Out of Benarus and some taata-isms.

Howdy, folks? One comment after writing that long post with such a big story. hmm..you have disappointed me. But, I won't disappoint you guys. We have entered the second leg of our journey. Left Benarus yesterday afternoon and arrived in Ujjain today. Inspite of all the crowd, filthy streets, Benarus is an experience you should not miss. There are four good reasons you should not miss Benarus.
1) Ganga
2) Lord Viswanath Shrine
3) Poori kachodi breakfast followed by jilebi in dahi :)
4) Benarus paan and for ladies Benarus sarees. (I have to apologize folks for not buying even one saree. There were too many things to be done in too little time and I did nt want to bargain in hurry. So, Benarus and your sarees will have to wait :) )

My first post seemed to be too negative and full of gripe :( but after that we had great time. Roaming in benarus gullies is a funny experience. In benarus, they give too much respect to cows. So, they take equal stake in walking those same streets and even crapping. Me and Kashi just missed cow-attacks in two separate instances..lol. The first two days we stayed there, we could nt have banarsi special breakfast as by the time we took bath, visited temple on empty stomach and came back, it was 12 and breakfast was not served. On the final day, we were determind to have a banarsi breakfast(item#3). That day turned out to be a Monday and some special occasion in UP :-(. Its called Rangbhari Ekadasi (ekadasi before holi). Man it took soooooooo long finish darshan. After few parting words with dear lord viswanath, we were hunting for breakfast. After some long searching, we found a remote place, something akin to gokul chat in hyderabad and went in. We were ordered some puri with a gravy potato curry (as if there was anything available :p ). Then as the ritual goes we bought some jilebi. This was some special jilebi and tasted awesome not the one we make in our homes. While eating, I looked at the menu which had three items. Puri , Kachodi & Jilebi. "humne socha why not order the third item."

me: Bhayya, yaha kachodi bhi milti hai kya?
shopkeeper: (Looks at me from top to bottom and goes on to deal with other customer)
me : (louder) bhayya yaha kachodi bhi milti hai kya?
shopkeeper: aap puri ke saath wohi to khaa rahe hai.
(now everyone is staring at me..lol)
me : what??.. lekin kachodi matlab andhar sabzi bhar ke dete hai na?
shopkeeper: banaras me isi ko poori kachodi bolte hai.
me: (paid the bill immediately and rushed out of the shop :)) )

Then we went to a sweet shop in Benarus. I tried Rabdi (awesome), Rasagulla (even more awesome - i am never going to eat canned rasagulla again), kesari lassi. I asked for some rasmalai but it had nt yet arrived. (it was all wow. sweetlovers..Benarus should be on your travel map. Deeps, I cant get any sweets home, as they wont last that long.) After that we boarded the train to Indore fortunately, we managed berths in AC-3tier which was heaven. Got some nice travel company..played lots of Clearance with tata and kashi. Train was late by 4 hours so, we changed plans and got down in Ujjain.

It almost feels like we are back in civilization :) people are really nice in Ujjain. This has a small town feeling to it. We already visited the Ujjain Mahakaleswar jyotirlinga. When we went in, It was aarti time and any week heart would faint with noise of aarti. They use dhamarukam and cymbals with increasing tempo and reaching a devastating crescendo. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed so i cant show you anything. We are supposed wake up and 3am tomorow to visit another aarti in dhotis. (no pants and shirts :-( ). We are headed for Omkareshwar tomorrow. If I am not too tired by the heat at this place, I will give you guys another update.

taata-isms.
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1) This one should join the all time top 5 list.
The train was about to arrive in Ujjain. Kashi was getting ready to disembark the train. He packed all the bags. He wored a red-t with blue&white stripes. A black capri (3/4 in indian lingo) with yellow lining. Tied up his sandals. Put his red wipro baseball cap on the head in reverse. Looked at tataiah. (as if he said, iam ready). Tataiah looks at him from top to bottom and says
"oka gada okkati takkuva unnadi"....lol. oh well, I was lauging till it hury my tummy.

2) We took a city tour in Benarus on second day. It was a long and hot day and grandpa was already tired. We entered a fort where grandpa suddenly realized he has no interest in watching this as it had no spiritual connotation to it. I told "tata, opika lekunte ikkada koorchondi. memu tirigi vastaam".
tataiah: (looking at kashi..very sarcastically) "anni manchiga chooskoraa..mallee mee jayanthganiki appacheppaale.

3) There is another beautiful story about kashi and dhuryodhana kavacham. But its a bit too long and I will share at a later day.

4) We were playing clearance in train. The game was a tense game. I was on 28. Tata on 27 and Kashi on 27. I was to deal the next hand. There was a 10 on the table. In the first round Tataiah takes the 10 with a diamond 10 and seals the game. Kashi, who was next, shows his spade-2 and says.."abbaa..taata choodu"
tataiah: "koora veskoni, aankaku tinduvu gaani"...lol

OK, There were too many to write, so I will stop now. Kashi is already getting angry at me :) Sorry Kashi. But, I know you are a good sport.

Ciao folks, Next report will be anytime between 1-3 days.

-v

Ps: This is a first draft. So, live with the typos and bad grammar.