Photos from Kerala

Dr. Bal Barot has shared some photos with us this week of the area he is staying in during his Fulbright experience in India. For those of us in still in winter's icy grip, these should give us hope for warmer days.

Aranmula boat races in Kerala, India

A house in Kerala

Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary

The beach in Kerala

Tea fields in India

A village in Kerala

Another view of Kerala

Post #3 - A day at the temple

“We decided to visit a famous temple in the northern part of the state, during the weekday. We were told not to go during the weekend to avoid rush.

There were two ways to reach there: either by a train directly going to the temple from a nearby town’s railway station or change three buses to reach there. The only catch for the train journey was we had to leave very early in the morning. So we changed three buses, asking strangers to read the bus boards for us. It worked out alright.

By the time we reached there, we had spent about three hours in travel. The line to go inside the temple was long. I was asked to wear a special loin cloth, white in color with a golden border. So we went back to market and purchased one. For women, there is no requirement. But only Hindus are allowed.  I had to deposit my camera and cell phone with the security office of the temple. After two hours of waiting in line, we reached the inside the temple.

The temple was built in 16th century from stones and it is Lord Krishna’s temple. In local language, it is called Guruvayoor temple.  After prayers, when we came out it was 2 p.m. and we understood the reason for the rush of devotees, even on Thursday. The temple door was closed at 1 p.m. for the day.

It is a common accident that often happens where people will be crushed and trampled to death in trying to enter the famous temples on a special day. We came out safely and collected our cell phone and camera. I changed my clothes and searched for a three wheel auto rickshaw.

The temple maintains a nursery for elephants. It was about five miles away and took ten minutes to reach there. We counted a total of sixty-two elephants; only two females without tusks and rest of them were males. Some elephants were violent, so they were heavily chained; a female elephant was pregnant and she was allowing little children to feed her. 

We were lucky that while returning we got a bus coming directly to a nearby town. On the way, we noticed a Christian church having a big statue of Jesus with life size elephant statues on both sides.

To return to our university house, when we got down from the local bus, it was unknown place. A fellow passenger confirmed that it was the university’s other side. She also got down and pointed the way. Before saying goodbye, she said, “The other day, when you two were lost, you asked me for direction. Do you remember?  I remember both of you!”  We had no clue about her, as we ask so many people for directions during our daily evening walk on less traveled roads.”

It Truly is a Small World

Dr. Barot's second installment from India.

I do not speak the local language, so traveling around and using local public transportation is always challenging. I got invited to a one day conference at MG University in Kottayam, Kerala, which is about 100 miles away from here. I had to change two buses, asking strangers to help me, but I was able to reach it in time.

The conference was organized to honor the young chemistry professor who died suddenly. He was only 49 years old. I met his widow. She is around 45. She felt good, assuming I had come all the way from the USA for that purpose. I did not want to hurt her, so I just comforted her. I met a retired chemistry professor, Dr. Madhavan. He has spent a few years at Wayne State in Michigan. It was nice to listen about old glory of Detroit.

Here everyone uses only one name: the first name. This way they avoid caste bases discrimination. The main invited speaker was a young chemistry professor, Radha Krishanan (RK) from the Kerala state capitol. He summarized the work of Suzuki, Negishi and Heck, the three Noble Prize winners of chemistry for 2010, before presenting his own work. I found it very interesting.

During lunch, I asked Prof. RK about one slide of X-ray crystals. He told me that the data measurement was provided by Dr. Nigam Rath from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. What a small world! Dr. Nigam Rath and I did our Ph.D.s together at Oklahoma State. We were study group partners.

Next week, I am planning to visit a town with a famous temple.