General Summary

Tejas had never been to India. Sudhir had not been in almost 10 years, not to mention having to close the medical office for over 3 weeks. So there was much excitement, and hesitation, in the planning of this trip. How different would India be? Will Tejas adjust to India easily? How about the toilet issue?

Tejas, Ashwini, Indira, and Sripad left for India on December 28th, 2004. Sudhir joined the family on January 14th, 2005. Before Sudhir arrived in India, they visited the homes of many family members, attended a wedding, and enjoyed the care-free life of Bangalore. Once Sudhir arrived in India, Gopi had a huge get-together at his house, where all members of Sripad's family spent the entire day together. The house was full of kids, all of whom played cricket, basketball, and other assorted activities. At the spur of the moment, we decided to take a mini-trip to north India, which we experienced between January 24th and January 28th. We also took a day trip to Hassan, Belur, Halebid, and Sravanabelagola. We also spent an entire day touring around Bangalore. Additionally, we tried to visit as many family members as possible, trying to remain healthy while enjoying the local food.

Although the trip was 6 weeks long (3 weeks for Sudhir), we departed India longing for a longer vacation. Tejas thoroughly enjoyed the trip. He made friends with all his cousins, becoming very sad when he had to leave them behind. Not having to worry about cell phones, pagers, call schedules, office paperwork, and other various and sundry stressful aspects of life in America was very refreshing. Although, I must add that we were definitely glad when we finally landed in Atlanta, got in our car, and drove back home.

Trip to North India: Delhi - Mathura - Agra - Jaipur

Monday, January 24th ..... A taxi arrived at our house to take us to the airport. We arrived in Delhi on Monday evening, where a private bus was waiting for us at the airport. We were taken to our hotel in Karol Bagh, in Delhi.

Tuesday, January 25th ..... The next morning, we were given a private taxi and personal driver for the duration of the trip. We left Delhi on Tuesday morning, driving to Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna. Although Mathura lies on the main road between Delhi and Agra, the actual Krishna Mandir is inside the city. The drive through the city to reach the Krishna Temple was quite exhilerating. Narrow dirt roads, packed with people and cows were our obstacles. At one point, Sudhir had to leave the taxi, lift up a railroad crossing barricade, and allow traffic to pass through. Although this was meant to allow our taxi to pass, almost 75-100 other "vehicles" (oxen pulled carriages, scooters, auto-rickshaws, cows, etc) passed through in the interim! The Krishna Temple is truly sacred and beautiful, and brings peace and serenity to one's mind. Unfortunately, over the centuries, the Moghul's have destroyed the original birth site, and built mosques on top of the birth place.

Early afternoon, we left Mathura and arrived in Agra, where we saw the Taj Mahal and Red Fort. Since January is "off season", it was not very crowded. We were able to tour the entire site, with the help of a personal tour guide. Despite all the claims of the Taj Mahal becoming "dirtied" with polluted air, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the grounds are very well maintained, with the marble remaining "white". I want to remind everyone of some obvious facts - the Taj Mahal is the Moslem burial ground for the 3rd wife of Shah Jahan. His first 2 wives were burind in smaller, adjacent buildings. The entire building is made out of marble. No visitors are allowed after dusk. Due to the large crowds, the Taj Mahal is a favorite place for pick-pocketers.

We left Agra late in the evening, and arrived in Jaipur Tuesday night. The road between Agra and Jaipur was quite bumpy, as the road wound through various villages. During this leg of the trip, I came to realize why "trees are painted white and red" along the highway (this is the poor man's roadside light reflector).

Wednesday, January 26th ..... Early Wednesday morning, we started our sight seeing through Jaipur, with the help of another personal tour guide. We first visited the Birla Temple (containing the Lakshmi Narayana deities), which, similar to the Taj Mahal, is constructed in 100% marble.

This was followed by a drive thru the "Pink City" - which is the "old Jaipur". There is a city ordinance in the Pink City which states that the exteriors of all buildings MUST be painted in Pink, else they are fined a huge sum. We then drove to a Rama Temple, but this particular temple is a "one of a kind". It is the only temple in India displaying a "sitting" Rama, instead of the usual standing pose.

We then drove to Tiger Fort, the home of King Jai Singh, founder of the city of Jaipur. At the Tiger Fort, King Jai Singh built a "queen's wing" for each of his 9 wives. From the top of the Fort, we could see the entire city of Jaipur, in all directions. We also visited Jal Mahal, a garden where over 50 Hindi films were filmed. At Jal Mahal, all of us dressed up in typical Rajasthani attire and had professional portraits taken (this activity was actually a LOT of fun).

At the end of the day, we visited the "Monkey Temple", which is nestled between 2 hills. The Temple is constructed along the side of one of the hills. At first glance, the temple appears barren and deserted. But if you look closely along the hillside, you slowly start to realize that many monkeys "blend" into the background, as this temple is home to thousands of monkeys. One of the monkeys slowly sneaked up behind Indira, and grabbed some prasada out of her hands!! Indira was a little scared, but the rest of us had a great laugh.

Thursday, January 27th and Friday, January 28th..... Early Thursday morning, we left Jaipur, headed back to Delhi. One of the most memorable images of Jaipur was the endless line of camels, which are used as the "vehicle of choice" by the local farmers. Once in Delhi, we spent most of the day sight seeing. The preserved ruins of Qutab Minar was a wonderful visit. One of the best sites we visited was the Bihai Lotus Temple. This temple celebrates the Bihai faith, situated in the heart of Delhi. The temple site is unbelievably well maintained, with beautifully manicured grounds. We also saw the hi-tech city of Gargaon, Birla Temple, India Gate, Raj Ghat, and Red Fort. On Thursday night, we ate dinner at Suruchi, which is an authentic Rajastani restaurant, where the waiters were dressed in full Rajastani garb. The meal was absolutely delicious and along with a memorable experience. On Friday, we continued our sight seeing around Delhi, including Jantar Mantar. Later in the afternoon, we were taken back to the airport for our trip back to bangalore.

Shravanabelagola - Hassan - Belur - Halebeedu

On January 31, 2005, we took a "day trip" from Bangalore to Hassan to see Manjula. On the way to Hassan, we stopped at Shravanabelagola. From Hassan, we went to Halebeedu and Belur Temples.

Shravanabelagola - The Jain Temple is located in this city. The temple is on a hill top, 640 steps to the top. Gomateswara is located at the pinnacle of the hill, which is carved out of 1 solid rock. The deity is almost 57 feet tall.

Hassan - We then visited Manjula, Vidya, Bharati, and Sumukha in Hassan. Tejas had a lot of fun playing with Sumuka all day. He became very sad having to leave Sumukha behind at the end of the day. We also visited Lakshamma (Sripad's mother's younger sister) and her family.

Belur - While in Hassan, we visited the Hoysala temple of Belur, where we saw the Chennakeshava god. The architecure at this temple is truly incredible.

Halebid - We then drove to the Halebeedu Temple, where there are 2 Basava carvings besides the main temple. We admired the wonderful Hoysala carvings of Halebeedu, before driving back to Hassan.

Bangalore Sightseeing

During our trip, we also visited many sites in and around Bangalore. The Iskcon Temple and Shiva Temple are relatively new, while the Bull Temple has remained unchanged for decades.

Iskcon Temple - This temple is built by the Hare Krishna group. It is built on a hill, thought to be "waste land". The gopras for this temple are made out of pure gold. INside the temple, there are ceiling frescos reminescant of the Sistine chapel.

Shiva Temple - This Temple was being built on a stretch of "unused land" along the Airport Road in 1995. Now, the temple sits on prime property on a very busy Airport Road. A huge shopping complex has been built in front of the Shiva Temple, blocking it's view from the road. regardless, it is beautiful temple, allowing for mental peace amidst the hustle and bustle of Bangalore's streets.

Ganesha Temple - A temple that Sripad and Indira used to visit while living in Basavangudi in the 1960's. A temple "enclosure" has been built around the deity. Remarkably, the priest recognized and remembered Sripad and Indira. He also remembered Sudhir as a child, and was amazed to see Sripad's grand child, Tejas.

Bull Temple - Sitting adjacent to the Ganesha Temple, this deity remains steadfast and unchanged for many decades.

Vidhan Soudha - We saw this government building at night, with the lights upon it. The city of Bangalore has built an exact replica of this building adjacent to it, so all government offices can be housed in 1 location.

Lalbagh Flower Show - This annual event, starts the week before Republic Day, and lasts for 1 week. We were envious of the huge colorful flowers on display, as many of these flowers are unavailable in the US.

Family members we visited

Sripad's Family	Indira's Family	Ashwini's Family
Seshu & Sharada	Vasu & Bharati	Maruti & Nursu
Gopala, Shubha, Chinmaya	Jaya	Nitin & Sreelakshmi (wedding)
Chaya & Shankaru	Padma & Chandrashekar	Vyjayanthi, Jayanth, Vikas, Vishal
Manjula	Kamala & Ramachandra	Rammohan, Shyamala, Amol
Kumar, Lakshmi, Chaitu, Nandu	Seethalakshmi	Satyanarayan Rao, Rekha, Supriya, Srinivas
Rajesh, Sridevi, Chetan	Lakshminarasu	Suma
Veena, Kumaraswamy, Cookie		Phani Kumar, Vinutha, Sauhardh
Sharath, Asha, Sindhu		Narendra, Sonali, Niriksha
VV Prasad, Vidya, Abhigna		Rohan
Vidya, Bharati, Sumukha		Sachindra
		Swaroop's mother

We attended a Ashwini's cousin's wedding (Nitin & Sreelakshnmi). We tried to visit as many people as possible during our short stay. Aside from visiting the friends and relatives who live in Bangalore, we were also able to visit with Jayanthi & Sowmya, who had visited India at the same time. We also ran into Bheemsimha and Usha, our friends from Boston, who were also visiting India.

In an attempt to "take everyone out to dinner", we held 2 parties at a local restaurant, Pai Comforts. On January 23rd, all of Sripad's relatives came to the dinner party. On January 29th, all of Ashwini's relatives came to the second dinner party. The dinner was quite delicious, with food being served in a buffet style, preceded by 2 different types of soups, associated with 3 types of bread during the meal, and concluded by 3 different types of sweets. Everyone enjoyed themselves, with Zantac being an after-party favorite.