Konarakam -seriously chilled beans

You would be right in assuming that with all this travel, Mum and I have not had much sleep. You would also be right in assuming that the Darshans and extreme dehydration had taken its toll on us.

Shabarimala

Swami Ayyopa...this was quite possibly the most intense and grueling experience of my life. I thought it would be a fairly straight forward walk to the top of a mountain, a pleasant jaunt as Vaishno Devi had been. How completely, utterly and abysmally wrong can one man be? This wrong...

26/11 - Dehli Remembers, I look on...

Before we launched off to South Kerela for the next leg of the journey, Shabarimala, we had a whirlwind tour of Delhi. We did the usual, Qutr Minar, India Gate, etc, all of which you can find in a copy of the Lonely Planet. The minar was the most impressive - a massive column of stone, finely carved with passages of the Koran encircling it all the way to the top. Even more impressive as it was completed 250 years prior to the industrial revolution, and that its construction has weathered everything that life has had to throw at it, with the exception of the recent acidic rains.

However, today is a little different.

Jammu City

Thank god Mum booked a sick hotel for the night. If you're ever in Katra, Jammu Kashmir, I highly recommend staying at the White Orchid - although don't book it through a third party booking site, cos they put a 20% mark up on the price - phone them direct. To be honest, do this for all your travel arrangements, cos agency websites are a rip off...

I booked an Ayurvedic session for her legs, seeing as we're doing another Darshan - Shabarimala - in a couple of days. She returned well happy. After a hearty masala dosa and Idly Vada breakfast, we set off for Jammu, with the help of our trusty Driver, Tamal Singh whose big heart was only matched by the size of his turban and moustache-beard combo.

On the way we stopped in at an out of the way Dhabba, and sampled the local speciality - Paneer Pakora - made with milk from the local goats. Twas pretty awesome, but I can see why us Indians suffer the highest cholesterol of any ethnic group. Next stop was the museum/castle of Karan Singh, and the Singh dynasty - the Royal Family of Kashmir. Gulab Singh, the first monarch of the region, was gifted the land for the princely sum of 2 lakhs (around $100,000 now) by the British Raj, with the promise he would help subdue the tribal  difficulties (both Hindu and Muslim) in the region. The Singh Family has little power, but are still an economic force to be reckoned with, in the form of Karan Singh.

After that, and a couple more temple stops, we arrived in dusty Jammu City. First stop was the silks and saree shop, where I planned to get a couple of prezzies for my female friends, i.e. a couple of pashminas. Ended up spending a bit more than I planned, but mates are worth it. I also got a glimpse of a 4 lakh pure pashmina - which looked pretty ordinary - they takle up to a year to complete, as the wool all comes from the chins of Kashmiri goats, which are notoriously hard to rear. However, these babies can keep you warm in minus 50 degrees centigrade conditions - no shit...

Unfortunately, the last minute booking doesn't always work and we ended up in some kind of crap hole in the middle of the city for the night. The food in the restaurant was good, but I screamed like a girl at the sight of a roach on my pillow and didn't sleep particularly well. The streets are crawling with police and military types. I get the feeling that it would be damn near impossible for any insurgents to even get a shot off without getting completely raped - and last time i checked, the tribal folks don't have enough bodies to waste in mindless suicide attacks anymore. At least not around here...

Ind-glish

You're all probably au fait with the Eastern World's liberal application of the basic tool of grammar, spelling and logical sentence construction...Here's a couple of top notch examples of Indian-isms with the language of the former colonialist bastards...

Vaishno Devi – Part 3 – Animal-Human Conflict

The trek is a bloody tough one. Hot and steep. And busy. And there are of course the monkeys. I’ve never seen monkey colonies as big or violent as these – possibly taking their cue from human cousins. The dominant species which has displaced the local Languor (small, furry, very friendly and cuddly) population, looks like a cross between baboons and the common city monkey.

Vaishno Devi - Part 2

With every Darshan, there’s a narah, or rousing chant that pilgrims will shout to drive themselves and everyone else around them. With the Vaishno Devi Darshan, its, “Jai Matha Di!” – “Long live Mata, holy mother and sister!”. This rallying call inspires the Bhakti (devotion) that pushes Yatris further, harder and faster along their journey. And you can feel the atmosphere bristle with energy. I’ve sat in on a midnight mass, a Passover service and a Hare Krishna Gho Pooja and there’s a kind of static in the air you can feel when thousands of people all come together for one purpose.