My first travelogue. I am on a Medical tourism to Kerela for my wife's treatment using the ancient Ayurvedic Medicines & treatment procedures.
No wonder people call it God's own country. the lush green trees; balmy weather; happy, traditional, god-fearing people and the beautiful locales. It also offers a different view to travelling. There are no distractions to the lovely surroundings and natural beauty(Non Human ;)).
I have been ensconced in a Ayurvedic hospital at Kottakkal about 60 kms away from Calicut, with hardly anything to do. So I decided to utilise my time and paid a visit to one of the oldest temples in India, Guruvayur.
Its a temple of Lord Krishna, albeit in a different form. People tell me its older than the Tirupati temple, it has become more famous than Guruvayur only because of their marketing tactics & people friendly policies. One of the cardinal rules in temples still being practiced in Kerela, you have to wear a lungi/dhoti (unstitched) to be able to enter the temple. All males wearing any form of stiched clothing are not allowed inside the temple.
I understand once even the President of India had to change his clothes and get in an unstitched Dhoti to be able to get in the temple.
Anyhow, we couldn't even visit the lord's deity as there was a huge rush. in spite of it being an off day, and having seperate lines for women, elderly, vip and males. The VIP line itself kept expanding to leave little room for others to get in. So we decided to call it quits after standing over 2 hours in the line & our kids getting mauled in the mellee of kids, women & the elderly. Moral of the story : you need to have a reference letter in order to see God.
Another interesting feature is the presence of the divine elephants in the temple. They are made to move around the lord thrice while performing puja before any human is allowed inside the "garbha griha". It is quite interesting to watch and actually made it worth our while to be there as our children were overjoyed at the sight of Elephants performing puja.
From here we went to see a beach close to the temple. The beach was surprisingly clean and the people quite helpful.
Experiencing the Kerela weather in Dec-January is probably the best time and its unfortunate I didnt have the opportunity to explore more. The next blog is going to be a coverage of the Auto Expo in New Delhi. Keep reading!
No wonder people call it God's own country. the lush green trees; balmy weather; happy, traditional, god-fearing people and the beautiful locales. It also offers a different view to travelling. There are no distractions to the lovely surroundings and natural beauty(Non Human ;)).
I have been ensconced in a Ayurvedic hospital at Kottakkal about 60 kms away from Calicut, with hardly anything to do. So I decided to utilise my time and paid a visit to one of the oldest temples in India, Guruvayur.
Its a temple of Lord Krishna, albeit in a different form. People tell me its older than the Tirupati temple, it has become more famous than Guruvayur only because of their marketing tactics & people friendly policies. One of the cardinal rules in temples still being practiced in Kerela, you have to wear a lungi/dhoti (unstitched) to be able to enter the temple. All males wearing any form of stiched clothing are not allowed inside the temple.
I understand once even the President of India had to change his clothes and get in an unstitched Dhoti to be able to get in the temple.
Anyhow, we couldn't even visit the lord's deity as there was a huge rush. in spite of it being an off day, and having seperate lines for women, elderly, vip and males. The VIP line itself kept expanding to leave little room for others to get in. So we decided to call it quits after standing over 2 hours in the line & our kids getting mauled in the mellee of kids, women & the elderly. Moral of the story : you need to have a reference letter in order to see God.
Another interesting feature is the presence of the divine elephants in the temple. They are made to move around the lord thrice while performing puja before any human is allowed inside the "garbha griha". It is quite interesting to watch and actually made it worth our while to be there as our children were overjoyed at the sight of Elephants performing puja.
From here we went to see a beach close to the temple. The beach was surprisingly clean and the people quite helpful.
Experiencing the Kerela weather in Dec-January is probably the best time and its unfortunate I didnt have the opportunity to explore more. The next blog is going to be a coverage of the Auto Expo in New Delhi. Keep reading!
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