Three generations gathered together and caught up after 5 years, due to Covid restrictions.
I also got the opportunity to catch up with my boarding school classmates in Bangalore.
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| Boarding school classmates |
That afternoon we headed to the Kosh resort. This was the location where all the uncles, aunts, cousins, next-gen, etc were going to gather up. It was a pretty location and cool at night.
Day 2
My cousins Nikhil and Rahul came over for breakfast. I hadn’t seen Nikhil in 16 years and had never met his wife. All 4 of them are professors educated in the west. There was a lot of catching up to do after all these years.
Day 3
Today was the day to have breakfast and check out. After some rest in the afternoon, we headed to Daysie Bar and Restaurant. My uncle and aunt from Coimbatore were there, and we took photos together after 24 years. That was a real achievement for the year!
Day 4
I had an early morning flight to Varanasi. The Bangalore Airport Terminal 2 is beautiful and brand new. The flight was uneventful and I was in Varanasi in 2.5 hours. I was picked up by the hotel taxi and taken to Hotel Madin. After a good meal and a much-needed nap, my tour guide arrived at 3:30 pm. There was only one event planned for that day - the evening Aarti by the Ganges river. The tour guide bought me tea in an earthen cup, which was an authentic Indian experience.
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| Deen Upyadhyay University in Varanasi |
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| Evening aarthi prayer on the banks of River Ganga |
Day 5
I woke up early to go for a boat ride down the holy Ganges river. There were lots of pilgrims near the river bank. In particular, there are groups of women who walk barefoot for days in a hundred-mile radius of Varanasi.
The boat ride was fun. We saw the various palatial guesthouses owned by Indian royal families. The highlight was the cremation ghats, where bodies were cremated. There are only two allowed now in Varanasi.
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| Varanasi morning boat ride |
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| Manikarnika Cremation ghat |
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| Harishchandra cremation ghat |
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| At the newly constructed river banks |
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| Royal Guest house |
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| Sunrise over River Ganga |
That afternoon I hired a taxi to take me to Lucknow. The highway was pretty decent, and there was real traffic only when we entered Lucknow. My accommodation was an old mansion (Haveli) converted to the Saraca hotel. It had an excellent restaurant I tried some Lucknowi kebabs and desserts.
Day 6
This day started with a tour of the Lucknow Residency. This was a major battle spot in the Indian First War of Independence in 1857. General Henry Lawrence, who founded my boarding school in Ooty (in south India) was killed here.
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| Painting of General Henry Lawrence's death |
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| Lucknow Residency |
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| Henry Lawrence's grave |
The next stop was the Bada Imambara - the large announcement hall. This building and adjoining mosque were built to provide income to workers during a large-scale famine - an example of Keynesian economics, 150 years before his birth. It is a beautiful hall built around the replica of Shia Muslim holy places.
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| Bada Imambara Hall |
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| Tazia carried by mourners in Muharram |
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| Red chairs for female royals |
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| Replica of Karbala- the Shia Muslim holy city |
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| Bhool bhulaiya |
There was also a narrow corridor (called bhool bhulaiya - "labrynth" in English) on the top to allow the Lucknow royal family to escape in case of assassination attempts.
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| Bada Imambara mosque |
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Bada Imambara Gate
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| Chotta Imambara |
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| Chickankari pattern on Salwar Kameez clothing |
The whole complex was beautiful. There was also a tomb in the shape of a small Taj Mahal. We went to the Chota Imambara, and then where they dyed clothes in the chickankari pattern.
The next stop was Tunday Kebab, a restaurant that is 150 years old. The speciality galouti kebab is made with minced meat and 160 spices. It is so soft that it melts in one’s mouth like butter. Apparently, it was made for a toothless king by his chef!
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| Tunday Kebab restaurant |
The final stop was the La Martiniere College, built in a European style by a French mercenary named Clause Martin. My brother-in-law went to the Calcutta branch of this school.
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| La Martieniere School |
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| Posing by the cannon in a school! |
Day 7
My flight to Amritsar was cancelled because of fog. After hours of waiting in the airport, I could only reach Delhi since the onward flight was also cancelled. So I headed to my mother’s place, where my sister and family were already there.
Day 8
We went on a sightseeing trip around New Delhi. The first stop was the Lotus Temple. This was built by the Bahai - an offshoot of Islam. It believes in the unity of religions and humanity- its centre is in the city of Haifa in Israel.
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| Lotus Temple of the Bahai |
The next stop was the Qutb Minar - the tallest minaret in the world built of bricks. There is also an iron pillar in the complex that has not rusted in thousands of years - an attribute to the metallurgical skills of ancient Indians.
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Qutb Minar
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Day 9
My sister and nieces headed back to the USA after a nice family photo. My brother-in-law and I headed to the Akshardhwam temple - which is very close to my mother’s apartment. It is a beautiful complex built about 20 years ago and quite clean and well organized.
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| Akshardham Temple |
At night we celebrated a very quiet NYE.
Day 10
Since it was a holiday, we went to a Sikh temple (Gurudwara) called Bangla Sahib. It was quite crowded but ironically possibly the first Gurudwara I have been to in India. I have been to Gurudwaras in Libya, Bahrain, UAE and Canada.
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| Bangla Sahib on January 1st |
The next stop was my middle school - the (AFBBS) Air Force Bal Bharthi School (also jokingly called Althu Falthu Bure Bachon ka School)!. The next stop was a drive-by
India Gate.
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| India Gate - tomb of the unknown Indian soldier |
Then I headed to Humayun’s tomb. He was the second Mughal Emperor, who presided over an empire that was 5 times more populous than the contemporary Ottoman Empire. The one interesting decor was the Star of David on the building - ironic considering today’s political climate.
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| Humayun's tomb |
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| Isa Khan Niyazi's tomb |
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| Star of David on Humayun's tomb! |
That night I headed to the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. My Air India ticket had my name misspelt, which meant I could be denied boarding. Luckily, the service was pretty good in quickly updating my name. I arrived at 2 am and went straight to my hotel.
Day 11
My hotel was the Marina Beach Hotel, a lovely hotel with great service, location and reasonable prices. I spent the afternoon in a pool.
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| Rooftop Pool in Marina Hotel |
The Marina Hotel offered a free city tour of Colombo. The South Asian and Buddhist heritage was very clear. The first stop is the Gangaramaya Temple
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| Gangaramaya Buddhist temple |
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| Sunset at the Marina Hotel |
The next stop was the
Colombo National Museum, an excellent place to see the history of the country up to modern times.
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Sri Lanka National Museum
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Day 12
A day tour of the ancient city of Kandy, the capital of Sri Lankan kingdom for centuries. The highlights were the Temple of Buddha's Tooth. The Buddha's Tooth was brought by Princess Hemamali and Prince Kantha to Sri Lanka. You could also see the large white Buddha statue from a distance
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Overlooking Temple of Tooth in Kandy
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| Sri Maha Bodhi Viharaya |
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Temple of Tooth Overview
 | Inside Temple of Buddha's Tooth
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| Princess Hemamali and Prince Kantha |
The next highlight was the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was full of tropical plants and flowers. Many of the plants had been donated by foreign dignitaries.
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| Bamboo trees |
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| Durian fruit |
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| Buddha in a flower |
There was a mandatory tourist trap visit to a tea factory, which actually had some really good teas. It gave inspiration to buy a gift for my friend and former boss in Qatar, who is of Persian origin and would appreciate it.
Day 13
I had an early morning flight to Kochi, a few hundred miles from where my family originates. After checking into the Meridien Hotel, where I have stopped over for a sumptuous lunch buffet a few times.
I got to visit my boarding school classmate Amit Mathew and his family. I hadn't seen him in 29 years. A couple of other classmates and their families joined in, which was heartwarming.
Day 14
I took a taxi for a two-hour ride to Alleppey, where I got into a houseboat. This is a standard tourist experience in the backwaters of my home state of Kerala. There were 3 rooms in the boat, and we travelled up and down Lake and rivers. One room was taken by a young German couple studying in India, and the other by a young Indian couple from Delhi.
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| Sipping coconut water at a river stop |
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| A couple of houseboats |
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| Long exposure photo |
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| A view through the houseboat room window |
Day 15
I took an early morning flight after a two-hour taxi ride back to Kochi. I also dropped the young couple I had met to the train station. After landing in Bengaluru airport, I caught up with my brother-in-law and went to the hotel where other guests for my cousin Keertana's wedding were staying. After lunch, we rested a bit and then headed to the wedding reception. It was in a farmhouse that had been converted to a wedding venue.
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| The bride with our side of the family |
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| My relatives at Keertana's wedding |
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| A paan maker |
That evening I headed to the airport straight from the wedding. My flight to Doha (Qatar) was early in the morning. Terminal 2 in Bengaluru airport is brand new and spectacular.
Day 16
I landed at
Doha Airport, considered one of the world's best airports on many lists. My former boss and friend Babak came to pick me up. He took me home and I had a great Persian-style breakfast. I then slept for a couple of hours.
He then took me for a tour around Doha. We started with the mall near the Aspire Tower, built for the Asian Games. After walking around, we headed to the restaurants by the beach. We had lunch in a Persian restaurant.
We then headed to the
Pearl neighbourhood, a trendy location in a creek. After we took a trip to the
Souk Waqif, a traditional bazaar that has been recently built. It was packed being the weekend. We went to a restaurant where we had a typical Arab dessert called Kunafeh and smoked shisha.
I then headed to the airport to catch my flight to London. They upgraded me which was a fitting end to my vacation.
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| Aspire Tower, Doha |
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| Beach in Doha |
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