Buddhist Pilgrimage Day 1
Posted by sky | Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, India, Personal, Photos, pilgrimage, story, train
Buddhist pilgrimage 2008-10-25 photos. I took the MRT to the Changi airport on the day of departure to Kolkata, India (Oct 24). Along the way, I had a few chances to take a cab instead. As I was not sure whether I would be late as we are supposed to meet with the rest of the Buddhist Fellowship (BF) tour members before checking in, so there were a number of possible moments where I could have boarded a cab. In the end, those moments slipped away and I took the MRT. Something unexpected happened when I checked my mobile phone in the train, it had hanged!? Along the journey to the airport, I was continuously trying to restart my mobile to no avail. So, I was feeling quite miserable. Why must the mobile hanged just before the start of my trip? This was the first time I could not power down or restart the mobile after it hanged. A BF member who was working in Changi airport, assisted me in checking in with the e-ticket and also the self check-in of my luggage. Thanks to him, I did not need to queue and I had some time to roam around the airport. Of course, I still couldn't figure out what to do with my mobile. As I watched the clock went past the 8pm time, I thought it was time to enter the boarding gate. An Indian who passed by me, still lingering near the boarding gate, questions me, "Rest of your group have entered the gate, you are not going in?". I responded yes to him that I am going in soon. After finally passing the boarding gate, I approached an Indian salesman at an electronic shop for help. After taking a look at my mobile phone, he told me that my phone screen has problem, he proceeded to take out my battery and then re-inserted it back before restarting my phone. And voila, my phone is alive! I thanks him a lot! He said that will be 10 bucks, just kidding! :) On board the SQ 516 plane flying to Kolkata, I had my first taste of Singapore Sling and I liked it. But, I felt drowsy immediately. Thanksfully, the lamb with rice I ate afterwards made me feel a lot better. We arrived at Kolkata airport at approx. 1 am. (4 hrs) We waited at the conveyor belt for our luggages for quite a long time, it seemed to be ages for me before seeing my bag arriving. Our Indian tour guide, his nickname is Raja, awaits us at the airport. He can speak marvellous Chinese! Our first hotel is Mayur Residency Kolkata hotel. The first thing I did once I was in the room was to charge my phone. The second thing I did was to call Singtel (+65 67380123) to subscribe to Bridge dataroam for cheaper data rate. The SMS I received on arrival to India, indicated that the roaming data rate is S$23 per MB. The minimum Bridge dataroam is $24 for 5MB for a month subscription. (see Singtel Bridge dataroam) The breakfast that I had here was the simplest of all, just some paratha with curry. Neal mentioned about his meditation and maybe one of the key to meditation is to smile, to enjoy the meditation. We had some free time before we left our hotel and I had a short walk along the main street. We left our hotel at ~ 10:30am and had our lunch at a restaurant. This was my first time of giving dana to monk (Venerable Mudita). Steven talked with me about hygiene in India and asked me why I came for this tour? and whether I have thought about becoming a monk? (there is a remote possibility :) Sita thought that Steven was lost while he went to buy some candles for personal use. We will to go to Mother Teresa Centre at Kolkata next, and coincidentally, the group wanted to buy candles also for giving prayers. It was a short distance from our restaurant and we prayed and make some donation. A White girl helped us to take group photos at the Mother Teresa Centre. We also met a Singaporean Chinese nun who had stayed there for 7 years? (Mother Teresa Centre photo) We then arrived at the beautiful Victoria Memorial Hall. The Victoria Memorial is the largest repository in India for a visual history of Calcutta. It also has a major collection of paintings, sculptures and manuscripts from the British period. It is the finest and most prominent building and art museum of Calcutta. There was a light drizzle when we arrived and Emily shared her umbrella with me. (It was the only time the sky rains for the whole trip)
The museum is spacious and it housed a large number of paintings, the period must have ranged from colonial times to the independence of India. Photos cannot be taken inside of the museum though. I had a chat with Venerable Mudita on a drawing depicting the street of Calcutta and I noted that it was a clean street in the drawing. Venerable had come to India 's Buddhist pilgrimage before, though it was his first time here at Kolkata. On previous occasion, he had went to New Delhi. (He is tall and handsome)
If there is a complain about the museum, it maybe a bit dark at some places and no lights are shone on the paintings. I read a bit of history about some pioneers in promoting women's education in Calcutta. (from Google search: Bethune)
At 30 mins to 3, I stepped outside of the museum to take photos around the museum. The drizzle had almost stopped and the weather was very cool. Our guide, Raja, helped us to take group photos near the museum entrance. He looked funny with a number of cameras hanging around his arm.
We then left to watch the Hooghly river. The Howrah Bridge was on our right and was further away than the Hooghly Bridge which was on our left. The Hooghly river flows down from the Ganges river to Kolkata and then into the Bay of Bengal. As we walked back to our bus, some of us had some masala tea at a stall by the river. Steven asked me to take a photo of him standing on the railway track along the river. We then departed to Howrah station for our overnite train to Varanasi.
The Howrah station is very large, and comprised of beautiful red buildings. One can always see a huge number of the yellow cabs along the Howrah station. 8) We watched the porters piled up all the luggages into a 2-wheel transport? I decided to carry my own bag as it didn't seems to fit well and tight. Next, we hurried along to the station. (This is not for old people who cannot walk fast) The station was full of people, very crowded. We had our dinner at a 2nd floor restaurant and we experienced the first of many blackouts. Well, if the station was crowded, then the men's public toilet was packed! :) It reminded me of one time in my NUS day when we had to rush to toilet to pee after our exam paper was over. I went to the furthest end of the large toilet and did not had to wait for long for my turn to pee.
Then, we had to walk quickly as well to follow our tour guide when we were boarding the train. Our seats were distributed and I noted that my seat number was at the front of the train, however, as everyone was following our tour guide, I followed the rest as well. On board the train, our guide, Raja had to make sure everyone was safely on the train. He told us to put all our luggages into 1 car so that it would be easier to carry down at our destination station. Our fellow members began to check that their luggages are safe and sound, since I was carrying my only bag around with me, I did not need to check. I sit quietly besides a group of our fellow ladies with seats allocated together. They introduced their names. Finally, Raja came around and took me to a temporary seat at the next compartment.
Raja talked a bit about himself. He had been a tour guide for 2 years. He worked for his uncle, kind of like relative business. He spoke excellent Chinese despite only one year of Chinese study. I commended him on that and commented that he must has a lot of opportunities to speak Chinese as a tour guide. He talked a bit about Hinduism, there are 3 main Hindu gods: they are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The Hindu considers everything as God, he considers the trees as God, the sun as God, .. whether animate or inanimate. It would appear that there are many gods, but it is just different forms of the same single Universal God. The many rings he wore on his fingers are of certain benefits to him, like to have a good career and so on.
He would continue to talk about a beautiful girl he had met and liked, but had yet to know her name. I told him that he had good chances (he is handsome too) and asked him whether he had said "I like you" to the girl.
Finally, we would had to walk back to the front car of the train. Raja would led me, and I followed behind him. The walking path in the train is generally for one person, so it was not easy for me who was carrying a bag on my back to bypass another person along the path if he did not give way. At times, my bag would knocked against the bed railings. I would remember this as the most exciting and fun part of my trip. In the end, we would reach the front car. Raja told me that the door of the car was shut closed and we would had to wait for the train to stop in the next station. Raja had timed the walk to perfection, for soon the train came to a stop and we would then able to enter the first car and find my seat and bed. (The train did not stop in this station for long) I had a 3rd-storey bed and had to use the ladder to climb up the bed. I had a pretty good sleep that night, other than waking up a few times and knowing my mobile phone had run out of battery.
Across my bed is one young Indian guy who works for Oracle. He wears a spectacle and looks like the intelligent type. As dawn arrived in the early morning, everyone began to wake up and some will go to the train's toilet. I asked the Oracle expert what time was it? It was 6:15am and I thought we must be reaching Varanasi soon. I came down and sit on the lowest bed. As I watch outside of the train, I saw the Mughal Sarai station sign and knew that we had reached Varanasi for Raja had told me the station name. I asked the wise-looking gentleman sitting across me whether we had reached and he confirmed yes. I took my bag and bottled water and walked towards the train gate. I checked whether my important belongings were still with me, and found that my wallet was missing. So, I got back to my bed and was relieved to find that I had dropped my wallet on the bed! After I climbed down from the train, I saw Raja walking towards me.
As we walked back towards the rest of our group, Raja explained to me that the first train car would be detached at this station and the rest of the train would continue to New Delhi, so then I knew it was actually safe that I would be in Varanasi. :)
Note: Oct 24 is a special day for it is my mum's birthday (deceased) and I am greatly indebted to her. I like to dedicate this trip to her.
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