Thirtharaja -- Allahabad

Located at the confluence of two mighty rivers and an invisible one....Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi respectively, Allhabad is considered to be the holiest of holy places. It is personified as a man -Prayagraj whose idol is still worshipped in the Patalpuri temple of the city. The other 8 pilgrim centres like Dwarka, Khashi, Haridwar, Ujjain, Ayodya, Puri,Mathura and Kanchi are only the queens. The punya that one gets visiting Allahabad is much more than the mokshas attained while visiting the other centres, says the Padma Purana which has devoted 100 verses to Prayag.
Prayag is Pra=best, superlative ; yajna== yaga referring to the ten Ashwamedha yagas that Brahma conducted here which lured Vishnu to make it his sthal as Veni Madhav and Shiva follwed him to stay here as Shulkanteshwara. The presence of the Trinity and the three rivers makes it very special.
It was inhabited in the 8th millenium BC and all the stories that we hear are either documented or by word of mouth.
Rama stayed at the Akshaya vat ( now within the Fort) on his way to his Vanavas. Adi Shankara established the Shakti peeth at at the Alopi temple where her finger fell -(When Daksha did not invite her husband to his yaga, his daughter Dakshyani comitted Sati . Her husband,Lord Shiva enraged with grief, danced with her body; this Thandavam was threatening to destroy the world that Vishnu divided the body into eighteen pieces with his disc and they fell in different places in India). Eighteen Shakthi peeths were established in these locations and are still worshipped with great fervour.
The neck part fell in Vindyavasini near Mirzapur and the Necklace in Meihar , MP about which I shall write in my later blogs.
Allhabad's claim to fame are : the Maha Kumbmela that occurs once in Twelve years , Akbar's fort, Anand Bhavan, the High Court, The University and the buildings with a medley of architectural styles.
The distinct colour distinction of the two rivers are very apparent to the naked eye. Yamuna is green and Ganga is whitish yellow to brown. At the Triveni Sangam one can make out the difference in colour and after the sangam the colour changes to an amorphous brownish green.
At the actual Sangam there are many platforms of wood built and Pandas are waiting to perform the poojas to appease the souls of one's ancestors.
The Agra fort was converted to an Ordinance depot by the Britishers and is now with the Indian Army. We went in their boat to the sangam where another boat was kept moored. There are two showers on this boat in a well furnished shower room attached to a dressing room. These showers are marked : Ganga pani and Normal Pani. You could have your sins washed away with the Ganga pani first and wash the E.coli and other organisms with the Normal water. Kya Baath hai. Two birds in one stone. Presrved tradition and accrued punya and .. protected oneself too!

Back to wright brother's days!

The flight from Samneua to Vientiane was one hour duration in a small 19 seater and was full; It did not take even half the runway to get air borne. No beautiful air hostess, no safety instruction, just close doors and take off. The pilot jumped in at the last moment and was the first to jump out. It is a Russian plane with Ukranian pilots. The noise level throughout was very high; even the slightest tilt got exacerbated in my middle ear to earthquake proportions that in spite of my anti- motion sickness tablet and constant acupressure, there were moments that i wanted to give vent to the temptation of emptying the gastric contents. Did you notice the open window next to the pilot; No, no, no, he did not fly with the window open , only while taxying in . WHEW! Never again

It took me an hour to recover after reaching Terra Firma. So much for adventurism: I would not like to do another flight like this again.

Vieng Xay caves

The Lao people wanted to get out of Colonialism and Royalty. One of the Princes , an Engineer educated in Paris and a few idealists wanted a free country. And they got it after a struggle; the Govt was formed after the WWII, soon to be toppled by the royal parties with America and Thailand assisting them. All the important members of the ruling communist party were imprisoned.Surprisingly all of them walked out one fine day unharmed, and the guards even escorted them on a 500 Km hike to the province of Xieng Khuong.

America in the meantime waged war in Vietnam in order to prevent the spread of Communism in the East. They believed that Laos also needs to be stopped and hence decided to decimate the party workers who are in the NE of Laos.

In 1964, US started intense bombing of the area and the Pathet Lao moved into the caves- some natural and some man-made at that time, for their safety. This must have been the most bombarded country in the history of the world. About 20 million bombs- 2tonnes / person and America spent 2 million dollars a day for 9 long years . All this to take the HoChi Minh Trail and to annhilate the Communist Laos. Many innocent villagers died; living was difficult; farming was done in the nights,; cooking before dawn or after dusk to escape detection; children never saw light for days living underground, studying, playing, singing, dancing, falling sick - they grew up like moles. But, US could not break the spirit and determination of the people who emerged victorious and got liberated in 1973.

The philosophy of the Lao people is shaped by this hardship they went through. There is no bitterness in them against the people of America. Anything in the village is a collective responsibility. If a villager wants to build a house, he gets the bamboo from somebody , the wood from somebody else and is assisted in all his efforts by the villagers altogether. This is repeated for the rest. Farming, wedding, Funeral everything is done with peaceful co-operation.

In fact I was witness to this togetherness of the Laos: It rained Cats & dogs one morning when we were on our way into the mountains. In one village, we saw almost everybody, both adult men & women of all ages walking towards a storm drain with spades and hoes and baskets in their hands. Due to rains the storm drains had got blocked and they all set to work over a stretch of 1 1/2 kms. This ownership and civic sense impressed me so much. These villagers did not wait for the Govt to come and clear the drain, cribbing while waiting.

Coming back to the caves, about 20,000 people hid in these limestone caves, walking enormous distance for communication, collection of food and wood; there are rooms for meetings, barracks, hospitals which were manned by Lao,Vietnamese and Cuban doctors and nurses; theatre cum wedding hall, markets , a city underground. When the shelling was intense; the members had emergency rooms with very thick Iron doors that sealed them with a russian made contraption that pumped fresh air for breathing.

Once i stepped out of the caves, the pristine beauty of the landscape was captivating: lush green trees of all kinds, towering Lime stone cliffs, some lakes interspersed here and there, a light mist swirling above the peaks - it was like a painting; just like a Chinese ink painting.

Pathet Lao.

During their struggle for independence , the Eastern part of Laos took a heavy beating. The communists formed their strength here and the Americans bombarded them incessantly. The poor villagers also paid the price. Thankfully the little mountains in this region are of limestone and could easily be excavated into large caves which housed the communists, villagers, hospitals and schools;
One of the peaks of a hill has completely collapsed due to bombing on it !!!!!!
I do not know how the French did not utilise these limestone mountains for their wine making. the weather is ideal for grape growing, limstone cliffs for keeping the wines ,, why why why did they not make wine here? Mais oui, the French never made wine in any of their colonies, have you noticed? They taught the people here Baguettes and petanque but no wine please!

Chickens again

I have been in Laos for three weeks now. There are just few days when I had slept well. It is not anxiety, stress, ill health or too many night activities which have denied me of a good night's sleep. The two legged birds of the dining table have become the bane of my life.
It is unusual for me to sleep at the unearthly hour of 9 or 10 PM normally. But in Laos most of the villages , we stayed in did not have electricity and when the laptop battery gives up , i have nothing else to do but fall asleep. So far so good.
Cuckarocokho: I groggigigigily look at my clock - what , it is only 3.30 AM The roosters here have the loudest voice and it seems as if they are in my room trying their best to wake me up. I tried ear plugs, clamping my head down with a huge pillow; HmHumm nothing works. I could not wish this dutiful cock away because he sets his snooze for every 15minutes.
Here I am waking up every morning as if i have never been to sleep.Tomorrow I leave for the Capital. I am sure the Urban setting will alienate the Avian from me!