In The Lap Of The Ghats

Parts 1 to 4

It was a squeezy windy and grimy ride up into the Western Ghats.

Ajuna was nauseous, being prone to the occasional bout of motion sickness. Frankie and I, in our nearly 2m tall glory, spent the whole journey wishing we were the size of children.

But the views as we headed east from Alleppey, and into the hills, were magnificent.

Tea fields

Another Keralan bus station

Kumily

You may never have heard of this place.

But you need to.

It's really beautiful.

A small town on the boundary of the huge Periyar National Park, Kumily is bustling, but not too much. There's great places to eat, the people are super friendly, and the whole town is surrounded by the most beautiful natural forest, full of wildlife.

Our guest house was in the outskirts, right alongside a beautiful patch of bush.

There's monkeys in them there hills. And squirrels. The view from our balcony.

Split bananas

A bruising journey. They slice and cook these guys up and sell them deep fried and crispy.

Comforting a dwarf Jesus

I like that idea

One morning Frankie and I strolled into the forest. We saw lots of forest.

Beautiful kollams, outside village homes

The best diner ever

We've been eating with our hands, like everyone else. And we make a right mess, unlike everyone else. Except for Ajuna, who seems to handle it perfectly.

At last, a doctor for me

These orange flags commemorate the dedication of a new Ram temple at Ayodhya, which is happening in a few days. The PM, and his propaganda juggernaut, are hyping it up to the max, and the local Hindu population are responding with fervour.

The problem is, the new temple has been built, with hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money, on the site of an important mosque, which was razed during riots in 2012.

It's an incredibly sensitive site, and Modi has positioned himself, as usual, as the champion of Hinduism, dominating all other religions in India.

But it just so happens that 14% of India's population is Muslim, which is a not-to-be-ignored 172m people, and, although the Supreme Court of India granted them another temple site 15km away, the Hindu nationalist-led government hasn't provided a brass razoo in finance to build a new mosque there.

Now isn't that a surprise.

Pilgrim buses

Reassuring

Good to see some suicide prevention attempts going on

A guy at the SIM card shop had the coolest Watermelon Jesuses.

The Western Ghats, and Kumily, are also famous for tea, coffee, and spices. They're for sale everywhere in town.

Lichen and bark, don't ask me exactly what kind

Frankie cheersing me up with his chai. I'm holding a bonda, a delicious donut-esque sorta bready pastry thingy that's not too sweet. Great with a strong chai or coffee.

Even the sun has a Keralan moustache around here

Pitch white mannequin

Divine subsidence

Holy cow

CPI political star, jumping on Che Guevara's motorcyclewagon

CPI flag, looking rather Russtic

The chipkpins were amazing

We kinldy didn't casue a fssu, because they were being so ncie about it

Bedside table wisdom. Should be on a kerchief.

Periyar National Park

The main reason we stopped up here in the Western Ghats was to check out this magnificent national park, which stretches out for almost 1,000 square kilometres, through the beautiful forested Cardamom Hills.

The best way to explore it is to take a hike, and to do that you need to take a guide.

So that's exactly what we did.

We had to wear these extremely fashionable gaters.

Beautiful bamboo forest

Herr Schniedelwutz chatting to our very own private Private, our very knowledgeable and friendly forest guide.

A local villager harvesting fruit

The forest around here is home to huge numbers of wild animals, including tigers, elephants, gaur(Indian bison), sambar (really big wild deer), sloths, and a huge array of birds and smaller mammals. But, as usual, it's difficult to see them in the thick forest.

The adventurers searching for something or other

Giant forest elder

And 2 more elders

Not long into the hike, our guide was notified that there were some elephants spotted in another area, quite a rare sighting. So we hotfooted it over there, met up with another small group of trekkers and their guide, and, after at least a half hour of quiet stalking, spotted our prey, 2 large elephants with a baby, meandering around, and munching out on trees and bushes.

As they do.

It was really magnificent to see them. One of the guides told us (twice) that the last time they were seen in this area was "six to four months ago." We were super lucky to see these magnificent beasts living completely free, in their natural environment.

But one of the guides was very jumpy though. As they had a young 'un with them, the elephants could potentially charge us, to protect it. So occasionally we had to skedaddle out of tight spaces that didn't have easy exits, and we had to stay as quiet as possible.

Try telling that to Frankie's clodhoppers.

We walked through a village burial ground. This is a recent grave. Quite a nice place to rest, if you ask me.

Given the array of potential human-killer animals in the forest, living in a small village around here is fraught with danger. Locals and their stock animals are killed every year, by tigers, elephants and the occasional other hungry or protective wild animal.

But we got out, not only alive, but totally enlivened, by the beautiful experience of being with wild ancient beasts, on their terms, and on their turf.

After that amazing experience, and after both Frankie and I had massages (he said his was one of the best held ever had, mine was just so-so), it was eventually time to leave Kumily, and head over to Tamil Nadu, a neighbouring state which covers a large chunk of southeastern India.

The bus was bopping

Frankie, Ajuna and I were afflicted with a serious case of the head wobbles, brought on by the music, and just by India.

Bad joke reactions

Beautiful greenery scenery

Madurai

Eventually we arrived in the fascinating city of Madurai.

Whilst Chennai (formerly Madras) is the capital and by far the largest city in Tamil Nadu, Madurai is often seen as its spiritual and cultural heart.

I'd called a hotel and arranged a 3 person room over the phone, but once we saw it we realised it was really bad value, and eventually found a much better one down the road for less than half the price.

We dropped off our bags and went strolling.

Chai and coffee wallah. The coffee here's great - strong and cheap.

The biggest drawcard in this city is the Meenakshi Amman temple. It's a magnificent ancient temple, one of the most important in south India. The temple is dedicated to Meenakshi, an avatar of the goddess Parvati, Shiva's wife.

There's images of Meenakshi all over the city.

Building chariots for a temple procession. Note the sparkly shops for the well-heeled.

Frankie, being from the original Black Forest, was really down with this haappening place

Selling human hair. I've actually been considering making a new merkin for myself, but this stuff wasn't bushy enough. Plus you really don't know where it's been.

Fireys having a smoko.

Nah not really ya drongo, they're devotees.

These trippy Meenakshis changed colour

More propaganda for the new Ram temple opening in Ayodhya, with Modi looking all Ghandi-ish

We found a rooftop restaurant that sold beer! Not that the beer was on the menu though. Holy places in India are generally alcohol free. But we asked, and they delivered. It was delicious.

The three of us had already discovered a basement bar the night before which was full of groups of dodgy men, and was so dark that you could hardly see yourself talking shit. We had a beer though, it'd have to be far worse than that to stop us.

So creative

Chat stall

Frankie blending in

Extolling the virtues of reading, a rapidly dying pastime all over the world.

Oh, of course! That must be the reason why my blog views are waning, I thought it was just because they were too boring. I've been considering doing Tik Tok dances instead.

I wanna be this guy. You gotta zoom in on his face, it's pretty memorable.

So many options, not enough lime

Looking unimpressed

Frankie being roped back into his tobacco addiction

Ajuna dodging cowshit again. At least it's a change from all the bullshit that she has to dodge when she's with us.

Random temple masterpiece

Awww, just be-you-tiful

Pink stink

Really colourful a-dress

Cool ez bru

Modi positioning himself as almost level with Shiva, another step in his well planned strategy to become a living god

Frankie and I having his favourite (non-alcoholic) drink. Every time we'd pass a coconut stall, he'd call out "coconut?" Without fail. It didn't matter whether or not we'd just had juices, shakes, chais and a massive meal. Ajuna and I found it very amusing.

So kind of them to think of people with disabilities, oldies and rickshaw drivers

Detectives Schaufler & Schaufler, setting out on another undercover mission

The beautiful Arulmigu Madalagopalaswamy Temple. Try saying that with a mouthful of betel nut. Colourful isn't it. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Ritzy saree store

Those chariots are coming along nicely

Cute Meenakshi again

Meenakshi Amman Temple

I first visited this temple about 15 years ago.

It's a true masterpiece of Indian architecture, and is still very much a living, breathing, vibrant place of worship.

The temple was built by a Pandyan emperor around the beginning of the 13th Century, in dedication to Meenakshi, who by that time had already been worshipped as a deity for at least 600 years.

The temple was damaged during various wars against Muslim invaders (and others), but was repaired and rebuilt along the way.

First view of one of the temple gopurams, the sculptured towers. The temple has 14 of these towers, the tallest of which is 52m high. Five of them are gateways to the two main shrines within the temple, to Meenakshi, and to Sundareshvara, an avatar of Shiva. Unfortunately the main shrines are closed to non-Hindus these days.

Each group or set of panels on the gopurams represents a Hindu tale, and the four tallest gopurams themselves depict over 4,000 tales.

Besides no shoes being allowed in the temple grounds, no electronics were allowed either. Paid servants stored our phones for us. So no pics from inside.

But when I went there last time there were no restrictions, and I took loads of pics, so here's a selection from then.

You can see from these old pics that the temple really needs a new paint job now.

I'll zoom in for yuz

Every night the statue of Meenakshi is ritually moved by the Brahmins (priests) over to Sundareshvara's pad, in a lively procession, and is moved back the next morning. This allows the deities to be together as husband and wife every night, "enlivening" them, so they can retain their energetic power to positively impact devotee lives.

The ritual procession sometimes takes place outside the inner temple grounds, and is really cool to watch. Sorry about the blurry vid frames.

Thirumalai Neyakar Mahal

One day we went cruising out to visit this amazing palace, built in 1635 by King Thirumalai Nayak, blending both Dravidian and Islamic architectural styles.

We timed it during a school visit.

There's a huge number of ancient historic artworks in there.

I said hello to a child, and then it was on. Ajuna with her fans.

With the teachers

Varanasi

You know, India is impossible to easily define, because it's so many things.

You could see a whole bunch of pics from different parts of this huge country and you'd have no indication whatsoever that they were taken in India.

But there is a quintessential India in many people's minds, and that's the India that you find in the Hindu heartland of Uttar Pradesh, especially in the most sacred city on the planet for Hindus, Varanasi.

This city is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Lying on the banks of the sacred Ganges River, it's one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the country, is the most auspicious place in the country to die, and it's an important centre for religious and cultural education, as well as music.

Varanasi is known for its many ghats, large areas of steps and platforms leading down to the river, where pilgrims and priests have been bathing and performing rituals alongside the holy river for millennia.

These days Varanasi has also become a hotspot for Indian tourism, with more than 50 million of the buggers visiting the city this year alone, so far.

And to add a huge serve of spice into the mix, when we were there it coincided with the opening of the massive new Ram temple in Ayodhya, only a couple of hundred clicks up the road, which was visited by a half a million pilgrims just on the first day, and was massively promoted by the government as an important national event.

The temple dedication, which PM Modi used as the perfect platform to promote himself as the new Father of Hinduism, was broadcast all over India, including on massive screens set up in major intersections in Varanasi. Massive audio speakers were set up all over the city, ejaculating religious songs and other music ad nauseum, at earbusting volume levels. It really was next level intense.

No one mentioned that the new temple was built on the site of a historic razed mosque.

So besides all the tourists, for the first couple of days we were there the streets of the holy city were also packed with tens of thousands of zealous (and sometimes over-zealous) orange-decked pilgrims.

They marched around carrying their orange flags, fervently chanting Jay Sri Ram! all over the shop. They were pretty much all men too, and you can probably imagine the vibe, when you get gangs of young excitable men racing up and down streets, proud of their new temple, their Hindu nationalist Prime Minister, and their great country of India, the greatest land on earth, blah blah blah.

You know, the in-yer-face nationalistic Australia Day-type vibe that happens every Invasion Day.

Unfortunately, nationalism appears to be rising everywhere.

Orange madness. I thought there was enough of that in the US.

Street scenes in the newer part of the city.

Astroturf dinosaur. Yeah really.

Despite the long Hindu history of Varanasi, it was, like most of the whole of the Indian subcontinent, under Muslim rule for long periods. The beautiful Islamic-influenced architecture of some of Varanasi's ancient buildings is one legacy of this.

About to dive into the sardine can of the old city.

Phil had booked us an amazing old-school guest house close to the main ghat in the old city, Dashashwamedh Ghat.

The view from our rooftop. There were boats everywhere, it was madness. Every single Indian tourist seemed to be taking a boat ride.

The room Phil and I shared, complete with monkey-proof screens, which was handy, because there were klapetomaniacs everywhere.

Phil had spent time with Vijay in Jabalpur, and was due to meet up with us again late on the first night of our arrival in Varanasi, so Frankie, Ajuna and I went out to eat, and to check out the city for the night.

The whole city was pumping, the main roads and the laneways packed to the nines with Indian tourists, pilgrims, and Ram-Bam-Thank-You-Ma'am devotees.

Bustling laneways, full to the brim with hassly touts. As were the bigger streets.

Old school hair salon

Building behind Manmahal Ghat

Never seen a black Coke sign before

Steamy pleasure.

The Burning Ghats

Wandering down a small laneway later that night, we saw our first dead body swish past.

A small group of men was holding it above their heads on a small bamboo stretcher, the body wrapped in white cloth, and draped in shiny colourful fabrics, garnished with marigolds. The men were chanting Jay Sri Ram loudly over and over, as they came past quickly.

And it wasn't long before the next body passed.

And then the next.

We realised where we were, and followed the small processions to what is known as the "burning ghat," Manikarnika Ghat, the main place where bodies are cremated in this holy city.

Hindus believe that if they die and are cremated in Varanasi, and their ashes scattered in the sacred Ganga there, they will attain moksha, or enlightenment, and be free of the endless cycle of life and death. Forever.

So many many people come here to die.

We went to the ghats, and stood watching for a long time, forced into silence by the gravity of what we were witnessing. Pretty much everyone was silent.

Endless piles of wood, for the burning rituals.

It's hard to describe the impact of watching human bodies burn right before your eyes. Just a day or two before, these burning corpses were actually living and breathing people.

It takes time to take it all in.

It makes you realise the completely fickle nature of our lives, and how important it is to enjoy and appreciate them while they're here.

Live life to the fullest, and appreciate and love those around us, because before we know it, they'll be gone.

And so will we.

Before the bodies are laid on the funeral pyres, they're taken down to the Ganga and dipped in the sacred water. The colourful fabrics are removed, and the bodies, draped in white cloth, are placed on the wooden pyres, covered with more wood, and the cremation fire lit. Ghee is dripped all over the fire, to aid the burning. If the family has money, sandalwood is burnt.

Sometimes the white cloth flares up independently, and parts of the body become visible as they burn. These moments were the most powerful. Seeing bodies actually going up in smoke is an unforgettable reminder of just what we are, and exactly where we're going.

Years ago it was forbidden to take any pictures whatsoever at the burning ghats, but these days everyone seems to do it. I've put in a few pictures here, but, out of respect for the families, you can't see any human remains.

In total juxtaposition, there was a sound and light show going on close to the burning ghats, with colourful imagery and loud commentary celebrating the greatness of Hinduism.

It seemed so meaningless after what we'd just experienced at the burning ghat.

Eventually we walked along the ghats back home.

Later in our stay we went back to Manikarnika Ghat, and to another cremation ghat, with Phil.

He arrived late on our first night, and we had a few more days to dive into the chaos and the spectacle of this crazy, sacred, and wildly interesting city.

We didn't know it at the time, but it turns out that the place was gonna prove to be a complete knockout for the lot of us❤️

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