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Right:
This map shows the campus layout of the University. The right-most
red rectangle shows the approximate
location of the Guest House where we stayed. You can see the
blue rectangle representing the University Pond. The top-most
red rectangle shows the location of the conference venues.
It was about a 7-10 minute walk from the Guest house. The
conference
was scheduled to start the next day (Monday and Tuesday), but
we were flying home on Tuesday night. Yener's presentation
was Monday afternoon.
In the interim,
we spent today (Sunday) on our second day-trip. We went to
see an impressive temple, something called Heritage
Park, and then we visited the Missionaries of Charity (where
Mother Teresa worked).
This time, we dressed more sensibly in long pants. It was
a beautiful day, with the temperature being in the low to mid
70's. |
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We had breakfast in the dining room with our fellow
conference attendees. Breakfast was toast, cornflakes served
with steaming milk, eggs, fresh fruit (bananas and oranges) and
coffee or tea. The bananas here tasted a bit different from those
back home. Yener and I both liked them a lot. While I never had
cornflakes with hot milk before, I can't say it was too bad.
I think I'm too lazy to heat up the milk back home, though.
Today's tour group
was a little larger than yesterday's group. A few more people
arrived last night, so the cars were a bit
more crowded today, although it wasn't too bad. The same students
served as our guides. After loading us into the cars, we were
whisked away towards the outskirts of the city to see a temple
that pays homage to four different religions in India. |
| On the way to this temple, I took some pictures
from my seat. Yener and I both sat in the trunk of the SUV on
the benches. Not exactly the most comfortable seats available,
but it wasn't really appropriate to have some of the other attendees
stuff themselves back there. The good part was that we were surrounded
with windows so you get to see these photos taken as we drove
through the city. Look at how close everyone is to each other.
Notice how there are no distinct lanes, traffic lights/signs.
What you can't experience here is the constant blaring of horns.
People used their horns almost constantly. |
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This is a gateway
to the temple we were seeing. I was not allowed to take pictures
of the temple,
unfortunately. It was a beautiful structure. Flowers and plants
were planted around the grounds and it looked very nice. It
was a pleasant trip and I enjoyed wandering around the grounds
and
looking inside the temple. This temple was located right on
the bank of the river, so there were some nice views. People
were
ritualistically bathing in the river as well.
I managed to identify this temple in our tour book and this
is the entry for the complex:
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"Dakshineshwar Kali Temple. Far
north along the Hooghly, this 19th-centruy complex with 13
temples is a
major
pilgrimage site for devotees of Shiva, Kali, Radha, and Krishna.
The variety of temples makes this site a good introduction
to the Hindu deities for the uninitiated. It was here that
the 19th
century mystic Ramakrishna had the vision that led him to renounce
his Brahmin caste and propound altruism and religious unity.
His most famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda, went on to be
a major force in the intellectual and spiritual growth of Calcutta
and founded the Ramakrishna Mission, headquartered in the Blur
Math Shrine. Ramakrishna's room here is a museum."
We got a chance to look at some of the smaller temples on
the grounds and to look at the room of Ramakrishna. He had a
great view of the river from his room!
We drove back into town, to go to some place called Heritage
Park for lunch. Along the way, I took some pictures of the traffic.
It was very crowded and noisy. Apparently, it was much more crowded
because there were many New Year's festivals going on this
weekend. |
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Once we got to Heritage Park, we decided it was
time for a group photo. Well...several group photos since we
had to get a picture on everyone's camera. The three people kneeling
down in front are the student volunteers who took us around the
city the past two days.
This park is like a type of open air shopping mall. There
is a food court where restaurants and food stands represent just
about every type of Indian cuisine. Our whole group went to this
one restaurant where my table just pointed at a bunch of stuff
on the menu and hoped for the best. Turns out, we made some great
choices. |
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After lunch, we did a little shopping.
This place is where I got most of the gifts I brought back
home. This area has fixed prices so I don't have to worry about
vendors playing games with me when I find something I like.
We found quite a bit of new stuff here that was pretty nice.
It was also less crowded and much cleaner than the stores on
the street. |
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| After lunch we headed off to the Missionaries
of Charity. This is the organization associated with the late Mother
Teresa. Inside this building there is a room where they keep
her tomb. It's decorated by visitors and it was quite a moving
thing to see. Below you see photos of the outside of the building |
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| Below
you can see some photos we shot of the inside of the building
where they keep the tomb. That's what you see
in the central photograph. We stayed there for a few minutes,
watching people pay tribute. It was a quiet and peaceful place. |
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As we were leaving the building one of the
women there was handing out little charms along with some sheets
of paper with biography of Mother Teresa. I sent those to my
mom so she would have a something that came from the other side
of the world. This site was situated in a pretty rough-looking
neighborhood. This woman was truly a saint! |
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On the way back to the Guest House, we tried to
take a photo of this awesome temple that was right next to the
road. The place was completely filled with people as there was
some sort of festival going on that night. |
| The follow
day, the conference started. I tried to attend a few of the
presentations, but my sinuses were just
killing me. I ended up spending most of the day in the hotel
room. Unfortunately, I missed Yener's presentation. According
to him, the presentation went well and he was glad I wasn't in
the audience since I tend to make him nervous. Besides, I've
heard the presentation before; I've proofread his paper. It's
good to have the inside track. |
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Outside
the conference venue, and all over the campus, we saw these
signs with the Communist party flag on them. We're
not sure what they say or why they're all over the place. The
campus is also visible in the background.
On Tuesday, we left for home!! We were very glad to be on
our way and we specifically asked to be dropped off at the
airport EARLY! |
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