Vaishnodevi

Tanu and I try to make it to Vaishnodevi atleast once a year. Ma had said that she would be interested in going with us this year. What was a delightful surprise is when baba too decided to accompany us. The thing about baba which I have realized, is that he is intensely spiritual – but not too overt about it – somewhat like loving great food, but not necessarily visiting all the restaurants in town !

The flight into Delhi from Kolkata was un-eventful. I used to love Jet Airways, but somehow, they seem to be getting a little greedy. I can visualize a JA board meeting where a consultant, lets say from McKinsey, justified their big fat USD 3000 per hour charge with a “wow” recommendation – “you could increase your revenue by 10% by making reducing the space between seats by about 15%”. And “Hurrah!”said the Managing Director – “My bonus is now assured for the next couple of years”.

Through my worklife, there’s one thing which I have learnt – a successful business strategy is driven not by numbers, but by the right consumer insight. In the Jet Airways case, I can guarantee that they didn’t do any research with a 6foot plus person to see his reaction to the seat configuration change. Because if they did, they would have soon realized that there could be only two ways that this person could sit on such seats – one, by sitting diagonally and putting his feet up on the lap of the person sitting next to him (hmmm, now if one had a really nice looking lady as a co-passenger….), or two, by cutting a few inches off his leg to ensure a proper fit. Anyway, since neither was possible, I landed with a really sore knee !

Sonamashi is an incredible cook. So our dinner in Delhi was scrumptious. Little known to most people is that when no one is looking, sonamashi changes into her real costume – one that has a large S etched right at the centre, and a flowing red cape behind her back ! I have reached that conclusion through years of observing her. Her 2 hands function like 10. When she gets into the kitchen and when no one is watching, all 10 of her hands become active. Which is why she manages to cook a 5 course meal in about 15 minutes – and serves you hot chappatis to go with it ! Well, this superwoman never ceases to amaze me.

The flight into Jammu was nice– except for the incredibly smart young lady who walked off with our suitcase from the turnstile. The efficient Spicejet folks immediately managed to trace her and get her to bring our luggage back to the airport. I was all keen on venting my anger on her when she said that our blue tattered Ricardo looks very similar to her red, brand new Samsonite - at which point, I gave up.

After a short snooze at Katra, we started our trek up from Adhkumari - a pithu carrying our backpacks, and the four of us in-toe, behind. A little way up, we decided that taking horses for baba and ma was probably the sensible thing to do – atleast up to the half way stage. For some reason, whenever I tried approaching a horse-chappie, he declined. I reached the conclusion that the horse and its owner have a form of silent communication going on between them – and seeing my size, horse was telling its owner “ Are you friggin crazy ? Cant you estimate his weight ?”. Finally, our Pithu managed to get two horses (when I was out of sight) and baba/ma started their ride up.

Our walk up this time was a lot smoother than the last few times. Perhaps because both Tanu and I are relatively fitter than we were earlier (atleast we choose to think so). So the walk up to Adhkumari, and then onto Vaishnodevi (with baba and ma now on foot as well) wasn’t that difficult. On reaching, we realized that Gouri Bhavan, where we had booked our rooms, was another good 1.5 kms away.

After leaving our luggage in our room, while ma and baba waited below, we made our way to the army queue - “Gate No. 3 !!!” as it is referred to by those unfortunate enough to stand in the really long queues leading towards gate 1 & 2. I must confess that I do feel a bit of guilt as we join the line just ahead of the temple entrance- with people who would have reached there in about 2-3 hours through the other gates. But that is life ! No one offers me a special queue as I stand in the ridiculously long queue at the Delhi International Airport Security gates (much of that is however due to the utter lack of foresight of the Airport authorities and the complete incompetence of the people manning the X-Ray machines – but that, is another story).

The darshan as usual, was for a few seconds. There’s something about the temple. By the time I reach the darshan spot, I am usually quite angry with the policemen who kept shoving me on, the pujari who puts a tika as though he is doing the world’s greatest favour to me, the people behind me who believe that if they push me, they have a greater chance of being blessed by the Goddess than they otherwise would – but the minute I reach the actual Ma's darshan area, somehow the anger vanishes. Yes, the darshan is short, but leaves me with a feeling of protection – that probably is the word closest to the feeling I feel.

At ma’s insistence, we made our way up to the Baba Bhairon mandir the next morning. I must add that had the rest of us listened to our aching calf muscles, we may have decided to postpone that trip to the next visit. Our Pithu had arranged 4 horses for us – and the trip up on those horses, was quite comfortable. Am glad we made it up – of course because we managed to truly complete the Vaishnodevi trip and get a proper darshan – but more perhaps because one saw how much it meant to ma.

We made our way down on our horses, towards the helipad at Sanjichaat ( it’s a Chaath like a roof, and not a chaat like paprichaat – in case you were wondering !). Horses have this way of flexing their back muscles in a peculiar way as they make their way down a mountain – uncomfortable is the mildest word to describe how one’s backside feels. So we decided to get down from the horses and walk the 2 kms to the helipad. The helicopter ride was quite nice – short as it may be. Tanu of course believes that her persona charmed the entire crue of Deccan Air – which is why she was “selected” to seat on the co-pilot’s seat, while the rest of us herded up in the cabin behind.

I realized that Capt Gopinath is quite a shrewd businessman to have thought about starting these rides – not only does it play on the need for convenience of the devotees, it titillates the sense of “I have arrived in life” mentality, the “I have never been on a helicopter !” sentiment & the real need for some people like us to get down quickly in order to make it on time to connecting flights. Good work !

Chalsa and Kolkata

I have realised that my emotions are all a function of a door key - that off my office. When I lock it knowing that I am going on leave, somehow the happiness meter immediately goes soaring. Packing bags, which seem so tiring when I go on official tours, seem like a great past-time ! And airline lounges at the Suvarnabhoom airport suddenly feels like home !

Kolkata continues to be as charming as it ever was. Even as we were driving down the completely broken roads of Rajarhat, to me it was just the short term fallout of rapid development of the land - heavy trucks plying to bring cement and sand to the architects designing the new Kolkata skyline. There's something quite exciting about our flat at Unitech Horizons - though I know for certain that I could never stay anywhere else in Kolkata but in 36/2. There's something romantic about talking with Tanu about the stylish furniture we will design, or the jacuzzi that we could set up in the bathroom. I know that when Unitech finally hands the flat over to us next year, we could be in for a shock - because we are still basking in the memories of the model flat they created.

This whole concept of a model flat is quite interesting. Create a marketing dream within 4 walls which turns everyone on - like a heaven each person would like staying in. Little do people notice the small notes which says "Special fittings - not part of the actual flat". Its quite interesting that they dont even allow people to take photographs inside this "model" home.

Anyway, to go on. Home with family is the best place to be in. I dont know whether its the walls, the people, the food, the air / sound whatever - but somehow staying in 36/2 is like a sponge for me. It just soaks out all the tensions, worries, problems out of me. There's something about being with the entire family that nothing can replace.

Chalsa - The ride from Bagdogra to Chalsa was really interesting. Ravi (the driver of the Tavera we had hired) decided that he was the new Schumacher in the making - perhaps spurned by baba's comments around how they had taken on these roads in the recently completed Indo-Bhutan rally. So it was quite interesting sitting in the front. I dont know whether many people feel the same way - but when you have your wallet in your back pocket, and you sit in a car that is moving more vertically than horizontally, one's backside feels really funny. In my case, my right backside soon becomes numb and and while I try to adjust my body weight to balance it, beyond a certain point, I start looking like the leaning tower of Pisa. So here's my suggestion to all - when in a car, keep your wallet in your hand.

The Sterling resort at Chalsa (check out http://www.east-himalaya.com/hotels/dooars/sinclairsretreat.htm) is a business case study of how not to run a business. It was quite stark for me having seen how the resorts in Thailand make even small areas look enticing. The Sterling resort is spread over a huge and beautiful area. But true to the state of Bengal entrepreneurs, the grass is not trimmed, the rooms have moisture patches, and hold on, there's no room service. Having said all of this, the resort is run by a handful of people - perhaps a total of 10. I must say that after the initial disappointment, and the usual anger over how much they charge for nothing, all of us were very happy over the 3 days that we stayed there. There's some sort of a charm about the place that makes it endearing. There's a big board as you enter the reception area that boasts of multiple facilities - tennis, horse riding, croquet to name a few. As we soon realised, they have a patch of green which they convert to a tennis cum badminton cum croquet cum barbeque place. In fact, the net that they use for tennis becomes the badminton net when lifted a few feet above the ground ! Ingenious !

Of course I have to talk about the Colon Irrigation centre. I have seen quite a few of them all over Bangkok. Swanky places with glass tubs in which you lie. And white coat doctors with sterile thin tubes which are put deftly up your backside etc etc. Now Sterling had a room for "Colonic Irrigation". Somewhat like Anilda's room when he used to stay in our mezannine floor. One wooden cot in the middle of a room without windows (thank god). What I couldnt figure out is what happens after you lie down - so they presumably "irrigate" (using what, God knows), but what happens with what comes out in a room without any visible apparatus to "download" was a mystery.

The 3 days stay in Chalsa was a dream. Santale Khola, Salisa, and Jaldapara (places we visited there) were beautiful (check some of the attached photographs). Thamma had a great time and for me, that was the highest point of this trip. Also, the flights to and from Bagdogra has probably given her a greater confidence in her around "flying in planes". So hopefully, she will be a little less tense about coming to Bangkok next time around.

Separate post on the Vaishnodevi trip later...