Udaipur the city of lakes

Driving into the rising Sun is a wonderful experience and the additional advantage is that the roads are empty.

The highlight is stopping for breakfast especially when it is hot and freshly made. I enjoyed this kantha poha (flattened rice)

We drove down from Surat to Udaipur and it was a pleasant ride as the roads were good.

We reached Udaipur in time to see the sunset at Lake Pichola.

We were lucky to get a good guide (Mr Kanwar Keer) who gave us some concise information about the place.

Like, I did not know about Jag Mandir where Shah Jehan stayed (during his rebellion with his father) and was inspired to build the Taj Mahal later.

The video gives more information about the place as I have left the guide's voice as it is. It is interesting to know how the Dhood talai got its name. Here is a picture of Dhoodh Talai.

I clicked one more picture of the same place but before clicking I increased the contrast extensively by which it gives a night time effect.

The actual difference between both the above pictures is just 15 seconds. A good example of how to play with the light using your camera.
In the next blog, I hope to write about the trip from Pune to Surat where we had a stopover at Udwada.

Malacca and Borneo

These statues caught my eye in the maritime museum in Melaka (Malacca) in Malaysia

This room held prisoners of war of all ethnicities, slaves and sailors who committed crimes. Cramped against each other in a dark and congested room, the prisoners had no hope for freedom.
Normally ballast was placed in the belly of the ship to act as a stabilizer. However this diorama was put together to re-enact the conditions in the ship (Flor De La Mar)

The original ship still lies undiscovered in the sea bed.
We spent the evening in Malacca listening to some music and taking in the sunset.

Happy to see that the common sparrow and the mourning Dove is common in Kuala Lumpur too (got both of them in one frame)

Earlier we had been to the Batu caves in Kuala Lumpur (more for the challenge of climbing the 272 steps that lead to the Lord Murugan temple.)

The climb was not as difficult as we thought, but it is good to be a little cautious of the monkeys.
The Grab driver who ferried us was very jovial and informative too.  (Grab is similar to Uber cabs) He was talking of things in general and I found that whatever he said made sense.

As the sun went down, clicked this picture from the windshield.

While in Malaysia, we visited Kuching in Sarawak (situated in the island of Borneo) A wonderful place, the island and the people. Very warm and helpful, things move at a leisurely pace over here.  Borneo is owned by three countries. Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

We flew in from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and headed straight to the Sarawak cultural village by road. The roads were well marked and lush with greenery.

We got to see the traditional dance by the different tribes. I was taken in by the skill and accuracy of the boy with the blowpipe.

The world rainforest music festival is held here every year and many renowned musicians converge over here to perform.

Many of them are so much in awe of the place that they leave their instruments behind as a mark of reverence and respect for the simple minded people.

The highlight of the Malaysia trip was the visit to the Semenggoh wildlife sanctuary where we could see Orangutans.

We were lucky to spot six of them, four adults and two young ones.While watching them at close quarters I noticed that many of their movements and actions were very similar to that of humans (except that we can't eat with our feet)

Customer delight

"We are not talking to each other, but we don't mind posing for you" This could be one of the captions that I could think of after clicking this sunset picture at Colaba.

They were actually posing for me, because after clicking when I started walking, they too started walking with me. Sunset is a good opportunity to click good pictures, like these kids having a lively chat while the sun goes down.

While clicking I saw this lighthouse, which came into existence in  1770.  This is situated at the prong of Colaba.

When the Portuguese occupied the island of Bombay in the 16th century they built a watchtower on the Old woman's island (Colaba)

Later it was. modified into a lighthouse by the British in 1770. It was further improved in 1800 by a powerful wick lamp.This was the first major lighthouse in British India followed by one in Madras in the same year.

After many changes in the lamp, in 2008 it got its present 70 Watt metal Halide lamp.
Not much has changed in the Marinedrive area of Mumbai. Like this font from the 50s still stands as a sign board in the area.

Some of the buildings with rounded corners which I have seen in the early 60s, still stands.

The heritage structure next to Churchgate station stands in all its glory with the tricolour and the ever present yellow taxis of Mumbai justapositioned in the front. Incidentally I found that the taxis are cheaper than the Uber.

Years have gone by but the buying and selling power of this simple flower lady remains the same (not far from the Sensex office)

The bus service by BEST keeps improving as the years go by. Like they have seperate lines for gents and ladies (ladies from the front)

In the bus I was highly impressed by the conductor's interaction with the passengers, always jovial and happy, cracking a joke here and there. One lady did not know where to alight, but had the address on her phone. The conductor took the phone from her and had a look at the address. Then he opened google map on her phone and fed in the location on the map. From the route he got the stop which was closest to her destination and issued a ticket accordingly. All this with a smile. I would call this as customer delight.

When in Manipal

When in Manipal, you can have a relaxed cruise in the backwaters and witness the confluence of the Suvarna river joining the Arabial sea.

Or witness a mythological skit in action

But one must not miss the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village Museum. This is not an ordinary museum but are houses that have been transplanted from various parts of the country.

It is not only the houses but artefacts too have also been moved.

A guide will accompany you explaining each and every item with some interesting stories.
For example here is a stone on which history was written, but then it is interesting to know how the stone had a transformation in between. You can hear it from the guide himself in the video.

Here is a table with chairs for the zamindar and the praja. It is worth noticing that the zamindar's chair is higher than the praja's chair

A cradle designed for twins

One of the oldest Harmonium where pedals helped in pushing the wind. I noticed that it is a folding type where it will fit into that box.

When you enter the Mudhol Palace Durbar hall, don't miss the water trough to wash your feet before entering the durbar hall courtyard.

The Deccani Nawab Mahal had a cast iron spiral staircase too.

I noticed that there was music playing in each house, but it was not piped music centrally played and common for all. The Mangalore Christian house had English music, whereas some other houses had carnatic music.

The Kunjur Chowkimane was built in the architectural style of Kerala based from the 15th century. The plan of the structure follows a Mandala. The basic house module is Nalukettu. (Nalu is 4 and kettu is Wings)
Noticed an old projector hanging on a wall in one of the houses, probably worked with a petromax.

Some houses had ergonomically designed seats that ventilate as well as ensure privacy on the first floor.

Trellis of windows were designed with a purpose

The dead body carrier for muslims is also preserved

We got a lot of information from our guide Mr Sushanth who was patient enough to explain everything in detail. I was also happy to see many school children visiting the place. This is the right time for them to learn history with the objects/houses in front of them.

This tree must have witnessed many changes that have happened in this museum during the course of time.

When watching the video, turn on the subtitles to understand better.