Onam

Achan  hari and ponnu making this years"s pookalam. 

My last few years onams were great. We would make big pookalam in my house, which we have done since childhood. One day before Onam, we would buy flowers for almost 1000–2000 bucks from the wholesale places with Achan. Me and Amma would buy vegetables and all other essentials from the market. Me and Hari would search for a good onam design and plan all the flowers needed for it.

We make pookalam every day since Atham, and every day we make quiet big ones only. But for thiruvonam, we make an extra-big one. Me, Hari, and Achan are all very interested in this. Amma will be in the kitchen with the sadya mostly, so she will visit in between and give suggestions. Since a few years after my grandpa's death, we started arranging thrikakkara appan also. Before his death, when he was healthy, he used to make thrikakkara appan with his own hands from clay. During those days when my grandma was alive and my grandpa was healthy, we used to go to tharavad after making pookalam in our house. After Ammamma's death, Ammachan got a stroke and suffered from paraplegia, so he was on bed rest for the next five years. So we used to go see him if he was not in our house. After Ammachan's death, we started arranging the thrikkakara appan, which was brought ready-made and is made of wood. My mother was interested in starting this ritual, but my father was not very interested initially. As always, I insisted, and he had no choice but to agree. Actually, Achan is very enthusiastic about all this, but he needs a little push in the beginning to overcome his inertia.

pookalam 2022

So thrikakkara appan is a pyramid-shaped figures made of wet clay or wood and represents Mahabali and Vamanan. We arrange this on Uthradam, and it will be kept till 2 days after Thiruvonam. We do specific rituals before arranging this; my sister does this in my house, and I simply sit and give unnecessory comments to embarrass her, so I don't know the details. Poojas will be done 2-3 times a day until the removal of the thrikkakara appan.

So coming to the day of thiruvonam, we wake up early in the morning, and me and Hari will go in search of local flowers like hibiscus and some leaves. I cannot say I am in search of places; actually, I know places, and we steal early in the morning. I know it's a bad habit, but usually during Onam people traditionally make pookalam the day before Thiruvonam, but we make the big one on the day of Thiruvonbam, so I think it's okay to steal a few flowers without hurting anyone's feelings. Getting hanumankireedam, which is a flower used to decorate thrikkakarappan, is also in high demand during the period, so I sketch them a couple of days before and have to steal that too. A lot of effort is put in the making my big pookalam.

So after collecting all the required flowers, we start making the pookalam. the outline and the design we usually draw the day before, so it's about just adding flowers to it. It takes around 2 hours to complete it, and by then Amma would have cooked the major items for Sadya. After pookalam, next is my photo session. I disturb everyone with it. So in between, I make everyone dress up and take a lot of pictures. My neighbors Maichettan and Princy Chechi and their children, Ponnu and Lachu, who are just 6 and 3 years old, would also join us in the photo session. Most of my cousins, Achu and Shilu, will also come, and we will go to either Hanuman Kavu or Garudan Kavu temple.

me and Rishika 

By the time I come back home, Amma will have cooked almost all the items in the sadya. A few left-over items are usually made by me, which include pineapple pachadi and kootu curry. By 12-1, we finish cooking and will give payasam kootu curry and a few other dishes to our neighbors, and during perunnal, they give us biriyani checken curry, etc. That's the unwritten rule there.

Ashraffaka will come by 12, and we will all eat sadya. My father likes my dishes so much that even if they are not good, he will compliment me and eat very happily. and I am a foodie when it comes to sadya; I will keep on eating even after everyone finishes, until my stomach can't take anymore. After Sadya, we would go somewhere. Tirur doesn't have a lot of places to go for an outing, so the usual places are Kootayi Beach, Karma Road, or maybe some relatives houses. We mostly go to see Balan Ammachan, who is my grandpa's younger brother. I will be very happy for the next few days as there will be enough dishes like pulinji, kalan, and kootu curry left over for 2-3 days.

This year, I have no leave left to go home, so I am celebrating Onam here with friends at Navyas. Sadly, Tuesday is a working day for most of us. I had the night off, so I didn't have to take leave. Last year, my dress was my Ammas Kasavu Mund with a top. This year I bought a kasavu sari with floral designs from an Instagram page called Kathirloooms, which I have been planning to buy for quite some time. I stitched two blouses and a rishika, and I went shopping on Sunday for bangles and mehandis.

thrikkakara appan

I had night duty on the last day and also had a presentation the next day. I hardly slept for 3 hours as I had to make a presentation by the next morning. Night duty is usually till 9 a.m., but on the day of Onam, the entire hospital had an internet shut down, no system was working, and it was busy in the department. I also wanted to show the prepared presentation to my guide, Dr. Suryabhan. After everything was over, it was around 10.30 a.m. I came back to the hostel to freshen up, and me and Rishika went together to Navyas. By the time we reached there, they had already made pookalam.

We got dressed up, took pictures, and I would go in between to the kitchen in the name of helping and eat some banana chips. Navya made sadya all by herself; the andra fakilu next door helped her a lot. She has become a very mature person now. A housewife, a mother, a whole different person. I wonder, looking at her transformation.

Amma Achan called in between and sent me pictures of my home pookalam; I missed being there.

By the time everyone else came, it was around 3, and we ate sadya by evening. It was yummy. My guide had asked me to make a lot of corrections in the presentation, and I started getting a little worried by 5-6 because I had to send the corrected copy by 8, so me and Rishika came back by 6.30. I had to work until 3 or 4 in the morning to finish it.

Eventhough i missed my home and onam there a lot, i had a good onam here too, navya and chettan took a lot of effort to make it this beautiful. we all were together, and that's what festivals are all about!

 

 

 

 

 

Memories - Our Dance Practices.

We had a dance group, and we used to dance for almost every function in college. The first time we ever danced was for an onam celebration in our second year, a thirivathira. We all practiced for a couple of days, and a couple of seniors were also there. Navya is the one who would choreograph dances, and we all usually practiced.

Our college fest at that time was Torsades de Pointes; it was an intra-college fest. We wanted to dance something different; I don't remember how it came up, but we decided to dance an oppana for Gannam style. So the plan was to start Oppana with a normal Oppana song and then switch the tract to Gannam style. We were all worried about how it would be taken by others, despite being a flop, yet we practiced, and Aswaty was our bride for oppana. On the day of the performance, ours was the last one. All the dances before us were pretty decent, and we got really scared to perform. At the last moment, a few of our friends even backed off from the dance. Whoever left danced, and to our surprise, it was taken well.

We played either classical, comical, or funny dances for almost every function in college. Dance practices were the best part. Athira would get all hyperactive during dance practices; she would knock on our doors in the evening and make us all practice dance. Navya, Athira, and Gopi have abundant capacity and stamina to practice, and I was the weakest one.

One of us would always make some or other mistake during the dance, and many vedios would become very embarrassing to see later. Most of the dances we played have no pictures or videos. We always tell our friends to take vedios, but Nehla always gets busy cheering us on, as do most of them. Videos of only a very few dances are there with me, one of which was posted on YouTube by Navya, so that's there.

Dance practice, dress shopping, and make-up were the best parts of those memories. We used to go dress shopping in old Bhopal. Classical dance dresses were really hard to get in Bhopal. Some dances were too embarrassing at the time, yet they are pretty funny memories now.

While talking about dances, DJ nights were pretty cool in college. During random DJ nights, we would all dance our asses out. Sometimes I need some intoxication from alcohol to get rid of my inhibitions about dancing or general social anxiety. But yeah, we danced enough; we danced our hell out!

Memories- Friends

I was never very interested in college, but I can live in my hostel all over again. We all used to sit in one of our rooms, mostly my room, and talk for hours about anything and everything under or above the sun. We had single rooms, but my room was always occupied by some of my friends. Aswathi was my first friend in college, and even though we drifted apart later, she was my best friend for the first two years. During one of the exam times, Sreepa also became my friend. Both of them are from Trivandrum. We became friends, and these are the people with whom I used to sit in the class in the initial years.

During one of the class exams, I made a new friend. The story goes like this: I am a pretty lazy person when it comes to studying, and one day before an exam is the day I don't study at all. So it was one fine day before the anatomy exam, and everyone was super busy with their studies. I was roaming around in the corridor, but no one was there, so I went back to my room. A random person knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to study "thoracic duct", I was anyway not studying, so I agreed and we studied together. Since then, that person has never left my room for days, nor has she left my life till now, and that's no one else but Navya.

Nehla and Navya were already friends then. One day, I was coming back from BDA with Arya and Aswathy, which is a small market behind AIIMS. Navya and Nehla were going to BDA, and we met halfway. I went back again with them, and since then we have gone out almost every day , almost everyday. That was the first day I ever ate a pani puri. I hated it the first time, but eventually that taste became addictive. Now I can't go a day without a pani puri. Here in Bhopal, I almost every day eat pani puri from the small shop in BDA. Fresh Bakes near Ashima Mall and Manohar Diaries have really cool pani puris.

During the winter, Navya's side of rooms becomes very cold, so she usually stays with me during the winter. We often used to fight for super silly reasons, and she is the person with whom I fought the most during my college days.

We have a group of 20 for clinical postings. Fida and Gopika were in my batch. Gopika and Athira became friends with all of us eventually. Fida became my friend during my second year, and we became best friends eventually. She is the person with whom I have spent most of my college time; even after college, we call almost every week and talk for hours. She is the one person who knows me better than anyone. Fida and I were shopaholics; she was my shopping partner.

Ancy was friends with Gopika and Athira, so we all used to go often, but we were not very close. During my 4th year, my scooter suddenly stopped working, and for a couple of weeks, I was walking to college, and so was he, so we started going together and became very close. Nancy is very open to everything, even a trip. I can call her anytime for a trip, and she is all ready. I wish she had been my friend much before.

In our second year, we all went to AIIMS Delhi for Pulse. That's when I first started talking to Tom. Tom has been my friend since then. We used to talk for hours, and we became one of the best friends I ever had. Even though Sabir and I were part of the same friends gang, we were never really close during MBBs, but now he is one of my close friends. He is such a foodie and super cool person. Then there was Hari and Chori. Always irritating in some or other way, he was also my clinical batchmate. He is the one who taught me how to ride a bike. We used to give me his bike, and he was courageous enough to accompany me during my bike rides.

Except for the boys, all my girls were on my own floor. We would talk for endless hours,  plan trips, sometimes over a sip of alcohol, practice dance together, and eat food together in the mess. We would play Anthakshari and sometimes Yuno. Life was super cool.

 

Memories- The Trouble

College view from my balcony.

In August 2013, I joined college. After reaching Bhopal, we stayed at a hotel in MP Nagar. Our hotel was full, and many of my classmates were also there. I saw Nehla, Fida, and a few boys from my batch there. The next morning, we came to college. Government buses in Bhopal are named by numbers. SR2 is the bus that is going through AIIMS. I saw Aswathy on the bus; she was my first friend in college. The college was in its infancy then, and many parts of the buildings were under construction. We were the second batch. Half of the students who were there for counseling were Malayalis, and I talked to Aswathy and Arya that day. After my medical checkup, I was not cleared at first, so I had to wait for a few more hours to meet an ENT surgeon. That's where I met Navya for the first time. She was so busy on her phone that she didn't even look at me. When she did, she didn't even bother to smile. I didn't like her at first, and I always tell her this. The saying first impression is the best impression is such a lie; she remains my best friend even after 10 years.

After joining, our rooms in hostels were allotted; my room was on the second floor, room 208. My favorite place in the entire world, my home for the next 5.5 years. Even after that, whenever I was under serious metal pressure, I would imagine that I was in that room, and I would sleep. That room is where I became the person I am now. My next room was Aathira's, and my opposite room was Arya's. One floor in our hostel had two wings, and my corridor was full of Malayalis except for Suruchi, who was from Delhi. After shifting my baggage into my room, I went back to the hotel with my parents. The next day, they dropped me back at my hostel and returned to Kerala. I still remember that my father was almost crying while going back; he would turn and look at me again and again all the way to the gate. It was painful.

I come from a very normal village in Malappuram, and I studied in government schools. It was a sudden change in my living environment. It was very difficult for me in the beginning. I didn't know how to talk in Hindi or even English properly. I hardly used to talk to any non-Mallu for the first two years, as it was difficult. Even when I went out with Navya and Nehla, they used to do all the talking. I had no clue how to talk in Hindi. Food was another big issue; I used to hate the north Indian rice, dhal, chapathi, and sabhji. In the morning, they used to give cornflakes, eggs, or fruits with the main breakfast, and that's what I used to eat for weeks. Time has changed me so much that now poha, pani puri, and aloo paratha are my favorites. I even started cooking them when I was back in Kerala.

My health started to suffer as a result of eating issues, and I developed persistent stomach issues. I gradually began to experience depression, and I would phone my family back home while sobbing that I didn't want to stay. They became concerned as well and began searching options for admission to Kerala, but by then, counseling there had already begun and i hadn't applied. My family and friends would phone me and give me advise on how great of a chance studying at AIIMS is, and how I shouldn't squander it. I wasn't able to agree with any of them, but there wasn't any other option.

I was a vegetarian back then, but here, the only taste I could adjust to was chicken curry, and with no other option left, I started eating chicken again. Slowly, I started adjusting to everything. Friendship is what it takes to make a strange place home.

 

Memories - The Train Travel

 

Painting by artist Bijay Biswas.

It's been 10 years since my first day in college. It's been 10 years since I met some of the most important people in my life. It's been 10 years since life took a big U-turn. 

So, in 2013, when I was all ready to join Calicut Medical College, AIIMS results came out. AIIMS had a separate entrance exam at that time. My rank was 84, and every plan suddenly changed overnight. Even though it was a good rank, it wasn't good enough to get into Delhi, so I was planning to join in Kerala itself. but then a lot of discussions came out about where to join, and even I was interested in joining AIIMS, as advised by my teachers and parents. But then there was a lot of confusion; I didn't have any cousins or relatives who studied outside Kerala, nor did I know anyone, and we had no clue how to go to Delhi. The longest distance we've ever traveled since then was Ooty, which is 5 hours from my home. Finally, my uncle Sathi came and told us he would come with us to Delhi for the counselling. So as per plan, we would reach there by train, and he would reach there from Bangalore.

Since we have never been on a flight before and the prices were super high, we took the train. Brilliant's (the coaching institute's) success celebration was one day before our train, so I couldn't attend, which made me sad. The train we booked was Kerala Express, which didn't have a stop in Tirur; it turns from Palakkad. So, we caught the train from Thrissur. That was the first time I had ever been to an AC compartment. Was I excited? I don't remember. My mother and father were there, and the opposite seats were already occupied by a boy around my age, his father, and a military guy in his uniform. The boy was no one else but Akhiljith, who would later become my classmate and my best friend to this very day.

I call him Jith now, so I will address that; back then, I used to call him Akhil, which does feel strange now. Jith was too involved with reading some volume of a book synopses of which second volume he gifted me later while we were in college, and I was reading Shivaji Sawant's Karnan. I was a passionate reader back then and was a huge fan of Mahabharata, as was my father. We would read every available version of Mahabharata, from Karnan to Bheem, and both of our favorite characters are Karnan. I would lose that book later in the hotel where we would be staying. We were both so involved in reading that we would both eventually finish those books the next day. Our parents started talking and got to know each other, and eventually we also started talking. Jith was planning to join AIIMS Rishikesh as he was very interested in the place, but we were all trying to convince him not to as it was the time of floods in Uttarakhand back then. He was so adamant about his choice but would later join AIIMS Bhopal in the subsequent counseling, about which I still make fun of. His father, Ajith uncle, and my Achan would tell us stories about the places we pass by as we reach different stations, and the Soldier would also share his experiences from the military. Two days passed very fast, and we all became very close to each other.

When we reached Delhi, Sathi's uncle's friend was there to take us to the hotel, and Jith and uncle had some other arrangements. Counselling was the next morning. Me and Sathi's uncle went together; I met Jith there, but we had counseling at different times. I chose AIIMS Bhopal, and then me, Amma Achan, and Sathi Uncle went back in search of South Indian hotels as we were already missing our food. The next day, we got a train back to Kerala.

It was just a few days before my collage joining date, and after coming back from Delhi, days went by with preparation to go to Bhopal. 15 days later, we would come to Bhopal, and who knew then that I was going to one of the most beautiful places ever!

The Broken Dream

one more night,

on the verge of dawn,

a dream came.

unrealistic,

too perfect to be true,

yet beautiful!

 

it blossoms.

takes away reality.

give wings to fly!

courage to dream

warmth in soul,

butterflies everywhere

ecstasy!

 

then it's dawn

the deeper the sleep

the harder it is to wake up.

but it was just a dream.

can anything that beautiful be real?

no, it's all broken dreams!

so, you wake up, move on!

but when its dark,

don't u go back to that dream again?

A Day In My life

The morning view

                                                                     

The most popular vlog right now is Day in My Life; why don't we create a blog as well? Yesterday night was my shift. Yesterday was the T20 match between India and the West Indies. India has already lost two matches and won one; it was the fourth game. The final is tomorrow. I became familiar with cricket and Tamil songs again because of my friend afreed. He would constantly listen to play Tamil music or watch cricket if there is any match going on. My father is a tremendous cricket enthusiast and a Vijay lover, so when I was young, by which I mean when I was at home till I was 17, I was familiar with both Tamil movies and cricket. We mostly watch the IPL, and I was hard-core Chennai Super Kings fan, and my father is a Delhi Daredevils fan. His all-time favorite is Sehwag.

 

Yesterday, India won; the game was ended by eleven, and work continued until two; we completed it. Afreed was returned to his room, and I returned around 2:30.During night shifts, I often get 2 to 3 hours of sleep and get home between 8 and 9. I received a call this morning at 4 a.m., and the caller immediately began ranting about how nobody had answered the call in the department. I wasn't aware of what was happening because I was asleep. By the time I returned to the hospital and had to calm him down, it was 5.30 and not much work remained.

As it was Sunday, there was not much workin the morning as well. I would often go to the RDA cafeteria to see if it was open, and finally, when it opened, I got a plate of poha, a chai, and two boiled eggs. I love Poha. I either eat poha or cornflakes as breakfast; that's my routine. Poha and chai are two of the many favorite things in Bhopal. I slept from 9 to 2. whatever concerns I have, I just want to return to my hostel room and sleep them all away.

The hostel at AIIMS is among the best in the nation and is equipped with all the amenities. I sometimes think that over ten years of being in a single room has changed who I am. My rooms were the finest places I've ever lived, but I have no idea how to share a room with a friend.

 

My hostel days in Ug and Pg are pretty dissimilar. I hardly ever had any alone time in my room during undergrad. My room served as our common area, where my pals would hang out for hours on end. On occasion, I had to sneak them out of my room so that I could have some alone time. its current precise opposite. My hallway is so empty all the time because everyone is preoccupied with their tasks that I am not even sure who else lives there. Rishika or Lipika frequently visit my room, that's my human contact in this hostel now. I still adore my hostel room, though. It is love!

 

By noon, I had awoken. On my regular days, I eat lunch at Shibu chettan, a Kerala-style mess. I've been eating outside for the past two days because his uncle passed away yesterday. I rarely feel hungry, and I am not  foodie either. But despite my best efforts, I frequently experience cravings for carbohydrates. And, I almost always end up in swiggy. Ton Op Eats is a store here, I frequently order their smoothie bowls, which are incredibly good but expensive.

My favorite meals during my undergraduate studies were Sagar Gaire's vegetarian biriyani and iced coffee.I used to buy it almost daily. I am someone who has many obsessions. I would listen to the same song for months until I detested it, order the same food for months until I detested it, and even sing the same song for months until my friends started berating me because they were sick of hearing me sing. I'm a challenging individual.

Afreed & sayipp(the rabbit)

I cleaned my room by nightfall. Cleaning is one of my little obsessions; I tidy up my room every other day. I want things done a  certain way and by me as well. I find solace in cleaning my room or  my table when I'm feeling down or tense. I considered going to    Navya's because I couldn't go for a week because of examinations and   the submission of my thesis. Me and Afreed went together since Sabir   had to go to Ira's house to read. On the way, I had my blouse sewn for   Onam.

 It was just another typical day at Navyas. While Afreed and I engaged   in a brief game of chess, Navya prepared puttu and curry. India fell by   7 runs in today's final, sad! Nothing significant occurred; by the time I   returned to the hostel, the campus had been fully decked for   Independence Day with lights and flags. And I have the following two days off.

 

 

 

 

My trips to Taj mahal

The first time I have ever been to Delhi was in 2013, for counselling for AIIMS. At that time , I was too young, didn't know how to speak Hindi, had no clue how to travel, completely naïve kid I was, it didn't even come to my head to go visit taj mahal which was few hours away.

Then, back in 2017, me and Gopi were in our orthopedics office posting some procedure, which I don't remember now, and we talked about going out somewhere that weekend to lighten our mood as we were in a bad mood. We came to the hostel and discussed it with the group, and finally me, Navya Gopi, and Ancy decided to go to Agra and Mathura for a one-day trip. The trip planner was Aathira, who was very interested in planning but not interested in joining the trip, for reasons only she knows.

ooh! It was not a weekend; it was some other holiday, which does have importance in this story, by the way.

So, Aathira planned the trip, we arranged a few dresses from friends, mostly from Suruchi, and we did head off to the railway station—Habib Ganj, which is now renamed Rani Kamal Pati—which is India's first private railway station as far as I know, and it looks really cool compared to India's other railway stations as of now.

So, we got in the train, which came on time. Aathira also got inside, and right when the train started moving, she told us that Taj Mahal is closed on Friday and to go enjoy the trip, and she left. Yes, of course we are traveling on Thursday night.

Oh, yeah, none of us had any idea about the fact that it's closed on Friday; however stupid it might feel now, we really didn't have a clue!

The next morning we reached Agra, put on all the makeup we could possibly put on, took an auto, and saw every corner of the Taj Mahal premises except the Taj Mahal. Ok, we covered Agra Fort, took enough photos to compensate for our loss.

We headed over to Mathura and saw Janmasthan, where Lord Krishna was born. We had no return ticket booked. TTR caught us halfway and, as usual, threw us out of the compartment. the second half of the travel was a mini wagon tragedy in the general compartment.

 

On January 1, 2023, I went on my first solo trip to Agra. I was chilling cold; my train was from Rani Kamalpati and came almost 6 hours late. At 3 am in the morning, I waited in the railway station for almost 6 hours. It was frigid; I had to take back-to-back coffee or something hot to survive there. I am generally not very comfortable with cold climates, to mention The train, which was supposed to reach there early in the morning, reached there by noon. It was still cold, around 15 degrees. By the time I reached Taj, phone was almost switched off. 

Finally, I saw it; it was spectacular. The solo trip was cool except for the fact that it's difficult to get good pictures. I revisited Agra Fort again, and I came back on the night train.

 

In August 2023, me, Rishika, and Sushma planned to go to Vrindavan and Gwalior. Gwalior has been on my bucket list for a couple of years. This was the second time I was planning the same trip; the first time it got cancelled because the train got delayed by 8 hours and I had to file a TDR to get the ticket money.

The second time, the train didn't get delayed; it didn't even start from the source station. The only ticket available at the time was a ticket to Agra; I took it. early morning, we reached Agra. After visiting the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri, we headed over to Vrindavan. Vrindavan was altogether another story, which is beyond the scope of this blog post. so we will talk about it later! So that's all for today.

 

Vrindavan

 

  

Entrance of Shree Dwarkadhish Temple, Mathura.

My first itinerary called for me to visit Mathura, Vrindavan, and Gwalior all at once. However, we ended up at Agra before moving on to Mathura later. After visiting Janmasthan, we boarded a shared auto and arrived in Vrindavan by dusk. Even the regular highways are packed because of how populous the area is.There were no hotels or ashrams available to stay in because the area was so crowded. We finally found a place for 1200 Rs after a protracted search. We received some free food from the Ram Seva volunteers along the route, which included some potato curry and chapati.

By the time we reached room, we were almost sleepy, but then we had a lot to cover, and night was still very young. Our room was near Banke Bihari temple, so we decided to see Prem mandir and iskcon temple first, so that we can visit Banke Bihari the next morning and head over to Gwalior the next day at the earliest. We got ready and started our night out, we took a horse cart till prem mandir.

In Vrindavan, one can only hear "Radhe Radhe" everywhere. For everything, beginning with begging for a solution to being teased, they sing Radhe Radhe. Throughout the entire voyage, our fellow passengers in the horse cart were singing a lot of Krishna songs, and we joined them. We were on a horse-drawn carriage, but we were virtually walking because there was no other way through the sea of people, which I had never seen before in my entire life. Between each phrase, someone would chant aloud, and everyone would join in. It's good to see people come together, and in this case, Krishna was the catalyst. 

By the time we arrived at Iskcon Temple, the entire area had been shut off. Prem Mandir, where we were spending the night, was close by. Sushma, one of the three of us, would disappear then and now, and by the time we arrived, she had vanished once more and even our phones had lost service. It was a mass of people, and all we needed to do was remain there and the crowd would carry you wherever it went. Prem mandir is famous for its night view, the entire temple would change color every 5-10 minutes. There are sculptures of Kaliyamardanam and Govardan lift. temples in north India are way different from that of south, in south most of the temples are made of black brick and it has a very peculiar architecture, most are very ancient too. in north temples are made of marble, even the deity is. Even the pooja and rituals seems very different. in south only the main pujari(priest) is allowed to enter and touch the deity, here in many temples everyone can.      

Prem mandir is more of a tourist place rather than a pilgrim place.As it was almost closing time, and my friend Rishika was more concentrated on her reel swings, and the security was almost chasing us throughout the temple, we were running around the temple.

By the time we finished exploring the place we got Sushma back from the exit, she was waiting there. Sushma is not a very photography Wala person, so it must have been difficult for her to survive.

It was almost 10 by the time we came out of Prem mandir and iskcon was closed by that time. Sushma lost her chappal, so we went shopping to buy one. Rishika would go to every shop and would ask price of every dandiya dress, then won't buy, I accompany her, and I end up buying something, this cycle would continue throughout the trip.

We were pretty tired and, somehow came back near hotel, ate a whole lot of junk and got back to hotel and said goodbye to that day.

Despite how worn out we were, the idea to get up early and do two temples before noon didn't go as planned. By eight we were once more at ISKCON, this time in a ricksha. The major problem throughout the trip was not having liquid money. Majority of the people in Bhopal have some online payment method available, so it never occurred to us to carry some liquid money. After much haggling, we always manage to secure a cab or rickshaw, but once we arrive at our location, we have to buy something in order to receive cash from a shop, making the whole bargaining pointless. This time we had to buy poha for getting some liquid money, poha usually costs around 10 rupees plate almost everywhere I have been to, here it costed 40 per plate and for getting a change of 50 rupees we gave 120.You should have seen the congestion of that area to understand why the majority of ATMs didn't have any cash!

Iskcon temples are founded in New York in1966, by Bhakthivedanda swami Prabhupada, who went to the western world with the mission of spreading messages of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for encouraging the practice of Bakti yoga, or Krishna consciousness. In comparison to other temples there, it is kept up, tidy, and structured. 

So, Rishika and I had been planning to make a reel for days, but since our vacation came as a complete surprise, we were unable to practice. while we were practicing, two or three other women joined. We abandoned our strategy and danced with them.  I am pretty sure Rishika would kill me for adding it here. Sushma had grown weary of the drama she had been exposed to over the past two days and had stopped caring.

By the time all the singing, dancing, and drama was done, it was around 11, and we had to reach the railway station to catch the 1.05 train to Gwalior. We had the main temple left to cover. The Banke Bihari, I wasn't even aware that Lord Krishna has such a name too; it was from Lipika that I first heard that name. Unlike Prem Mandir and ISKCON, we had to spend hours in line to get into the temple, and it was so crowded that I didn't even touch the ground sometimes. All of us lost our sandals, which were kept outside, and the saddest part was that we had to stand in that hour-long queue twice, once for Dharshan and again to only find out that our sandals were stolen.

 

 

inside view of Shree Banke Bihari temple.

House of lord Krishna

We ran to catch our train, but it was already 2, and we didn't have any booked tickets. Our plan was to get into the general compartment, but then the railway station was as crowded as the temples, and our Gwalior plan got cancelled again. Sushma's friend, who lives in Gwalior, whom we planned to meet in Gwalior, got pretty disappointed as she had dinner food for us. Since there had been no new plan for some time and the train, we booked back to Bhopal was at 10 p.m., we decided to eat and then make a new plan.

 

The new plan was to visit Gokul, where Krishna lived during his childhood. it's all confusing, isn't it? so Krishna was born in Mathura, he was taken to Gokul where he spent his childhood and then later moved to Vrindavan and later built his kingdom in Dwaraka which is in Gujarat.

In Gokul our guide took us to the house where Krishna was raised, house of Balram and a house where Meera lived some other places too. so, in Vrindavan people calls you Radha and here they call you Yamuna, Gokul was very small didn't even take 1 hour to cover and we had enough time left to catch our train, so we again went back to Mathura, to visit Dwarkadhish Temple, which was our last destination.

House of Lord Krishna.

Shree Dwarkadhish Temple, Mathura. Premises 

 

Train had a stop only at  Agra before Gwalior, so we headed over to Agra, which is around 1 hour from Mathura, got the train, since we had no tickets from Agra to Gwalior, as usual TTR came, scolded for not having tickets gave warning to not repeat, how does this happen every other time I don't understand , poor planning indeed and that's it, we slept well and good from Agra to Bhopal.