This is why we went to Kerala

After seeing many India's temples and palaces we were ready to visit its national parks filled with elephants, bison, and tigers. Sighting a tiger was unlikely, but 1000 elephants in a park we assumed that we would see at least one. We didn't. Disappointing, but we weren't visiting a zoo and the animals have a right to enjoy their space in peace. What we enjoyed can't be photographed, including the cool, fresh mountain air and the loud whoosh of giant hornbill flying overhead.

At 5:30 a.m. we were picked up by a jeep from our hotel in Thekkady and driven to Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. Our driver went out of his way to spot wildlife - he spotted two black monkeys that had no interest in the human gawkers and a few giant squirrels (endangered and the size of a large racoon). We ate breakfast at the sanctuary. Then we were divided into groups by language and length of trek. We opted for a three hour trek led by Ramesh, a park ranger. We were joined by Ahmad, a Saudi tourist. Our trek started with a short boat ride across a man made lake. Soon after we started walking we heard giant hornbills. Yes, we looked up and saw them. No elephants, but we saw trees with a thin brown layer; the result of elephants using the tree to scrape off dead skin after taking a mud bath. Unless you count leeches, which were present in huge numbers, that ended our wildlife sightings. (Hours later when Doug got in the jeep he left a bloody seat behind. We wore leech socks provided by the sanctuary, but there was no stopping of these critters. Our Saudi companion fared better. Our guide applied salt whenever any one of us spotted a leech crawling on our legs or arms.  You cannot feel them biting you since they inject an anesthetic.)

An elephant's luffa?

Ramesh has been a guide for 10 years and seen tigers only once. He noted that with full streams  the elephants had no need to come to the lake to drink. He talked about encountering the remains of tiger attacks. Most times an elephant herd will encircled the babies to protect them from attack. But sometimes the system breaks down and the baby is murdered by a tiger.  The rangers can tell when this has happened from the sounds made by the elephants morning their loss.

He showed us the cardamon plantation where his parents had worked as pickers. Ramesh's schooling ended after primary school, because the school was 36 kilometers away. He taught himself English and practiced with tourists. A testament to the efforts some people use to give themselves and their families a better life.

Ramesh - his job involves at least an hour of rowing and
three hours of trekking.

One of the many wildflowers 

A later stop was Mummar to visit the Erevikulam National Park. Its major attraction is a type of ibex, the nandi ibex. True to our Periyar experience we didn't see any. This time our poor luck was due to the overcast skies, they are sun seekers. The park has a narrow tourist zone and the ibex remain in this area, because if they wander into the forest they risk facing predators. In essence the tourists give them protection; it is the humans not the sun that keeps the predators out of the way.

Student queue to take bus into sanctuary

No ibex? Find a tourist to chat up and strike a pose

The park entrance fee is higher for foreigners, so we could go to the head of queue for bus to the sanctuary. No such opportunity for Indian tourists who paid less, but waited longer. Along on walk we chatted with our guide Sreeraj and one of his friends about the problems of monoculture. In Malaysia it is the palm oil estates; in Mummer it is the tea plantations along with their eucalyptus trees. The trees provide the fuel used to dry tea leaves.

Sreeraj (s_r_ee@yahoo.co.in) showing different stages of
tea during processing

At the tea factory - burning fuel`

A new fact for me - weak tea has less caffeine and more flavor; strong tea has more caffeine and less flavor.

For lunch Sreeraj suggested going to a local restaurant where he would help us with our choices.As a result we had a tasty fried fish, chicken curry and a thali-like assortment of side dishes and condiments.

Recommended Mummar restaurant

Tomato gravy is on the rice - yummy

What was left of our fish!

We suggested walking through the market rather than driving to see a dam. Along the way I remembered to take a picture of this poster, one of many we saw for the Indian Communist party.

Can you identify these guys? Our guide could.

At the market

One of many careful displays of veggies

The egg seller

Fish Mongers

These shops are all over - didn't want to know
if selection & killing occurred here

Mummar traffic control -
more relaxed than his Thimphu counterpart

After we returned  Thekkady we went to a Kathakati performance. Before the performance begins, a performer puts on his make up on stage. A slow, careful process. Creating his skirt was no slapdash effort. After the make up is completed the commentator explained the mudra (hand motions used in Indian dance). I wish that I had taken notes; we get more out of other dance performances. The performance was geared for tourists. Even so it was fun and gave us a good taste of the art form. It reminded us of Balinese dance. Next time (1) I'll take notes on the mudra, (2) see more than one performance (ideally not after a day of touring), and (3) try to locate a traditional, long, outdoor performance.

Helping a Kathakali dancer put on his skirt

Made up and ready to dance

The two performers

As I suggested at the beginning of this post the Western Ghat experience cannot be fully captured in words or pictures. (I forgot to mention that Mummar is a honeymoon favorite. We saw a number of new brides with henna designs and impressive arrays of gold bracelets.) Even without the clues of henna and the wearing of gold, new love was evident by their deep gazes into each other's eyes.  We are looking forward to going back, breathing the crisp air, and walking wherever our feet lead us.

First Days in Kerala

This year we added Kerala as we see India state by state. We were looking forward to a holiday with fewer palaces and temples and more nature. As we drove from the airport the lush green foliage, the small roadside shops, and the sarong clad men reminded us of Bali. As we waited at the reception of the Hotel Uday Samudra we asked the tour agency representative if he could recommend a local restaurant. He looked horrified and assured us that we should never eat at a local restaurant. As soon as we checked in we headed down the beach to find a restaurant for dinner.

We arrived on Eid-al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) a major Muslim holy day and an Indian public holiday. The beach at Kovalam was a popular destination.

Ladies enjoying  the beach

Boys on the Beach

A group picnic

Sign on Mosque (on the beach) -
Not too welcoming on a holy day

We found two restaurants near the hotel. The Sea Gull Restaurant abuts the hotel and we had tasty fish dinners both nights. The fruit juices and lassis were quite good (and so was everything else). The second night as we left we shook hands with the staff and expressed the hope that we would be back. The next day we learned that many more beach-side restaurants are at Lighthouse Beach, a rickshaw ride away. But after a day of touring we were happy to just walk down to the Sea Gull

Kitchen at Sea Gull Restaurant - Source of Tasty Meals

Ramesh Nair
Raameshnair@gmail.com

I was in favor of a do-it-yourself holiday, but time got away from us. We booked the Kerala portion of the trip with Envoy Tours, (Later we asked them to find a driver and guide for the Bangalore/Mysore portion of the trip.) As far as guides and drivers went we made an excellent decision. Ramesh Nair our guide for the area outside Kovalam. His explanations of the temple, palace, and memorial we visited were excellent, but  it was our conversations that we valued. I have been reading Edward Luce’s (a reporter with the Financial Times) In Spite of the God: The Strange Rise of Modern India. I asked Ramesh to confirm some Luce’s observations and to confirm others.. We also talked about the status of women, dowries, Kerala’s economy, and so on. My advice on adding value to an Indian trip - read a book or see a movie about India to stimulate your interest, hire a licensed guide, and begin conversations that will add to your knowledge of India and thoughts about the human experience. If you go in Kerala plan to book with Ramesh.

Our trip included a temple, a memorial, and a palace. The temple had the normal no photos, no shoes policies. This one also required me to remove their shirts..The temple was teeming with activity. There were men preparing food to distribute – originally the temple feed 1000 each day now it limits the number to 100. Other men were preparing dabs of butter to be used for an offering. In a few areas there were short queues as devotees requested special prayers from the priests. Outside there were number of aggressive, women beggars each carrying a young child. Ramesh confirmed my impression that if you gave to one you would be overwhelmed by an aggressive group of women. One woman was carrying a very limp baby, one of the most disturbing images of this trip.

At Kanyakumsri we were at the most southern point of India; it is where the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal come together. A glimpse of the long queue and choppy seas convinced us to ditch our plan to take a ferry 400 meters to a memorial where Swami Vivekandana mediated. At the same site was a Gandhi memorial to commemorate one of the sites where his ashes were taken after he was assassinated.

Ignore the old couple - read what Gandhi had to say about this point

The Gandhi Memorial - looks like something from a pastry shop

Lots of shells, but we didn't see an buyers

The highlight of the day was Padmanabhapuram Palace, the largest wooden palace in Asia. It had little furnishing, which made it easier to wander and appreciate what palace live must have been like over 400 years ago. The women lived in separate quarters and their view of palace entertainments and life on the streets was through latticed windows. One wonders if it was even worth the trouble. Male guests of royalty had separate quarters, as did women who came as guests.

 Maharajah’s bedroom

An indoor latrine (said to be earlier
than those introduced in Europe)

Vendors outside the palace

An interesting note, the Maharajah in Travancore was prohibited from marriage, but he could have c  By tradition his successor was the son of one of his sisters.  This area of India was fundamentally a matrilineal society.

Mysore Day 2

Mysore Day 2

The 402nd edition of the Mysore Dasara Procession

The ultimate day of the Mysore celebration started slowly. We had a leisurely breakfast and departed the hotel @ 11:30 am for a walk to the palace grounds. We arrived at noon. The streets that were jammed with cars, bicycles, and buses were now jammed with people. Lines of people were waiting for entry to the grounds. Fortunately, the Gold Card allowed us to bypass the lines. The gold card is a 10 day pass allowing the purchasers to have free entry to museums, events, parking and other "discounts". While it is expensive, waiting in long lines is no longer on our agenda. So we bypassed the long lines and walked through a series of crowd control lines which would make Walt Disney or any airport security organization proud.

Crowds at the entrance gate

Last minute instructions from our guide

Inside the palace grounds, we encountered numerous tableaus (floats in the American idiom). These were massive multi-unit vehicles, equipped with their own power generators. On a side lawn marching and performing units gathered with the rhythmic sound of drums pulsating in the air. Eventually we found the grandstands reserved for the Gold Cards group. There were other areas reserved for VIPs, The Judiciary, RS1000 ticket holders and others we did not see. The event was televised and live steamed on the Internet. The following day's newspaper reported Internet access from over 55 nations. Our observation was that non-Indian nationals made up less than 1% of the crowd.

Ganesha in a tableau

The Karnataka State Temperance Board Tableau

A village scene on a tableau

You want me to pose?

Still More tableaux pictures

We found seats and the wait began. The event would not begin until a wrestling event was held inside the palace. The Maharajah (former) was the judge. When he determined the winner (after the first blood was drawn) the parade could begin.

The Grand Stands

The procession began with the arrival of elephants. From my previous encounters with elephants (viewing in zoos or from the stands at a circus) I was unprepared for the massive size of these elephants. As they strolled by one bull broke loose and began charging forward. Guards, mahouts and other elephants struggled to stop the beast. All this took place in the matter of several seconds. The animal was brought under control and the parade continued unaffected.

An elephant arrives

Disaster averted

A man on stilts

The tableaus depicted scene in Indian life. Religious scenes predominated, but a conscious effort was made to show inclusive scenes of religious life. Single tableaus feature Islamic, Christian and Hindu symbols and buildings. Thirty some tableaus later, some Indian marching bands, performers, people on stilts the elephant appointed to carry the Golden Howath appeared.

The elephant carrying the Golden Howath arrives.

This elephant is 52 years old. Over the previous several months he had been trained slowly to carry a 750kg load. The training is necessary because elephant backs are relatively weak. Until 1956 the Golden Howath carried the Maharajah, but with independence it now carries a golden god image. The elephant carrying  the Golden Howath accompanied by two smaller elephants set off on their 5 km journey to the parade grounds. As in US parades, the last unit in the parade was a fire engine, only Santa was not on board. The procession took two hours to depart.


We returned to the hotel where we met our guide again. We got dinner (it was jammed) and then drove off to the parade grounds. Heavy traffic was expected, but at the end we were stuck in the car for 1.5 hours. The reason, traffic to the parking lots was directed down the road straight into the traffic that had followed the parade. As we say in Kuala Lumpur, the result was Jam Lah! But the highlight was the confrontation between policemen and a car carrying government officials. We thought fisticuffs might break out.

The evening performance at the parade ground was interesting: police units, and youth groups marched in formation prior to the national anthem. All stood and sang (with about as much audience participation as you would find in the U.S. This was followed by a 30 minute motorcycle performance. A figure 8 formation resulted in a crash. An ambulance was called but the rider was able to walk off. To colorful dance segments followed including a Performance by Russian artists whose performance was augmented by lasers. The finale was a police unit marching holding flaming torches. It ended with the torches spelling out "to protect and serve" and "come back to Dasara 2013".

A motorcycle acrobat demonstration

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Dasara in Mysore (Part 1)

Dasara Crowds (at Palace but every where else in Mysore)

Dasara in Mysore combines the exotic with the familiar. A 9 night Hindu festival, Navratri, leads up to Dasara on the 10th day. Dasara celebrates the victory of good, represented by the god Rama, over evil, represented by Ravana. 

In January when we visited Mysore our guide urged us to come for Dasara. We took his advice. At first we planned to handle everything ourselves, but then decided that the easiest way to travel to and from Bangalore and get a Gold Pass to Dasara events was to book with a travel agency. This was wise. It made just getting around was so much easier.

Raghunath - Tour Guide & Escort
Raghunath337@gmail.com

Our guide, “Ragu," was exceptional in putting Dasara in context. We started at Chamundi Hill where we walked along with the crowd streaming into the temple grounds. Along the way vendors were selling items for temple offerings, snacks, and the whimsical souvenirs of the moment – a favorite seemed to be devil’s horns. A queue was wrapped around the temple. It was the first of several queues we saw during the day.  For many Indians the observation that “life involves moving from queue to queue” is not an abstraction.

Devotees could break coconuts for good luck at the “breaking coconut pit.” An old couple “guarded” the pit, gathered broken coconuts either to share with their family or to sell to a restaurant. (The old man kept signaling that he wanted Doug to take his picture – an income producing opportunity.).Near the temple was a cart that is brought out once a year during Navratri An idol of the goddess Chamundi is placed on the cart, heavy ropes are attached, and allegedly 1000 men pull it counter clock wise around the temple. This led to a discussion with Raghu about the significance of going to the right. He said that going to the right keeps one in harmony with nature  (he put it more lyrically). He noted that if he did not get up on the right side of the bed for the rest of the day he would feel like something was wrong, that is, he didn't “get up on the right side of the bed.”

The temple is owned by the government so all donations go to the government. (In private temples this is not true and in one temple in Kerala a treasure trove valued at billions of dollars. God in India are allowed to own property, but they must be treated as minors. For further details see "The Secret of the Temple")

Vendor selling temple offerings

Portable ATM - Can't use "no money" as an excuse

Demon Mahishasura (killed by Chamundi)

From the temple 1008 steps lead to Nandi, the transport for Lord Shiva. We skipped the steps and took the car. We saw Nandi in January. Now he was decked out with flowers. At any time of the year he is impressive.

Along the way we saw decorate vehicles (auto rickshaws, lorries, and taxis), On the 9th day of Navrati in Karnataka "implements used in daily life such as computers, books, vehicles, or kitchen tools [are worshiped). The effort to see the divine in the tools and objects one uses in daily life is central to this celebration, so it includes all tools that help one earn one's livelihood. Knowledge workers go for books, pen or computers, farmers go for the plough and other agricultural tools, machinery for industrialists and cars/buses/trucks for the transportation workers—all are decorated with flowers and worshiped on this day invoking God's blessing for success in coming years."  {From

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navratri)

Even police vehicles are decorated

As was our hotel's elevator door

The  palace was closed until 2:00 so that the royal family could perform their devotions. We arrived at 2:00 and marveled at the long queues. The "magical"  Golden Pass allowed us to go to the head of the line. This privilege only went so far; it did not keep us from being squeezed by the throngs touring the palace.

Police doing crowd control - notice the Texas-style hats

In the palace we saw the howdah that an elephant carries in the Dasara procession. The howdah weighs 750 kilograms. To get an elephant prepared for this role the trainers introduce weight gradually. Carrying the howdah is an honor for an elephant and the locals follow the assignment of this role closely. The 54 year bull elephant who has done this for 14 years has been retired and the role has been taken over by a 52 year old elephant. Inside the palace as a wrestling ring – members of the royal family and probably some VIPs witness the wrestling match. When a winner is declared the procession will begin.

During Navrati the palace is illuminated from 7-9 all 9 nights. During the rest of the year it is illuminated on Sunday night. The palace was close to our hotel so we walked. Crossing the street was nearly impossible so we followed our strategy of standing very close to a local and cross when s/he crossed. At the palace people were sitting around and visiting and waiting for the lights to come on. Others were wander around and others were watching a cultural show.

Note the Dasara link at the beginning of this post is a video of the festivities.