Buddham Sharanam ................

We (me, wife, kids and my friend Roby) made a road trip to Bodhgaya and nearby Gaya. Bodhgaya is a real sight and well worth a visit... a place where there are more foreigners than Indians (largely from Nepal, Tibet, Japan and a few Caucasians). But unlike many Hindu religious sites I have visited, there is no one out to cheat you out of your money and people largely leave you alone. I have written a three piece article on our trip, though it doesnt say much about Bodhgaya per se. Given the way in which articles are uploaded on a blog, the order is reversed, hence I wrote this piece to give you an easy way of accessing the articles. Please remember to come back to this artcile when you have read the blog. Also when using this way to access articles, you can ignore the line about the article being a continuation, etc.

1. A trip for Enlightenment
   
2. Camera, Lights Action
   
3. After the Intermission

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Mathai Fenn

After Intermission

This blog is a continuation from my earlier article. If you havent read that one, click here to read it.


At the SBI Branch in Gaya, we found a group of people huddled outside and they were discussing if the branch will open or not, since most of its staff have been deputed for election duty. But the group also informed me that there was no ATM at the branch! I could feel my heart somewhere near my toes. Fortunately the MAIN branch was not far from there, and it did have an ATM. It had a que of people outside it and I waited at the end of the que. Later they all went away, they weren't in any que, they were just hanging around. I found that the que was INSIDE the ATM room. In a room which was about five feet by six feet there were TWELVE people crammed INSIDE!!! I finally managed to withdraw some money with about 10 people staring at the SECRET PIN CODE as I entered it.

We got out of there and caught a cycle rickshaw to get back to the car. I found that or car was still there and was overwhelmed with joy. The rickshaw driver asked me for four rupees, in my delight, I gave him 10!!. Now we filled petrol and began our journey out of the centre of Gaya. Remember that the city of Gaya is really a small town. At the outskirts I yelled at Roby (he offered to drive in the LAAST bit) and asked him to stop. I got out and brought myself a cold beer as he drove and took us out of Gaya. Cold beer is really good for a celebration, which I truly felt I had earned.

IF YOU GO THERE, BY ALL MEANS VISIT BODHGAYA, ITS A WONDERFUL PLACE, BUT BEWARE OF GAYA- I later looked it up and found out that it is otherwise called a pitcher plant, which lures its prey deeper and deeper using a sweet secretion. BEWARE!!

Camera, Lights, Action

This blog is a continuation from my earlier article. If you havent read that one, click here to read it.

The scene opens at the SBI ATM outside the branch at Bodhgaya. I am there to withdraw money before checking out and starting on our return trip. The family is at the hotel. I insert my card and the ATM spat it right out. Obviously ATMs at BG have more discerning taste. No worries, I decided to wait until the bank opens at 10:30 am.

At 10:30 am, I met the gentleman who had just walked into the branch and asked him if he could help me out, even though I didnt hold an account at that particular branch. The answer I got was "how is that possible?" implying that I had greater knowledge about the SBI banking system than he had. Outside there was a group of people who told me that the nearest ATM was in Gaya, some 10 Km away.

I went back to the hotel and picked up roby and decided to venture out into Gaya. We quickly realized that Bodhgaya and Gaya were as dissimilar..... wish they were similar I could have said as similar as two peas in a pod.... but they aren't that similar. From the highway we asked directions to the Railway Station...which is where we were told was the easiest accessible ATM site. We were directed into a side road and then later on we asked another guide for the way to the railway station. He looked at us with sad eyes and sympathetically said said "you have a long way to go". I wanted to tell him about the 400km ride that brought me this far, but I held my peace. Four times we asked the way and we were led down increasingly narrow streets until we hit the railway line, which we finally followed until the station.

When we finally reached, we were surprised to see the parking lot virtually empty. We said a silent "thank you" for our first break as we went to find the ATM. This ATM turned out to be more difficult than the first. She welcomed us with an unblinking "Welcome to SBI". She turned out to be a difficult mistress and we inserted and re-inserted our card in different positions and she just refused to respond in the least. Her blue eye fixed on us. We gave up in frustration and headed back to the car. Where we found the reason for the empty space at the car park lot. Parking there was Rs.20/- !!

Outside the station gate, the navigator, Roby, left the car to find out directions to the next ATM and I sat in the car. I called up the SBI Helpline from my cell phone. A sweet voice on the other end was VERY helpful, when she said "....for this information, I suggest you go to our nearest SBI Branch! :) After the conversation she asked for my name and said "Thank you very much for calling and have a nice day, Mr. Mathai!" She felt satisfied that some form had been filled somewhere and there was ANOTHER satisified customer.

Meanwhile my navigator came back with the information on where the next SBI is. He told me to take a left, and then another left and then to follow the road until you pass two traffic police posts and then turn left again. He had also been specifically told, not to turn left or right before two police posts, under any circumstances. The street was amazing! A narrow street filled with cycles, cycle-rickshaws, vehicles and pedastrians. I have never driven along such roads and we inched along for three whole kilometers, our eyes glued to the fuel indicator which was creeping towards zero along the RED carpet. If all this was not enough in the centre of the road were piles of garbage, about 4-5 feet across and about 2-3 feet high. On top of each mound were some bulls or buffaloes munching without a care in the world! The photo below is not of that street, but gives you SOME feel for what I could see.





After three kilometers we turned right into a relatively quieter road and stopped for directions just next to a "Mound". At this point we were told we had travelled three kilometers on the right road, but in the wrong direction! We left the car where it was and started walking back along the street. I turned for one last look at my car before it disappeared from view. Will I be able to trace my way back here? If I did, will I find it again? It felt like saying goodbye to a friend. But we pushed on ahead.

Finally we arrived at the SBI branch

A trip for enlightenment

"Do you remember the movies in which a guy is driving through a small town....and has a puncture. He stops to have it fixed, only to realize that the shop is closed for the afternoon being sunday. He checks into a hotel because there is nothing else to do, but wait until the next day, monday. That evening he is going out to dinner when he witnesses a murder. What is worst the murderer sees him.... and then evolves a tale where the protagonist only wants to get away from the town, but he can't... and the town traps him, drawing him deeper and deeper into its world of intrigue... and fear."

Me and Roby were on a "Sleaze Movie" trip, as we explored the different ways in which we could make the classic Sleaze Movie. Roby was in the driver's seat and I was in the passenger seat. Behind us we could hear the kids and Jessy talking to each other, only listening to us with half an ear. We were on our way to Bodhgaya, the place where the Lord Buddha, achieved enlightenment. First stop (the only stop for the day) was at Dasam Falls on the way to Ranchi. It was worth the bumpy ride off the highway to see the falls......fall(?) from a high point and crash on to the rocks below. The stopping point was a convenient cliff on the opposite side. It was a really nice site.

That evening we stopped off at a wayside hotel at hazaribag. The next day we heard of something called "Canary Hill" (really kanheri hill) and on a whim followed a dirt road to a beautiful Forest Guesthouse on the side of a hill, overlooking the forests. The guy there made us some coffee and we hung around there for a while, despite the drizzle and the cold. It was really nice to look out over a rain-washed forest with a meandering river way over near the horizon, on a wet, cold, drizzly day, sipping hot coffee.

The movie we directed didnt unfold until later on...

wait for the second installment coming soon

Fear aboard flight IC809

I am writing this on board flight IC 809 from Bombay to Delhi. The date is 15th January. No there are no terrorists trying to hijack the plane, the engine has not fallen off. In fact the fear I saw was not among the passengers, but in the eyes of a flight stewardess. On flight in the economy section, there are flight attendants of all hues... actually only two, orange and blue. In my section there was one with orange feathers and the others had blue. Clearly the mamma bird was in orange and even had a name tag. After the meal service, a "lady in blue" collected our meals onto a trolley and was going back. There was a crash. Needless to say a crash in aviation is very serious business, so we all craned our neck to see if the tail section had fallen off. Imagine our relief when we saw that the "accident" was that the trays stacked in the tolley had fallen down. It was then that we saw the look fo fear that she gave to the orange mamma bird. Obviously there was a pecking order here. Though many of us passengers would have liked to help, obviously space in the aisle is limited. The Orange lady made no attempt to assist ...even give moral support for ... the lady in blue. The look said it all, but in case it wasnt enough, the lady told another lady in blue, in the middle of the airplane: "....she's gone and dumped all the trays, so you will have to help the customers from your end." Thank goodness the hull of the aircraft was strong enough to withstand the cutting sarcasm in those words.

The first blue lady disappeared from sight and I didnt see her again. Dear lady in blue, someday your one wing will be two and you too will have a name tag. Until then, hang in there and keep your chin up!

The passenger on seat 17F

Adventure

If climibing the mountain was about falling in love (see my earlier write-up), whats a good description of having a gun pointed to your head?

Ans: Adventure.

On Sunday, 14th November, I was sitting in my flat at Armenia, working as well as chatting with my wife on the internet. At 4 O'Clock, in the afternoon, I told her I am shutting down because I have to go to the office. Before I actually did shut down there was a knock at the door. I opened the door to see a 25 year old man, decently dressed. He spoke to me in Armenian which I didnt understand a word of. After a few moments of trying to communicate. He motioned me to wait a moment while he went down and brought his friend. I presumed his friend knew English, so when he knocked again, I opened the door. Imagine my surprise to now find TWO men (both about the same age) who were jabbering away in Armenian. One of them while talking walked into the house. I was ok with this since I had several people walk in and walk out, to check the water meter, etc.

Once inside the house the first guy put a handgun to my head while the other closed the door. The second fellow had a menacing looking sharp tool with him. Looked like a wooden handled screw driver with a narrow and pionted head. He closed the door behind him. They began to act menacing and forced me to lie down on the living room sofa.

At this point a little diversion is in order. You may or may not know that by now I have almost a decade of martial arts training and spent a good part of my childhood wondering who I would react in precisely this kind of situation. And now I was in the situation that I was preparing for. I looked at the gun and realized that it is probably a toy gun, but he wasnt holding it still enough for me to see it. I found I was not really panic stricken at all. I evaluated the odds of taking them on, and found that the odds were not good. One out-of-shape middle aged guy against two armed (for all I know) young guys? And what was it for? Some money. I decided the trade off wasnt worth it and decided to act more afraid than I actually felt.

The first man kept the gun trained on my head while the second guy went in and picked up my belt and tied my feet with it, and for the hands he tore some clothes. Obviously they werent well prepared for the whole thing. The searched the whole house asking for "Dollar! Dollar! ", probably one of the three english words they knew. Right behind me was a clothes cupboard which had ALL my money in it. I indicated to my trousers and told them my wallet is in the pocket. They got about $100 from the wallet. When they asked me for more, I told them the only logical thing to say "Office"! I looked away from the cupboard all the time, pretending to be so scared that I couldnt look up!

They gave up searching for money, and decamped with the whatever money the could find (didnt find the majority of the money stashed right behind where they were standing), my laptop, my brand new olympus c770 digital camera :-( Before they left they pulled out the cord from the telephone. How considerate that they didnt cause any serious damage to it.

Within 1 minute of their departure I was free of my bonds and called the dean from the now fixed phone. He in turn called AUA security and together came over to see my upturned house and decide what to do. I thought the police have to be told anyway, and finally the police were called in. They told me that if they were to investigate, I would have to stay there for at least 15 days! I couldnt afford that, so I dropped the case.

The next day I was asked what I thought about the whole thing. On 18th of November, the driver of the car that was dropping me to the airport said in broken english

"You were robbed?"

I said "yes".

"You will never come back to Armenia again?"

I said "I loved Armenia and will come back again if I have the opportunity to do so. But the next time around I will be careful when I open the door!"


As I relaxed in the airline seat I looked back at my stay and said to myself "what an adventure".


Mathai