Bali

It was dusk as the Royal Brunei airline flew into the air like a graceful bird and lifted away from a green Brunei onto its way to Bali islands in Indonesia a mere three hours away .
I was exited ,and looking forwards to visit the famed island of Bali in the southern tip of Indonesia as all have heard so much about this beautiful island .
We were to land in the capital Denpasar in the Ngruk Eliya airport shortly .
The flight landed smoothly and we quickly paid our visa on arrival fee of US 40 dollars needed for Indian passport holders ,earlier on exit one had to pay an airport tax and had to conserve money for that but now that is already included in the fare .
We took a cab to our hotel in Kutta and it cost around 17 US Dollars ,it was easier to think in US Dollars as Indonesian money was mind boggling .
A single Brunei dollar fetched 10000 Indonesian Rupiah and one talked of one hundred thousand five hundred thousand rupiahs for example a mineral water would cost about 20000 Indonesian Rupiahs  ,each Indian rupee was around 200 Indonesian Rupiah !

We checked in to 101 Legian Bali in Kuta and retired to our rooms .

An aerial view of Kutta area from our room 

nights  in Kutta 

parties fun and frolic massages bars and night life galore in kutta 

in Beach

Kutta is one of the most happening places in Bali island full of hotels boutiques massage parlors pubs and a lot of shopping and night life and the beach too  nearby .
Bali is a wonderful combination of the traditional and the modern melding so smoothly .there was  no vulgarity here though it catered to  all types of people  and no one was prejudiced against another for his way of life as there was acceptance of all with no intrusion to another .
such broad mindedness is an unique feature of the country something admirable .The Balinese too are gentle ,peace loving soft spoken and artistic well meaning people .

In the morning we looked from our room to see gabled roofs and quaint housetops in the busy Kutta area hundreds of motorcycles and scooters were already on the roads and the busy Balinese were already frolicking around for the day 
We had asked our driver cum guide recommended to come to the hotel ,
Dewa should be one of the most popular guides in the country and when we saw him we knew why 

He  was genial ,cheering ,charming and he swept us off our feet as he made us comfortable in the car with a bottle of mineral water each 
Bali has several places of interest .
 One can surf in sandy beaches or take warm sunbaths one can dive or snorkel or go swimming or just laze on the evening with a glass of liquor and fine music ,the beach scene was very attractive to many tourists specially from Australia ,
Kutta had a memorial for those who were killed by a bomb explosion by radical extremists a few years back .
The car went off the winding roads of Densapar ,busy with thousands of mopeds its roundabouts had huge statuettes of Hindu mythology and scenes from it ,after all the country was more than 80 % Hindu and its known for its adherence to Hindu customs and traditions which it guards with great passion .More than 80 % of its population are Hindus .
Hinduism at the beginning of the century spread to the far east brought by south Indian sea faring traders or as invited by local kings .Indonesian islands adopted both Hinduism and Buddhisms ideals ,the Prambaam temple one of the biggest temple complexes is in Indonesia ,several Hindu scriptures were translated into Javanese like the Agastya Parva on Rishi Agastya of the 11 th century .
the last and the largest amongst the Buddhist Hindu Kingdoms was the Mahapajit empire influenced the Indonesian archipelago ,Islam too came here from 12th century at time of Marco polo and slowly Indonesia was taken over by Islamic rulers later it turned into a Dutch colony by the colonizing Dutch .
After gaining indepence from the Dutch ,Indonesia insisted on monotheistic religions only and Bali clarified its  Hindu concept to a monoatheistic one and introduced a joint petition using a Sanskrit slogan 
OM TAT SAT EKAM EVA ADVITYA 
Translation: Om, thus is the essence of the all pervading, infinite, undivided one.

This fit in with the constitutional requirement of Indonesia of its citizens having belief in only one God .

the Balinese are fine artistes and their delicate art works extends to architecture ,furniture ,idol temple making and fine arts of painting sculpting etc

In 1962 Hinduism became the fifth state recognized religion .

In Bali the Trimurti deities of Hinduism of Shiva Brahma and Vishnu also has Eswara on top of  all the three .
There are more than 20000 temples  ( called Pura )in Bali ,each family has a Kula Dewa or family deity .
 Balinese life is woven around their religion , heritage and their temples ,they do have a functional caste system but no untouchables probably a reflection of early Hindu life in India too .

several road junctions had stone lamps very similar to those seen in Kerala temples 

Most houses , shops , or roadsides are full of festive hangouts and flags made of ethnic material mostly from coconut fronds and bamboo ,innumerable festoons hang and sway delicately o the road sides and are cleverly made using local material an indication of the artistic nature of the Balinese,the cities and towns have huge statuettes from the Hindu scriptures of Mahabaratha and Ramayana .

Festoons decorate every street ,road ,front of houses ,malls and buildings 

there were small and large stone stupas in front of most shops to ward off evil and one would find offerings on plantain leaves which would have in t choclates fruits and even cigarettes on it which no one would ever touch
Hari raya Nyepi is the Hindu new year celebrated in Bali as a day of silence .
On new years eve the houses and the public places are cleaned food is cooked for two days ,in the evening as much noise as possible is made in order to drive away evil spirits ,Nyepi night is filled with fires song and light but the next day is one of total silence with people not venturing out of their house or cooking ,nothing works and even airports   are closed ,tourists are asked to stick inside their hotels for the whole day and night .
Hari raya Galungan and Hari raya Saraswati are two other important festivals in Bali .

one of the beautiful temples of Bali with women in traditional dress carrying offerings 

Dewa took us first to an ethnic Balinese model village for tourists to get a glimpse of the Balinese way of life .
the village is called Pengalipuran

the wooden storehouses for storing grain is seen 

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Pengalipuran or model Balinese village 

The street lined by houses in the model village 

Wearing traditional Balinese dress in the Pengalipuran 

the wide walkway ,no vehicles are allowed 

The whole village has been built in the traditional way with houses lining a broad walk with steps leading up to the temple at one end ,each house compound itself has smaller hutments with their red brick roofs .
The kitchen was in a separate room house from the living rooms ,many of the householders carried on with their work though some of them talked to visitors and tried to sell of souvenirs .

one does get a good glimpse of Balinese way of life ,strangely with the advent of tourism and modern gadgetry and comforts one would think that this way of life is restricted to interior villages and the more common folk ,but one would be wrong ,even the most modern model or receptionist or a DJ in a upmarket bar would go back to his or her sarong singing his or her devotional songs and carry those baskets on his or her head being every inch the Balinese is at his heart ,it is this tenacity by which the Balinese hold to their heritage that appealed to me the most ,whatever changes happened they never lose their soul which cannot be said the same of my country India where its tradition and heritage has almost became a shame for many !

The village had a temple at the top facing down ,most temples are closed or their sanctums are opened only when the priests are around  ,but we could find some photo opps and one with Balinese dress too which we took for posterity 

There was a hall filled with a Balinese group and they were in a class of sorts for religious training I think ,

Dewa was waiting for us and we got into the cool comforts of our car drinking ice cold water as the heat was quite sapping .

We were off to the mother of all temples in Bali Called Puru Beisakhi near mount Agung

 ( the principal volcano of Bali )  it was really a temple complex with more than 23 separated but related temples built at an elevation of 1000 meters and in six levels .The largest and the central of the temples is called Pura Penturan Agung 

temple complex of 23 temples

It dates back to prehistoric times and been worshiped in from 1294 

in 1963 the volcano became active and more than 1700 people died but the lava missed the temple closely which is considered by the Balinese as a miracle 

Mount Agung

on the way to the temple

the only issue is as you find in many reviews there is an extortion by certain priest guide nexus which insists on tourists needing guides fortunately ours was not that demanding and we came out unscathed though one needs to rent out a sarong which had to be worn to go inside ,the temple itself is at several levels and the Gods too progressively become higher as one goes up ,

I missed the top most story being lazy to climb steps in the warm day but my wife as usual made it and said that was the most beautiful part and dedicated to the ultimate Ishwara himself !

most of the devotees were in pure white the men sporting a Balinese head gear and the women thier very pretty dresses ,there was a sense of peace and happiness in them ,temple visits are occasions where they come with their families and friends and there was no rush in it as seen in many Indian temples ,the main difference was there was no noticeable altars to view idols in fact many pedestals had just umbrellas adorning empty spaces which again showed the Balinese uncannily hit on the real nature of Adwaitic Hinduism and are beyond idol worship ,were the past Hindus like this and did the present form as seen in India come later of course this blog is hardly the place to debate on superiority of which ,each to his own 

temple art 

Beisakhi temple 

The split entrance is seen in many Balinese temple entrances ,here it is called the Candi Bentar and the second level gate is called Kori Agung 

The priest distributes offerings to the devotees all dressed in pristine white 

a view from the top of the steps 

a lovely Balinese child in the temple in traditional garb

It was time for lunch and Dewa took us to a bug hotel known for its Balinese buffet lunch ,there were a lot of tourists and we just manged to find a seat ,one could see the Mount Agung in the back ground ,the buffet spread  was big and we got out of lunch feeling full and was accosted by a bunch of touts and souvenir sellers who manged to do their jobs quoting good bargains in American dollars as Indonesian money would be in astronomical figures .

We then decided to go to the Uluwatu temple in the Bukit peninsula ,it is located on cliffs 70 meters above the crashing waves of the Indian ocean and is well known for its spectacular sunsets ./most temples in Bali ask for entrance fees and are tourist attractions for the foreigners while being spiritual centers for the locals ,cleverly marketed spirituality which I appreciate .,

there are plenty of monkeys in this temple and are known to grab cameras and bags and hence one has to exercise caution as one

gets absorbed by its beauty ,we did miss the sunset and it soon became dark but we could capture some excellent

snaps

The sentinel gaurdian of Uluwatu 

We then returned back exhausted to Kutta and had a good sleep .

of course I have not mentioned the excellent beaches and surfing in the peninsula as our tour was more focused on Balis temples this time 

Morning saw Dewa back with us ,this day we planned to visit two important temples one was Tanah lot on the beach and the other was Ulundawa  on the side of a lake ,

Every location is well planned for temples in Bali on mountain sides ,lakes banks ,on beaches  and on hills .

Tanah lot means land sea built by Javanese sage Dang Hyang Nirartha  in 16 th century ,the main diety is Dewa Baruna or Batara segara the sea Gods and the sage himself is also worshiped here .

At the base of the temple island mythology suggests venomous sea snakes protect it ,in 1980 the crumbling temple due to sea erosion was renovated with Japanese funds .

We went inside one of the temples though the one inside the  sea could not be reached due to the high tides ,surfers were seen swimming on the sea .
the temple on a rock out in the sea were so picturesque and one could imagine how it would look in sunset ,we were surprised to find out the rock was a carefully constructed artificial outcrop which had replaced a crumbling rock a few years back ,cleverly engineered to look like the original while being strong too a real feat in conservation .

The touts ,guides ,vendors were all over but are cheerful and not at all demanding ,they fit in to the place so well ,the real temple visitors too were in plenty dressed in white muslin and neat and the women were graceful in their sarongs with offerings carried daintily on their heads .

There was so much of peace and quietude in their movements and the place was serene and peaceful ,the line of shops included upmarket branded shops restaurants and studios making brisk business .
Artistes did their work in front of the tourists and the place was a treasure house for artistic works ,

making and selling art 

We got back into the car and sped to a heritage restaurant to be served with authentic Balinese cuisine

Balinese fish and rice

Sattu

A temple function with procession

the step like pagodas were typical of balinese temple architechture and to a small extent did resemble temples of Kerala ,umbrellas shaded empty pedestals with offerings for the invisble Gods 

we sped to our last temple the famous ulundanu about 50 km fro Densapar a shaivite temple on the shores of Lake Bretan in the mountains near Bedugul at 1200 meters above sea level .built in 1663 this temple is for offerings to the lake Godess Dewi Dhanu .or Laksmi ,other Gods are Brahma and Buddha .
Shiva and consort Parvsthi are the main deities Vishnu and Brahma and their temples all have tiers in descending orders
After returning from here we sped to our hotel in Seminiak   area a more upmarket locality and into a bigger and sophisticated one with an infinity pool
we lazed in the next morning after a hearty breakfast and an indulgent swim as we had to leave Bali in the evening with a sad heart !!

Everest the film

The film Everest in imax 3D though the theatre i saw it was not in 3D.
it depicts the tragedy that happened in 2013 where more than 17 climbers died due to over crowding in the upper heights of the hardy peak and foul weather.
Climbing Everest had turned commercial slowly and private mountaineering experts formed professional companies which would take anyone to the peak for a cost.
With adequate training acclimatisatiin in base camp at a height of 17000 feet for more than a month with modern facilities oxygen mountain gear doctors sherpa porters all managed well and marketed well.
Suddenly disaster struck as a big storm consequent avalanches and amatuer climbers hand guided by mountaineers for a fee saw short comings
There was even a traffic jam in the treacherous hillary step after the heighest camp beforeone summited.this was one of the most dangerous spots in the earth when man wasin a height his body should never be at the height where a Boeing 747 would fly man with all his equipment was in danger and with bad weather it looked like the punishment of an angry mountain .
The extremely tough steep icy heights would falter man and an ominious weather showed how puny man was in front of nature.
The scenes taken in reality in those very places is awesome and an oppurtunity not to be missed by anyone
Blinding snow pulmonary edema blizzards frost bites plunges losing way dark billowing clouds massive peaks disastrous avalanches sharp rocks.
Deep crevaces glaciers bitter struggles death blizzards family pangs summit surprises helicopter rescues frosted fingers frozen bodies all there
Not to be missed epic film
Tks for fotos from online

Supporting opposition

The petulant juvenile behavior of Indian politicians when things are not to their liking is disgusting

they behave like a sulking kid whose lollipop gets stolen
or monkeys in a cage after a banana
the monsoon session of the Parliament was washed out and crores from tax payers money wasted by a shallow opposition whose only knowledge is on their Italian honcho and the projected heir of a son whose histrionics demeaned parliamentary debating .
The state assembly worthies are no less in their behavior ,
from the secular spouting Yadavs who dance to the tunes of parochialism ,caste ism and communalism or the Bihari biggies who are dictated by the baddies of the hinterland ,the fiery Bengali CM or the Amma from the south who expects people to be prostrate to her plans and herself all the time .
Delhi of late is ruled by a set of broom armed wimps whose main hobby is to spar with its Lt Governor .
Of course one cant leave the most literate state Kerala which behaves diametrically opposite casting doubts on very Education itself ,
its opposition leaders are sincere to one thing they true to their name oppose everything !

And the puch statement that started this small piece was that of its opposition leader Atchuthananthan declaring that they supported Vizhinjam port project but would still oppose it !!!!

hope you could find some sense in that !

i couldnt

maybe they would discuss it in their study classes of how the left forces oppose while supporting

India the future

India has some of its best brains occupying senior positions and managing some of the best corp orates in the US .
From the latest sensation Sundar Pichai a humble Chennai lad who has become the top honcho of Google itself ,there are many examples in every sector .
Some of the best names known are Indira Nooyi of Pepsico,Vikram pandit of Citicorp,Shantanu Narayan of Adobe ,Rakesh Khurana Dean of harvard college ,Nitin Dean of harvard business school ,Rajiv Gupta GM of Hewlett packard ,
Satya Nadella CEO of Microsoft,Rajeev suri CEO of Nokia ,Sabeer Bhatia who invented Hotmail ,,Balamurali Ambattil youngest doctor in world at 17 yrs  and many doctors ,professors ,economists scientists and mathematicians of repute .

Really impressive 

If one see this as an example of Indian intelligence one would expect India to stand first among st developed nations right ?

wrong it isnt 

thats the  hard fact

is it because of all the brain being drained away ?
not so
 we still do have several men and women who are clever and enterprising in India too a lot 

more are coming our from our youngsters 
so itsnt the lack of  talent or intellect 

is it because of lack of opportunities for those who could have excelled ?

possibly true 
The reservations by caste has killed merit to a large extent and encouraged mediocrity especially in Government jobs where progress and development is caste driven .

Even the coveted civil service which needs intelligence to crack has the reservation pollutant spoiling its ranks .

Today we have Countries like Malaysia ,Taiwan ,Indonesia ,Thailand Vietnam are all thriving with modern infrastructure tourism and enterprises coming up at a remarkable pace ,

China's development is spell binding not to talk of the well known Singapore and Dubai ,

why is it India with its talents handling the best in industry arts science all over the world not able to reach that peak  ?
is it because many of the best are abroad ?

Will India become better if all these stars decide to come back ?

the answer is a vehement NO 

Because these men and women need freedom to work and to cut paths 
they are given that and encouraged in the country they have adopted for thier merit is the prime consideration there .

in our country their decisions will be constrained by the ultimate powers which are in the hands of our politicians who are the lowest in the spectrum .
The pyramid is reversed in India 

but that is not to say we have dumb politicians 
no 

Our parliamentarians are not fools if that is is what all this makes you think 

they are very clever in a perverted sense 
they are clever to continue the mirage of doing good while looking after themselves at the cost of the nation
they are clever in corruption in back room wheeler dealing and conning the people 
they are clever in blocking progress if it benefits them 
they are clever in populist schemes and incinatory  divisive politics to assure their lasting share of power 
they are clever in never allowing the few sincere among st them to do good 

Bureaucrats are the smoothies who benefit from their political masters in sharing power and money 
they are part of the machinery that impedes India 
the democratic process of India is unfortunately ridden by caste an religious conglomerates and is neatly apportioned to power brokers for perpetuity

with the executive and to a certain extent the judiciary under its fold the politician is all powerful and able to change things to his convenience,  harm whistle blowers 
 Aided by a slanted media who profess Gospellian untruths the farce continues .

so one cant blame brain drain for India's state 
once cant blame lack of intelligence in its political class 

one can only point ones fingers at selfishness and cunningness of the political powerful and foolishness and helplessness of the average Indian .

is there a release from this catch  22 situation ?

i hope so but the horizon looks bleak with the likes of leaders bent to subvert parliament to their personal ends 

the horizon looks dreary with the family power mafias who pump money out of the country and are willing to ransom the nation only to come back to power by some means 
the future looks dark by the paucity of statesmen with vision 
the future is fearsome with the number of Indians who talk for terrorists rabid dogs and rapists 
the future does not hold good with communal casteist and dynastic forces usurping power to themselves 
the future does not look promising because good people are not listened to and they are prevented from doing good 
God save India 

Born with a golden chip

Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala and the Banana chips fried in coconut oil is almost its USB
 the other being Mahabali the erstwhile king who ruled Kerala
he is almost a mascot !
To me the banana chips has a special place not only for creating an indefatigable paunch but to all those endless hours of  pleasure when I have munched on them by tons over the years .
It was a fairly well known fact that Hari loved banana chips in the family friends circle from child hood so much so most of the presents people used to give us in Kerala used to be only the  chips to the disappointment of my sister who was not a chip addict !

Calicut or Kozhikode is the holy place of chips ,
the puritans will never agree to any other ,
the Calicut chips was something different and could be recognized by the connoisseur in  any place
 he  would snort when faced with paler imitations .
Of course the Malabar chips outlet near Ernakulum Railway station was grudgingly accepted as near perfect as the owners and fryers hailed for Amchi Calicut ,
at any time of day or night a few cars would be parked in front of the shop as shoppers would order large quantities of the yellow stuff  before they boarded a train or flew away from Cochin airport ,
the cochin airport could do well with a branch of this chips making shop in its duty free area
 in fact much better than the dreary things it holds  now .

The other outlet for good chips in Kerala which actually has millions of banana chips places is the famed SNR chips of Alathur ,Palghat which the purists have acknowledged as good too .

the line of shops selling chips in the National highway at Wadakancherry looks attractive but it is for the hurried travelers by road to Tamilnadu more than for  those who have whetted their tongues and tastes to Calicut chips .

Born with a golden spoon is a common epitome but I was born with a golden banana chip in my mouth as from childhood during holidays my grandmother would see that I get my unlimited supply of our Calicut chips when I was around .

even to this date I ask people coming from Kerala for only one thing

Get me that chip buddy !

 

KRISHNANATTAM

From childhood i used to love to watch Krishnanattam kalli in Guruvayoor temple

As we knew one of the chutti students or make up students ( at that time he was my age now hes the senior most asaan or master )
He hailed from my village and it was my grandfather P.C. Manavedan Raja who put him there
We had a ring side view hence
We could see the peacock feather on krishnas crown said to be the real thing as once the samoodhiri or king dreamt on krishna and when he tried to hug him the playful child krishna slipped away leaving the feather with him 
The dancers would sleep on the laps of the make up artistes as they meticulously added layers of arimaavu or rice flour for the lower face mask they painted the eyes with khol and colored the face finally the dancer would lumber up to wear the billowing costumes and the towering crowns instantly transforming into alien Gods and out of this world forms
They would stand behind the curtains as the thayambakka rolled into a peak and pay thier obsequies to the singer and drummer
Sanskrit slogas would fill the air and the huge lamp would glow bright while the curtains caught by two people would part
Starting at around 11pm it would go on till dawn by 1am many children would be asleep suddenly waking up when the superhuman demons came with the drums and cymbals rising to a cresecendo
The burning wicks of the huge lamp would cast a surreal look in the dancers face as his red eyes would roll into the sky
The night and sleep would transform one to the fairy tale of the mythological story and the soothing sanskrit intones would lulabby one to sleep
The graceful dance of Krishna with his benign smile and crinkling kind eyes and the peacock feather in his crown would look so real
The thayambaka drums would richocet the empty temple walls and would rise into the rising dawn as the town and the temple woke to another day
What nostalgia of my krishnattam days