The AMKA 25 event preparations are going on with full vigor and enthusiasm.

Event Fees and deadline dates for this Grand Occasion are:
Adults: $50 per person for registration before Nov 15th, and $60 after Nov 15th.
Children below 12 years: Free, with a paying adult.

We will be providing child care facilities at the event site.

To share the genesis of this madness, I recorded the view. Here is a 67 second snippet, as the train crossed the Aghanashini River and approached the Kumta Train station. I recorded this from the doorway with my flip video, amidst the rain and rumbling of the train. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

Music: Mere Desh Ka Salaam, Shobha Gurtu.

Note: Move your mouse out of the video frame, to lose the black border.

• Kumta: Jewel of the Konkan
• Kumta: Main Street
• Kumta: Field of Dreams
• Young Women Making Papads in Kumta
• Shanbhag School in Kumta
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School – 2009

On the Konkan Railway

• Konkan Railway: Welcome Aboard
• Young Couple on the Konkan Railway

The Taj Mahal, Agra

However, instead of enjoying our vacation, we were beset by many pitfalls which we hope you will avoid by learning from our experience. Travel companies like Orbitz and Orbit Elite give the impression of being professional by presenting printed itineraries in binders, but they hide their crooked operations under the veneer of glossy printouts with very poor services delivered underneath all their PR crap.

The first red flag occurred after we had booked and paid for our tickets ($1,500 per person).  A month before our departure date, we received an e-mail stating that our return date was changed from January 10 to February 6 (nearly a month later).  When we called to inquire about this date change, we were told that the dates were changed because of bad weather – bad weather which was forecast two months before the departure date? I’ve never heard of such advanced and accurate forecasts before! Which planet are these people living on to peddle this kind of nonsense?

After several phone calls to “supervisors,” we thought the situation was rectified. However, upon reaching our destination and calling the airline to confirm our return journey, we found, to our surprise, that one of the tickets was not confirmed for January 10. The airline told us that while a reservation had indeed been made, they did not receive a payment.  Orbitz had collected our money and not paid the actual airline to issue the return ticket. Once again, we were forced to call several more times. We were able to secure a return ticket for January 17 (one week later and we incurred additional expenses).

This was just the tip of the ordeal. Orbitz had booked us with United from Chicago to London Heathrow and connected us with Air India from London Heathrow to Mumbai. The connection time was one and a half hours. When the Chicago flight was delayed by an hour, we had to literally sprint through Heathrow, take a bus to another terminal, and go through security again without a boarding pass because United could not issue us Air India boarding passes in Chicago.  We just barely made the connection – we were the last ones to board the Air India connecting flight.  On the return flight, we were not successful and missed our connecting flight (transferring from Air India to United in Frankfurt). This is because Air India, whose name should be changed to Ground India and whose license to operate should be revoked, does not still know that it has always taken them more than 2 hours to board a plane for the last 20 years that I can remember – some corporate MBA with an ounce of commonsense should have realized by now that boarding should begin at least 2 hours prior to departure instead of one hour.

Lesson to be learned: Never change international carriers in Europe, unless you have ample time to make the connection. Do not be fooled into doing this by some travel company offering you a “cheap” deal – it is simply not worth the hassle.

Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

After reaching Mumbai, we embarked on our 6-day sight-seeing trip to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. The Orbit-Elite package promised us transportation, stay at luxury resorts, and tour guides. The cost was roughly $600 per person for 5 persons (local domestic airfare was extra and came to $100 per person). A car picked us up from the airport and the car and driver we got were the best parts of our 6-day vacation. Although we were promised tour guides, no one called us and told us when and where the guides would meet us. And all the tour guides were scripted to take us to shopping places where they would get commissions instead of places that were useful to us. It was a pathetic and appalling display of shamelessness by wasting our time on such shenanigans.

The misinformation about tour guides proved to be a systemic problem in Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur and all other places where we were told that guides would show up. In Agra, we were ready at 9 AM, but the guide showed up only at 10:15 AM. And whenever we called Orbit Elite to inquire about the guide, we were told that someone would call us back. NO ONE ever called us back from Orbit Elite – a cell phone call in India costs roughly 3 cents a minute and this level of cheapness on Orbit’s part is unfathomable – that when a customer calls in to ask about the services that have been paid for, there is no direct response made to the customer. And the hotels where we stayed (with bed bugs and all) were supposedly upscale luxury resorts, but when we inquired later about the prices of these so-called resort hotels, we were told that such breakdowns are not given to customers after their money has been collected and that “we just operate on package deals.” The resort hotels which were booked in the “package deal” turned out to be very ordinary with poor front-desk service and an indifferent attitude to simple customer requests.

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur (Palace of Winds)

A friendly tip to visit India:  If you do want to visit India from the U.S. and take a ten-day tour of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, contact Say Travels (http://www.saytravel.com/ ) or Smartchoicetravel (http://www.smartchoicetravel.ca/) – their rates are very reasonable – $999 per person which includes air fare to and fro from New York, stay at luxury 5-star hotels, entrance fees at all sites covered, and a dedicated tour guide for sight-seeing.  Certainly beats our 6-day price of $700 per person from Mumbai, which did not include entrance fees to the sites (which are outrageously high for non-Indian citizens).

All I can say about the trip is that it left a very bad taste of India for my children who were looking forward to learn about their heritage, least expecting such pitfalls to be inflicted by Indians on persons of Indian origin. When we brought these issues up with Orbit Elite’s office in Mumbai, they just shrugged it off, treating it as a part of our “learning experience.”

Such fly-by-night travel and leisure companies are symptomatic of greedy, mismanaged, and unaccountable corporations that snare customers without giving them a detailed breakdown of the actual horror of their package deals. Their corporate culture promotes profit at any cost over customer satisfaction. In fact, they probably take great pride in customer dissatisfaction.

If you want to avoid being victimized, shanked, and tortured, I would strongly recommend against using Orbit Elite or Orbitz to plan your next vacation.

After a quick 'tour' of their operations, the overseer (foreman) in the accompanying pic insisted I try some of their jaggery! Yes, very delicious indeed! The gur has the consistency of solid fudge with a fine texture. It has a distintive taste making it ideal for sweetening indian desserts, such as payasam. A pinch of gur is also used to round-off the spice in many dishes, including the gujarati daal and the konkani delicacy – kadgi chakko.

From my childhood summer vacations in Bhatkal, I remember day laborers, even those who just stopped by looking for work, were offered a pot of water and a chunk of gur. It was fitting then that decades later I reciprocated and accepted this humble, but rich offering from a hard working laborer.

Certainly beats chemical laden candy bars, sold by slick marketing types making money for MNCs; so their executives can cash in their options and jet to exotic locales.

It's usually the poorest of the poor who will strike a conversation with us. Perhaps they have nothing to fear. Most are kids – certainly fearless! When they see I have a big camera, they come up and ask to take their pic. The common phrase was, “Anna (elder brother) photo!” pointing to themselves. For me this was always a thrill. I gladly shoot multiple pics and they scramble away, jumping up and down. With my big camera, they prolly feel like stars in a movie production. And I treat them like stars. Some stay back to ask where I am from. If they hang around long enough, I show them the pics on the LCD screen – then their amazement sees no end. Interestingly, most never ask for copies of the prints. They are simply content, they posed.

While I derive a lot of joy from this encounter, what's in it for them? Perhaps I hope, in approaching and dealing with me, their confidence is boosted. They may hesitate less, the next time they have to stand-up for something. Perhaps. Here I have assembled a few pics from our recent trip to Badami, Pattadakal and Hampi. Other than the actual sites, these interactions I craved the most. Let me know of your experiences.

Accompanying pic: As we parked near the Cave temples of Badami, these two came up and he confidently asked me to take their pic. They appeared to be siblings – look at their beautifully intertwined fingers.

At the MahaKuta Temple complex, some miles from Badami: The kid selling Goli Soda darted by as I tried to get his attention. The other two realized my intent and ran after the kid and brought him back to pose with them. The kid was prolly 8-10 years old, trying to make a living selling Goli Soda. The one in the center scares me!

These girls certainly felt left out. Either because they were tending the baby, or they just did not summon the courage to ask. I sensed, and asked if I could take their pic, and their eyes gleamed in affirmation.

At the Vithala temple in Hampi, the young girl Gouthami asked me to take a pic of her family. This girl of about 10, directed her mother and all older relatives to pose and smile. Then she wanted one with her mother (above). While I was surprised at her english, I was speechless when her mother spoke in flawless english and explained details about their trip. They were from a village in AndhraPradesh and were coincidentally also leaving for Tirupati on the night train. Gouthami wanted more pics (see below) and most unusually, wanted me to mail the pics to them. So the mother wrote out her name and address. Of the so many kids pics I have taken on this trip, this was the only time anyone asked me to mail the pics. I still need to do so.

As we walked back to the car in stunned silence, the kids waved bye. Here were kids with literally nothing in this world, not even family, and they seemed so content to be merry. M & I talked about how we had been quibbling earlier in the evening – we who have so much; and the kids, with nary a penny to their name were happily enjoying the moment. That was for me an important evening, and I hope it changes our lives forever. Even today, whenever M and I have a disagreement, we think of those orphans we met at the Dam, see how happy they were with what little they had! Certainly, we have much more.

As part of our annual charitable givings, I hope to identify an orphanage in rural karnataka and make a huge donation to them. We have also decided not to take any more gifts to our relatives in India, but to instead continue and increase our contributions to the schools and other deserving opportunities. I encourage you to do the same.

We started by visiting a few of the nearby temples: the Ganapati Devasthan, the impressive Nandi (Bull) Devasthan and the Shiva Devasthan. I loved the temples but hated the priests, at the Nandi and Shiva Temples. As we prayed, the priests stood in front of us with the aarti. Even after partaking the aarti's grace, the priests continued to stand in front of us, hoping we will put money on their plate. I intentionally side-stepped and put a tiny donation in the Hundi. NB: Money on the plate goes to the priest as additional tips; money in the Hundi (safe box on the floor) goes to the temple, and is used for all temple activities, including priest's salary.

For a second round of breakfast, we stopped at Kamat's Bugle Rock Cafe. Newly opened, very modern and very posh. This divli was well crafted and stood at the entrance of the restaurant. I wouldn't mind having this in my home.

A list of places we visited, in sequence. The ancient Kote Venkateshwara Swamy Devasthan, and next door, Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. ISKCON (Hare Krishna) temple; Chitrakala Parikshad; Vidhan Soudha and the High court; We took a lunch break at Kamat's Yatri Nivas in Gandhinagar – read more here) and a short nap. After a refreshing Kapi, we drove around MG Road; Ulsoor (sp?) Lake; window-shopped on Commercial St and bowed our heads in awe at the magnificent Someshwara Temple, Visroor. Our amazement continued at the temple of modern capitalism: The uber-posh Forum Mall with India's first Apple store.

Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace. An interesting building and very well maintained. On the back (or front) side, there is a similar appearing courtyard with pillars; perhaps this was designed as a building with two identical faces?

ISKCON's Hare Krishna Temple. This is a beautifully constructed new temple. The grounds are very tastefully done. To enter the main temple hall, visitors are corralled through a series of raised tiles. As you step on each tile you have to recite “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,” along with a person chanting the mantra on the speakers. The main temple hall is impressive as well. But once you are past the exquisitely carved murthy of Radha and Krishna, there is a lot of commercialization. They sell books, crafts, posters and a wider variety of foods. Apparently they feed about a 100,000 thousand needy students in the Bangalore area. It's a well oiled machine, and with the help of many volunteers, this only costs them about 600,000 Indian Rupees per month. Approximately 6 rupees to feed one student for a month!

Blue Sky across from the Temple. So spectacular, I had to stop the car and take the pic!

Chitrakala Parishad. Organization for promoting handicrafts. On the grounds, several artists sell a variety of crafts. Everything here appeared very well made and very inexpensive. All this would have made excellent gifts for my friends here, but they will have to make do with pics instead. There was also a large hall on the grounds, and there must have been about 50 vendors selling all kinds of handmade jewelery, dresses, floral patterned skirts, embroidered bedsheets. All very nice!

This larger than life sized carving of Ganesh was for sale as well. !!!

Promenade across from the Vidhan Soudha. I thought this pic had overtones of Monet's Promenade at Argenteuil.

The impressive Vidhan Soudha – Karnataka State's Parliament!

and the High Court, across the promenade!

The serene Ulsoor (or Halasoor ?) Lake: Newly renovated, it includes a walking/running trail around the entire lake. Lots of folks relaxing after a long day. Near the entrance, there are several smaller water bodies with fountains etc. Very nice! Saw a lot of rowers on the water.

After walking around the crowded Commercial Street, the driver pointed to a narrow alley and directed us to the Someshwar Devasthan. I was surprised to find this important Shaiva temple tucked the midst of a buzzing bazar. At the temple, I was impressed by the large number of statuettes in the antaralaya (area adjacent to the main sanctuary, where we circumambulate the deity). These statues about 8 – 10 inches tall in black stone, had been meticulously clothed and decorated with a sindhoor and chandan tilak. On asking, the priest explained that the 63 statuettes represented the 63 Nayanars. These saints set an example for the Shaiva faith, by their lavish poetry and unstinting devotion to God. They came from varied backgrounds (some royal, some laborers) but all dedicated their lives to the service of God, and are considered prime examples of bhakti devotion. The row starts with a tribute to Shri Ganesha, divinity of all knowledge.

You can read more about the Nayanars here, and see here for a concise listing. I invite more knowledgeable readers to please share and enlighten us all on this important aspect of the Shaiva faith.

Having learn't of the Nayanars, I was elated and as we stepped out, we stared in amazement at the stunning image before us – the light of the setting sun had bathed the gopuram in an ethereal golden glow! I had to blink to realise that it was the natural light! I stood there admiring it for a few minutes, took a few pics, then reluctantly walked out into the commotion on the street outside. All in all, a great day, and a great city!

Nov 2003; Nikon FM3a, ISO 200 Velvia Slide

Visiting my uncle in South Carolina, we had breakfast with this view outside the window. Much to everyone’s consternation, I had pulled the grills off the window and stepped out onto the deck to take the picture. As I tried to convince my uncle that it really was a beautiful view (and worth the antics), he was probably thinking that I needed to get my head examined. What do you think?