Sikkim - monasteries around Gangtok

There is something magical about a monastery that cannot be explained. Spinning the prayer wheels, we entered the Lingdum or Ranka Monastery near Gangtok .While the lamas were in the midst of their evening chants, some of the younger boys were practicing their ritualistic dances in the courtyard. As they swirled around, their movements synchronized with the sonorous music that came from the monastery .A boy lama was gently caned by his senior as he did not get his steps right.

Watching them perform, I remembered some of my earlier trips to Sikkim when I had visited a couple of monasteries. Steeped in myriad myths, they had a mystical aura about them .Our first stop had been to Emchey monastery, built atop a ridge near Gangtok, . We were admiring the views of the city, when we heard this story from our guide. 

The 19^th century Gompa was the home of a flying saint who had initially built his hermitage here. A tantric called Lama Drutob Karpo with powers of levitation had flown in here from South Sikkim and had blessed this site.  Even today, people from Gangtok believe that the Gompa called the Solitary Temple contains and preserves the spirits of protective deities which take care of them .

A little further from Gangtok is the older Rumtek Monastery which is one of the largest in Sikkim . We were awed, not just by the sheer size of the monastery, but by the heavy security patrolling the site. The silence however was all pervading as we walked around the Dharma Chakra Complex, the Institute of Buddhist studies and the Golden Stupa.

Our guide explained that the monastery was the seat of the Karmapas, who belonged to one of the schools of Buddhism called Karma kagyu . Rebuilt by the 16^th Karmapa in the 1960s ,who took refuge here after his exile from Tibet, it was originally founded in the 16^th century, Even today precious relics along with the remains of the Karmapa are preserved here in the Golden Stupa.

The Karmapas are also called the Black Hat Lamas, on account of the Black Crown that symbolizes their power. According to legends, the first Karmapa was visited by several dakinis or the Buddhist versions of  fairies  and each of them gave him a strand of their hair as a gift. These strands were later woven together into a black hat and is handed down by one Karmapa to another. My guide explained that the Black Hat is kept at Rumtek Monastery and it has to be either worn by the Karmapa or tucked safely in a box for they believe that otherwise, it would fly away.

But the monastery was soon mired in controversy and sectarian violence over the selection of the 17^th karmapa which led to heavy security. As the guide finished the narration, I looked around at the peaceful monastery set amidst the mountains and found it ironic that it had to be protected by men with guns

This story was published in my column, Inside Story last week

Deepavali Bonanza

Ive been in for a lot of surprises this year and another one greeted me today. I had been out the entire day and was rather tired when I finally got back home about a couple of hours ago. A parcel had landed in the afternoon for me and the cover mentioned it was from Singapore Tourism. When I opened it, I found a box of chocolates with a Deepavali greeting card waiting for me. A few months ago, STB had invited me to cover their Youth Olympic Games and now, they were kind enough to remember me and send me this gift. Thanks STB...Im happy to share this gift virtually with all my readers .

A quick update on some other interesting meets and activities happenning around me . I met blogger Deepak aka magic eye a few weeks ago in Bangalore and lo, he posts on a Bangalore darshan. Sikkim trip organised by Club Mahindra for the bloggers ( I help them with the editorial for CLAY - their blog ) also led me to meet some very interesting bloggers and friends .

 I was briefly away in Madras and got back yesterday and received a Nokia N8 mobile for review. The interesting bit was that I got to participate in Bangalore Urban Spree" where we photographed the vibrant spirit of Bangalore on our mobile  and shared it on twitter and other social media tools. I still have the N8 for review and I met some cool tech bloggers as well yesterday while we all binged on pizzas, courtesy Bloggers Mind, who organised the events. 

Now, coming to the not so exciting news - my travel calender for November , December looks bleak..so does 2011 as of now..I do wish there are more Deepavali Bonazas around..anybody out there who would like me to travel to some exotic place in return for some blog posts and tweets and updates on FB ? I hope someone out there is listening..:)

Sikkim - a walk in the clouds

You can write an ode to the mist in Sikkim or lose yourself in the fog. But the clouds tell a story of their own. You see them floating from one mountain to another, carrying your thoughts along with them. Sometimes, they just rise from nowhere - just when you think the sun has set and the dusk is here, casting a dark shadow on the sky, a lone cloud shines like a knight, with a flash of brilliance .

Memories of Sikkim

I woke up with a groggy start today after a rather dramatic day yesterday and my thoughts went back to Sikkim. I was there for just a few days, staying at the Club Mahindra's Royal Demazong property near Gangtok and my only crib was I just didnt have enough of it. Being on the road took most of the time and I would have , given an option just preferred to stare at the mountains from the balcony all day. At 5.30 am, when the mountains were still drenched in rain, the whistling thrush used to greet me with a song . I woke up with a sore throat and a heavy sinus, but couldnt resist standing in the balcony, losing myself in the mountains

River Teesta - Sikkim

These were a couple of pictures that I took of the River Teesta in Sikkim during my last trip..Cant wait to go there again. Its been more than four years and I didnt even have a analog SLR then - just a simple aim and shoot. This is a very short trip and its organised by Club Mahindra as part of their bloggers trip every year. Im looking forward to meeting the bloggers and visiting Gangtok again .

Inside Story - Onake Kindi - rock art from a prehistoric site

We passed through lush fields as we drove down from Anegundi.    There were neither huts nor shops in sight. All that we could see were columns of boulders randomly stacked on top of each other.  Our auto stopped in front of some paddy fields as my guide Virupaksha announced our destination. � Onake Kindi - This is a prehistoric site madam .�

The sun�s rays beat down rather mercilessly as we crossed the fields and climbed our way through a steep narrow pathway in a rocky terrain. The path led us to a wide plateau of tall grass , where we found ourselves ringed in by hillocks. There was no one in sight. �Keep a watch for snakes,� came a word of caution,  as we wondered where we had landed.

The idea of heading to Onake Kindi  came up when I asked Virupaksha about  megalithic dolmens in a site  called Mourya Mane . I learnt that it was much further and high up in the hills and Virupaksha convinced me that he would instead take me to a prehistoric site closer to Anegundi, which had some rock paintings.

As we walked through the grass and looked around the boulders, we found a rock with some red and white markings, which had some stick figures of humans and some animals like the bull. In another boulder was a circular diagram which looked like drawings of sun and moon, but we could not figure out the symbolism behind it.

On my return to Bangalore, I started researching on the prehistoric sites near Anegundi and learnt from Professor  Ravi Korisettar , an authority on the subject that the rock painting  belonged to the Iron Age,  somewhere around the period of about 1500 BC .

(PIC : Aarti K)

 �The faded circular painting is a very rare depiction of a megalithic style of burial. If you look closely, you can see a human body in the middle and a lot of burial goods, surrounded by a  stone circle� said Professor Korisettar , from  the  Department of  History and Archaeology from   Karnatak University in Dharwad.

The sun and moon like symbols , the ladder and the water depicted on the rock probably referred to their various beliefs .� We can only interpret these images; the sun and moon for instance can be seen in some hero stones as well which probably suggests immortality,�  added Prof Srikumar Menon, a Faculty of Architecture from the Manipal Institute of Technology.

You will find the bull in almost all paintings . It is a reference to the bull cult, which was a male fertility symbol, � explained Professor Korisettar , talking about the symbolism in rock art.

I had not understood the significance  of the paintings when I had seen those crude red sketches on the rocks. However as I delved deeper into it, I realized that we were probably looking at some of the most ancient forms of beliefs that are rather deep rooted within us  today.

This story was published in the Metro Plus today in my column, Inside Story . I thank Professors Ravi KoriSettar and Srikumar Menon for sharing a lot of insights with me and Santosh Martin for putting me on to them. Its amazing to see how every corner of our country is so rich and it makes travel a wonderful experience for a simple vagabond like me . 

Hampi - A perspective

Mahanami Dibba - Hampi

Built by king Krishnadevaraya to celebrate his victory over the rulers of Udayagiri, this is the Mahanami Dibba. Virupaksha, my guide told me that this is where the kings presided over a ceremony or a festival, especially during Navaratri . As this post coincides with Navratri, I couldnt but help wondering about the celebrations in that era. Climbing up, I saw the entire landscape of this forgotten town, lost in ruins. I took this picture when I was leaving the Royal Enclosure. It just made me think how we are so tiny and our achievements , even more insignificant and yet, we gloat over them. Even a mighty empire like Vijaynagar had to crumble one day.

For more beautiful skies around the world, click here 

Hampi - Photo essay on a nomadic life

We met a few nomads in Hampi and the women folk shyly spoke to us. They are mainly from  Belgaum, but they hardly have a destination called home. They move from villages to villages, often working as shepherds or rear cattle and live in temporary settlements. Their belongings are usually their horses and a few vessels which they carry along with their bundle of clothes.

They work in and around the villages in Hampi until the monsoons are over and then they begin their journey towards their home again. However, when you ask them whether they are headed home , they just smile and say no..When pressed for an answer as to where they are headed, they simply say - " To the next village."

India through my eyes - rustic life

While returning from Daroji, we stopped by at a small village near Hampi to have tea. The locals gathered around us and the mothers asked us to take photographs of their kids. They were extremely happy to see the photographs and within minutes, the entire village, which probably consists of a few houses had gathered around us. As I left the hamlet , I saw the happy faces of these people and told myself that happiness is not that elusive after all. 

More birds from Hampi

There are several birds in and around Hampi and Daroji - we used to wake up to the call of the Grey Francolin or see the red spur fowl disappearing amongst the rocks . Sometimes we used to see quails running away like balls of cotton and  disappearing into the undergrowth.  I was unable to get some good pictures of these birds , but here is a photo-feature on some of the others that posed for me .

Laughing dove and ashy crowned sparrow lark above, while a pair of Eurasian collared dove below.

A white browed wagtail and a wire tailed swallow

Scaly breasted munia followed by rufous tailed lark

A sandpiper followed by a long tailed shrike

A red wattled lapwing

And finally we saw a row of blue tailed bee- eaters in Anegundi..a pair was on the wire and then a trio and within minutes there were close to half a dozen of them...

Birding in Hampi - the pied kingfisher and the commonkingfisher

There are many surprises in Hampi. Everytime I visit this magical place, I see something new. Last year, I did some extensive birding there and found that there were quite a few migratory birds around as well . This time around, I was a little too early for the migratory season, but I did see quite a few birds.

This post is largely about the two varieties of kingfishers that I spotted during the trip. While the regular white breasted kingfisher eluded my lens, I managed to click some pictures of the pied kingfisher while it was fishing near a canal enroute to Daroji . I also saw a pair of the uncommon common kingfisher, which are much smaller and rarer  near the kalyani of the Vittala Temple at Hampi.

As you are aware, Jungle Lodges and Resorts have opened their property in Hampi and they offer birding and nature walks in addition to sightseeing of monuments of Hampi. Please let me know if you would be interested in holidaying in Hampi as Novemeber onwards the season begins and its a great time to spot birds and also see bear cubs at Daroji in addition to the splendour of Hampi and Anegundi . 

300 and more - would like your feedback

In the last  couple of months, Ive been travelling rather extensively and some of these overseas trips have been rather unplanned. The Singapore trip was rather a surprise and then I decided to add Bali along with it at the last minute as Borneo and Cambodia, my initial choices did not quite work out. My trip to Hong Kong was a family trip - again, a last minute affair .All three islands have been very different from each other . The journeys have also been very different in nature. So, while I start  posting about these destinations here, I  wanted to know your thoughts on what you would like to read

- Would you prefer first hand experiences and narratives or articles that I write for other publications ?
- Would you prefer photo features ?
- May be you would like short snippets and insights into sights and sounds of a country ?
- Or just little things that interested me about a place ?
- Probably you would prefer a guide book style - what to do, where to go..
- Maybe you would like to hear more about people than places..

Its just that I realized that after  four years of backpacker  and  with more than 300 posts, blogging is more about being reader focussed than just personal trivia. This does not mean that I will stop posting the way I am doing currently, but some feedback from all of you would be deeply appreciated in the comments sections . Thanks for being around .

Bali - Towering sculptures

The first thing that strikes you about Bali is its art. Its the only island in Indonesia where Hinduism is predoninant and there are temples in every nook and corner and every house has a courtyard filled with temples. But what strikes you are the towering sculptures and statues on the road , inspired by Ramayana and Mahabharata. The giant , Ghatotkacha, is one of the first you would encounter when you step out of the airport. The other characters are Bheema, Karna among others. "Take a picture madam," said my taxi driver ," The roads are going to be widened soon and all these may be removed or destroyed." Sounds familiar, doesnt it !

To see more skies around the world, click here 

Hampi - A quest of a different kind

We climbed the Matanga Hill in Hampi , looking for the yellow throated bulbul. This bird  had made the rocky terrains its habitat and has been defying me every trip. This time I around, I stood there in pin drop silence waiting , looking for it. After a long wait, Virupaksha ,my guide got a call and as he moved away, the bird flew in and perched on the branch ,right above my head. I didnt move or breathe, fearing the bird would fly away,which it did within seconds, only to reappear again on the next branch. This time around, I managed a couple of quick pictures. If you are a birder, you should not miss it !

A beautiful poem by Ugich Konitari aka Suranga Date on this post was in the comments section. I thought I will share it with all of you here. Thanks a ton for the poem :)

I've seen her often.
Like me ,
she often flies;
sometimes faster 
than me across oceans
and sometimes 
amazingly slow
to Chennai.....

I've seen her 
on 
the Matangi hill.
but 
wanted to meet her
alone;
and so 
my friend 
sat on a tower
directing calls to her guide.

Although a bulbul,
I watched
like a hawk,
straining 
at the
fashionable yellow,
and the minute 
she was alone,
I flew in
to meet her .....

She thinks 
she stood in 
pin drop silence,
but I could clearly hear
the beating
of her heart .....

:-))