Week 4: Vacation

VACATION TIME!

Yes,this is a very exciting post for me.I've got to do some very cool things during our 4 day vacation. So basically the 14 of us split into different groups and headed our separate ways.One group headed to Andhra Pradesh, which is north of Bangalore, Karnataka and the other group headed to Kerala, which is south of Karnataka.

Logically speaking, I should have gone to Kerala and visit my half Keralite roots there(my father is a Malayalee. Hence, I have a Nair as my last name). Instead, I decided to visit the SVYM organization in Mysore, Karnataka. Mysore is about 2 hours away from Bangalore but we were planning to visit the tribal school, which took an additional 2 hours.We stopped at a kamat, a restaurant at the roadside and saw many, many monkeys.

Masala dosa. Dosa wrapped around seasoned potatoes.

This is called gulab jamun.It's an Indian dessert made of milk flour and deep fried.It is then  added into syrup to sweeten it. This is the best Indian dessert hands down.

Baby monkey!

After having breakfast, we continued our journey to Mysore.We had a really pleasant driver who showed us the countryside of Mysore since he is from Mysore. Here are some pictures.

Our first stop was Viveka Tribal School. This school was specially built for tribal school children. Education here is done a little differently. Instead of following the mainstream, 1st to 12th standard, the students here are categorized by their abilities in class. The children were very excited to see us and it was nice talking to them and answering all their questions.We were shown around,and I was surprised to discover that this school is equipped with a Biology and Chemistry lab, and it's very much like our labs in the Malaysian high schools.Students here have shown improvement in terms of their SSLC pass percentage, something this school prides upon.

Our tour guide's Innova

Then, we visited the Kenchanahalli Hospital, where a combination of allopathy and ayurveda is used to aid patient recovery. Read more about this approach here Integrating Different Forms of Medicine to Lower Cost. Also,be sure to read the rest of my classmates' thoughts on social entreprenurship on the Global SE Blog.

Then we visited the SVYM Hospital is Sargur. This is a 90 bedded hospital with multiple specialty.Patients who cannot be treated in the Kenchanahalli will be sent to this Sargur hospital.We also had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bala, who is the CEO of the SVYM organization.He was very humble and he told us that SVYM have had many failures but it did have some sucesses and the sucesses are what we see now. He also was frank with us when he told us that the founder of PremaVidya, Mr. Naresh Bala is ill with leukemia and they are trying to multiple medical opinions before they decide to do anything.

The next day, we visited the Mysore Maharaja Palace and the St.Philomena's Church.I was forced to pay 200 rupees since I was a foreigner while Indians only had to pay 50 rupees.Bloody unfair.Anyhow,the palace was extremely beautiful except for the annoyingly rude officers.I think I don't do well under authority.Oh well!

St.Philomena Church

The statue of Mysore Maharaja(King of the Mysore)

Entrance of the palace

Mysore Maharaja Palace

Two tigers protecting the garden

Me and my friend

Our North Indian lunch

Week 2: The Rediscovery of Gita

So here are more pictures of Week 2. During the weekend, we visited the Isckon Temple. 12 years ago when I came to India, I basically went all over the South. One of my stops was Bangalore where I visited the Isckon Temple.I couldn't remember exactly what I did but I have a vivid snapshot of  the idols Lord Krishna, Radha and Lord Balaram. I remember being so happy that the temple was clean and that no priests were demanding for money. I especially felt happy that there were no beggars around. At that time, I officially declared the Isckon Temple the best temple in India.

But with that declaration came many changes. The visit to Isckon transformed my father into a Krishna devotee. He gave up meat and embraced being a vegetarian. He began reading the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam.I was being preached about God. Being 9 years of age, I did not understand his fascination with what the Gita was all about.I did not understand what is so great about being vegetarian. I understood why he did it, but did not share his convictions.My dad also understood that its his duty to tell me what I needed to know about the spiritual knowledge but he also knew that he can't force that knowledge on me.And I thank him for that

The temple ahs changed so much. The added security and the expansion astounded me. I felt different once I was there. I can't quite describe it, but I left the temple content and happy. In Iskcon, the Maha Mantra is constantly being recited.It goes like this:

                 

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

Now that I have returned to Isckon for the second time,I began picking up the Gita wanting to know more.And I look forward to learn more.

"In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium."

-Bhagavad Gita