Dharma, Karma and one’s individual Heaven and Hell

 From my study of Sanatan scriptures, this is the pithy summary of dharma and karma:

1. Dharma is the scale of measure to decide whether an ‘action’ is right or wrong. 
   
2. A ‘thought’ can also be evaluated similarly as actions using dharma but carry much much less weightage as it remains at a different plane (mental) than action (which is physical).
3. A ‘word’ is closer to ‘action’ than ‘thought’ and is also aligned to right or wrong based on dharma. But it’s weightage is comparatively lesser than action.
4. Karma is accrued to an individual from her thoughts, words, and actions; for the good ones the person accrues good karma, and she accrues bad karma for the bad ones. Good and bad karma do not get mutually cancelled; rather both good and bad karma remain accrued in one individual’s account to be annulled by their ‘consequence’.
5. Heaven and hell are not places one goes to after death; they are states of our existence right here in the current life as a consequence for good and bad karma respectively.
6. One goes to these states based on two things - one’s karmic account in the current life and residual remnants of unsettled karma from past lives.

Based on the above paradigm, each of us can assess our thoughts, words and actions in this life, and get an idea of our karmic account accrued therefrom. As one is unaware of karmic account of past lives, it is best to not bother about it but have that understanding in the back of one’s mind to make sense of fortune and misfortune that occurs irrelevant to one’s thoughts, words and actions in the current life.

It is completely pointless to focus on others’ karmic accounts; the only thing it achieves is making one oblivious of one’s current state of existence (heavenish or hellish) leading to continued lack of understanding of the concept of dharma and karma, and perpetuating the cycle of rebirth for one’s SELF. 

Remaining focused only on one’s own karmic account takes one to higher levels of awareness where one starts to recognize one’s state of existence (heavenish or hellish), and one tries to reduce bad karma by internalizing dharma. 

How do you assess your karmic account? While you analyze, remember to focus ONLY ON YOURSELF:

1.  Can you truthfully, dispassionately and objectively summarize the rights and wrongs in your thoughts, words and actions using a dharmic scale?
2. Can you associate your states of existence in your life thus far to the accumulated good and bad karma in your karmic account from your right and wrong thoughts, words and actions?
3. Do you find more heavenish or hellish experiences in your life thus far? 
4. Take a moment to take ownership for your state of existence thus far.
5. Acknowledge that the control on your quality of life lies in your own hands in terms of your thoughts, words and actions. 
6. Proceed with caution to make a positive difference to your thoughts, words and actions form this moment onward, and become proficient in using the dharmic scale to assess each thought, word and action.
7. If your quality of life remains hellish, leave it as it is while understanding that it is a consequence of your past karma.

Mallikarjuna Swamy - SriShailam

With a fragrant name like that, and being comparatively closer than Rameshwaram to my start point Bangalore, it was easy for me to pick on SriShailam as the first Jyotirling I was going to visit in my plan to go on pilgrimage to all Jyotirlings. Besides I had already visited Rameshwaram; although a long time back I still remembered vividly the long pillared corridor of that grand temple.

I booked my ticket as late as the afternoon on Thursday 25th March on Red Bus as late as 5 pm while bringing my busy work day to an end and left home around 7 pm after doing some quick packing and having a shower. I was supposed to board the bus from Yelahanka and was wondering where exactly was the pick-up point when the bus conductor called me on my cell phone number which I had shared with Red Bus and informed me that it would be in front of the Mahindra showroom and he was running 10-15 minutes late. I reached Mahindra showroom by 7:40 pm and sat in the chairs on the varandah of the next door Cafe Coffee day wondering if I must order something because I was using their infrastructure. The waiter came out but did not bother me at all; he just cleared the table next to me which was recently vacated by some people and politely walked away. It became 8:15 pm and I thought of checking where the bus was and called the bus conductor. He mentioned that he was at Hebbal fly over and should be at the pick up point in 15 minutes. I used that time to order a coffee and a small snack from Cafe Coffee day, and was just about taking the last sip of my coffee when the bus arrived. The friendly conductor called me on my cell phone just as the bus pulled in, he saw me respond on my cell phone from the varndah and waved his hands from the slowing bus to indicate me to come to where the bus was stopping near the sidewalk. I walked over and boarded the bus; thus I commenced my pilgrimage to all Jyotirlingas of the great Bharat Varsha on the Chaitra Shukla-paksha Ekadasi Vikram Samvat 2077.

My seat was up in the front where I sat but taking advantage of the lots of vacant seats in the rear I asked the conductor if I could take the last row and lie down for the night. This was a bus with reclining seats, so there was no possibility to get a good sleep with back fully stretched. But I thought I could actually get some sleep if I lied down completely on the last row which was perhaps the only place to do so other than the central aisle of the bus. It was in fact a good idea and I could get intermittent sleep as the bus made its way to SriShailam with two authorized halts in the dead of the night at Ananthapur, and Kurnool. 

At the first halt which came around mid-night, it was time for the driver change; the friendly conductor took over the wheels while the driver that was driving thus far went off instantly to sleep in the seat behind the driver's chair - oh yes, that was another place to stretch fully although it was not available to passengers. The second halt Kurnool was because it was a big bus depot en-route; here I bought a bottle of mineral water to replenish my empty bottle.         

We had also had a dinner halt a shortly after we had cleared the Bangalore suburbs where I ate a dosa for dinner; I had been fasting the whole day for Ekadasi and the coffee and snack earlier at Cafe Coffee day was the only food I had eaten besides some fruits in the day. 

The bus stopped for the final time at a small mini-town about 2 hours short of our destination where the drive informed that we could had our breakfast; I had a plate of idli vada and chai. We arrived at SriShailam around 9:30 am, and my first task was to find a place to stay as I had made no reservations.

Perched overlooking the Krishna river valley about 180 km eastward from its confluence with the Tungabhadra river (which is near Kurnool), SriShailam is a small town which is entirely built around this ancient pilgrimage site of Lord Shiva. It is considered the second most holy Jyotirling after Somnath in Gujarat. The river makes a significant double meander around the Nallamalla hills and a medium sized dam has been built on the river in the preceding decades thus reducing the flow of the once majestic river significantly. Restricted by the hilly terrain which is interspersed with numerous tributaries of the Krishna river, the pilgrimage town is reachable only by road. The drive from Bangalore to Kurnool through Anantapur is on a flat plane but from here onwards the terrain changes to hilly. The approaching gentle hills give way into a valley at Atmakur after which the gradient becomes steeper as we traverse through the Nallamalla ranges; here the land route passes through the Ngarjunasagar tiger reserve which is said to have close to 50 tigers. Being on a plateau like feature, SriShailam gets quite warm and the temperature was touching 40 degrees Celsius while I visited 25-27 March 2021. So, although I was carrying my 2-man pup-tent it was not a great idea to camp anywhere in the open and spend the night.                   

I walked over to the nearby Choultry - a no frills resting place for pilgrims usually built by contributions from a specific community, and enquired about accommodation. I found that it was not possible for a single traveler to get any accommodation at a public stay place; it was available only for two or more people. I found that strange and asked what options I had to which the front desk person responded that I could either get an exception letter from the police or go to stay at a dormitory meant for single persons. I did not fancy going to the police unless absolutely necessary, so walked the 800 meters with my back pack to the only place for single travelers Nilakanteshwara dormitory. 

The structure was a large semi circular dome with hundreds of beds with bare mattresss lined up. There were additional bare mattresses piled high onto one side and to the other side was a line of 2 by 2 feet lockers for safekeeping of personal belongings. One could reserve a bed with mattress and locker for Rs. 100, and only mattress and locker for Rs. 50. That was very reasonable but it looked like a tough proposition for night as the day was already hot by 10 am. I was also suspicious of the mosquito situation at night. So I reassessed my options and thought of making that trip to the police station seeking an exception letter to get a single room for myself instead of renting a bed in this dormitory. With the help of the front desk person I called for an auto-rickshaw and negotiated for him to take me around to all the tourist sights around town and started on my auto-rickshaw tour of SriShailam, Our first stop was the police station.

The smart and fit Sub-Inspector was friendly and cordial; I disclosed my ex-Military identity and showed him my ID just to get additional positivity in our conversation. He shared that he had also tried to join the NDA and could not make it, and tried for joining the police as a second choice. I was curious to know the reason for not allowing single occupancy and was shocked to find that it was because of a number of suicides by single people in the past. It seems voluntarily giving up life in a powerful place of worship especially a Jyotirling like SriShailam was believed to bring special merits and people kept trying to find ways to commit suicide in such places. Disallowing single occupancy to visitors was therefor a necessary precaution. The Sub-Inspector was willing to give me an exception after speaking to my family members and making sure that they were aware of my visit. I called my father on my phone and the Sub-Inspector spoke with him to confirm that they were aware of my visit and fine with my staying alone. Per his instructions, I wrote an application making this request for which I borrowed paper and pen from him; and I was given a permission slip duly stamped by the police station. 

Armed with this I headed out to do some sight seeing with my friendly auto-rickshaw driver. We stopped by each and every notable place including 5 temples, one place of meditation where Adi Shankaracharya had stopped during his grand national tour in the 8th century, the SriShailam dam near and reservoir, and finally the monumental memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In 1677, three years after his coronation as the Chhatrapati of Bharat, Shivaji had passed through SriSailam on his campaign for Eastern Karnatak and Tamil Nadu where he had met extraordinary success in routing the Islamic rulers there. Legend has it that Shivaji had entered deep tapasya at SriShailam and had been so spiritually engaged at SriShailam that he wanted to give up his life there; however, the mother Goddess appeared before him, blessed him and presenting him a sword asked him to continue his great campaigns to protect the Sanatan Dharma.    

After all the sight seeing I stopped for lunch at Hotel Apporva and invited the friendly auto-riskshaw driver to join me which he accepted. After a fairly decent South Indian meal platter, I started to look for a place to rest and reached the Koundinya Gowda Choultry near the bus stand where I had first made inquiries on arrival. They were now happy to take me in and gave me a single non-AC room for Rs. 500. I was too tired to shop around although the next door Kakatiya Choultry could have been a better option going by its looks from outside. I just lied down to take a nap not bothering about the slow speed of the fan which did not have a regulator switch to increase its speed. After resting for about an hour I took a shower, got my room changed to another with a working fan and walked over to get my first darshan of Mallikarjun Swamy the name by which Lord Shiva is called here. The weather had turned pleasant after the sunset but it was still bright with the ambient light and the gold plated inner-most tower of the temple looked magnificent in natural evening light accentuated with the halogen lights which had been switched on. 

I meanwhile had to change into a dhoti and anga-vastra which I was carrying with myself and left my back pack having change clothes in the cloak room for Rs.10 and my cell phone in the adjacent storage for another Rs.10. The throng of devotees was not much at this time of the day and I so enjoyed my first darshan of the deity and the golden inner sanctum that I went for a second darshan after a walk around the temple complex. I also had two darshans of Bhramaramba Devi the name by which Goddess Parvati is referred here. I offerred bela patram on the deities and partook the prasad of boiled chana that was offerred at the exit. I also bought a temple laddu for Rs.20 which I enjoyed eating at the grassy lawn near Bhramaramba Devi's temple; to reach there I had requested the police people manning the abhiskekam gates in the rear of the temple which one passes on the route back from the exit of the temple to the entrance area, and they had been kind enough to allow me in.

On the way to to my room I purchased some fruits as I was not interested in eating a full dinner. After having some fruits, I pitched my pup-tent inside the room to avoid any mosquitoes and retired for the night. It was a bit warm but not at all uncomfortable with the fan running in high speed.        

Next morning, I got ready and headed out to Patal Ganga which is what River Krishna is called here. One has to climb down 550 steps to reach the river flowing down in the valley while the town was perched on the plateau above. I preferred to take the ropeway paying Rs.65 and found it to be a better option as the day was already warming up by 8 am when I headed back up. I went very close to the water but did not get in to join the hundreds of devotees dipping in the water as it did not look particularly inviting with the flotsam. Back on top, I headed to the same hotel Apoorva to have breakfast. 

The familiar waiter whom I had tipped Rs.10 yesterday welcomed me with a smile and soon I discovered that he was an Odia as I overheard his conversation with his colleague. I engaged them in a conversation and learnt from them that majority of people in the hospitality industry all over Andhra and in fact many other places in Southern India were from Odisha. I ate an onion masala dosa which was hot with podi paste and could have been made better. But it was filling and eatable food which I finished with a cup of coffee that was served in old copper cup and tumbler. I returned to my room for a shower after which I proceeded to the Mallikarjun Swamy temple for my second trip and third darshan. 

This time I walked from my room to the temple in my dhoti and anga-vastra and had a much different view in bright day light. I took time to observe the architecture and went to the closed gopuram on the rear of the temple which was open for access but most people did not venture there as it was away from the main courtyard. The exquisite architecture in the granite stone has escaped all devastation and damage that one sees in many other Hindu temples; this is perhaps because of the inaccessibility of the terrain and the lack of any centers of commerce around the temple town that did not attract any Islamic attackers to this temple. I had two rounds of darshans of Mallikarjun Swamy at a slow pace and one darshan of Bhramaramba Devi after which I returned to my room.

It was about 2 pm now and I decided to skip lunch and enjoy eating the remaining fruits which was really nice in the heat. I then rested a bit, started packing my stuff. I was out at the bus stand well on time to board my bus at 4:30 pm. The ride back was eventless and I reached Bangalore at 5 am next morning.    

Mallikarjun Swamy’s linga is about 6 to 8 inches tall, and less than a foot in diameter. Set in a gold embroidered background and framed in a gold plated facade, he looks marvellous and majestic in his grand golden inner sanctum. It is believed that a Siddha Purusha can see a shaft of golden rays emanating from Jyotirlings and rise to space. Although I could not see such a shaft of light, I was filled with a sense of awe to the grandiose of the universe, deep appreciation of the spirit of human endeavour, and surrender to the ever unfolding mystery one perceived in ones consciousness called life.               

Rediscovering Mother, Mother-tongue and Motherland

 It’s only after spending several years in Canada as a wide-eyed immigrant lapping up succour in the much advertised land of milk and honey that I started to see the need to reflect on who I was, what I was doing in Canada, and what would fulfilment be like for me. So clearly Canada did not fulfil me; 6 months of alien cold weather, living the secluded life of an 1.5% extremely visible minority, and bereft of cultural belonging were un-ignorable factors. Materialistically Canada was more than rewarding both in terms of earning potential, opportunity to leverage oneself  in the financial markets to invest further, and of course the clinically defined great quality of life with good infrastructure, polite public manners and evolved civic sense. But individually for me all these factors fell short of making it ‘home’ for me. 

That led to a search of my identity - both in the narrow personal sense as well as in the broad human/sentient sense, and a search of dharma - which erroneously is referred to as religion but at its core is about natural principles of life itself. After a long process of research, analysis, discovery and a bit of inspired internal articulation I settled for a definition of myself as under from a narrow to a broader identification of the SELF:

Odia, Indian, Global citizen

Brown, Indian, Asian, Colourful person 

Male, Gender neutral, Family oriented person

Hindu, Sanatan, Natural principle based human 

It also became clear to me that human existence is but a blip in eternal time, albeit a particularly bright one. Yet, only nature has made it possible to be as such and I wanted to be physically and spiritually close to the cradle of human civilization; the land of the monsoon - Bharat. 

It took some time to find my way back to my land of origin Bharat but nature made is possible once I centered myself on that desire. The full circle of having the deep itch to quit the Indian Army, get into a corporate career, reach the long coveted foreign shores, and return to India after spending close to a decade in Canada firmly established it in my mind that salvation lied within and was only as far as its realization or re-discovery. 

Even before the possibility of returning to India  became confirmed, I had been building up all that I wanted to do once I return to India and these ideas had occurred to me:

Pilgrimage to the long standing centers of auspiciousness and energy - the 12 Jyotirlingas, the 51 Shakti-peeths including the 18 Maha-shakti peeths, the Char-dham, the chhota Char-dham 

Review the sites of great archeological finds

Visit the majestic Himalayas, the holy grand rivers, the mighty mountains, the serene forests, the wonderful beaches, the rejuvenating waterfalls

Experience closely my home state of Odisha - the great Oudra desha with its magnificent temples and un-conquered spirit, and serve its people in all ways possible

Spend time with my parents and take care of them, be closer in touch with my siblings and their families, and my childhood friends

Delight of delights is that I am able to start doing some of the above listed activities. I will write about my experiences from each of these activities as and when possible. 

What I learnt from my brief stay at Sivanada Yogashram, Val-Morin, Quebec

I had been thinking of giving myself a yoga vacation for quite a while and made it happen the weekend of July 8 -10, 2016. The experience was mixed - it turned out to be no surprise on one hand, and a shock on another; essentially it was a‎ strong reminder of all the things I already know I should do, and also how I am farthest prepared in my life from doing them. I am hoping these notes will remain handy to remind me when I forget these thoughts as I get back into the hustle and bustle of daily life. They are also meant to serve as a realistic picture of the experience should anyone of you try doing it, and hopefully it will help us think better about life and the true meaning of everything.

I had signed up for a course called 'How to bring more energy into your life' for which the time to report was by 3pm on Friday July 8th, and as per their website the course ended at 2pm on Sunday July 10th. On Friday July 8th, I told in my office that I would be remote, and wind-up early to leave for my long planned yoga retreat. I had some office work to complete which I could wrap up and leave home only by 11am. The GPS showed 6 hours and 7 minutes of driving time, but I reached‎ Sivananda Yogashram at Val-Morin, Montreal only at about 7pm. The delay was primarily because of the evening traffic I encountered while passing through the Montreal suburbs. I had an event-less and pleasant drive for 7 hours‎, but it had started raining for the last hour of my journey.

At the camp, I found it less impressive than I had imagined. Amidst the lush green and not particularly beautiful Laurentian hills, there were unpretentious road signs for the camp only at the last turn of the road, and the camp itself was a handful of single storey simple wooden structures scattered haphazardly around a small valley. At the reception I found my name in a printed list and requested to be shown the site where I could pitch my tent - I had chosen tent accommodation to ensure being completely alone and silent during my yoga retreat. 

I was told by a young, rustic, stout and smiling French girl christened 'Durga' that I should quickly have a bite at the adjacent dining hall as the dinner was about to finish ‎soon. Having left home with only breakfast, I was hungry by 4pm and had taken a pit stop midway to grab a bite and fill gas. And I was not too hungry as our dinner time at home is usually 9:30pm in summer, but I wanted to check the camp food. So I had the dinner - it was bland sambhar, rice, last few bits of papad, some salad and warm boiled watter with tej-patta and clove. An old lady from a nearby village who had come to eat the free dinner at the camp was ahead of me in the queue and she was also my dinner companion. She spoke about how she had seen the camp grow over the years and about her Yoga studio which she had opened in the nearby city in May 2016 after teaching yoga at her home for years..

It was getting dark but I was not too concerned ‎as I was confident that I could pitch my 15 year old pup-tent very quickly. Getting directions from Durga on the options I had for pitching areas, I walked with my tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, and backpack to pitch my tent. The area around the pond was uninspiring being open to the sky and in a catchment where water would drain down from the hills, and the area on the sides of the steps leading upto the Subramanya temple was hard to access due to the semi-broken and unsteady  wooden steps; so I settled for the not so dense jungle on the hill behind the meditation hall. But finding a good spot, or even any spot was difficult. It was damp and with layers of rotting leaves and branches on the ground, and every good spot was taken - of which there were not too many. I kept going along the hill side scouting for tent sites up and down the hill side as I moved forward, and reached the end of the jungle beyond which there seemed to be no tents. I walked a few steps back, and just when I was thinking that I should go to the pond area, I found a good spot but there was a blue tarp dumped shabbily around there. It was getting dark and in a few minutes it would not be possible to pitch a tent with the remaining day light. So I assumed it was a tarp discarded by a departed party. I moved the blue tarp aside to find another white tarp underneath. I pitched my tent on the white tarp, and tied the blue tarp as rain protection over my tent - the rain looked imminent.

I was in time for satsang at 8pm in the meditation hall. It was 30 minutes of meditation, another 30 minutes of ‎chants, and a few minutes of discourse by a ascetic. Friday night was special - it was talent show night. One of the Teacher Training Course pupils performed MC, and invited other people to present their items - stories they wanted to share, essays they had written, songs they wanted to chant for God, and even playing guitar. Prasad afterwards was a cut piece of cherry with a tiny piece of soft candy. It was close to 10pm and I was apprehensive if I could walk to my tent without challenges as I had forgotten to get any flash lights. But the way up the hill from yoga hall to my tent passed by several other tents and all of them were lighted from inside with some lamps - so the ambient light was enough for me to reach my tent. I crashed into my sleeping bag which was sufficiently warm for the cold and damp summer night.

On Saturday morning, the bell for waking up rang at 5:30am. It had been pouring at night and it was raining hard even in the morning. My rain protection tarp had done a good job, and my sleep was over - I had slept 7 hours in a long time. But I did not want to leave the cozy sleeping bag and walk to the meditation hall in the rain. I managed to muster the discipline to leave my tent at about 5:50am - I was thankful to be wearing for cold and rain protection my black fall jacket which was somewhat rain proof and my sports shoe which I had brought just in case I may need it. The few hundred meters from the tent to the hall was enough to make me properly wet; I took off my wet shoes and shocks outside the hall, and went in the hall with the wet jacket. Satsang from 6 to 7:45am was again meditation, chants, some discourse, and outlining program for the day. The course I was there for had 12 other people, and we were supposed to meet at the Krishna temple at noon. Before that we were to join Yoga class which was for all from 8 to 10 am, have brunch at 10am, and do Karma yoga after breakfast.

I joined the yoga class for 'intermediate level' as I have had some prior exposure to yoga - it was in the 'Mataji hall'. The short and elderly Indian yoga teacher had me sweating with just a few Surya Namaskars. He was keeping a scorching pace, and went on in the same pace through the 12 standard yoga postures which are the staple of Sivananda Yoga and the pranayama routines. I was stretched to my limits, and recognized that the old man was a master simply going by the clarity of his guiding instructions, and his focus on providing individual correcting advice while keeping an eye over a class of about 40 people at the same time. 

By the time I reached the dining hall for brunch, I was craving for food. I found there food similar to what I had eaten for last night - a mixed vegetable of capsicum and tomato‎, rice, salad, and warm boiled herbal water. I took two helpings to quench my hunger. For company I now had a French couple and their 8 month old son; the husband Alex was doing Teacher's Training Course (TTC), and the wife and child were living with him in the camp. The mother was feeding her baby portions from the camp food, and kid was enjoying himself eating it and trying to grab my water bottle. Alex had been teaching some other form of yoga at Montreal for about 12 years but was now back at the camp to learn to be a teacher in Sivanand yoga; he was playing guitar the previous night at the talent show. It was his turn that day to do dishes in the kitchen with a few other students as his Karma yoga; his wife reminded him and asked him to eat quickly, or request his friend to take his place. Alex called his friend who was talking to some other people; I suggested I could do it for him and he was very thankful. I placed my plate at the washing place and looked around to help with washing the dishes, but found no one. I asked the kitchen staff and found that all the students who were supposed to wash dishes were delayed. I went and informed Alex, and then went looking for what was my Karma Yoga task. It was sweeping and swabbing a long corridor; I completed it before 12 pm, and went for the class on 'energy through yoga'.

Our teacher was a woman of about 65 years old who looked ‎40-ish unless one looked closely. She said her spiritual name was 'Surya' which was given by Vishnudevananda himself (he was the star disciple of Sivananda who brought his movement to the west and established it globally). For the next 2 hours, Surya spoke very gently, and patiently about the chakras, how they regulated our energy body, and how a yogic life can help us open them and let the abundant energy of life flow in our bodies. I was exhausted from the 'intermediate' yoga session, and could barely keep myself awake. But everything she said made immense meaning, and nothing was new as I had read them before in Indian scriptures.

The physical body is the one we see and feel is the most insignificant, the energy in the physical body runs through a energy aura that comprises of energy channels that correspond to our physical body parts, but  can neither be seen nor felt. There are three such channels - the Sushumna in the center corresponding to our spine, and Ida and Pingala running to either side of Sushumna. Ida is masculine energy and Pingala is feminine, and the energy running in them manifest the normal human life force, our actions and behaviours. Sushumna is usually inactive in most people; it has 7 chakras - the lowest corresponding to the anal passage (the muladhara chakra), and the highest corresponding to the crown of the head (the sahasrara chakra); other 5 correspond to gonads, solar-plexus, heart, throat, and brain. Normal humans have their life energy blocked by the muladhara chakra which dominates over all base actions/tendencies - food, sleep, sex etc. Through Yoga, pranayama, and meditation, yogis have been able to raise the Kundalini - the supreme life force through the Sushumna, and activate higher and higher chakras, and highest of yogis have been able to open their Sahasrara. When that happens, they become seers of past, and future.   So, if we wanted to energize our life, Surya concluded that we should engage in yoga, pranayama, and meditation. 

Surya finished her class at 2:30pm, and for the next 90 minutes we were free till Yoga class again an 4pm. I made the trek to the ‎Subramanya temple - it was the temple's anniversary - Vishnudevanand had established it in late 90s. I was famished and enjoyed eating the banana which I got in Prasad at the temple. I was back before 4pm, and joined the 'intermediate' Yoga class. The middle aged French man who was the instructor did not keep the fast pace of the elderly instructor from the morning, but made us hold postures for longer periods and reminded that 'the stillness in postures provides the best benefits to the yogi'. The class went on till almost 6pm - I managed to complete the class and was again famished. 

I enjoyed the bland dinner which now tasted very good - vegetable of tofu, capsicum, and potatoes, rice, salad, and warm boiled herbal water. I had two helpings again. Someone came in to ask for volunteers - for doing dishes, and helping i‎n the kitchen. I raised my hand for the first but was not noticed, but managed to get noticed for the second. After dinner, I went to the kitchen and was told to join two TTC students in wiping vessels which came out of a washing machine - they were first washed by some other volunteers and put inside this machine for a warm soap water wash. The two young men TTC students who were also wiping along with me were quite brisk in doing this task - perhaps they had done it before, may be a few times. I was then asked by the squat and stern looking kitchen in-charge to mop the kitchen and dining hall floors using a warm soap water bucket and a large mop. He instructed me to change water mid-course and showed me where I could get hot water and soap to mix freshly. I finished my task successfully, and was just done before 8pm. I went to the meditation hall for the evening satsang which was 30 minutes meditation, 30 minutes chants, and about 30 minutes discourses. The Prasad was two grapes and two tiny chocolate coated soft candies. I had a little difficult walking to my tent in the darkness as there were fewer lighted tents today, but I found my tent and crashed into my sleeping bag. It had been raining the whole day in bouts and the ground was very damp, but the inside of my tent was mostly dry. If it was not, I  would not know anyway as it was pitch dark inside and the light from my cell phone screen was very low as the battery was critically low.

At night it occurred to me to pack my tent and ‎drive home - I was so not at ease and very much out of place. Sheer fatigue took over that poor idea and I woke up to clanging bells after dreams of leaving a running car by mistake when it was neutral, and seeing it run and fall off a cliff - and get destroyed. I got ready for the Sunday morning satsang on time, and was there at the center point at 6am. The satsang on Sunday was a walking one - all 80 or so of us walked silently about 3 kms to a lake. We satdown by the lake on mats we were carrying and Swamiji gave brief discourses. He also introduced the twin sisters from Vietnam who have been running Sivanand yoga courses there for several years and were about to start an ashram there in few months for which they needed teachers - so they were here to invite TTC pass-outs to join the Vietnam ashram. 

After walking back to the Ashram, I decided to pack my tent and head home. The return drive was going to be 7 hours, I had tons of personal and office work to do at home, and was not excited by 2 more hours of hard yoga at 8am, and bland brunch at 10am.‎ But I was already inspired to take back with me the simple 5 points of Sivananda yogashram and implement them in my daily life:

1. Proper diet

2. Proper asanas

3. Propoer pranayama

4. Proper rest

5. Proper meditation and positive thinking

None of these points are new to any of us, but there may be nuances in our understanding of each of them. I will make an attempt to elaborate my understanding of each of the above:

1. Proper diet‎: At the camp it is two bland meals of rice, vegetables or dal, salad and warm herhal water. In daily life it can be a breakfast of fruits and nuts, lunch of chapati or rice, one vegetable, one dal, curd, and salad, and dinner of one or two chapatis, one vegetable or dal, and a cup of soup or milk. No sweets ever, no snacking now and then, and if tea/coffee is an addiction, then maximum two cups a day without sugar. 

2. Proper asanas: At the camp it is two sessions every day of two hours. In daily life it must be ‎one session every day of one hour each, and a little more in the weekends.

3. Proper pranayama: At the camp it is part of the two daily yoga sessions. In daily life it must be ‎part of the one daily yoga session, and a little more in the weekends.‎

4. Proper rest: At camp it is 7 hours from 10 pm to 5 am. In daily life it must be at least 6 hours from 11pm to 5 am. A little more in the weekends. And Shavasan in between each yoga posture just as in the camp.

5. Proper meditation and positive thinking‎: At camp meditation is 30 minutes twice a day, in daily life it must be at least 30 minutes once a day. Positive thinking is the hardest; at camp it is taught in theory and in real life we need to put it in to practice which is very very difficult. But we must persevere...

On Islamic Terrorists

This is a great topic - global, impersonal and deep....

As all of us reasonable people know, most of us are above being partisan; least of all based on religion. Terrorism or violence of any kind has been there as long as humans have been. Its specific linkage to Islam is a rather new phenomenon since the birth of Islam; Christianity has also used terrorism from its birth to seize control over the world from Judaism. I remember having great muslim friends in my village with whom I studied and grew up; we went to the mosque and temple together. Many of you would have had similar experiences. It was even more harmonious during the immediately previous generation. But following events in my opinion have had large bearing in getting us to where we are now:
1. Polarisation of the world from the WWs,
2. Brewing of anti-colonial spirit therefrom,
3. Emergence of muslim leaders who successfully took advantage of nuances in Islam to propagate religion based politics,
4. Formation of Pakistan due to shrewd politicians both Muslim and other wise,
5. Rise of religion based politics in other countries (like Egypt, Turkey),
6. Rise of fundamentalist clerics backed by parties in all these countries,
7. Exploitation of cold war opportunities by these countries and these clerics,
8. Creation of Frankenstein monsters like Al Quaida (a.k.a Mekhtab el Khidmat which had direct funding from US congress prior to re-christening), Taliban (part of the same funds indirectly flowed here too),
9. Learning by example from these groups by other terrorist groups like ISIS (further morphing channelizing the same funds)
10. Continued scheming politics by the above mentioned political and religious entities,
11. Continued funding by the leading rich nations in the world,
12. Mushrooming growth of such terrorist organisations
..... and here we are.

Some of it may sound too simplistic and life is not, I agree. And, I am limited by my individual knowledge/information. However, by and large, we have come to be here pretty much because of the age old principle - 'Counted few decide the destiny of millions; the latter are lucky if the former are good.' In this case there may have not been very many good people amongst the one who shaped the destiny of billions in the last 1500 years. Just a matter of probability, and time and place.

And as regards religion, I would like to share a nice analogy I read somewhere. Sikhhism is in infancy/childhood (700 years plus). Islam is about 1300 years plus or minus (?) which is the tumultous youth years (from 1000 to 1500years) for religions. Christianity is about 2000 years plus and that signifies mature adulthood (1700 onwards). Judaism (>2200), Buddhism (>2500) and Sanatan dharm or Hinduism (>5000/10,000/20,000/...) in that order (later is older) have aged gracefully to wise old ages. Similar templates can be applied to other known faiths/religions.

Its a dynamic world; stuff happens and will continue to happen. We are a sum total of how we were conceived, where/to whom we were born and what all we have been through and what all we have taken ourselves through in life. In many of these we do not have much choices, just like bulk of the terrorists who end up blowing themselves and others, and the boy in 'Slumdog Millionaire' movie who was force-blinded by the beggar gang owner.

From the time time we get cognition, life may present us opportunities to make a difference to our lives and the world, but only to those of us who want to - like the black american youth who says no to drugs and bad company and chooses to dream being the president of the United States (and millions of such examples). What we make of those opportunities matters to ourselves first, and then to the world. So do our individual religions, faiths and beliefs.

Earth 2070

As regards damages to its eco-system, we are certainly passing through the worst times the earth has had in documented history (for a run down it would be great to browse through a fantastically breezy run of the history of the earth so far by Bill Bryson called 'A Short History of Nearly Everything').

It emerges, however, that the earth is a tough nut to crack even though man is a very potently dangerous species. The nature has a way of counter balancing almost everything that man has been able to come up with. Forces like even nuclear are dwarfed severely as compared to the energy that earth can spew though its natural forces. But slow and lethal poisons like lead, plastic and CO2 seem to be capable of quite a bit of damage. Whether the earth can withstand all this would be a tough call from a neutral perspective. The ones in power (Bush and cronies, Putin and gang, and the like) will play it down as every industry or service lobby has a huge signature in one or the above devils. And the ones out of power (Al Gore and Co) will predict dooms day half out of concern and half to get the ones in power down.

Personally, I beleive, we can outlive our stupidities and nature will be able to handle even a powerful species like humans. Of course, we will all be there to see 2050 and may be, with some luck, 2070. Dig out this blog then (Google will persist) and lets have a chat, if I am proven wrong.

Long Planned Trip to Europe... with booboo - Sep 2009

When we left home at 2 AM on 16 Sep 09, it was raining pretty calmly; not like the night before when it had poured like hell and flodded our Santro through the little gap in one of the rear windows which could not be closed because of a worn out window pane channel. Our neighbour had kindly offered to get us dropped at the airport by their driver in their Indica. When our two fairly big sized bags weighing 20 kg each, our daughter's foldable but large pram and two medium sized back packs fitted in neatly yet leaving adequate space for three of us and the driver, I got to appreciate the spaciousness of the Indica better. And the journey to the airport was smooth despite the heavy rain and the odd speed breaker that driver Bhanu could not discern and took us mildly flying over.

After taking a brief nap, Ira remained excited all throughout the drive, at the airport and thereafter in the airport as well. Sreshta's best efforts to make her sleep succeeded only when it was time to board the aircraft. But once inside the aircraft, she was awake again and eased herself before even the takeoff at about 7 AM. We washed her and got her into fresh diapers. But she continued being mostly cranky and noisy as she was sleep deprived. She did not sleep or eat anything and spilled juice over her jacket.

As we landed at Colombo she became better. She watched the entire touchdown and then at the airport remained playful but easy to handle for most parts, but that may be because of the open space at the airport. We had to do another diaper change. Then within quarter of an hour once again. But thereafter, she ate some dry cake pieces and a little poha followed by some milk. By then we had found a quiet and somewhat clean baby care room where we could make her sleep. There was a baby dressing platform where I took a nap while Sreshta tried to lie down elongated on the flat chairs outside in the transit lounge. After about an hour's rest, I was disturbed by some airport person's enquiry about what we were doing in the child care room. Though we could handle her queries, I lost my sleep thereafter and asked Sreshta to take a nap in the baby room instead. Another lady with a child wanted to use the baby room and Ira got disturbed and woke up. It was time to move to the boarding gated for our flight to London at 2 PM.

In the aircraft we exchanged our 32 A and C to same seats in row 50 by requesting the occupants of the latter. Despite that being an emergency exit, we could sit there for the entire 11 plus hours by trading off with the in-flight crew that we will sit elsewhere only for landing and takeoff. Flight was by and large fine but for Ira being uncomfortable sometimes. Food was ok, tried liquer and apperetifs (won't try again), had lots of juice/water thereafter.

16 Sep 09
Reached London, could easily take our luggage, go to the tube, take one to Holborn and another to St Paul's. We found the YHA pretty easily, very centrally located. Checked in and crashed.

17 Sep 09
Hop-on-hop-off on the Big Bus from St Paul's all the way to Hamleys, there Ira spent 2 hours plus playing with toys. Then we came to Trafalgar Sq, walked it to Big Ben, missed the last bus back home and walked the more than 2 miles back along North bank of Thames. Very tiring but not bad at all for the sights.

18 Sep 09
Next day it was the Big Bus to Tower bridge ferry point, ferry to Westminster, walk through Westminster, Buckingham palace, Green park, Harrods, Science Museum, then tube to British Museum, walk on Oxford Street, met telugu guy in grocery store and got a brief of his MBA and life thereafter in London, rode cycle rickshaw of Bangladeshi from there to Soho via Chinatown and all the good sights in and around Soho with him giving a brief of his life experience in London after another MBA, tried Satsuma and then another restaurant but did not find them convenient for Ira, then took tram to St Paul's reflecting on fate of brown skins in white land. I did laundry late night (very decent facility for very little price) and slept may be at 1 or so.

19 Sep 09
Packed all our stuff and were ready to leave by 10 AM. We also met up with our neighbours in the hostel Ben, his wife and three children. The youngest one Jack was particularly interesting and Ira wanted to play with him; so I took her to their room, chatted and interacted for a while. Later Sreshta changed places with me.

We left our luggage in the luggage room and went out with Ira in the pram. We had breakfast at Ossis express very close to YHA St Paul's; cost us 12 £ plus; we had been paying only 9 £ for both of us at YHA and gettting twice the quantity with as much quality. Then we briefly saw St Paul's Cathedral after which we walked and walked; first to millenium bridge, then along the south bank to Borough Market, then to Museum of London, and back to YHA. Great morning walking in London.

We then took our luggage, went down to the metro station at St Paul's but once there were not sure how to go to Baker's Street because there's no direct metro to there. So I waited with the luggage below while Sreshta went up to ask. She found out that we need to change at Oxford Circus; we did exactly that and reached the bus stop for easy bus at the junction of Marylebone and Gloucester. But we missed our bus of 3:48 PM by a few minutes. However there was no problem as the next bus took us without a problem to Luton airport.

The close to hour long journey was challenging with Ira not wanting to sit down. However, the drive along the excellent highways and neatly forested and fielded country side was pleasant. At the airport, we checked in and once again had problem with managing Ira. She finally slept inside the aircraft once it took off.

The 55 min flight got over soon and we reached Charles de Gaul airport in France by 9:30 PM. Our pram was broken at one place; so we did the formalities to lodge a request with the Easy Jet baggage counter at some other arrival (as baggage fellows attending to our flight had left) and moved to the RER station after buying tickets for 17 €. There we boarded a RER train for Chatelet les Halles which took about 30 mins. From this station to our hotel was a short 5 min walk which took us 10 mins because we came round about asking directions but what was difficult was coming up the endless number of escalators and stairs from the station platform to the road above as also getting our luggage through the very narrow entry gates. We discovered the lifts and the broad passages for the invalid (which are there adjacent to most escalators, be it in airports or metro stations) towards the later part of our sojourn in Europe.

Anyway, at the hotel we checked in and retired for the day by about 1 AM. Hotel Tiquitonne is quaint but comfortable; the best part is it is located very centrally so that we can do all the sights by walk.

20 Sep 09
I went out early morning to get some bread, milk, eggs and fruit for breakfast because our hotel would not give breakfast even on payment (for 6€) unless we intimated the previous night. I bought these stuff in a street market nearby but realised that it was Sunday as many shops were closed. Also, I started realising the difficulty of conversing with people in France as most of them do not know how to speak in English and bulk of the others are adamant not to speak English. All of us sat on the bed and had our breakfast in the room. But we had to call for hot water and get the eggs boiled. The hotel fellows gave semi-boiled eggs and boiling hot water (in our water bottle and shrunk it in half- they had no vessel in which to give the hot water). Our difficulties in France were slowly growing more apparent. Ira slept after a lot of play, easing herself a few times, bathing and a few morsels of food; that too Sreshta had to rock her for long. Finally we got ready to step out to see Paris by 10:30; that city which I have been reading about since 1990 and wanting to have a look and feel.

We walked from the hotel first to the Bureau de Poste (Post Office) to exchange some Travelers' Cheques for Euros. Although it was Sunday, we were told by the hotel staff that it will be open. Open it was but it would exchange currency only on weekdays. We used the opportunity to post a complaint letter to Easy Jet to seek compensation against the broken part of the pram and broken leg of luggage bag. Before that we had passed by a old and pretty church outside which was some curious stone sculpture - a bust with full hands lying by its side on ground. From the post office we walked by the commerce center to a nice park on the way to Notre Dame; we realised that this park was adjacent to the same stone sculpture, with the church to the other side. But we had reached it in a very circuitous manner because we were looking for a grocery supermarket called Franprix (we found it but it was closed as it operated for shorter hours on Sunday).

At the park we met some Vietnamese students who appreciated Ira and gave us tips about decent Asian food in Paris. Then we reached Notre Dame, saw it from the outside, walked along the Seine river, crossed to the other bank on Pont Neuf where Irs lounged on one of the side sittings, picked up a souvenir and walked back to Notre Dame. Ira played in a sand park on the way. At the information booth near Notre Dame, we wanted to buy hop on hop off bus tickets to see the sights but their credit card machine was not working and they wanted a few minutes to reboot their computer. As credit card transaction would invite 3.5% charge and we were out of Euro cash having paid close to full to our hotel for all the 3 nights of stay with them, we went looking for a travelers cheque exchange which the information booth people said was close by on the other bank of Seine. But on going there we found that they will charge 5 to 8% commission and American Express whose travelers' cheques we were carrying does not have an office there. So we exchanged 100€ for 95 and then looked for an eating joint; we even sat in one but Ira was uncomfortable to sit so we had to leave.

We went back, bought the hop on hop off tickets at about 6 PM using credit cards and headed for the green circuit which covers the main sights. The plan was to do the main route on 20th and do all the four green, blue, yellow and orange on 21st. But green and blue had the same stop and we boarded a blue thinking it was green. So we ended up unsatisfied; to top it up we finished the day with some authentic but utterly distasteful dinner in a river side restaurant recommended by Lonely Plant. Ira was very cranky because of lack of rest and slept in our arms on the way back. It was a long walk via the Pompidour and we picked up some fruits and milk at a grocery shop too.

21 Sep 09
We got breakfast as we had ordered the previous night but it was only bread, butter, jam and coffee. We really lost all respect for the French thereafter. We managed to make the most of that breakfast and whatever else we had with us; fed Ira whatever she would eat and started early as we had already bought the tickets and they would expire on 21st.

We walked to Louvre, saw it from outside, boarded the green circuit and got down at the open tour office to get the correct date stamped in our ticket as the driver the previous evening had written 20th on the ticket (unknown to me may be when I showed him on boarding) erroneously. We did that and next went in search of a grocery shop to buy milk for Ira. We found a restaurant where the attendant offered a bottle of free milk and pointed us to a Franprix nearby. There Sreshta bought a lot of supplies to last us for the next few days as we were going to stay in a hotel near Disneyland in the middle of nowhere. With all of some 20 kgs supplies loaded and no pram today, we did the yellow circuit, used green to go from yellow to orange, did the orange to a point from where we could walk to Eiffel tower. Long walk with loads but Ira got to play in a park enroute and at the sand park near Eiffel. We did not find Eiffel great or romantic but a huge pile of metal made to stand using good engineering skills. We boarded the last green bus and thought it would take us to Notre Dame from where we could walk to our hotel but it stopped for the day at Opera near the Open Tour office and we had to buy a metro ticket to reach home; on hind sight we realised we could have walked it. Sreshta and Ira slept; I packed everything so that we could leave without much work the next morning.

22 Sep 09
We left the hotel by 9 and took a metro to the station at Disney Land. We left the pram outside our starting station as its wheels had started coming out and Ira was not using it much; it was one more piece of luggage. From the station, we took the free shuttle service of the hotel to reach our 4 star hotel Magic Circus. We found it real cozy and nice; also high quality and spacious. We realised the previous one was rather cramped and very minimal; although very centrally located. We quickly checked in, took one bag already packed with essentials required for the day and took the free shuttle to Disneyland.

The Disneyland complex comprises of the studio which has rides and shows with the theme of Disney characters and movies/TV programs, the park which has bigger rides and other Disney shows and the village which has shops and restaurants. There are plenty of shops and restaurants in both the studio and the park as well; both centrally located as also shops with ride/show specific themes located strategically next to the ride/show. The concept it to make you spend; basically.

We did most of the rides and shows of studio and some of the park on 22nd. While returning, we had a look into the village and found some boys from Punjab selling Jallandhar/Ludhianna manufactured fiber Eiffel and other souvenirs in the open are outside the Disneyland complex. One of them gifted a key chain with a small metallic Eiffel to Ira which she promptly lost with in the next 5 or 10 minutes.

23 Sep 09
We did rest of the park and watched the parades on both sides. We managed to do twice each on the two best rides for adults as well as on the one for children which Ira liked. We missed out a few rides and many shows but they were not very compelling and in two days one can only do as much.

After returning, we celebrated my birthday with wine (the same bottle running from the last few days) and all the food that has been accumulating from here and there. Ira ate well and slept after playing in the ball room of the hotel. We used the nice tub in the hotel room and called it a day; tomorrow is another day in another country, Belgium.

24 Sep 09
For a change we woke up much in advance, at 6 AM, to get prepared to board our train at 10:25; and that saved the day for us. We managed to get in to the Thalys superfast train from Paris to Brussels just a minute or so prior to its departure. First we took time to pack our bags at the Magic Circus hotel near Disneyland and were down for breakfast only close to 8 AM. By the time we finished breakfast and took the free shuttle bus to the train station near Disney, it was close to 9 AM. The train from Disneyland to Chatelet les Halles made us wait for close to quarter of an hour during which we chatted up a local black man working in Disney's accounting services department; he opened our eyes to how trains in France also ran late, although in minutes than hours. The journey of 40 minutes, change of train and journey to Gare du North for 10 more minutes made it 1015 and we sought directions and ran to Thalys, and made it JIT.

Thalys is a little too much of hype; it's a decently designed train with bus like and comfortable sitting arrangements, thats all. We saw the beautiful country side and reached Belgium at 11:30. The walk to our Brugel youth hostel was almost close to half hour and gave us the opportunity to see the not so interesting city scape of Brussels. Cluttered and sometimes stinky neighbourhoods; tram lines making things more clumsy and roads cobbled and thus rough.

After reaching the youth hostel at Brugel, we could not check in till 2 PM as per their rules. Dead tired though we were, we had to while away an hour or so looking around nearby areas and with our full luggage (we had the choice of keeping the luggage in their cloak room for 2 € per piece). We saw the old church nearby, ate potato fries (that's one of the most common things folks there eat) and successfully kept Ira busy although she was also very tired and so cranky.

Once we checked in to our room with double decker bunk beds, we just crashed for close to two hours trying Ira also to sleep but the changes were just too much for her so she could not sleep, as a result we also could not but at least we could stretched our backs. Four onwards we saw the sights in the city on walk and Ira decided to go to sleep exactly a few minutes after we started walking. We had left her pram at Paris, so we saw Brussels on the walk with Ira on the shoulder. By about 5:30 we reached the Central Place where we bought some Chinese fried rice for 10€ to feed Ira. We also saw the famous Mannekin Pis (little boy pissing); it's literally a little boy (2-3 ft) perched on a platform in a non-descript square 2 blocks from the main square. We walked back to the hostel to refer to the Lonely Planet on the recommended places to eat and buy chocolates. Leaving Sreshta and Ira at the hostel, I had to run to a grocery supermarket to buy fruits and milk before it closed at 8 and made it in time; I also found some Belgian chocolates there and bought them as well besides a large quantity of fruits, some milk and a bottle of wine (for the last I consulted a local gentleman but later on tasting I realised I should have gone by my gut feeling).

We headed back to the main square by 9 PM, found the recommended food joint not serving anything vegetarian/eatable and discarded that and went in for an ice cream cone elsewhere. Back in the room we crashed by midnight or so with an alarm at 5:30 next morning.

25 Sep 09
Woke up 05:30, packed everything and got ready by 0700 to take breakfast items from the pantry and rush to catch 07:20 bus from nearby stop to Central Station so that we can be on time for our 7:52 Thalys to Amsterdam. I did not have change more than some 3 odd € and the driver did not have change for 50€; so we had a free ride to station, the only one in our entire trip. (Earlier I had found 30€ falling from a European woman's purse and picked it up to handover to her while she did not notice that her money had fallen; had I not given that would have been free 30€ ...)

Thalys to Amsterdam was more than 2 hours, Ira was even more difficult than the previous Thalys with big jobs in the train etc but we managed somehow. At Amsterdam, we took two 24 hour open tram/bus ticket for 7€ each and used it first to take a tram to Leidsplein to go to our hotel Flying Pig located at Zandpad nearby. Hotel folks said we could not stay as we had a small baby (it would get noisy/dirty etc and guests smoke heavy weed which is harmful) and refunded our 5% advance which we had paid on the net to do the reservation. Luckily we had an alternate booking for a family room at the adjacent Vondelpark youth hostel, so we had no problem going there and claiming our room. There too we were not supposed to check in till 2 PM but folks relented to our request of feeding the baby and permitted us to occupy from before 1 PM.

We rested till beyond 3 PM and then took the tram to explore the city. We saw the Reijk Museum nearby (from outside) and the park adjacent to it with I Amsterdam icon there, Ira played in the baby park and got real dirty. Then we went to Dam Square and saw some street artists performing nice stunts. Ira ate nicely sitting at Dam Sq and then we went looking for the famous Red Light district. Found it after some asking for directions and once again realised that it was over hyped. Had noodles and rice in a value for money Chinese restaurant near there and returned to the hostel after doing a round on tram no 10 in the not so well lit city. We had some wine and slept again by 1 AM or so. I woke up at 7:30 AM and took a hungry Ira for the buffet breakfast in the youth hostel. She ate well and did not trouble me while I ate my breakfast. Back to the room and now we all got ready. Then Sreshta went to have breakfast and I packed our stuff with Ira helping.

We checked out at 11:00 plus, Sreshta got a wooden shoe fridge magnet as souvenir on the way and we headed by tram to flower market. Had a look and went to Central Station, took another train to Schipol airport. At Schipol we shopped for chocolates for all, some perfumes for Sreshta and a pair of polaroid sun glasses for me.

We then boarded our Easy Jet flight to Gatwick airport in the London suburbs and Ira eased herself just before boarding but slept soon after being cleaned. At Gatwick, we had to buy 39£ bus tickets to Heathrow terminal no 5 near where we had reserved in Hotel Travelodge for a planned night halt so that we can board our return flight from Heathrow to Colombo to Bangalore the next day morning. Bus journey was good with beautiful British country side in passing view. There was surprise at Terminal 5; we had to pay another 8£ for the shuttle bus from there to our hotel; it was the only way to reach the hotel and the service was once in 30 minutes. But the good part was Ira enjoyed a lot at the magic fountains at Terminal 5.

At Travelodge, we had nothing to do because it is in the middle of nowhere. So after two cups of coffee machine tea/coffee, I was lying in the tub for long recapitulating the past few days. Sreshta has given Ira a bath along with herself and made her sleep. We went down with Ira sleeping on my shoulder to find out the bus schedule for next morning's trip to airport (Travelodge does not provide phones in the rooms), had dinner of the lots of eatable things we were carrying and called it a day.

That was the Europe trip as far as events are concerned. Sreshta has a lot to say about what it meant and what all we learnt from the entire experience of booking our trip by ourselves, doing the visas, travelling through the airlines, trains, buses and getting to know about the places, their people and practices. She will write a subsequent travelogue to cover these aspects. Here are a few off the cuff recommendations:

1. It's not recommended to choose an international flight before 9 AM because one has to wake up before 4 to make it. Our's was at 4:45 and we had to leave home at 1 AM; so could sleep only for 90 mins.

2. Taking direct flights may be a little expensive but it evens out if you consider the time wasted taking a detour. Our Srilankan airlines flight would make us spend almost 8 hours extra because of the 2 hours from Blr to Colombo and 6 hours wait there.

3. Return flights may be cheaper compared to single way open jaw tickets but they force you to come back to the same place even if you have no need to do that. We fly Blr-Colombo-London and same route back. That was 48k. But it makes us take a flight to London from Amsterdam, take local transport from and to airport as also stay overnight at a highway hotel. Thats some 220 GBP or 20K. With that added to 48k and may be a little more, we could have done Blr-Lon and Ams-Blr on BA and Lufthansa.

Bon Voyage et bonne chance!