Saturday, February 13, 2010

Life Transformation



Advanced Course in Art of Living
Bangaluru Ashram with Guruji



Guruji Sri Sri Ravishankar

The Genesis for the course: Antarnad: Jan 12th 2010
I have always been a great admirer of Guruji - Sri Sri Ravishankar - the founder of "Art of Living". I had read some of his books and identified with his philosophies. So whenever he is in Pune and there is a public reception, I make it a point to go and enjoy.

These meets are well organized, the venue is beautifully done up in flowers and lights, there is music ( Satsang) and Guruji is fun to listen and relate to. Even though there are thousands of people, he seems to be communicating to you - "one on One" . He is always answering the question which I have been wanting to ask - this has happened always. He also always guides us through a 10 minute meditation and always I returned home with a pleasant feeling and some message in my head.

This time on Jan 12th 2010, at the "Antarnad" - a musical extravaganza organised by the foundation, a rare feat was being accomplished - 2600+ singers sang classical Hindustani music accompanied by great instruments and led by a lead celebrity singer. It was absolutely divine.

There was crowd of more than a lakh of people . Once again Guruji could communicate with each and everyone on a "One on One " basis. I saw him growing into a gigantic figure, towering into the sky - a Living God.

Carrying this pleasant feeling, I returned home and some day later just randomly googled "art of living". I chanced upon a course - a 6 day "Advanced course with Guruji at teh Bangalore Ashram" . It was just what I had been dreaming all these years - a week with Guruji at the Ashram.

In my personal life I was going thro a tough time and self-realization was dawning on me - the cause of all my suffering was the result of a Giant Sized Ego and negativity and highly emotional personality - this is what I concluded after analysing and analysing....

Now I am not an obsessive follower of Guruji or the Art of Living foundation and very critical and analytical of generally everything and generally a non-believer of so many ideologies. Also reading so many books and working on all those philosophies over so many years had brought lot of awareness and maturity within me. Did I need Art of Living?

Anyway I booked my participation on-line with Rs. 6000 as participation fee and booked my air ticket online for around 5K and set off on 2nd Feb. I enjoy my own company and look forward to all these lonely sojourns. I did not have any great expectation. I just thought let me understand Guruji and enjoy his presence for 6 days.

Went to my cousin Appu's house ( more on that in another blog)

Stay at Aparna
Next day reached the Ashram on 3rd Feb and was put up in "Aparna" the residential complex.

Aparna

Shared a room with 4 more participants. Met Viji and Prabha and we became very close friends. There was an instant rapport with them. Sangeetha who came later had a twinkle in her eyes and all three of us adopted her as our daughter. We attended the Satsang in the evening - Guruji was expected but did not come.

Bangalore Ashram - A hill resort?
The Ashram is on a hilly terrain with lush greenery in some places and lot of virgin undeveloped area. People tell us that Guruji himself has planted with his own hands the sandalwood trees.


Hilly Terrain

We had to walk up a hill thro' steep steps from Aparna to Visalakshi Mandapam (VM) and again VM had a large number of steps. I with my Arthritic painful knee was very stressed out - "Am I going to be walking up and down so much? " But soon I discovered a beautiful pathway ( a bit longer though) where I could almost avoid steps and began enjoying this route. Of course I had to walk this 15 min. path 8 times a day

Walking up and down a hilly terrain everyday

Visalakshi Mandapam
This is the central core venue. It is an absolutely beautiful huge circular hall, built in memory of Guruji's late mother Visalakshi. A smiling large photo of dear Amma welcomes all to the Mandap with love, compassion and a little twinkle in her eyes.

It is very pleasantly done up in cream and pink - tall golden curtains swaying in breeze, circular marble seating steps , completely enclosed in glass from all sides, a central stage which was clearly visible from all points. The ceiling had many pink lotus and chandeliers. There are two large entrances.

Scenic beauty around VM

Stage in front of VM for public Satsangs - Guruji sits here

VM Front Entrance

It had 4 floors, 2 for satsang, 2 large meditation halls - Mahavir hall and Buddha hall . The entire building was surrounded by a lotus shaped water body.

The interior exuded lot of stillness, peace, energy and joy and cool to the touch. It is the home for all activities for all courses.

We were asked to report at 6 a.m next day at Mahavir hall.

Food:
There is a massive kitchen catering to thousands of people everyday . There are several solar power generators and huu..ge steam boilers for cooking. Chapati is multigrained and the making is fully automated. Tonnes of organically grown vegetables in the Ashram were being deskinned and cut by hundreds of volunteers. Cooking is done for 3 meals a day - breakfast , lunch and dinner.

Breakfast : upma, idli or whatever with a cup of hot ragi kanji . Food was limitless - take as much as u want. Sometimes I was saddened to see people throwing away food.

Lunch : Chapati + 1 veg. + dal/sambhar/gravy dana like rajma, moong ete.. Buttermilk or chaas

Dinner : Same as lunch . A soup replaced buttermilk

Organic vegetables were so healthy and so huge in size and so tasty. There were variations in the menu everyday.

Each one had to wash their own plate and cup. The entire massive process of cooking, serving and cleaning was very well organized with most of the work shared by all - a concept called "Seva" . The vessel washing was the toughest job and I was surprised to see that most of this hard dirty work was enthusiastically shared by foreigners - both men and women - many of the cooking vessels were simply massive in size and very heavy to lift.

My First day at the course:
We got up excitedly at 4 a.m. as hot water was available only from 4:30 to 6 a.m. and 5 of us had to get ready using a single bathroom. So we planned a que and were ready by 5:30 a.m. Lot of giggling and laughter - fun time.

6:00 a.m. Mahavir Hall - One very young very smart looking boy ( ? ) called Rahul took our session - Yoga, Pranayam and Kriya . He trained us in a special set of Yoga exercises called Padma Sadana. At 8:30 we were let off and told next session will be at 10 a.m. We had to rush to the kitchen for breakfast and then Seva. It took around 15 minutes to reach from one place to the other. Breakfast was yummy hot tasty stuff accompanied by a hot cup of sweet Ragi Kanji (Millet porridge)

Concept of Seva:
The Ashram's manpower is mainly the guests who come to stay there. All the work like cleaning, serving food, cutting vegetables, sweeping and swabbing floors, gardening etc.. are all happily shared by all the public. It is a very humbling experience .

Seva is very therapeutic and stripes one of all ego. You work hard, but you know in your heart of hearts it does not matter whether you contribute or not - things will go on fine. But you want to do it - just for your own sake. You start feeling that this is your large family and you have to contribute . What you give is absolutely minuscule as compared to the gigantic proportion of the work involved. When you see tons of vegetables being cleaned and cut - what is your tiny share of cutting? The long corridors of all buildings are swept clean and whatever work you do is so little as compared to the whole. I came to realise the sense of belonging that developed in each one of us with each passing day due to this concept of Seva.

Guruji in one of the night Video session explained Seva in detail. He said it has to be absolutely self-less without any expectation not even happiness. like he said "If you do seva thinking this will bring joy to me " then it is not self-less. Seva made me realize how insignificant I truly am in the vast universe. Thousands of people have done self-less Seva to make the Ashram the magnificent place it is today and still the Ashram is steadily growing and evolving more and more beautiful and comfortable. So many youth - highly educated (IIT, IIM... ), well-to-do, professionals from all walks of life, the rich, the poor have all dedicated their life to the service of the Ashram and spreading the message of the Guru.

After 2 days I did not feel like eating till I had done some Seva. I started thinking "This is my home and how can I just eat and go?? So much work needs to be done!! "

10 a.m. to 1:p.m. Session :
We had a very young and handsome Guruji called Akash who conducted the training. He won all our hearts in no time - a very charming and lovable guruji. He was more like Guruji's messenger constantly telling us "Guruji said this and that " . He put us thro deep guided meditations, several well thought out games/exercises of sharing thro' interaction with our co-participants. These were sometimes so effective that several of us were weeping some uncontrollably - some catharsis effect. We generally kept our eyes closed thro' out so I do not know who cried so much.

We were specially trained in a meditation called "Hollow and Empty " by a taped voice of either a lady or Guruji himself. At the end of it, we had to sway and dance to a very meditative, soothening music. I cannot discuss the technique of this meditation - you have to experience it by undergoing the course. We also did lot of breathing exercises - Pranayams.

Guruji Akash Bhyya

Akash was particularly gifted with a clear rich voice, excellent command over English, good choice of words. He is a born story-teller.

Severe headache:
At the end of day-1 I had such a severe splitting headache - any painkiller was of no use. I just hit the bed and could not get up till next day morning. For 2 days I had severe headache. Third day I took a pain killer in advance. But still, when I went into deep meditation, I actually felt the headache coming. This went on on all the 6 days of my training.

Silence for 4 days:
Our Mouna-vrith started from the night of day1 . We should not talk at all - no cell phone. I switched off mine and put it away in the box. This silence was so enjoyable and so communicative too. We all enjoyed it. Silence is not new to me having read and practiced Echart Tolle who says "Feel the silence of the universe all around and with in you "
I simply loved the silence. But we did cheat at times knowingly or unknowingly.

The flowerwalis :

My relatives - "Sister", "Akka", "Amma"

There were several ladies selling flowers - huge beautiful roses - white, red, yellow, pink and Jasmine , rose, pink and white kaneri flower garlands . They would line our routes from morning 5:30 a.m to night11 p.m. They were excellent saleswomen who called out endearingly to us "Sister", "Mother", "Brother" and so on . They constanly beseached us to buy flowers for Guruji. I really admired their 100 % salesmanship at 100% of the time. Ended up buying everyday !!

The Fruitwallas:
3 - 4 fruit vendors manitained a steady suppy of the yummiest fruits - papaya, banana, oranges, watermelon, pineapple - I have never eaten such sweet friuts. We could geta heaped plate of mexed fruits at as little as Rs. 10. We really gorged on them at all times.

Fresh Hot Cow milk:
The Ashram breeds cows in "Goshala" - a special breed from Gujarat. lunch time and dinner time we could get this delicious hot thick milk and yummy ice cream at low prices. Simply enjoyed all that

Evening Satsang and the magician Guruji
Daily there is a satsang - singing bhajans together at VM. b/w 7:30 to 9 p.m. We were very lucky that from the third day onwards daily guruji would come for the satsang.

His presence simply charged the air with energy and joy. What is it in this man that attracts so many people to go crazy over him? love him so much from the bottom of their hearts? feel a soul connection with him? He is totally devoid of any lofty talk . Mostly he cracks jokes, makes us laugh, simply sits and goes into deep meditation or some times breaks into melodious music - Whatever it is his presence is greatly soothening , healing and electrifying. One cannot take one's eyes off him. When he talks, he always seems to clarify some doubt which you have been having for long. Such an unassuming person. The greatest thing about Guruji is "he genuinely believes that all are his family" That sense of belonging to each and every person around is what makes him so endearing !! He creates Magic everytime. He says He surrenders to the Love of his devotees who constantly shouted "Jai Gurudev" . He gives a very patient hearing to any question and answers each one with great kindness and compassion. Is this God? Thousands of devotees sit in pin-drop silence to hear every word he speaks.

The 6 day LIFE transformation course:
We had a packed rigorous schedule. We were all up by 4 a.m and back to the room at 10:30 p.m. Our schedule was such :
6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. - Morning Yoga, Pranayam
8:30 to 10 a.m. : Breakfast and Seva or the otherway around.
10 to 1:15 p.m. : Meditation, Pranayam, more deep meditation, some dancing, some well designed sharing exercises with co-participants
1:15 to 2:15 Lunch break and Seva
2:15 to 5:30 Meditation, Pranayam, more deep meditation, some dancing, some well designed sharing exercises with co-participants
5:30 to 6:30 We were supposed to go for walks but invariably we ended up in Canteen for the first cup of tea for the day!!
6:30 to 7:30 Dinner and Seva
7:30 to 9 p.m. Satsang
9 to 10 p.m. : Watch Guruji's video.

I really enjoyed every bit of it, except for the severe headache.

Everyday we spent in eager anticipation of meeting the great man himself on a one-to-one basis. Initially I felt frustrated that he was not meeting us or coming to teach the course etc.. But slowly realized it really did not matter. The changes were happening with-in.
But the day he was to meet us, our group went really mad with excitement. First of all , we all dressed in our best. The dancing at the Satsang was so much (with total abandonment ) that the VM hall resembled a DISCO night!!
.


Prabha, Self, Viji Dressed to kill

Guruji had such a hectic day that day and I felt sorry for him - yet we were greedy - all wanted so much to meet him. It was a dream come true for all of us and it was absolutely thrilling and divine.

Lessons learnt:

First and foremost was the regular practice of Yoga, Pranayam and Sudharshana Kriya. Everyone must undergo some courses at AOL and learn these techniques.

Second was the effect of intense meditation on all the days. Seemed to clense my system inside out. I felt so light.

Somewhere along the way, I realized lot of things and the way of life for the future . If the "The Hollow and Empty meditation" concept is understood and practiced it can bring 100% peace into one's lives.

There was also an extremely moving exercise where we had to bless another person with all our heart looking into their eyes and afterwards hugging them tightly. The whole process is so therapeutic and I wept my heart out ( as did most of the participants) . We had to look into the eyes of the participant ; 3 different pairs of eyes ( of total strangers) will always remain etched in my memory. This exercise lingered with me and I blessed everyone whomever I chanced to come across after that. I hope I remain that way my whole life. I felt blessed and so beautiful.

Last but not the least Guruji's kind, soft voice on the following points are etched in my memory :

1. What is true Seva? If your living does not make a difference to another life, then what is the use of such a life? You may die - he said. He also explained in great detail what is true Seva - not donating some money and getting ur name engraved for eternity on some stone. This video was unforgettable

2. Guruji in another video said "You are a pearl - Each one of you - a beautiful one . But a pearl needs to have a hole so it can be strung together - All pearls together make a beautiful mala - What agreat philosophy - I mean What guruji meant was "be absolutely empty without any baggage - you can connect to another human being - all of us can connect with each other" Surely this great man connected with each and everyone he chanced to come across. I was reminded of the movie "Avatar" where the Navi's from another planet Pandora connect with each other. When they connect with a bird, they can fly at their will.

3. Guruji has given a simple principle for living :
Take care of your breathing for physical well being and Serve others for mental well being. Together this leads one to spirituality.

4. Akash Guruji had explained to us the Symbol of Buddha The right palm stretched open and held up and the left palm stretched and held down pointing to the ground - He said the right hand signifies that be alert and aware of each and everything happening to u - your emotions, thoughts, actions. The left hand pointing downwards says "Let go" of all - any emotion - anger, frustration, any thought ... This stayed with me and had a deep impact.

5. Akash Guruji also made us squat like a dog and put our tongue out and said "All ur life you have been wanting this and that .. " It was also a very effective way of making us realize the folly of our endless desires and wants.

After our course we visited some places in the Ashram - The very scenic Radha Kunj facing a serene lake, we meditated and did kriya at Sumeru mandap in the early morning, visited the Veda Patashala, Goshala, some exciting shopping, saw the Panchakarma centre for Ayurvedic Massages

Kalyana Mandapam
Open air Wedding venue at Radha Kunj

Serene Buddha at Radha Kunj

Panchakarma Centre


In Gratitude:
  • First and foremost I feel extremly grateful to Guruji for designing such wonderful courses to awaken and enlighten mankind.
  • I am grateful to the people who have worked so hard and made this Ashram what it is today out of a barren eerie land.
  • My co-particpants were a wonderful lot and the sense of belonging grew day by day . "Sangachatvam - We move together"

Somewhere I felt my ego tree was axed and all my negativity de-weeded . I hope to do kriya, yoga and meditation everyday without fail and Seva whenever an opportunity arises.

My next advanced course will be at Rishikesh with Guruji whenever he gives a call.

Jai Gurudev



























Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Towering Guru


Guruji Swamiji Sri Sri Ravi Shanker

12th Jan 2010
There was a music concert at S P College ground Pune organised by the Art of Living group in the presence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. 2650 singers sang Hindustani Classical music led by leading artists, accompanied by excellent instrumental music.

Now I have always made it a point to attend Guruji's Pune visits. There was always some soul connection. In a crowd of 1 lac people, he can communicate with you one-on-one. Such massive crowd management was always a highly co-ordinated and organized event . The decoratons with art work and flowers and lights is so asthetically pleasing that I look forward to Guruji's visit eagerly.

But this time promised to be absolutely exciting - imagine 2650 singers singing together as one voice !!! It was an absolutely divine melody.

As usual the program turned out to be a World stunner - Only Guruji can manage such beauty and magnanimity. It was an unforgettable evening. I really feel sorry for all those who did not experience it first hand.

With my highly analytical and complex thinking, I am very weary of getting caught up with some groupism and swamijis.

But this time , I came back convinced of the divinity of this great human being - only once in a while such towering personalities walk the earth and then they become Gods - Lord Rama, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Sai Baba . When Guruji speaks the crowd of more that a lakh wait in stillness, silence and eager anticipation and simply drink in every word. He does not give some lofty principles


but says some simple guidelines. He always puts the crowd thro a simple 10 minute meditation and some fun.

What stuck me this time was what a great man was this!! He does not own any thing but the wealth he can generate is simple unimaginable. He does not have a son, daughter , wife or such relationships but thousands upon thousands scream 'We love You !!!" He simply invokes the feeling of LOVE and BLESSING within.

How rich he is in the true sense. He towers over the sea of suffering, struggling mankind - ushering an air of peace, happiness, tranquility - looking upon them with so much love.

I sense a SOUL CONNECTION with HIM




Saturday, October 17, 2009

Soul Connection

Changing thoughts - The journey along









A small incident - A great lesson

We had recd. a wedding invitation from one of our relatives and we as a family were keen to attend the occasions inspite of Hari's illness just to make our relatives happy. But we discovered that our visit was not as welcome - I do not understand the reason for that . Why was the invitation sent in the first place in that case?

Anyway as we were in the same city, I sent our blessings with a small token gift . I also recd. a dress as a gift. But to my dismay discovered it to be of a very cheap quality which I would hesitate to even gift to my maid. The concerned family is considered very rich by south Indian standards.

This little incident taught me a lot on human relations and I discovered the meaning of the word - "Soul Connection"

One thing I realized is that this incident left no bitterness, no hatred in my heart - only a deeper understanding of Human relationships. I met the family several times after that and things were cool - no awkwardness, no harsh feelings.

Now I feel more wise on all human interactions - all the social functions like marriages, festivals, celebrations are mainly for human interaction . Most of them are ego trips - satisfying yourself that you can afford so much or you can be so nice or may be to "Network" for mutual benifits or to flaunt your material possessions ;like house, car, clothes, jewellary or may be your be talents etc. what ever be the reasons there may not be much of genuine soul connection

A relationship has meaning only if there is "Soul connection" - mutual love and respect for just the other human being without any reason - stripped of everything else - just feeling happy that that person is there with you. .

I now dwell on all the people I interact with - most of them are for some reason of mutual benefit - such relationships are not long lasting - there are there and gone without any pain of separation. The pain comes when one person has expectation from the other and the other person does not sense it or fulfill it.

A lot of realization on the relationships I have developed over so many years dawned on me now

Parent-child relationship : I have ploughed all my energy into the relationship with my 2 sons over the last 30 years but now I realize the soul connection is missing .

The relationship with my parent is a cherished one - they have given my their all . I truely connected to my dad . I am happy and satisfied that I could serve them to some extent in their old age. My mother 86 years old is a Parkinson's patient and my wish now is I should serve her and let her feel dignified about her age and disability.

Most of the relationships with friends have been of a temporary nature

With my siblings I share a very deep cherished bond







Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Personality Development for Smart people





Mankind CO-EXISTS

I came across this most wonderful web site by Steve Pavlina. You can read all about him here

So much to read, so much to learn, so much to mull over, so many ideas to transform yourself and all FREE !!

Thank you Steve for being there in this world somewhere and contributing to betterment of lives of everyone .

HOPE everywhere for everyone

Recently when I had a major crisis in my personal relationship, and suffered severe depression, I discovered that there is a whole lot of help available in the net and all FREE. So many people sharing their thoughts - I realized I am but a tiny part of this giant whole called HUMANITY.



Monday, September 14, 2009

Kings Canyan and Sequoia National Park





Giant Sequoia Tree


Rapids in King's River


July 4th 2009



We left for kings Canyan and Sequoia National park in the morning of July 4th 2009 . I expected some show of celebration as it was the American Independence day but there was no such sign. Back in India, Independence Day means blaring loud speakers, people carrying the Indian flag, TV displaying the flag hoisting ceremony and the prime minister's or President 's speech at Red Fort New Delhi, all school children in their respective coloured school uniforms, teachers in white sarees, the air resounding with "Sare Jaha se Acchha Hindusetha hamara..." , "Hey Mere Vatan Ke Logo, Jara aank me Barlo Pani " etc... I missed all that as in USA people simply packed off in their cars to different holiday spots and set about enjoying the long week end.

It was a long drive and the temperature was climbing up. On the way Vidya bought some nice farm fresh Straw berries, Blue berries, Cherry tomato, huge cucumber and we ate all that happily, It was a long tedious drive but once we entered the Sequoia Park all our tiredness vanished. We saw the huge aged GIANT seqouia trees touching the skies and really it is a world wonder. Imagine trees as old as 1000 to 3000 years and this is the only place on earth they were found.

The drive inside is absolutely scenic with the King's river flowing deep down in the canyan and surrounded by mountains - In some places the river was in great fury with fearful rapids, while in some walking trails the river was absolutely calm like a lake. As with all tourist destinations in USA this park is well preserved with several walking trails. It is best to carry good food packed in bear resistant canisters and drinking water. There were scenic water falls, meadows, lots and lots of trees and trails leading to Giant Sequoia groves.

The photo link is here

Day 1 KIngs Canyan
Day 2 Sequoia National Park

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Visit to Los Angeles

Jun 20, 21 2009 - Visit to LA




Enchanting Disneyland LA

The photo links are here

Saturday Jun 20th 2009 Vivek and myself left the house from Fremont at 4:30. We drove to LA. It took us a long time to reach LA with several stops as the car had some heating issue but luckily Vivek solved it. But we touched Disney Land only by 1 p.m ( almost 7 to 8 hours of sitting/driving) Actually one can do the trip in less than 6 hours.

Disney Dream Land
Disney Land is a dream place to visit and I am lucky to have seen it. Actually I was not at all super excited about it as fun rides were never my favorite past time and I imagined it to be kid's stuff. But the beauty and quality of fun at Disney is to be experienced to understand it. I was amazed at the vision, the management and the planning to perfection of entertainment at Disney. You really felt you got more than your money's worth. If you have some of the child left in you ( and did not kill it with age and cynicism) then you are sure to have a blast , enjoy and cherish the memory.

It is situated at the outskirts of Los Angeles known as Anahiem in a sprawling campus . It is a Theme park and a holiday resort. On your birthday you can ride free. The huge place is covered with attractive greenery, flowers, water bodies, pretty buildings with architectures looking elegantly classical , walkways. All the buildings house shops or cafes.
The parking lot is so huge and we have to take a train to go to the park itself. I read that Walt Disney ws very fond of trains and had one in his backyard running for his children , so he wanted a train visible thro out the park. Generally you can spot a train running with people in many places. Even we went in one such train rides.

The area of the park is divided into several themes with several rides thrown in. Some of the themes are

  • Main Street USA has very pretty buildings and the street looks awfully busy. Actually these buildings house shops and cafes inside. Lots of free rides like horse buggy, small carriages etc are plying the roads .
Main Street USA
  • Animal World is set in a sprawling water way and you take the ride in a small boat with about 20 more people. There are lots of animals like elephants , giraffe, Zebra, tiger, hippo, rhino, monkeys , pretty skulptures, tribals etc.. on the route. They all look real but really are not. The ride winds its way thro' dense woods. The boatman gives a running commentary and keeps you entertained and informed.
Animals in Animal Kingdom are not real
  • Adventure Land consists of several rides. We took "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Indiana Jones" and walked up and down Tarzan's dwelling. The former is a boat ride to the carribean with all scenes of the pirate way of life, fabulous music, narration, darkness, scarry turns and drops . The movie is a copy of this ride. The Johnny Depp look alike is there . All the pirates and their ladies partners and everything looked so real , so alive.. I wanted to go on the ride again. I liked the experience a lot.

  • The Indiana jones ride made me tired as we had to walk a lot thro' winding stone ways to reach the boat and lot of hype was built about it, it was a boat ride in darkness with terrible turns and dead drops in water and (supposedly) scarry scenes like a deadman popping out hanging by a rope, deafening sounds and dialogs and another vehicle coming to collide with your boat etc..

  • New Orleans is set in a water body resembling the Missisippi river with a ride in a ship called "Columbia" , a boat house set in the middle of water, a ship called "Mark twain" and several small boats which are self driven by the riders with oars. We took the Columbia ride which has a captain and several ropes and wood work resembles the ships of olden days. The captain kept us amused by witty ramblings and behaves as if we were sailing in those days. The route is set thro jungle area with animals and tribals and lush greenery.
View of Missisippi river aboard the ship Columbia

  • splash water mountain is set in a high hill - has roller coaster rides and rides thro' rapids.
  • Future World has several rides - submarine ( finding Nemo.. ) , bullet train type ride which we took, and more such rides which we did not take
  • Its a small world is a cute ride in a small boat inside a tunnel like route with loads of toys and dolls resembling children from all over the world and all dancing to a tune its a small world the music resonates thro' the route and one emrges from the ride feeling very happy and hopeful.
Dancing toys in the Its a Small World

I just loved this ride so much that we took it a second time. The whole area is vibrant with plants, flower beds and a pretty castle in the middle which has several doors . Cute little figures emerge out of so many spots from this castle periodically and march to a song . There are several plants cut out in animal shapes.
The Disney parades is one of the highlight of the day . There are 2 or 3 floats with all sorts of disney comic figures ( actually people) , loads of balloons and some theme for the display. The day we went there was live music and party dance . Several boys and girls and the comic Disney characters dressed prettily danced to a live DJ belting out music ( actually sang) . It was such a joyous feeling to watch this in the middle of the streets of USA . The whole atmosphere was so charged with excitement.


Its a dance party



Fireworks at the castle is at 9:30 p.m. lights up the castle in different colors accompanied by music and fireworks.

Music, laser show , fountains and fireworks show called Fantasm at the New Orleans water area depicts a story of conquest of good Micky over evil Micky with fabulous music , drama , lights, figures created with laser, fire, fireworks, dance , lit floats of the boats, ship with boys and girls dancing... It is a dream vision and one can only experience it to understand it. It is at 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

There were pretty cafes everywhere with lots of tables and chairs for seating and great views. We did not go on all rides as there were so many of them and we had time only for some.

The night lighting of the entire park area is awesome and makes the whole place take on a festive look. The day we went the park was so crowded and even at 11:30 night people were standing in queues for rides.

Some Disney facts are here
  • Walt Disney won 26 Oscars
  • He just lived for 65 years (1901 to 1966) and created this brand (1923) along with his brother Roy Disney
  • 1,50,000 employees and a turnover of $ 35 Billion, assets valued at $67 Billion
  • Has 2 daughters one of them adopted
  • Hailed from Illinois
  • Took the art of animation to a exceptionally high level of technological expertise
  • The workforce at the theme park is excellently trained and appear to enjoy whatever they are doing. The dancers seemed to be loving to do that.
  • The theme park had top class management to manage such massive public entertainment and crowd day in day out. The park's working hours are 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. there was constant cleaning going on and things were maintained 100%. Even the rest rooms were massive and managing such huge crowd . Everything was managed and organized with clock work precision.
  • Disney resorts have hotels and theme parks and club memberships
  • It is a massive business - the entertainment industry
  • All the rides had fabulous music , dialogs .. which means execellent speaker systems installed everywhere. The animated figures of human and animals in all the rides were technologically very superior. The rides were all child-friendly and safe.
My heart felt gratitude to this great human being "Walt Disney" . We left Disney land at 11:45 with aching legs , so tired and headed to our hotel room in Santa Monica a 45 min dangerous drive with a sleepy vivek driving half in sleep .

Jun 21 2009



Blue Waters of the pacific Ocean


Busy Santa Monica Pier

We left the hotel at 10 a.m to Santa Monica Pier. We parked the car and walked around the famous 3rd street so full of life so vibrant .


3rd Street at Santa Monica

The Santa Monica pier jets out into the Pacific ocean. Lots of holiday revelers in colorful summer clothes were enjoying this warm Sunday and "Father's day" too . The ocean looked beautifully blue, the trapeze trainer was swinging in the hot sun his body chiseled like a Greek god



Swaying in the air - trapeze trainer


Is there anybody there? Live singing

there were loads of other business all over the place - engrave your name in a rice grain, get a hand painted cartoon caricature of yourself, hats, dress sellers in cart, guy singing into a mike with proper music system hoping to catch the ears of some holidaying hollywood music producer, and lots more. It is really a happening place - Santa Monica beach. So many visions, so many tramps !!

Beverly hills
We then drove to Beverly Hills - It is such a beautiful place of the rich and the famous. The streets look so pretty , decked with huge balls of flowers hanging from poles, beds of white roses and lots and lots of palm trees.



Hanging Balls of flowers on the road


Brand Stores and car expo


Dream Cars

There was a car expo right in the middle of the road and so many expensive and slick looking cars were on display. Vivek was so excited and clicked so many photographs with his iPhone. There were all sorts of the most expensive brand shops on either side of the road like Armani, Chanel, Cartier etc..

We drove around Beverly admiring pretty houses of the Hollywood celebrities.



Pretty Houses of the rich and the famous at beverly Hills

One house seemed had 15 Ferrari cars parked!! I felt the place looked so much like a nice suburb of Pune or Mumbai or Chennai - I told vivek "You should buy a house here". and he found that very funny - like Beverly Hills was so unaffordable

Hollywood
We then drove around Hollywood.




Hollywood sign is on the hills behind


Streets of Hollywood


Kodak theatre


Photographs with famous film characters

and saw the Kodak theatre where the Oscar award ceremonies are always held. Many people dress up like famous characters in films ( like spiderman, batman, pirates of the Carribean etc.. .) and take photographs with the visiting crowd for some small amount. This is a business here. We did not have time for Universal studios .

We drove back home enjoying sunset over the ocean and thro Malibu, Santa Barbara - a small pretty beach town.

Monday, June 8, 2009

San Fransisco Revisited - Fisherman's Wharf





June 6,
2009

All the photos are here

Fisherman's Wharf
Saturday Jun 6 2009 Vivek and I went to San Fransisco to do touristy things like Taking the Bay cruise, Walking in Crooked street, taking the cable car also called tram, visiting Giradelli Square and eating the famous Giradelli ice cream. The roads of San Fransisco look dangerously hilly winding up and down , the day was bright, sunny and cool , lots and lots of tourists, and the city was dressed up as usual for tourists with bright colored flowers hanging out of pots everywhere.

The cruise goes in a round trip from Fisherman's wharf to Golden Gate bay where the San Fransisco bay meets the Pacific ocean . The cruise craft we took had 3 levels - a basement cafeteria, and 2 levels up with enclosed and open seating area and the open deck with seats - we took the top deck. It is a hour's Cruise and costs 24$ per person. It is money well spent and the ride is very enjoyable with the blue water and the chilly breeze and the bright sun and the magnificent Golden Gate bridge view. .



Cruise goes under the Golden Gate bridge

The piers at Fisherman's wharf is a vibrant tourist attraction and has swarms of Cafe, music, flowers and flowers everywhere, even live performers belting out music , rows and rows of shops.




Giradelli Square
We then walked to Giradelli Square which is a picturesque historical tourist spot overlooking the ocean. Giradelli is a world famous brand of chocolates and here they have an ice cream outlet. The ice creams are something to die for. The place was crowded with tourists. The shop has huge machines making chocolates in mass scale - so one can see how it is done .






We then took the cable car which is what we in India would call a tram - a small bus running on railway type lines on road. Costs 11$ per person. The roads of San Fransisco are really very peculiar - they go uphill and down - it is almost like climbing hills up and down - A driver new to this place would be quite scared looking at the roads. Most of the hilly roads slope down towards the ocean.



Cable car



In this tram we could get in anywhere and get off anywhere. The stop is always the middle of a traffic signal junction - how wierd!! .



Walking down the steps in Crooked Street

Crooked (actually Lombard ) street
We got off at crooked (actually Lombard ) street . Now this is a famous street and it is like Formula one track - the road dangerously winds down thro' many steep blind turns and overlooks the ocean. There are steps too if u fear driving ( your car brakes should be in good condition else you can trigger off accidents ) and want to walk down . On either side of the road there are landscaped flower patches and cutely shaped trees - Everything is a tourist attraction.



Posing with an actual Ferrari driven by Kimmi Reikenan in a F1


The photos are here