Talaiver
Family 2.0
Kerala House Boat
Dec 29th
Greetings. I am sending this from the backwaters of Kerala. I can not believe the awesome phone system and wireless Internet connection we have here. I am about 20 miles away from a city and my Tata Wireless Dongle works as fast as a cable connection. The phone and the Dongle work from boondocks to Katangudi.
Before coming to Allepy, we went to Kumbalam Island where Jollee’s ancestral home is located.
Kerala coast is punctuated with many channels and several islands. We have rented a house-boat for a day. We will just be cruising along the channel. The boat is about 100 feet long with three air conditioned bed rooms and a crew of six. We just finished our lunch – Rice, vegetables, fried fish, curried fish, salad, fresh pineapple, and a plum cake. The surrounding scenery is so calm and serene. We do not even feel the boat moving.
In fact, Jollee & Rosie just snoozed off right after lunch. The boat will dock in a nearby village after about two hours and we will visit a church on that island. We will have dinner at around 8 or 9:00 PM and retire for the night, but the boat will be just cruising. We will have breakfast in the morning and leave the boat at mid morning.
We did visited that church few minutes ago. The first Christians came to this island in 450 AD. There have been five churches built so far in this site and the one you see now is the fifth church.
We are very thankful to Jollee and Rosie for making this trip possible. I was amazed with the amount of food we consumed on board. If six of us can eat this much in one day, I wonder how much Noah would have carried on his ark.
We have just docked to rest and have dinner. Will write later. God bless you all.
Manuel
Kerala – Travelogue 11
Dec 28th
Greetings from Kerala, Land of the Coconuts, also known as God’s own country. We are staying with Rosie & Jollee Abraham.
We drove from Tamil Nadu to Kerala through mountains, cardamom, black pepper, rubber, and tea plantations. The apple-green top of century-old tea bushes (Camellia sinensis) can be seen for miles and miles, from horizon to horizon. The plantations stretch as far as the eyes could see. In fact, the Europeans came to India to trade for these spices.
The commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India was Vasco da Gama who landed in Calicut on May 28, 1498. For a short time in 1524 he was the Governor of Portuguese India. He died on Christmas Eve in 1524 and was buried in the First European Church ever built in India. We visited that church and his burial site in Cochin. His body was later exhumed and is now re-interred in Lisbon.
We visited the oldest Jewish Quarters and Synagogue in India. The first group of Jews came to Kerala coast in 72 AD, the year Apostle Thomas was killed in Madras (now Chennai), Tamilnadu.
We also visited the old Cochin port. They fish with huge nets called Chinese nets. We bought some freshly caught fish and shrimp, had it cooked, and had for dinner.
Cochin and Ernakulam are sister cities. Both cities are elegantly decorated with stars and colored lights. The world’s largest man-made star is on exhibit here in Ernakulam. It is over ten stories tall.
A political party has called for a strike in the city. We do not know whether we would be able to go out today. In any case all of us are doing good and having a good time.
Have a good day. Will get back with you after we return to Chennai.
Manuel
Agra, Delhi, Chennai, & Thanjavur – Travelogue 10
Dec 25th
Hello Everyone:
Greetings and a Very Merry Christmas from Lady Doak College, Madurai. We came here last night from Thanjavur.
On December 23, 2009 we drove from Agra to Delhi. On the way stopped for a while to visit Sikandara, Akbar’s tomb. Akbar himself had planned this place, but he died in 1605 when the construction just begun. His son Jahangir finished the work in 1612. A fitting monument for a great king.
We drove by Qutub Minar in Delhi and finally to the airport. We were received in Chennai by Jollee, Pastor Leslie, Sanjeevi and their families. Stayed for the night with Jollee and left in the morning by road to Nagapattinam. Stayed in MGM resorts, a nice place, but way over priced.
On Christmas morning we drove to Thanjavur. David and Christy took their pictures taken with a temple elephant.
I met my friend & buddy Kannaiyan at Thanjavur temple. Kannaiyan, Manivannan, and I were in college together when we did our BS in agriuculture. The last time Kannaiyan and I saw each other was in 1971, 38 years ago. It was a joyous reunion with laughter, nostalgic memories, and lots of tears. Kannaiyan had a cerebral hemorrhage 18 months ago and was paralyzed on his right side. He is recovering now. He got out of his house for the first time in 18 months, against his wife’s advice, to meet me. His wife is a physician. He had told her, “I rather die, than not seeing Manuel”. He is now a self made millionaire and was driven to Thanjavur by his chauffeur. We had lunch together. Manivannan, another friend of mine, made this meeting possible. How can I thank him!
From Thanjavur we came to Madurai. A group of American students, two professors from Longwood University, and we met at Dr. Mercy Pushpalatha’s (Principal, Lady Doak College) house for Christmas dinner. Mano and I along with David and Christy met many old friend.
Today we are going to Sivakasi, Mano’s home town. We also plan to meet Vimal’s parents in Aruppukkottai, on the way to Sivakasi. Will get back with you later.
With loving greetings from Madurai,
Manuel
Agra – Travelogue 9
Dec 22nd
Hello Everyone:
We greet you from Agra in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We visited Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, and Itimad-Ud Daula today.
Unless you see the Taj in person there is no way to fathom its beauty or try to explain it in words. It was built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jagan in loving memory of his favorite (third) wife, Mumtaz Mahal. In 1631, Shah Jagan was grief stricken when his wife Mumtaz died. Mumtaz Mahal died during the birth of their fourteenth child. Emperor Shah Jagan built it as his wife’s burial place. Later he too was entombed there with his wife after his death. To have fourteen children, you should either be the Mogul Emperor of India, or on welfare, or an illegal alien. In all these three situations you got it made and can live like an emperor.
It seems Shah Jagan spent lots of money to build the Taj Mahal. It took 22,000 workers 20 years to complete the project. His son the next Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb did not like his father’s overspending and imprisoned him. Shah Jagan who built the most beautiful monument for his love, died a prisoner in his own palace, and is buried in his own handiwork. Shah Jagan taxed the people and used the tax money to build Taj Mahal which irked Aurangzeb. If same concept, “tax the rich”, ”pay welfare to people who do not work”, “Provide free health care to illegals, learn their language, and make their children “Honorable Citizens of the USA” which leads to wasteful spending, is applied today, I wonder what would happen. If over spending people in our Congress and Administration are treated the same way like Aurangzeb treated Shah Jagan, White House Annex, Russell Building, and Cannon House Office Building would become maximum security prisons.
The Agra fort and Itimad-Ud Daula (another mausoleum) are awesome to look at. This is my fifth visit to Agra. Every time I feel the excitement of a child in a candy store. I can not stop absorbing history. Due to heightened security and to avoid pollution near Taj Mahal, we were allowed to go the last one kilometer by animal drawn carts or electric cars. So we went by a camel drawn cart and returned by a horse driven cart. They have not found a way for emission control for these animals. They do contribute a lot towards environmental pollution. If anyone knows whether camels contribute toward glacier melting, please email me. I have not read any paper by Al Gore on this matter. From what I observed, I assume camels must be eating a lot! Tomorrow we would return to New Delhi, visit couple of places, and fly back to Chennai in the evening. I will get back with you after I reach Chennai.
Until then, may God’s blessing be upon you.
Manuel
We are in Agra – Travelogue 8
Dec 21st
Hello Everyone:
We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We arrived Delhi from Chennai day before yesterday. Yesterday, early in the morning, even before the maddening Delhi traffic started we left town and had a wonderful drive to Agra.
The only historical sight we saw yesterday was Fatehpur Sikri built by the Third Mogul Emperor Akbar. He built this fort (Fateh=Victory, Pur=City, Sikri=Fort—Victory City Fort). It is built with red sandstone. The carvings and the architecture are beyond expression and amazing. Within this fort there are three palaces, each one for a queen. Akbar had one Hindu wife, a Muslim wife, and a Christian wife. He also had three hundred and thirty concubines. I do not know why we get so upset when a president had an affair in the White House, or a Governor had a mistress in Argentina, or an old Senator had a child through an African American lady. I think the trend was set by King Solomon and Emperor Akbar. The only difference with Akbar was, he
paid these women “Real Gold” coins and did not spend with money borrowed from China, Treasury Bills, or pork included in Health Care bills. Neither was it TARP which has to be returned, to rejuvenate this “Women Industry”. We were told it was a prosperous and happy industry all the time.
There are bullock carts, Camel carts, Horse carts, (all three releases Indole and methane into the atmosphere) three wheel rickshaws, pedestrian, two wheelers, you name any mode of transportation, and it is here. We even saw a truck (lorry) converted into a double-decker bus or an AirBus A380, with a ladder tied for the business class travellers to climb to the upper deck. Only in India! It is amazing to see the tractors overloaded with grain bags hanging out in all directions, caressing the tree branches and two wheelers too. Chesterfield police department would have a ball here. But they may not have enough time or paper to write tickets here. Writing tickets by Chesterfield may finally be “Out-sourced” to India, which would create more jobs in India, more traffic, more pollution, loss of ozone layer, and eventually more medals to Al Gore. In this pandemonium everyone lives in harmony. In the USA we will be drawing our guns and killing each other when we do not get our way in the traffic and there would be lots of “Justified-War” scenario. In fact, the real Indian driver is the one to get the Nobel Prize for Peace for not even blinking his eye when he is bumped by someone. We never saw one fender bender or attorney’s bill board “Singh, Singh, Singh, & Singh – Personal Injury Attorneys from the days of Noah”.
There are lots of things to see and buy. David and Christy saw many and bought few. It is fun to travel with family. We saw a Hindu temple built with modern architecture and another one in the shape of Taj Mahal.
Though I had my flu shot, I have come down with a severe cough, head ache and body pain. This was the real vaccine I got from doctor’s office and still came down with the flu. Heavens forbid what it would be with the vaccine bought with Health Care Reform Bill Money.
Will be visiting Taj Mahal and Agra fort today. Will write later. Have a good day.
Manuel
T+20 hours
Dec 19th
I guess we can start at the beginning.
JFK is insane! A 6 hour layover seemed like a long time, but trust me you may need every minute. After riding the Airtrain in circles and fighting through a mob of people who don’t understand, “Excuse me I need to get off here,” we finally found ourselves at terminal two. The clock ticked on and we departed for Belgium at 6PM EST.
The flight was smooth and the food was great. Modern inflight entertainment came by way of a 10.5 in touchscreen mounted to the seat in front of me. The little wonder provided everything from Mario, to a full season of 24, and even technical managment courses. Yes, I actually did take a technical management course from an in-flight entertainment device. The best part, in Christy’s opinion, was a Bollywood movie called “New York.” It was very well done with minimal singing and dancing and was filmed in the states- made 2 hours of the flight go by very quickly as we were watching terrorist cells operate in NYC.
We arrived in Belgium on time and pulled up to the gate, except for the fact that there was a plane where we were supposed to be. Our pilot pulled the equivilent of the waiting-for-the-old-lady-to pull-out-of-her-parking-space and we sat off of the tail of this plane for an hour. Finally, we were permitted to go to another gate. Ahh the wonders of the European Union’s efficiency. Did you know that Brussels is the capitol of the European Union? Me neither. The best part is that as we were descending to land in the airport, they made us watch a video about how the Brussels airport was the best airport in the entire EU.
Thanks to my personal trainer/fiancee, Christen, we had probably walked a few miles in the airport so I was ready to sit down. We had made it a point to not stop moving until we got on a plane, so we literally kept walking around the whole terminal dragging our bags until 15 minutes to boarding. After a short two hour workout session we were boarding our plane for India!! We pulled back from the gate and off we go!! Off we go!!! HEY off we go! Wait why arent we going? Well. it turns out that Brussels may be the home to oodles of waffles and chocolate, but on this morning it was the home of only one de-icer truck. So again we were at the mercy of the EU managment system, and after two planes who pushed back AFTER us were finished being deiced, they got to us. In the words of Christopher Columbus, onward to India!! Of course, if I were him, no matter where I landed, it would be called India, and even if over time we discovered I was wrong and it wasn’t India, we’d still call the people we found Indians. Because, thats what you do when you compete for government money, whatever keeps you paid. Just ask the Global Warming goons, or Czsars, or billion dollar corporations, they’re all the same anyway.
At this point, I was already over Belgium(did you catch that?) which is sad because I really wanted to like the waffles. 18 hours into transit since we left Chesterfield we were finally on our way to India. The flight was just like the others, except this time I took a course on the necessity of inspiring, not just administrating, the technical leaders who work for you. At 0745 Season 1 of 24 time, we touched down in India.
The reality of the Indian subcontinent hits you like a 80 deg F 100% humidity baseball bat to the face. My glasses instantly fogged as I stepped out of the plane. I took a deep breath, tried to look at Christen, and smiled, we were here. Like dad said, the first thing you do when you get to the airport is meet the Swine Flu clearance check. This little ”developing” country had a 60″ Bravia LCD screen being fed by a thermal camera waiting for each passenger to pass. The logic is, if you have swine flu your forehead will be white from fever and you will be detained for 14 days. Well, no one actually looks at the screen, they just happily stamp away granting us all clearance to India. One checkpoint down, two to go.
More to come soon….dad needs to check email.
Dave and Christy Arrive
Dec 19th
Greetings. Christy and David arrived Chennai safely. Their flight was delayed by 2 hours compared to the 24 hours delay Mano and I had gone through.
It was a joy to receive them both at Chennai. In fact, it is the first time in my life time for me to stand outside Chennai airport and receive someone. I was always the one who was received.
We gave them the traditional Indian welcome with garland. After about three hours of rest we went out and
- ordered the wedding card
- had lunch at Blue Diamond
- bought some clothing for Dave and Christy
- had a tailor custom make some blouses for Christy
- went around the city in a van in mind boggling traffic and
- finally when we came into our hotel, we were greeted by Santa Claus.
We are flying to New Delhi tomorrow evening. Will be in Agra to visit Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri and other important historical places. I miss Anna and Joe here.
Will keep you posted.
Manuel
New updates for Talaiver.com
Dec 11th
After reviewing with the family, we decided to revamp Talaiver.com again. As the family travels in India this Christmas we will update with more content and posts. I will also tweak this site further.
Fifth day of travel from Manuel’s journal
Dec 10th
Hello Everyone:
Greetings. Could not believe it is the fifth day (Friday here in Chennai) since we left home. Went too fast. Since we were flying anti-Sun wise, the morning and the evening came, it became the third day, instead of the second day. I admire God so much. He has done everything in order. We humans mess up His work.
Yesterday we went shopping. Bought some beautiful green silk saris for my daughter-in-law and the future daughter-in-law. The shops were crowded. They say it is the Christmas season. With absolutely no regard to global economy Indians are spending like crazy. I do not know where they get the money from. No government funded subsidy or federal money to gold shops, sari arcades, banks, and industries, no food stamps, WIC vouchers, or welfare checks. Can you believe it? So we do not have illegal aliens in India (In India the policy is, you work, earn, and eat or die). But nobody seems to die and the population is not in check but in spate. So ultimately everybody must be “WORKING”. Shops are packed to capacity. The whole city is out shopping, all are dressed very elegantly, stop and pose for pictures with a candid smile like White House Party Crashers.
I have no privy to what happened in the recent conversation between our President and the Indian Prime Minister at a recent White House discussion. The Son of Africa (that is what Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi of Libya called our President in a recent UN speech) must have told him something – Indians are planning to buy more gold from International Monetary Fund other than the 200 tones they have already bought. The gold prices have reached a new high here in India.
I feel like living in a new world. I do not hear Mano saying anything about Budget, NSF grants, projects, and “Digispired” (that is the name of her three year NSF funded project). In fact, it feels strange. I wish and long she would say, Digispired, at least once.
Last Evening Jollee Abraham took us all with his family to a private club and we had a wonderful time of fellowship, conversation, and food. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city, the place was very quiet, serene, and unadulterated (I found out that no lobbyists, politicians, congressmen, and senators are members here – and NO PORK is included or served here in any shape or form).
The Jet Airways plane on arrival at the airport was first fumigated to kill all the insects we presumably brought from Europe (as if India is insect free) before they opened the door. Talking about doors, the plane doors worked beautifully this time.
Noticed a very strange thing in the International arrival lounge in Chennai airport. The first people you meet are not women in silk saris with a smile and folded hands to welcome you. But four masked officials with dangerous weapons – do not get alarmed (physicians) with rubber stamps. You have to be an Indian to know the power of a rubber stamp. They assess the incoming passengers with their keen eyes to pull suspected people with symptoms of swine flu. Once passed their exam, you get their approval to enter the county with the usual Indian authoritarian way, a “Rubber Stamp” on a piece of paper. We were blessed to have received the H1N1 vaccine from Chesterfield county health department.