!!

All of a sudden (from my vantage point, it was a strain to see all the way into the inner-sanctum) - some curtains opened and two Priests come out with five-wick ghee lamps and begin the Aarti. An older Priest (I guarantee this poor old fellow must have lost his hearing several decades back!!) began pulling on a rope...which served two functions. It was the rope that rang a huge (LOUD!) "church bell" - - and - at the same time was connected to an old Rube Goldberg-like mechanical contraption that also operated two huge drumsticks which pounded out an irregular beat on a GIANT tom-tom drum. The drummers from the band had removed their skins from their backpacks...and began playing along with the big-drum's back-beat. A cacophony emanating from the two Indian "bagpipe-chanters-only-twice-the-size" (I'm sure there is a proper name for this instrument...somebody Google it and let me know!!) was at a pitch that could sterilize cats at 150-feet....combined with the bell, the multiple drums, the chanting....the smell of the burning ghee and incense....the sight of the semi-disembodied floating lamps burning before the Jyotirlingam (which, due to my angle, I still could not see...) - - all five of my earthly senses were experiencing complete overload!! Was I being transported into the Presence of the Divine here? Or was it all just so loud that I couldn't think??

Just as quickly as it all started...it all quickly and abruptly stopped!! The curtain remained open...and two dhoti-clad Priests began to kneel next to the Jyotirlingam, and poured water and coconut water and clay onto it. The ladies who had paid for the special pooja entered the sanctuary and knelt around the lingam and touched it with their hands....some pressed their foreheads to it. They were dressed in their "Sunday-go-to-meetin'-saris" - - and they were getting wet and dirty at the worship. Slowly...the line of men I was in crept forward. What I saw was amazing!!

Most lingams that one sees in India's Shiva Temples are about 3-4' high...and perhaps a foot-or-so in diameter. This one...a very, very special one, indeed...had been there and had hands upon it with untold millions of gallons of water and honey and clay from the Ganges River poured onto it...it was worn away to the point that it was perhaps 8-10" tall now...carved from black basalt - - I had to chuckle (no offense meant!) - because the Shivalingam is said to be a symbol of Lord Shiva's male power to procreate (yeah...it's a phallic symbol - - don't let any enlightened "scholars" tell you otherwise...it's a stone penis!) - - and the fact that it was worn away to a mere nub of its former glory struck me as amusing. "Common male problem at such an advanced age - even for the great Lord Shiva!" was my sacrilegious thought!!

Before I knew it, I was being asked to step to the far side of the platform where the lingam was. Sangamesh and Krishna, being good Hindus (and Sangamesh being a Priest of Lord Shiva himself!) were kneeling and touching the stone...while other Priests were pouring on clay and water, making sort of a thin mud like substance. Other men were on their knees, chanting words I did not understand....(there was a constant buzz of mantras and whispered prayers!) and pressing their foreheads to the lingam! They all motioned for me to kneel - - but - this is something I would not do. You know me...I'm all for interfaith dialog, but I pretty much draw the line at kneeling before the Lord Destroyer's muddy phallus! I did bend at the waist to touch it, just so I could say I did (I will probably never be back to Srisailam in this lifetime!) - and they wanted me to smear the mud on my forehead as a symbol of devotion. Again...I motioned that I needed to pass on this one....and wiped the mud on my pants when nobody was looking.

We walked outside into the pure - but hot and muggy - air. Krishna said to me with a wide grin that he was "very happy" - - because on three occasions he had been to the temple here...but had never gotten to touch the Jyotirlingam. I was very happy for him!! Both he and Sangamesh sported foreheads smeared with the mud from the darshan...while I only had the red dot of kumkum tilak placed there by some holy-man when we walked through the gates. I thought it was sort of like getting your hand stamped at a dance club - - so - there it was - making me look again like I had taken a .38 slug to the forehead! (See the photo at the beginning of this article...that's me on the left, in case you didn't know!)

We walked around a little bit, and soon met up with Sangamesh's nephew, the Shiva Pujari, who then gave me permission to snap a few photos and took us all around the temple grounds. I stopped in the courtyard to hear one of the Priests delivering a lecture (in Telugu or Hindi, I don't know which one - but - strangely enough - I was sort of able to follow it!) - on the joy of pure love and the love between Lord Krishna and his Consort, Radha-Rani. My guess was it was directed at the girl who was to be married...it was a good time to sit and cool off...and allow my ear-drums to heal from the Aarti ceremony!! But by now...my poor bare-feet were about to give out!!

We went to all of the temple shrines...and - once stopped to witness a very jubilant procession with the deities of Lord Shiva and Parvati on a flower-decorated cart being pulled by and equally-decked-out real-life replica on Nandi the Bull - - I tried to sneak a video of it - - but - it didn't come out because it was so dark outside.

After the procession passed, I told "the boys" that I needed to start back toward the shoe-station and begin the trek back to the hotel - - or I wasn't going to be able to make it!! I'm sure they were disappointed and wanted to stay around the temple until "closing time" - but I was done. We got our shoes and walked through the outer-gate and back toward our "home" for the night....all the while, listening to drumming and chanting and all of the spiritual goings-on from the temple....blaring from loudspeakers all the way back to the hotel!!

To Bee Continued....Final Episode Coming Soon!!

Road Trip #2 - - Part Two - Srisailam Temples

2010-10-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

The hotel room at the "Punammi Resort" was NOT "five star"...as a matter of fact - - I don't think there is such a thing as a "half-a-star" hotel...or, if there was one - - the venerable Punammi would get a "quarter star". The bed had no box-spring...only plywood (or was it granite???) - covered by a 3" thick piece of foam. The bathroom had no bathtub or shower...it was my first time using the time-tested "bucket-and-pitcher" method. The A/C worked well-enough - -but - it leaked pretty badly...you had to be careful getting out on the left-side of the bed or you could slip break your neck on the wet marble floor. Keeping Beloved's food (and water) on the floor as usual proved to be a problem, as - the bugs found it in the middle of the night.

In other words...I was extremely glad that Amy Suzanne was not along for this road trip!!

However, after the long drive down from Hyderabad, any place to lay our heads was a good place. Sangamesh and Krishna got the room next-door - - and - as the day went on and the tourist buses kept arriving - - I'll be darned if the Punammi Hotel didn't fill to capacity by the time I got up from my nap.

The Temple opened again at 4:30 P.M. You could tell this was happening because the loud drum-beats and chanting (live from the inner-sanctum!) began being blasted from the loudspeakers around town...especially the one on a pole right outside the hotel. Directly across from the hotel, an older, dreadlocked sadhu had set up a mini-shrine under a large tree - and there in the shade on the stone tree-well, he had placed a small black plastic shivalingam (I think it was purchased from one of the gift-stands outside the temple!) some old, faded-but-nicely-framed icons of Lord Shiva, a photo of Sai Baba (the bad one - with the Afro and the orange robe and dhoti!) - a few old orange flowers, assorted broken-open coconuts, banana leaves, red and saffron-colored kumkum powder...and a few sticks of pungent burning incense...

As the drumbeats from the loudspeakers began to pound even more frenetically - the three of us began to make our way, with a few-hundred other pilgrims and local devotees, up the street toward the temple gates. We walked past the many wooden stands which were selling assorted colorful pooja supplies, C.D.'s and gifts. Outside the actual temple gates, there was the customary place to "check your shoes" (for a mere 10 rupees!) so you can enter the grounds freely discalced. I don't think I have walked around barefooted this much since I was a beach-kid in Venice growing up!! We passed through a rudimentary metal-detector and by some serious-looking uniformed and armed (AK-47's!) security police...and Krishna and Sangamesh asked one of them for directions. Directions to what, I don't know - - I was completely at the mercy of my beloved caretaker and security man...which would usually be comforting - - but - as it turns out, they were both by my side the night I got my pockets picked at the Ganesha immersion (I know - - I said I wasn't going to dwell on it - but - it still stung!!) - so - I was very aware of my surroundings!!

We made our way to a "holding area" where - - this is sort of hard to describe without photos - but I'll try. A big part of Hindu worship is the darshan. This can be as simple as walking by and seeing the deity - - or touching it...or prostrating oneself before the idol. To get inside of the sanctuary can sometimes take literal hours...and - this means standing in lines (or, queues, as they call them here - - just like the English) There are iron railings (mostly under some sort of roof or cover - - here at Srisailam, it was corrugated steel) that snake around some part of the temple grounds. Kind of like the back-and-forth lineups for rides at Disneyland - - only - - much more dingy and tightly-packed. I'll tell you right now...that if a crush of humanity, along with people who are a part of a culture that has absolutely NO sense whatsoever of "personal space" - - inside of tight, squished quarters, in semi-darkness - - if these things are not for you --- then - do yourself a favor and stay out of Hindu temples at darshan time!!!!

The "free" line (the line to get into the sanctuary at no cost) was already beginning to form under the steel roof. I got waves of claustrophobia just looking at the line - and there were less than fifty people in it! We found the line for "pay tickets" for the aarti and darshan for the evening. There were only about 0.01% of the people in the pay-line - the three of us, one single lady and a young couple. The ticket booth opened at 5:30 - so - there was a bit of a wait. That's one other thing about worship in Hindu temples...you have to be willing to wait around. Krishna and I walked up to where the actual line for people who had tickets was...and - we were standing along a wall that had carvings of scenes from the Mahabarata on it that were over 1,000-years-old. Along the chain-link fence that separated us from the "free line" and an area where you could tell was a gathering area for pilgrims when the temple gets really crowded (Krishna tells me that you can wait 4-5 hours during any festival . . and at the time of Maha Shivrati - forgetaboutit!!)

Sangamesh got our three tickets (Rs. 600.00 total - about $12.00) and joined us at the front of the line...and at about 5:45 P.M, we were allowed into a sort of "viewing area/anteroom" for the "Holy of Holies". There were iron railings, again forming "corrals" for throngs of people...but - there were very few "paying customers" today - maybe fifty of us. There was a group of about 25 women - - all in traditional saris - as it turns out - we were told that they had paid a special fee to be at the front for the Aarti and Darshan tonight... it seems that one of their group was having a daughter get married and it was a special occasion for them. Unfortunately (more on this to come) - the actual inner sanctum can only hold 25 worshippers, elbow-to-elbow. That meant all of us guys could only stand outside the door and get a narrow-angle glimpse of what would be going on inside.

The waiting area needs to be described...as NO PHOTOS would be allowed. Along with the iron railings, there was a large Ganesha shrine as you entered the building. Again...devout Hindus, no matter what "denomination" - take time to first address Lord Ganesha before any other prayers. In the photos from the Srisailam Road Trip Facebook Album - the golden "dome" that you see from the outside is built directly over the sanctuary where the Shiva Jyotirlingam lies inside. There was a knee-high, black basalt statue of Nandi the Sacred Bull at one end of the anteroom - - and he was surrounded by dozens of flowers on the ground (a smell you get used to!) and about 10 sticks of burning incense. There was an old Shiva Priest in the corner, with a huge basket of cotton...and he was making wicks for ghee lamps that are used at every aarti... He had another basket filled with the completed wicks...he probably had 100+ finished by the time we got inside.

There were several "backpacks" laying in the foyer....it would have made me nervous - but - among the open piping and duct work overhead (which were all painted black - and in the dimly-lit corridor made for a kind of spooky atmosphere)...there was an old (but functioning) "eye-in-the-sky" camera-bubble mounted to the "ceiling". I could see the camera-lens scanning the room. I would think that if anything was out-of-sorts, the security team would have been on it. As it turned out - - these backpacks held the "pipes and drums" for the "temple band" which would be beginning to play the cacophony of music for the Aarti in just a matter of moments.

The next several minutes can only be described as a sensual assault - - a virtual explosion of sights, sounds and smells...the likes of which I had never seen in my entire life!!

Sorry...I should have known I couldn't fit this Roar Trip into a two-part blog...Part Three coming tomorrow!!

Road Trip #2 - - Part One - Srisailam

2010-10-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

(Intended to be a TWO-PARTER...but ya never know!) Wow. Where do I start?? There was still another week to go before Amy gets home from her trip back to the States...so there was time for at least one more Road Trip. This time, Caretaker Krishna picked the destination. We would head out south of Hyderabad about 260 Km to the town of Srisailam. He told me that it was something I just needed to see....a lovely drive (that my dear reader, is a relative term!!) up into the mountains and the forest (now that I have an idea about the difference between a "village", a "town" and a "city" - I need to figure out when a forest ceases being a "forest...and becomes a "jungle" - - it was pretty amazing (over)growth)...to see one of India's most famous dams, the Srisailam Dam on the Krishna River - and finally, at the top of the hill, the temple-town of Srisailam.

I call Srisailam a "temple-town" - because that's what it is...the temple is the center of the town...and virtually all of the businesses there have something to do with the temple or pilgrims or devotees or tourism!

A little more about this fascinating town:

Srisailam is a renowned hill town located on a majestic natural setting on the banks of the River Krishna in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Srisailam is known for many ancient temples, a wildlife sanctuary and a dam. Srisailam hills are very rich in scenic attractions, breathtaking wild life and this hill offers panoramic views of the surroundings.

Sikharam, the highest spot in the undulated hilly regions of Srisailam, is known for its majestic natural beauty, eye catching scenarios and a marvelous temple. The temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is renowned as Sikhareswara Swamy temple. The idol is believed to be the Lord of Sikharam. There is a temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha in Sikharam.

The famous Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy Temple located at height of about 457 meters on the southern bank of River Krishna is a major pilgrim spot in Srisailam hill town. This temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples in the country. Srisailam is one of the most holy places of Andhra Pradesh. It enshrines one of the twelve Jyothirlingas of India, the only Jyothirlinga of Andhra Pradesh. The Jyothirlinga temple is dedicated to Lord Mallikarjuna Swamy and his consort Bhramaramba Devi. (N.B. Please do check out the Wiki link about the Jyothirlinga - - there will be lots of references to it later on!!)

The Nallamala forest ranges with densely wooded trees and diverse flora and fauna (i.e., monkeys as far as the eye can see!!) lies in the proximity to the Srisailam hills. These lusting green forest regions are ideal for adventurous trekking, hill climbing and forest exploration and research. Srisailam is the base camp for Nallamala explorations. It was in this Nallamala forest ranges, that the extremely popular Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash in September of 2009.

When we plan these trips, we generally try to leave the house at around 6:30 A.M. in order to beat the traffic...and as usual, we didn't hit the road for Road Trip #2 until around 7:00. This time it really didn't matter, because - unlike the trip to Warangal...this route took us to the south, using the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport flyovers and NOT through the heart of rush-hour traffic. The roads, overall, were much better going toward Srisailam...my guess is this is because the temple at Srisailam is a major pilgrim and tourist destination (judging by the number of buses along the route!!) and the roads need to be kept in fairly good condition.

The first couple of hours (it took about 5.5 hours to get to Srisailam) were pretty nondescript - -long stretches of not much to look at, punctuated by several small villages and the occasional water buffalo herd walking down the middle of the highway. The topography began to change as we were gaining altitude...at first there were BEAUTIFUL areas of Andhra Pradesh boulders (similar, as I have said - and Deacon John Yeager had pointed out - to the area of Chatsworth, CA by Stoney Point and north of the 118 Freeway) - - then, the road turns and gains noticeable elevation gain as you enter the forest. The National Forest is also the Rajiv Gandhi (if it seems as if a lot of stuff is named after him in India - you are right!!) Tiger Sanctuary - but we saw no tigers. The forest is really, really thick with trees and growth and vines. Like I said...it's more what I would call a "jungle" than a forest. Especially when you see the number of monkeys that inhabit the place. There are many signs posted that clearly state "Do not feed the monkeys" - - but - obviously people break this rule all of the time, because the little devils are keenly aware of automobile traffic and the goodies that get thrown out the windows of cars. And besides, there are street-vendors along the side of the road selling little newspaper cones of "monkey food" for a couple of rupees each.

There are more buses than cars as you keep heading up the mountain-side...and more monkeys than buses. Finally, as we reached the crest, we turned sharply to the right and began descending on a road that switchbacks down to the northern bank of the River Krishna...and the very impressive Srisailam Dam. There are pictures of the dam on my Facebook Photo Album - along with pics of the entire trip!

As we paused at a lookout point to take a few snaps (Indiaspeak for "photographs") - we got soaked from the spray coming up from the two spillway gates along the front of the dam which were opened to release some of the incredible overflow from this years record monsoon rains. The photos from the far (south) bank of the Krishna River are much clearer and much drier!!!

It's probably only another 7-10 Km. up some winding road to get to Srisailam. Just outside of the city gate, there is a pilgrim's stop where the dutiful devotee can pick up flowers and bangles and colorful thread-bracelets (tied all over the temple fencing as puja offerings) and coconuts for offering to Lord Shiva. Also, there is a small shrine/temple in honor of Lord Ganesha - - the elephant-headed god (and son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati) - - where devout Hindus stop first to pray before entering. I have learned, after a time, and I'm not exactly sure of "why" this is - that you always pray to Ganesha first...then whatever God you are going to visit. Since Ganesha is Shiva's son...it's kind of like stopping to quickly say: "Hello, Ganesha...I'm going up to see your Dad now...please tell him I'm coming". The same thing goes for the idols/statues of Nandi, the sacred bull - who serves as both Shiva's vehicle and the guardian of Shiva's temples and his abode in the heavenly realm. Devotees will stop and ask permission and blessing from Nandi before proceeding into Lord Shiva's Presence.

We got inside the city and stopped to take a few more snaps. We drove as far as the temple gates themselves (where large signs indicated that "puja vehicles only" are allowed past a certain point) - -and here we pulled over and waited for Sangamesh (our security man) to call his nephew - - who just happens to be one of the senior pujaris (Shiva Priests) at the temple. When he showed up, it was hard not to notice that he was a very young man (barely 30, if that!) - - he had the distinguishing marks of a Shiva devotee (the three-horizontal-line clay tilaka on his forehead. His English skills were very few...and he greets you, instead of the standard "Namaste" or "Namaskara" - - with "Om Namah Shivayah".

It is hard to get an exact translation of Om Namah Shivaya(m) Thanks to Volume One of The Ancient Power of Sanskrit Mantra and Ceremony for this semi-helpful description:

"This mantra has no approximate translation. The sounds related directly to the principles which govern each of the first six chakras on the spine...Earth, water, fire, air, ether. Notice that this does not refer to the chakras themselves which have a different set of seed sounds, but rather the principles which govern those chakras in their place. A very rough, non-literal translation could be something like, 'Om and salutations to that which I am capable of becoming.' This mantra will start one out on the path of subtle development of spiritual attainments. It is the beginning on the path of Siddha Yoga, or the Yoga of Perfection of the Divine Vehicle."

The sounds of the chanted "Om Namah Shivaya" mantra (and many others) can be heard coming out of loudspeakers all over the city, and non-stop throughout the day, as long as the temple is open. That means from 4:30 A.M. until 3:30 P.M. - - when it closes for an hour...and then opens once again for evening pooja and darshan at 4:30 P.M. and closes again at around 10:30 P.M. (with much drumming and fanfare!!)

For a taste of something very much like what we heard virtually everywhere we went that first day...check out this very cool YouTube video.

Since it was now approaching the closing hour...it was time to find a place to lay our heads (many of the "hotels" in Srisailam are government-run) for the night...and catch a quick nap before going into the temple for for "Shiva Vespers" (I just made that up....)

To Bee Continued.... "Part Two - The Temples of Srisailam"

First India Road Trip Part 5 (Final Chapter) Ramappa Temple

2010-10-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

After about an hour's drive home (most of the goats were off the roads when the sun went all the way down!)...we got back to the hotel at around 10:00 P.M. - making for a very, very long day!! It was far too late to go out to eat, so - The Bee and I just crashed.... We woke up pretty early and went out for a walk around the hotel neighborhood... There was a petrol station right next-door to the hotel, and a dirt lot behind it...so - that was the first place we headed for her morning trip to the "ladies room". There was a school and a small park...and the city was just beginning to awaken. It's amazing how much excitement a little black Lhasa Apso can cause!! Everybody stops to stare at us...and to point at Beloved and smile. There are innumerable street dogs in India...but the sight of a little black fur-ball on a flexi-leash is just too comical for most people!

At around 10:00 A.M., Bhaskar (see photo of me and Bhaskar - with Nandi, the Bull, above) and Prabhakar rang my hotel room doorbell and we made our way downstairs with Krishna and the bags...I was ready to go, because breakfast came with the room - - but all I had was three cups of strong/sweet coffee! I already knew better than to ask Bhaskar how :far" it was to Ramappa Temple - so I asked him "how long was it going to take?" He told me it was going to be a two-hour drive...and - that's exactly how long it took.

Ramappa Temple, constructed in the typical architectural style of South India during the Kaktiya rule in the 12th century, is truly a grand old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in a town called Palampet not far way from Mulugu, which is outside of Warangal. This temple is revered very much by the Hindu community and is assumed to be the great contribution of the Kakatiya Kings.

Ramappa Temple, placed in a star shaped platform 6 feet high, has a Shivalingam in the inner-sanctum with a sikhara at the mount. A mandapam with a Nandi Idol that stands about nine-foot high, in ruins now, placed at the entrance and many small shrines are placed around the main temple. The temple walls are decorated with impressive carvings, which display epic stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The major festival celebrated here is Shivarathri and which day devotees still throng to this temple. It may be in ruins - but it is very much a working, active temple.

Generally, temples are named after the person who built them or the deity in that temple, but Ramappa temple was named after the sculptor Ramappa. Inside the temple, (which is under a bit of renovation and has much wood scaffolding on the outside, so you have to enter the temple crossing the west side wall)... there are signboards installed by Archaeological Survey of India to describe the temple's importance. After spending some time absorbing the signs, we walked to our left ...and there was was the Ranga Mantapam (also called the Natya Mantapam). In the place between Inner temple and Ranga Mantapam, there is a small room which gives space for about ten people. After paying 200 rupees for the three of us (that's about four-dollars...and, yeah...Krishna stayed and watched Beloved!) - it was at this place where a Shiva pujari did for us a special ceremony known as Rudreswara's (Siva Lingam) Darshanam. I think the priest was there every day and did this for tourists and pilgrims...but - on this day - we were the ONLY people there...the beauty of being able to travel mid-week!! Similar to the pooja the prior evening (only without the drums!!) - it was a very nice ceremony. This room space where we were standing is called the Antharalam. There was blackstone wall dividing Antharali and Natya Mantapam. To the left of Antharalam, there is a screen on which carvings are made which are 1,000-years-old and still quite stunning!

Walking outside was the biggest thrill of the day for me....all along the eaves of the temple, climbing all along the scaffolding and the exterior walls....was a virtual highway for the Ramappa Temple monkeys !!! Literally hundreds of monkeys.... and they are pretty big ones, too!! They have red butts like baboons (sorry - I know...TMI - but - they do!!) - they are cute...but I kept my distance because several of the mama monkeys had babies with them and - these monkeys have some serious-looking teeth!! There are photos of some of the monkeys and the Ramappa Temple on my Facebook Photo Album page.

We spent a good long time at the temple....it was really humid...and - as much as I'd like to say that I am totally used to the Indian climate...I was soaked with sweat by the time we headed for the car. I jokingly told Krishna when we got back to the car that I spend good money to use the steam-room at Latitudes Pro Gym...and here in Ramappa, I get to sweat more....for free!!

It was time to head home...so - - we stopped for a nice lunch at one of the Warangal hotels (great chicken curry and vegetable curry with rice and hot butter-naan!) - - we dropped off our new friends (I think they expected that we'd see more temples...but - we really did need to go so we didn't hit terrible traffic in Secunderabad...we DID hit the traffic...but I was so ready to go home...and so was The Bee!!

We made a leisurely drive home...stopping a few times to look at small temples on the way...and we got home around 8:00 P.M. Overall - - for a first try...our Warangal Road Trip was incredibly worthwhile and a real treat!! Thanks to Vivek and Bhaskar Prabhakar for all the wonderful advice and sightseeing help!

Next Blog Coming Soon - - Road Trip Number Two: "Srisailam"!!

First India Road Trip Part 4 - "Shiva Temple(s) and a wedding!"

2010-10-09T03:54:00.000-07:00

I hope I have made it clear that I always intended to make this blog into an "unvarnished and truthful" look at our time living in India. I have certainly tried to do that. While the overwhelming number of experiences have been out-of-this-world POSITIVE - there have been a few that were... well, "not so much". One was my getting my pockets picked at the Ganesha Immersion near the Hussain Sagar Lake last month (no special blog on that coming - I'd really rather not dwell on it - suffice to say "lesson learned" and I'm down one Blackberry and one digital camera!)

Other things that have happened are not so much "negative" - rather - they are simply a part of a learning-curve for an American guy getting used to the Indian way of doing things. There are two of these little quirks that I need to remember every day:

1) Indian people simply do not like to tell you "no!" As a matter of fact, I think it may be an impossibility for them to even say the word!! This can be a little maddening for somebody who tries to live by the Biblical admonition to "Let your "yes" be "yes", and your "no" be "no"!" Being so "positive" sounds like a good thing, but - even if a person here means: "No, no, no! Absolutely NOT!" - it comes out as: "I will try!" If they meant "I will try!" - that would be one thing. But, often it really means: "No...not a chance in the world!"

And....

2) India is a BIG country. The roads (especially this year in Andhra Pradesh, after this heavier-than-normal monsoon season) are often not-so-good. But in asking my Indian friend Bhaskar, "Is it very far?" - the answer to any such inquiry is the same: "No, sir...not far!!"

When we got situated in the car after the Kush Mahal - - There was another three-way exchange in Telugu. Then Krishna asked me if I wanted to see "just one more temple, Sir?" Well - if the truth were told, I was tired and I really didn't want to see another temple! But I could hear from the buzz in the car that it was something that everyone felt I really should do - - so - I agreed and asked (for the first time) "Is it very far?"

"No, sir...not far!!" was all that Bhaskar said!

The next hour-and-a-half was spent driving along the WORST road we had seen so far...mostly it was a "dirt road" - but even worse than that is - the local goat-herders were busy getting their flocks home for the night...and we had to stop and pass literally dozens of herds of goats - with some flocks numbering in the hundreds!! I was getting so frustrated, I told Krishna: "No more extra trips!!"

All of a sudden - and for no reason that I could see, we pulled over in the dark of night (I had already asked Bhaskar if the temple we were going to see "had lights on it" !) - and we pick up another passenger!!! It turns out that it was yet another friend who not only had connections at the Shiva Temple we were headed to, but - he had made special arrangements for a private pooja to be made in my honor!!

About fifteen minutes further up the road, we pulled into the temple grounds. By most standards, it's a smaller temple that most...the lights are on - - inside - but overall the surroundings are dark enough to make you think that the place was closed! We walk up to the temple doors....and - - there are a few smiling men outside the door...and they stepped back to let us through. Four of us (poor Krishna had Bee-Duty again...we were going to definitely need to figure out a way to deal with Bee on the next road-trip!)

As we entered the sanctuary, the wonderful smell of incense and left-over prasadam filled the air. Evidently, there had been another pooja a little earlier, but - as it turned out - - the men milling around the door were the "temple band" (for lack of a better term! - - it was 3-4 drummers and a fellow that played something like and Indian version of a large bagpipe chanter - - think the kind of pipe that you might see used by a guy picked by central-casting to play a snake-charmer in the movies!) We walked right up the the door of the "holy-of-holies" where the Deity resides (in this case it was a small, golden Shivalingam - in front of an idol I frankly did not recognize... with some icons and small statues of both Shiva and Parvati and lots and lots of yellow and orange flowers!)...a red-dhoti clad pujari (priest of Lord Shiva - - you can tell by the tell-tale three white horizontal lines of the Shiva tilaka - correctly called tripundra - on his forehead...) came out and began chanting a prayer service...

All the while, I am just overwhelmed with the sounds (the chanting along with loud drumming and piping!) - the smells (flowers and incense and a rice-lentil prasadam dish!) and sights (this naked from the waist-up priest casting special rice-grains and water and milk and coconut water and red kumkum powder towards the statue...) The Priest asked for my name and my wife's name (evidently for a blessing) and my son's name. He looked shocked and saddened that I had no son. He put back the nine-grain offering (I forget what it's called) reserved for "my son"...and then did the entire thing over again for Bhaskar and the two other fellows. Out of the fours of us, only Bhaskar and I were Christians...but he was most familiar with what was going on and kept explaining things to me the entire time....

An older priest came around the corner and presented me with a nice, full-color booklet about the temple and its history (unfortunately, all in Telugu - - which is why I can't tell you the name of the place!!) and placed a red kumkum tilak on my forehead and a green and gold scarf around my neck... I was whispered-to by Bhaskar to put some money on the plate...I still don't think I put enough, but - it was all I had in my pockets!

I thanked everybody for the wonderful ceremony...and we began to walk around the temple grounds...

On the far side...there is a very, very old Shiva Temple...mostly just the remaining pillars and a raised sanctuary...it was roofless so there was nothing but the expanse of stars above. "Inside" the temple....there was a full-scale Hindu wedding going on!! My three Indian friends had no problem walking right up the stairs and into the midst of the wedding guests...who, of course, all stopped and stared at the American Guy!!

My lads did everything they could to push me toward the wedding ceremony, but - being a good Anglican - I gravitated toward the back of the hall! The mother of the bride came up to me and put another tilak on my forehead (this one was orange, made from saffron) - and beckoned me to sit in the circle with her and the family and the bride and groom! I told you that the Indians are hospitable...but this was one-step-beyond!! I begged-off sitting down (probably a great offense to the family...but I was really nervous and self-conscious...as I think anybody from the West might be!!)...

We sort of sneaked-out the back...and toward the car....got in...and headed back toward Warangal and our hotel.

Heck...I can't get the next-days activities at the Ramappa Temple in this blog...I've rambled-on far too long as it is.... I'll have to make this a FIVE PARTER!!

To "Bee" Continued in the fifth (and final) episode....

First India Road Trip Part 3 - "Warangal Fort and the Shiva Temple"

2010-10-08T03:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry! I almost forgot!! (Just one more reason to write in my blog within 1-2 days of a trip...at my advanced age, let's face it...you forget stuff!!) Before we went back to the hotel, and before we saw the "1,000 Pillar Temple"...Krishna and I drove out to the local Maa Kali Temple, right on the waterfront of a huge (it turns out that it's man-made, but still very beautiful!) lake right inside Warangal. More properly, the temple is called The Bhadrakali Temple at Hanamkonda. The Bhadrakali Temple is an eight-century-old temple, built by the Kakatiya dynasty, and it is perfectly placed on a holy mount nearby Warangal city. The temple enshrines the Goddess Kali, (see photo, above-right) the mother Goddess in Hindu mythology, adorned with weapons in all the eight arms and the statue of the Goddess is in the sitting posture with a crown in her head. The structure of the temple is in the amazing architectural style of Chalukya’s. This was an amazing temple...they were setting-up inside for evening pooja (prayer) and darshan.

Darshan, or, sometimes spelled Darśana (Sanskrit: दर्शन) is from a Sanskrit term meaning "sight" (in the sense of an instance of seeing or beholding; from a root Sanskrit word meaning "to see" - a vision, an apparition, or simply a glimpse. It is most commonly used for "visions of the divine," e.g., of a god or a very holy person or artifact. One could "receive darshana" of the deity in the temple, or from a great saintly person, such as a great guru.

I have come to understand that darshan is hugely popular and a major part of Hindu worship. In the sense "to see with reverence and devotion," the term translates to hierophany, and could refer either to a vision of the divine or to being in the presence of a highly revered person. In this sense it may assume a meaning closer to audience. "By doing darshan properly a devotee develops affection for God, and God develops affection for that devotee."

Darshan - like pooja - means to pray to God also. This Kali temple was stunning and beautiful on the outside...but - as it is with many of the temples I was to visit on our next trip to Srisailam...it was kind of a mess inside...and I mean this with NO disrespect! It's a mess...because...well, to be honest, Hindu worship, for the most part, is much more "messy" than, let's say: "Solemn High Mass at 10:00 A.M. at St. Mary of the Angels, Hollywood. If you Catholics can imagine...picture Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament (certainly a type of darshan!)...and all of the sudden the Priest comes out and begins to pour honey and coconut-water and holy water and cow's milk and red kum-kum powder all over the altar and the monstrance!! That's what it seemed like to my untrained eye!! More pics on the Facebook page (link below!)

Now...back to our regularly-scheduled travelogue:

Vivek's friend Bhaskar - and Bhaskar's friend, Prabhakar, got into the car with us....but they were a wee-bit apprehensive about sitting in the back seat with Beloved. As you can see from the photos on my Facebook Page Photo Album - by the time of our departure from Warangal on Wednesday afternoon, the three of them were fast friends...Prabhakar even requested that I take a photo of him and The Bee (see the last few pictures!) It was pretty sweet - - but for the rest of our First Day - - I held The Bee on my lap in the front passenger seat, which can be a bit of a pain in the you-know-what - she's a little wiggle-worm ESPECIALLY when she sees animals out the window. And on this leg of the journey we saw them all!! Water buffalo, cows, about 10,000-odd goats - - and our first monkeys!!

I couldn't understand any of the Telugu that my three friends were speaking...but I THOUGHT we were heading to the Warangal Fort - - another local touristy-place (a place that Vivek had warned me "wasn't really all that much to look at..."). However, with the lads in the back-seat calling out directions in what I have come to call "Teluenglish" - - we ended up parked in front of this farmhouse in town.

As it turns out, this was Vivek's boyhood home and the home of his father and brother. For some unknown reason, Bhaskar thought it was important that I see where Vivek grew up. I was to find out later that Vivek had asked Bhaskar to "please NOT bore (me) with a trip to the farmhouse..." But here we were anyway.

Now - - I have learned much about Indian hospitality...it is legendary. There is no pulling up, seeing the house and saying, "Oh, that's nice...now let's go...!" There was to to be the taking off of shoes, the sitting inside in the living-room, some idle chit-chat (kinda tough when there is only one of us that speaks any real, understandable English!) seeing pictures of the family, a tour of the house, sweet coffee, (tea for Krishna)...the highlight was having Bhaskar hold up a photo of an approximately seven-year-old Vivek, along with his older sister and brother...the "photo of the photo" that I took is also in the Facebook Album. Vivek was mortified...but I think he was a cute kid!!

After we were done and I thanked the housekeeper for the great coffee...we were out on the road again.

As it turned out, the fort really WAS worth seeing. The Warangal Fort is situated 12 kilometers from Hanamkonda in Warangal city in Andhra Pradesh. It was constructed in the 13th century by the Kakatiya dynasty.

The City of Warangal is to the northeast of Hyderabad, almost exactly 150 kilometers from it. The two cities are linked by road and rail. The train might be fun sometime...because, due to this year's heavier than usual monsoons...the roads are hammered!! Warangal Fort is in southern Warangal - and a bit of a drive from Vivek's farmhouse.

Warangal Fort, although now in ruins, was once an impregnable fort in the state. Close to the Ekashila hill rock, there are different layers spreading out. The building of Warangal Fort began in 1199 AD at the instructions of the Kakatiyan king Ganapati Deva and his daughter, Rani Rudrama Devi supervised the process till its completion in 1261 AD. The remnants of the fort that are present in the city provide some useful insights of the past civilization that used to occupy these lands.

Warangal Fort is reputed for its architectural magnificence besides its history. The remnants of the fort comprise imposing gateways and tall, elegant towers, each almost 50 feet tall. The special feature distinguishing the four enormous pillars of the gateway is that they have been cut from a single rock. Three protective layers ensure the protection of what was once the inner precincts and center of power.

Part of the ruins consist of delicate sculpture and stone work, motifs and designs delineating animals like lions and swans. Inside the fort area are the residues of temples razed to the ground by the early Qutub Shahi kings. The place is full of riches and resources from the past.

In hindsight...I think that Warangal Fort is one of the most impressive historical landmarks in all of the Hyderabad/Warangal area! My photos of the fort begin with the 40th photo in the Facebook Album...What an amazing place....all of the carvings were hand-done in three various kinds/colors of granite...the photos really don't do the place justice. We were there until the sun was well on the way down...

Although I wanted to "call it a day" (NO CHANCE WITH THERE TWO GUYS AS THE TOUR GUIDES...WE WERE JUST GETTING WARMED-UP!!!) - they made Krishna stop the car so that I could go into to the "Kush Mahal" - a beautiful structure with Muslim overtones...but was actually built in 1504 A.D. by a man named Shitab Khan - - who - believe it or not, with that name, is attributed with Hindu origins. After a killer-climb up some steep stone stairs, I could see why the boys insisted that we stop. The view from the top of the Kush Mahal was tremendous....you could wee the whole area from up there!!

That's it, right?? We're done!! The sun is almost down...we've been on the road since 7:00 this morning....let's go back to the hotel!! No way, Jose!! This night was FAR from over!!!!

(To "Bee" Continued in the 4th and Final installment!

First India Road Trip Part 2 - "The 1,000 Pillar Temple"

2010-10-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

After we left the Jain Temple (and waited for what seemed like and eternity at a railroad crossing!!) - we headed back on the road up to Warangal. We saw several other sites along the way...most noteably, two Catholic churches named after the Blessed Virgin Mary: "The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes" and - in Warangal itself, the Diocesan Cathedral, "Our Lady of Fatima". This is the very same Church that my friend, Vivek, went to as a kid...and his High School, "St. Gabriel's" is still in operation and seems to have a huge number of students!

We had made our reservations for the hotel, the Suprabha Hotel right in the center of town...and not too very far from our next destination...the famous "1,000 Pillar Temple" (see photo, above). We got checked into the hotel just fine...much different from home...no credit card needed, no money up-front - - you pay when you leave. There was no problem bringing in Beloved, but - you never know...so - we put her inside her "Bee Bag" and I toted her upstairs to my room. I got Krishna a room down the hall from me. I found it a little disconcerting that the desk-clerk wanted to know if I wanted to "get a room for my driver across the street in the dormitory?" I said "No, thank you...a room in the hotel close to me would be just fine!"

Bee and I got unpacked and settled (water and kibble put out for her... and the T.V. turned on for me.) There is really not much T.V. in English to watch without our super-duper TataSky package at home...NEO Cricket is one channel - - but - we opted for watching a Mister Magoo cartoon in Hindi...which was actually pretty funny! I had told Krishna that we would head out to the 1,000 Pillar Temple at around 3:00 P.M. - which gave us a couple of hours to nap and freshen-up a bit after the long drive up (it took us almost five hours, but - we had made several stops!)

I called Vivek's friend, Bhaskar, and let him know we were in town...he seemed anxious to come right over to the hotel. Through his wife, I got the message through (finally!!) that we were going to rest a bit and call him when we wanted to get together for dinner. Then it was nap-time!!

We drove over to the area where the "1,000 Pillar Temple" is supposed to be. We got a little lost, but I will say one thing about Krishna...he's not ashamed to pull over and ask local folks for directions...even if they're talking on the cell-phone when we do it!! For such a huge tourist attraction in the town of Warangal, you would think that there would be a lot more signage for the temple...but, as it turned out, the tiny little side-street where we turned could easily be missed.

The "famous" Thousand Pillar Temple (I had never heard of it before coming to India!), was built in 1163 AD, by King Rudra Deva, and is an important historical monument situated near the Hanamkonda-Warangal highway. One thousand richly carved pillars and a magnificent black basalt Nandi bull are unique to this temple. There are also some pretty cool ruins, an archeoligical site, and some nice carved elephants....because it's a temple, you have to take off your shoes to enter...which is pretty tough on tender soles when the last time you ran around barefoot was in Junior High School!!

The black basalt statue of Sri Nandi (Lord Shiva's mount, or "vehicle" as they say), is a monolith (carved from one rock!), actually has a lovely polished finish. There are many small lingam shrines surrounding the gardens. The temple is famous for its richly carved pillars, screens and detailed sculpture. The temple, (so they say, it's hard to see from ground-level) is built in the shape of a star. The temple constitutes of three shrines, where the presiding deities are Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya.

Overall, I was not impressed. Of all of the temples we were to visit, this was the only one that was not a "working temple" - - it was just a ruin and - really not much to see. There are only five pics of the temple and surroundings (as I said - there really wasn't that much too it!) in my Facebook Photo Album entitled: First India Road Trip - September, 2010

Directly after I got back to the car (I felt bad for Krishna....there was really no safe place to leave Beloved in the car and it was awfully HOT!! - so he watched her while I went sightseeing...) - - Bhaskar called and he was at the hotel looking for us. I guess that my message about "meeting for dinner" didn't "get through" as I had thought....

We drove back and picked him and his friend Prabhakar up in front of the hotel. They got in...and - then the adventure really began!! These fellows really know the town of Warangal...have a lot of contacts...and were just chomping at the bit to show me everything they could in a short amount of time!! Now it was off to the Warangal Fort and the Kush Mahal (both just outside of town) - - but - first - an unexpected side-trip!

To "Bee" Continued....

Quick Sunday Update....

2010-10-03T01:27:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday early-afternoon in Hyderabad. Amy is still in Maryland. Krishna and I just returned home from Mass. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised after I sat in our pew and said my prayers. A girl from the choir walked up to me as we were sitting before Mass and handed me a "people's missal" (for lack of a better term!) Out of nowhere, I was asked to read the First Lesson at St. Mary's (RC) Church in Secunderabad this morning!! Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4. It felt pretty good to be in the Lord's Sanctuary once again! Alleluia!

I think I will stay close to home this afternoon...I may head over to Latitudes Gym and maybe go upstairs to the Tangerine Spa...but I sort of want to see the rest of the Ryder Cup. I think the U.S. Team may just be in the middle of the biggest choke-job in the history of team/match-play golf! It was so painful to watch last night...I was almost glad that all of the rain came late yesterday and the rest of the matches were put on hold on account of darkness...it was really getting ugly and out-of-hand!!

Krishna and Sangamesh and I are planning this week's Road Trip Number Two, which is planned for Tuesday and Wednesday... We plan to go to the big Shiva Temple there...one of the twelve so-called Jyotirlinga Temples

I had never heard of it before, but, according to Krishna and Sangamesh (who is a "Pujari", or Priest, of Lord Shiva, so he oughta know!) the Srisailam Mallikarjuna Bramaramba Temple is a famous Jyotirling in Andhra Pradesh. Here is a brief history of the temple site

(Thank you, Shaivam.org !!)

"When Kumar Kartikeya returned to Kailash after completing his trip around the earth, he heard about Ganesha’s marriage from Narada. This angered him. In spite of being restrained by his parents, he touched their feet in obeisance and left for Krounch Mountain. Parvati was very distraught at having to be away from her son, implored Lord Shiva to look for their son. Together, they went to Kumara. But, Kumara went away a further three Yojanas, after learning about his parents coming after him to Krouncha Mountain. Before embarking on a further search for their son on each mountain, they decided to leave a light on every mountain they visited. From that day, that place came to be known as JyotirLinga Mallikarjuna. It is believed that Shiva and Parvati visit this place on Amavasya (No moon day) and (full Moon day) Pournami, respectively. Visiting this JyotirLinga not only blesses one with innumerable wealth, but also name and fame and fulfils all the desires.

Once, a princess named Chandravati decided to go to the Jungles to do penance and meditation. She chose Kadali Vana for this purpose. One day, she witnessed a miracle. A Kapila cow was standing under a Bilwa tree and milk was flowing from all of its four udders, sinking into the ground. The cow kept doing this as a routine chore everyday. Chandravati dug up that area and was dumb founded at what she saw. There was a self-raising Swyambhu SivaLinga. It was bright and shining like the sun rays, and looked like it was burning, throwing flames in all directions. Chandravati prayed to Shiva in this JyotirLinga. She built a huge Shiva Temple there. Lord Shankara was very pleased with her. Chandravati went to Kailash wind borne. She received salvation and Mukti. On one of the stone-inscriptions of the temple, Chandravati’s story can be seen carved out."

Needless to say, I am really looking forward to this road trip!!

First India Road Trip Part 1 - "The Jain Temple"

2010-10-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

With Amy Suzanne out of town for almost three-weeks (she returned to the States on the night of the Ganesha Immersion - - first to Orlando, Florida for some Deloitte training - - then up to Maryland for this year's Capitol Challenge Horse Show - that's where she is right now!) - our driver, Krishna, Beloved the Lhasa Apso and I - decided to "head out on the highway" for a little Road Trip. My friend Vivek, the owner of Beyond Coffee, had informed me that he had grown up in the town/city of Warangal, about 160 kilometers north of Hyderabad...and that it might just be a great place to see some Hindu temples and some nice churches. Vivek was right! It was a wonderful place and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

We look off from home last Tuesday morning...we had planned to leave at around 6:30 A.M. - - but that time became 7:00 A.M. because....well - - that's just the way things go in India! The initials are "I.S.T." - which officially stand for "India Standard Time" - - but, as one learns here pretty quickly, it really stands for "Indian Stretchable Time"!!

We tried to beat the traffic through Secunderabad...but - no such luck. Once we got to the highway it was not much faster because there are buses and trucks and auto-rickshaws out there as well...and much of the drive was to be on two-lane-two-way roads....and - let's just say that the rules for safe passing here are not quite what they are at home in the U.S. (Hoooo boy, is that ever an understatement!!) With The Bee in tow, one must be keenly aware of her need to use the "Ladies Room" - - she's really pretty good about letting you know her desires.

We stopped the first time on a side-road that lead to an engineering college, sort of out in the middle of nowhere. There were a couple of pretty rocky hills that looked like they could have been in California or Arizona...palm trees growing nearby, with reddish sandstone outcroppings. Krisha walked Bee a bit while I took a couple of snapshots.

Our first real stop was at a Jain Temple (see my photo above) in a town called "Aler" (I'm still not sure exactly what makes a "village" big enough to be called a "town" - - but whatever. This temple was literally on the other-side-of-the (train) tracks. By the way...safety barriers for roads crossing railroad tracks in India...come down a full five-minutes before the train actually arrives...people on foot just walk around...bicyclists and motorcycle riders drag their vehicles under the arm!!

I must admit to knowing very little about the workings of the religion of Jainism. What I do know is at-best an Internet-assembled working knowledge of what they are all about and basically what it is that they believe...I had no idea whatsoever what this looked like "up close and personal!! The opening chapter of William Dalrymple's "Nine Lives" follows a Jain Nun (a very strange tale...if you have not read the book, you must get it immediately!) I must also say that my visit inside the temple was one of the strangest experiences of my life...and - as you know - - I'm a fairly religious fellow, not given to speak poorly about another man's religious practices....but this was just plain strange!!.

Andhra Pradesh is not really known for having been a stronghold of the Jain religion. Hence it comes as a total surprise to learn that one of the oldest spots upon which a Jain temple has been present for over two thousand years is this temple known as Kolanupaka, which is near this town of Aler, which is about half-way on the way to Warrangal city. This is about 100 kms from the capital city of Hyderabad and is only now emerging from obscurity. Generous contributions to rebuild the temple as well as a steady stream of pilgrims from other parts of the country no doubt aid the process. Heck, even I had heard of it! Nevertheless it remains a strange, incongruous place, a Jain temple in the middle of a predominantly Vaishnava (Hindu people who predominately worship Lord Vishnu in his various forms) countryside.

The Jains, because of their belief that all life is sacred, wear these little mouth-and-nose covering "masks" while they do their worship. This is so they don't accidentally inhale a small bug while they are praying. Or, is it even prayer?? Do your own research on the Jains and you will see what I mean. Much like in Buddhism, there is no God. There are certain Jains (the monks and nuns) who take their vow of renunciation so seriously that they wear nothing at all. There were none of these Jain "religious" in the temple that day, or it would have definitely ranked as the strangest experience of my life, not just in the "top ten".

Jainism traces its roots to a succession of 24 Jinas ("those who overcome", or conqueror) in ancient East India. The first Jina is traditionally believed to have been a giant who lived 8.4 million years ago. The most recent and last Jina was Vardhamana (a.k.a. Mahavira, "The Great Hero") He was born circa 550 BC) and was the founder of the Jain community. He attained enlightenment after 13 years of deprivation. In 467 BC, he committed the act of salekhana which is fasting to death. Each Jina has "conquered love and hate, pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion, and has thereby freed `his' soul from the karmas obscuring knowledge, perception, truth, and ability..."

In this temple, there are these little alcoves, each one containing an idol of one of the Jinas, or Tirthankaras, as they are sometimes called. I must tell you that, in contrast to Hindu worship, where there is a distinct difference between the depictions of the deity being worhipped (whether it be Krishna or Durga or Shiva or Ganesha)...no matter if the depiction be in icon-form or statue - you learn quickly to tell the difference. In the case of these twenty-four Jinas, they looked identical to each other...I could see no discernable difference at all between them. The Jain worshippers walked around and around the outside "aisle" of the temple, stopping for at least ten minutes at each idol...and placing little dots of sandalwood paste (?) or something on about 15 different spots on the idol's head and torso. I watched this for quite some time, not meaning to stare...but heck...Amy and I get stared-at here in India all of the time...so "turnabout's fair play"!

Now here is where I get confused. This scene (and the preparation of prasadam and the bhajan singing that was going on in the center of the temple "sanctuary") was certainly reminiscent of Hindu worship...but as I said...there is no "God" in Jainism!! The people inside certainly looked as if they were worshipping the Jinas... It was a very strange scene indeed!! The Jain understanding of an uncreated and eternal universe leaves little room for an Almighty Creator God. Jains do, however, believe in a "perfect universal presence," as well as multiple deities who dwell in the heavens. In the Jain cosmology (from what I can understand) the realm of the gods consists of higher and lower gods. The lower act very human, and often rule as despots. Humans may call on these deities for assistance. One of the most important deities is Ambika, the Mother Goddess of Jainism. She is the patron deity of material prosperity, childbirth and protection of women.

The practicing Jain believes that, being eternal themselves, humans can also attain "perfect beingness," or divinity. The most notable feature of Jain ethics is its insistence on noninjury to all forms of life. Jain philosophy finds that every kind of thing has a soul; therefore strict observance of this precept of nonviolence (ahimsa) requires extreme caution in all activity. As I mentioned above, Jain monks frequently wear cloths over their mouths to avoid unwittingly killing anything by breathing it in, and Jain floors are kept meticulously clean to avert the danger of stepping on a living being. The inside of the temple was pretty clean by Hindu standards (more on this when I write about the Kali Temple in Warangal in an upcoming blog!!)Jains regard the intentional taking of life, or even violent thoughts, however, as much more serious. Jain philosophy posits a gradation of beings, from those with five senses down to those with only one sense.

Ordinary "householders" (folks like you and me) cannot help harming some created beings (how many mosquitoes have I smashed into goo since I've been in India??) - although Jain philosophy states that they should strive to limit themselves in this regard by refraining from eating meat, certain fruits, or honey or from drinking wine. In addition Jain householders are expected to practice other virtues, similar to those in Hinduism. The vows taken by the Jain monks are more severe. They eventually involve elements of Asceticism: fasting, peripatetic begging, learning to endure bodily discomfort, and various internal austerities constituting a Jain variety of Yoga. As I read about (in some amazement) in Dalrymple's Nine Lives book, Jainism is unique in allowing the very spiritually advanced practicioners to hasten their own death by certain practices (principally fasting) and under specified circumstances!!

I took only a few photos inside the temple grounds (including the one at the beginning of this article), which turned-out to be a greater offense than trying to wear cargo-shorts inside!! I thought this one young security guard was going to take my camera away, but I slipped it into my pocket and said I wouldn't take any more!

Obviously, I told him a fib. Here is a public link to my Facebook page Photo Album. It includes all of the photos from the entire trip, so - there will be more discussion of the latter snapshots to come in the next three blog entries...

First India Road Trip - September, 2010