Of holiness, filth, dirt and stunning beauty - Kasi and Agra

I had heard from a couple of Americans I had met that the standard itinerary for any tourist to India always included a visit to Varanasi (or Kasi) and Agra; they also opined that Varanasi was amongst the most beautiful places they had been to. So I thought that it was time I saw within my country what outside tourists traveled here to see. It was a weekend after a tough week of work and I hoped it'd help clear my mind. I went to Varanasi via Delhi - overnight trains run from Delhi to Varanasi and similarly from Varanasi to Agra

My first impressions of Varanasi ranged from "so what's different here" to "how crowded can it get!". Varanasi is an impressively crowded city - kinda reminded me of a Mumbai rush-hour train. The main township is pretty mundane, but then, this is not what people visit Varanasi for; so I headed towards the Kasi Viswanath temple and the famous bathing ghats on the banks of the river Ganga.

I had been recommended by family that I should head straight to the Viswanath temple first, as its considered to be amongst the holiest shrines of Hinduism and I had landed up there on a Sivaratri. The Kasi Viswanath Temple is located in a narrow gully on the way to the Ghats; so narrow and dirty that I was at first doubtful if I was being mislead. However, the presence of gun-toting policemen assured me that I was headed the right way.




The main entrance to the temple is in a narrower gully, where stood a posse of policemen, almost strip-searching every visitor. To my surprise I was told that one couldn't take any bags / electronic articles inside the temple and that they had to be left in one of the numerous shops at the entrance. The shop I approached had a locker with keys which could open every locker in the cabinet!. With great reluctance (and due to a lack of choice), I left my valuables with the shopkeeper - taking innumerable assurances of their safety. It is indeed pretty sad that while having such stringent security regulations, the authorities couldn't bother to arrange proper locker facilities at the entrance.

The temple itself is pretty small one, housing the three primary deities - Lord Shiva as Kasi Viswanath, Sri Annapurni Devi and Sri Visalakshi. Thronged by devotees, the temple has a very spiritual atmosphere.

However, the most irritating part about the temple are the priests - almost every one of them looks for an opportunity to fleece money. Every Pooja needs a donation of 50/100/200/300/500 rupees, every Pujari literally clamors for money, and if one doesn't make an offering of at least 100 bucks they make weird comments like "can you only offer this much for the goddess?" / "only 200 bucks for a once in a lifetime opportunity?" / "can't you give 500 bucks to purify all your sins?" ! I was just stunned and disgusted. I'm a pretty religious person, have seen hundreds of temples across India and Kasi is one of Hinduism's most holy places - I couldn’t believe the kind of things I was hearing. I finished the multitude of offerings, "washed away all my sins" and made a hasty exit - praying to God to grant these Pujari's better intellect.

My next destination was the bathing ghats. The ghats are a huge array of steps leading down into the Ganga. While the ghats have been very melodramatically portrayed in all articles I had read, I found them to be pretty dirty, littered with cow-dung & all forms of horrible filth. I had heard that Kasi was the oldest Indian city, old as time immemorial - it also looks as if the ghats haven't been swept since then :|

Amidst all this filth are hundreds of foreign tourists, photographing everything in sight and viewing all the crap strewn about with amusement - as if in a jungle viewing the weird practices of the natives. I have often heard that Varanasi is the first place in the itinerary of any tourist to India - if so, they certainly take back a distorted first impression of India. True, India has more than its share dirty, filthy and crowded places - but Varanasi's ghats must rank amongst the worst in them. It is truly sad that one of India's most visited, touristed and holy places is so badly maintained.

Leaving the ghats, I caught a rickshaw to the Benaras Hindu University. The University - apart from being contrastingly clean - has a beautiful Viswanath temple of its own. Marble floored, lined with greenery and beautifully quiet, it provided the perfect solace to meditate for the crowd & dirt weary traveler in me.


Late in the evening, I headed back to the most famous of the ghats - the Dasaswamedh Ghat for the evening Aarti. It was a scenic time - with the flowing Ganges and its boats, people crowding to take a dip into the river and chants sounding from the temple. The priests came out to do a long Aarti along the river amidst a huge crowd singing praises of the Gods. It was a beautiful time - and for a moment I forgot the filth I was standing in.

Well into the night, I headed to the railway station to catch the train for Agra. Usually railway stations are amongst the dirtiest places in town - but Varanasi's station was surprisingly clean - maybe it was just the contrast with the filth, crowd and pollution in the city.

The train dropped me at the Agra fort station early on Sunday morning. Agra Fort is considered to be amongst the most important forts in the country - the place from where the Mughal Empire ruled the country. Made out of red sandstone and white marble, this Fort towers over the Yamuna. The intricate patterns on white marble, the sheer expanse of the fort and the view of the Taj along the Yamuna make the fort a memorable visit point. Rapidly closing my tour of the fort, I headed to the Taj. The Taj, as the Kasi Viswanath temple, has heavy security arrangements - but is much better provisioned in terms of lockers.




I had never seen the Taj Mahal before - had only seen photographs and read about it. However, its sheer beauty took my breath away - in white marble and phenomenal in size - it has a stunning presence. A place fit to be one of the 8-wonders-of-the-world. I was truly wonderstruck by the artistic brilliance.

I then headed out into the Agra city - for a quick tour. Agra is a dusty town which makes awesome "pethas" - sweets made of pumpkin. Late into the afternoon, with the sun scorching the late 30 degrees, and covered in dust from my visits, looking like a rag picker, I headed back to New Delhi - thus closing a long and interesting weekend tour.

For people intending to follow my trail: Overnight trains run between Delhi, Varanasi and Agra - however, since they fall in the popular tourist circuit, tickets need to be booked at least a week or two in advance. Both Varanasi and Agra are pretty dusty places - so take care if you are dust-allergic. Make a trip in the hand-pulled rickshaws - very few Indian cities have them left - and despite their bumpy ride, they are a worthy experience. Do not miss the Aarthi's at sundown at the Ghats of Varanasi. Beware of the omnipresent touts. Beware of the fleecing Pujari's. Also, the Ganges ain't all that clean at Varanasi that you can take a dip and come out smelling rosy - so be careful. And don't leave Agra without a box of pethas.

The axion and the neutralino

And dark energy: Out There on NyTimes

"Which leaves abnormal matter, or what physicists call nonbaryonic matter, meaning that it doesn’t consist of the protons and neutrons of “normal” matter. What’s more (or, perhaps more accurately, less), it doesn’t interact at all with electricity or magnetism, which is why we wouldn’t be able to see it, and it can rarely interact even with protons and neutrons, which is why trillions of these particles might be passing through you every second without your knowing it. Theorists have narrowed the search for dark-matter particles to two hypothetical candidates: the axion and the neutralino. But so far efforts to create one of these ghostly particles in accelerators, which mimic the high levels of energy in the first fraction of a second after the birth of the universe, have come up empty. So have efforts to catch one in ultrasensitive detectors, which number in the dozens around the world."

Amazing Andamans

It was by chance that I decided to make a trip to the Andamans - a long weekend, total ennui and wanderlust making a fortunate combination.

The flight from Chennai to Port Blair was serene - the clear ocean below dotted with periodic boats & ships, a cirrus sky and bright sunshine. The Andaman Islands, when they appeared out the blue (literally), looked like a small patch of green land amidst a huge area of blue ocean. The weather, as we landed felt hot and sultry, even in comparison to Chennai.

Given my last-minute plans, I had booked myself into a "resort" (at least that's what it claimed to be) - the only available room in the whole acco scene of the islands. Interestingly, the "resort" consisted a few run-down rooms in the most god-forsaken area of the islands, complete with tarantula-sized spiders to share my bed.

Culturally, the Andamans feels like a part of Tamilnadu that drifted away - everyone speaks Tamil, every shop has a Tamil name and the auto-drivers seem like they've been plucked out of Chennai - the same fleecing and argument, anywhere you go.

The Aberdeen Bazaar and the adjoining Aberdeen jetty are the most prominent places in Port Blair. The tsunami seems to have destroyed all water sport facilities along the jetty - but as I understand, the facilities are getting rebuilt. From the jetty run periodic ferry services to all the other islands, including day-long boating trips to the popular tourist spots.

Overlooking the jetty is the beautiful Ross Island. A remnant of the British rule of the islands - the British had their administrative base here - the island is now a well preserved museum. The most beautiful aspect of the island is the breathtakingly clear waters that surround it. It is, by far, the most picturesque beach location I have been to till date - the pebble ridden waterfront, palm trees drooping in from the coast, the crystal clear waters and the matching skies - it was just a sight to behold.

Another must-visit place is 'Corbyn's Cove' - an islet in main island of Port Blair. The approach road is a delight, running along the sea from Aberdeen Jetty for a few kilometres with wonderful sights all along. The beach is a great place for a dip in the sea, with the underlying surface remaining a plateau for quite a distance, and with calm clear waters. They also have pretty neat changing rooms.

The Cellular Jail adjoins and overlooks the Aberdeen jetty - and is an imposing structure. The sound and light show run in the evenings here is a well conducted piece, highlighting the ugly history of "kalapani" in colorful detail.

There are quite a lot of islands that comprise the Andaman and Nicobar belt, but the most well known and well visited ones are Ross Island, North Bay, Viper's Island and Havelock, apart from the main island. North Bay is primarily a place for snorkeling - I had a fun time seeing the underwater corals of different shapes, sizes and colors; but one needs to be careful of getting fleeced, the pricing is arbitrary and one can negotiate almost any figure based on one's skill. Viper's Island has nothing on it but a hangman's noose - so do not bother visiting. Havelock is the farthest - and I didn't have the time to make a visit - but I hear it's probably the best and has wonderful beaches - will probably try to make it some other time.

For others intending to follow my trail: The flights need to be booked well in advance, since most of the time they are fully booked. Arranging accommodation is a pain, with most places booked months in advance ; and even amongst the ones that exist, almost all are run down shacks. So if you want a great experience, do not hesitate shelling out more for the premium ones. If possible, book ones on M.G.Road, near the centre of town. Most tourist facilities in Port Blair are closed on Sundays and Government Holidays, so you'll be sorely disappointed if you land there on a weekend - so include a weekday in your itinerary. Try and hire a tourist cab for traversing the town - Port Blair, despite its deceptive size on the map, is well spread out and ambulating about, like I did, may leave you exhausted at the end. And finally, December to March is the best time to visit the islands.

Rambles of an exhausted air-farer

Its 6AM - Chennai airport. The line at the security counter stretches for almost a mile, almost till the second entrance to the airport - thats ~100 people per queue, and 3 such queues; of sleep-deprived, bleary eyed people trying to catch a flight. It’s the same everywhere - Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad, you name it. And the bottleneck lies at the security check process. Wonder why it can't be made faster. Maybe they should just open more counters, or put in place some faster checking process. Why should every individual be manually scanned ? I bet any automated scanning technology will payback in a few days given the amount of business time lost in waiting in these queues.

And what crowds! My auto driver in Chennai commented that he ferries more people to the airport these days, than to the railway station. A newspaper report today in the Mumbai Times says that record numbers of people flew in Q3, and the numbers are expected to increase going ahead. Unfortunately, infrastructure cannot keep pace unless growth is anticipated and planned ahead, given the lead times involved. Any decent construction project has a lifetime running in years. So unless we start investing now for 2010, clogged airports are going to be in vogue.

Any city, particularly the metros, when viewed from air after dark, is a sight to behold. From the glittering golden narrow patch of land called Mumbai to the shining white diamond coastline of Chennai, each city has its own "night-light-character". I bet that there is tourism potential in this - maybe we should have a low altitude "see-the-city-at-night" tour :-)

Picturesque Pichavaram

Pichavaram is the site of one of India's largest mangrove forests. Situated approximately 280 kms south of Chennai, Pichavaram is an ideal weekend getaway.

The nearest town is Chidambaram - located at approximately 2 hours drive south of Pondicherry. There are two routes to Chidambaram from Chennai - one down the east-coast road to Pondicherry and there-from south via Cuddalore, along the coast and the second along the Chengalpat - Tindivanam high-way. We decided to try the latter as it is usually less crowded on weekends and is a much wider road. The road till Tindivanam is an awesome drive - 4/6 lane and one can cover it easily at well over 80 kmph. Post Tindivanam, however, the road is under re-laying and is in pretty bad shape. After Tindivanam, one needs to take change route to Panruti - a small road lined with villages and fields on either side. Somewhere down the route to Panruti, we lost track of the road-signs and instead landed up Neyveli - the site of the Thermal power station - a slightly circuitous route. The road from Neyveli from Chidambaram was in pretty sad shape and the car took quite a beating.

We had heard from online reports that the road to Pichavaram from Chidambaram had been badly damaged by the Tsunami - luckily for us, the road had been re-laid in most parts and was very easily traversable. The route is very beautiful, lined by water canals and green fields on either side.

Pichavaram is a small fishing hamlet with the single TTDC hotel (sort-of) - where the road terminates. There's very little left of the TTDC hotel (if there was any in the first place), but a small restaurant, a couple of rooms, a tall view-point tower and a small jetty. The restaurant serves a nice welcome breakfast; and the view-point tower has a great view of the entire estuary. Only row-boats are available and for one, two and four hour durations.

The mangrove forests seem like floating trees in the middle of estuary - so well & densely grown as to create small islands. Forming an area of ~3500 acres, the mangrove forests provide an endless area for exploration - limited only by how much you can row about. The whole area is absolutely scenic.

A few minutes into the boating trip, the hired rower asked us if we would be interested in seeing a few hidden rivulets, for a few extra bucks. Mystified, we agreed. A large number of rivulets (4440 exactly, as per the rower) criss-cross the mangrove forests. More like internal streams, these present a world by themselves - the verdant coverage blots out the sun, banyan like hangings stream-down from the trees, dead logs float along and the whole atmosphere is deathly quiet - this is just one experience worth every bit of it.

After two hours of endless photography, some rowing sessions and a glimpse of a fox amidst the greenery, we headed back. Stopping for a short while at the Chidambaram temple - to get a glimpse of the famous Chidambara-rahasiyam (Chidambaram's Secret), we headed back to Chennai via Cuddalore and Pondicherry.

For those intending to follow our trail: Take the ECR down Pondicherry & Cuddalore to Chidambaram - the road is awesome all the way and is very scenic. The one way trip should take about 4-5 hours, given the traffic. Boating at Pichavaram is open from 7.30 AM to 5.30 PM. The temple in Chidambaram is open from early in the morning till mid-afternoon, and re-opens around 4pm. There are very few decent places to stay at Chidambaram and it being a famous temple town - do your bookings before you set out - particularly during the festival season; Hotels Saradaram and Akshaya are two nice ones. Head there sometime in late December / early Jan, right before the harvest season like we did, and you'll be treated to the awesome scenery of verdant fields all over.