Last week was one of the most interesting and crazy weeks I’ve had in India so far. Our program had scheduled 5 days off of classes for independent travel. Me and two other girls from the U.S. Decided to go to Amritapuri, an ashram in southern Kerala. Amritapuri is the Hindu saint, Amma’s, ashram. She is known as the “hugging saint” among most westerners but she is actually a lot more than just that. You can read a ton about her and her “Embrace the World” charities here: www.amritapuri.org
So our journey started out with a train ride south from Mangalore in sleeper class (open air, non-AC). It was about a 11 hour trip and it actually wasn’t that bad on the way there. I think that’s because it was Diwali which is comparable to traveling on christmas eve in the U.S. I was pleased to actually get some sleep (it was an overnight train) on my lower bunk. We arrived in a small town called Kayankulam in Kerala at about 5:30 am. and managed to hail a rickshaw which took us the 30 minutes to the backwaters where the ashram is. There is no bridge that vehicles can cross over to get to the other side of the backwaters so we walked the rest of the way over a footbridge. They also have row boat type things that you can hail and they will take you across if you have a lot of luggage. Walking across the bridge was an amazing scene because the sun had just started to rise and at the top of the bridge you could look over the backwaters at all of fishermen starting their workday. Also, from the bridge the ashram is very visible. There are two tall pink dormitory buildings that rise above the palm trees. I guess they had to build taller buildings to be able to house the huge crowds of people that come when Amma is there.
We got into the ashram and we were able to get our rooms pretty easily (for Indian standards). Everyone was really nice and welcoming. Our room turned out to be in one of the best locations possible. We were on the 11th floor in a corner room. There was a balcony right outside the door which looked north over both the backwaters and the Arabian Sea. From up there you were able to see that the ashram is actually just on a tiny strip of land (like a sandbar) with the ocean to the west and the backwaters to the east. The room itself was pretty simple but clean. There were three mats on the floor which we slept on and a ceiling fan (no AC). For 4 dollars a night, including three meals a day, I’d say it was a great deal.
Our basic daily routine at the ashram was:
4:30 am.- wake up
4:50-6:00 am.- archana (chanting and songs) in the temple
6:00 am.- Chai (included in the stay)
6:30-9:00 am.- personal meditation or reading
9:00 am.-breakfast
10:00-12:30 pm.- Seva (selfless service) at the composting center sorting through the compost and recycling
1:00 pm.- Lunch
2:00-4:00 pm. - More seva or personal meditation
4:00-5:30 pm.- Chai and reading/meditation
6:00-8:00 pm.- Bhajans (songs and chanting) in the temple
8:00 pm.- Dinner
9:30 pm.- Bed
I thought it was going to be really hard getting up at 4:30 am. every morning but it was actually pretty painless. During morning chanting in the temple I would start to get pretty tired because it was still dark out, but just as we were finishing up the sun started to rise which definitely helped me wake up. I had never really meditated a lot before so it was definitely a learning experience for me to meditate for 2 or so hours at a time. A lot of people gave me some really great pointers and techniques for meditating though and near the end of my stay I felt like I came a long way. It also helped that I could choose from either meditating on the roof of the temple, our 11th floor balcony, the pool under the palm trees, or the beach.
Oh, I should also mention that Amma wasn’t actually there when we were there. She does her Europe tour for all of October and November and, unfortunately, that was the only time we had to visit. As a result, the ashram (we were told) was a lot quieter and less chaotic than usual. It was actually the first place I've been in India where I didn't hear car horns, traffic and whistles so I was pretty much in heaven.
I met a lot of really interesting people, many of which were living long-term at the ashram. Maybe about a little less than half of the devotees who live there are westerners so there is a really cool mix of people from different countries and people who speak different languages. I had tons of great late-night (until 10:00) conversations with the people who live there about spirituality, life, etc. Just to give you an example, I made an Indian friend who’s living there and who’s from punjab in norther India and lived in Brooklyn for a while, I met girl from Israel who was just passing through for about a month and traveling all throughout India to meet different gurus, I met a girl from Austria who is also traveling all around India, and a lady from Chicago who has been living at different ashrams and monasteries in different parts of the world for the majority of her life.
It was kind of bittersweet for me to leave and all the people we met were sad to see us go. Somehow I’m sure I’ll come back though.
Now, our return trip back to Manipal was quite the adventure to say the least. So on Sunday at about 10:00 am. we left the ashram to go to the Kayankulam train station. When I got on the train it dawned on me that this was probably the worst day and time to be on a sleeper class train. First of all, it was in the middle of the day which means that it’s extremely hot and you can’t lay down because everyone is piled on the bottom berth and so you can’t pull out the beds. Second of all, it was the end of Diwali, which is a huge Indian holiday and everyone was traveling home so they could get to work by Monday morning. So here it goes:
Chapter 1: Confusion and lap-sitting.
I walked to find my “seat” number and came to find that there were five people all squeezed into the berth where me and two other people were supposed to sit (Each berth has 3 people assigned to it and once it’s night time you can pull out the middle and top bunk so that each person gets their own bed to sleep on). I didn’t even feel like trying to argue with the people sitting there about my seat since there really was nowhere else for them to relocate to seeing as people were even standing up in the isles. So I decided to sit next to my friend on her berth where there are supposed to be two people assigned to it. It was fine for about 20 minutes until a lady and her baby got on and proceeded to basically sit on my lap with her baby instead of asking me if she could sit there or if there would be room for her. I presumed that meant that she wanted me to squeeze next to my friend so she and her kid could take up the other half of the berth only meant for two people. So I learned that apparently, even though mostly everyone had tickets and seats assigned to them, no one sits in their seats and there are way more people than seats available. Also, sitting or laying on one of the top bunks would have been an option had everyone not stuffed their entire family’s luggage onto all of the top bunks.
Chapter 2: Laying on bags
After the lady and her kid squeezed next to me even more people got on the train who didn’t have anywhere to sit. I spotted an upper bunk (where I think my actual assigned bed was supposed to be but one can never be sure) with some people’s bags on it but I figured if I just went up there and sort of sprawled out on their bags, no one else could come up there and squeeze in. The plan actually worked, for a while, until the train stopped for much longer than usual and the smell of sewage and completely stagnant air started to overwhelm me and I desperately needed some air. Keep in mind that there was no AC and no windows near the top bunk. I asked my other friend who was sitting near the window if she wanted to switch with me for a little bit so I could get some air.
Chapter 3: Upright fetal position
It was definitely nice to get some air and a slight breeze by the window but my gratitude soon disappeared when some more people got on the train and decided to sit in the “extra space” next to me and two other guys. Before I knew it there were four guys sitting next to me on a berth that is only made for two people to sit on. In order to accommodate everyone I had to curl myself up in a sort of upright fetal position with my bag sitting on top of my knees and in front of my face. I sat in this same position for 6 straight hours without hardly moving at all because there were people standing in the skinny aisle so there wasn’t even room for me to put my legs down. On the upside, I got in some pretty great people watching.
Chapter 4: The flood comes
Sometime after about 6 hours it started to rain outside. The train windows have some glass that you can pull down if it starts to rain however, none of the glass really pulls down all of the way. I was sitting with my back pressed against the window while rain literally poured inside, completely soaking my shirt and the entire berth. At one point I looked down at the aisle and realized it was flooding. There was a stream of water creeping all the way up the aisle and people started shouting at each other to grab their bags off the ground, underneath the seats and put them on their laps. It was quite the chaotic scene.
Chapter 5: Sitting in curry
So after about 11 hours, with about 2 hours still left, the people sitting next to my friend got off the train and I decided to go sit next to her so that I could sit in a different position from the one I had been sitting in for the last 7 or so hours. As soon as I sat down It felt like I had sat on something wet and I figured it was just rain, but when I looked I realized that I had sat in a bowl of curry. Apparently it wasn’t even my friend’s food it was probably just left there by the last person. For the rest of the trip I had a giant yellow spot on the butt of my pants.
Chapter 6: Wrong stop
At about midnight the train arrived in Mangalore which is actually where our tickets said we were getting off but once we found out the train went all the way to Udupi (only about 3 miles from Manipal) we decided to stay on for the extra hour and a half and get off in Udupi. When the train started to slow down after it had already stopped in Mangalore people kept telling us that Udupi was the next stop so we stood near the door and got off when the train stopped. After walking for maybe 100 ft. I saw a huge sign that said “Surakhtal”. I asked my friend if she was sure that we were in Udupi and she said that she was pretty sure we were. I then remembered hearing about Surakhtal before so I asked one of the workers at the stop if we were in Udupi or not and he said no. He pointed to the train which was still stopped and shouted “go go!”. So we ran back to the train and climbed into the first car we could. It immediately started moving so we were lucky. We had nowhere to sit so we just stood at the doorway for the rest of the way to Udupi which actually took a lot longer than it should have because the train kept stopping in the middle of the tracks. We finally arrived in Udupi at around 1:30 am. For the following 24 hours in Manipal I felt like I was still in a moving train and I experienced some of the worst back and body pain I’ve ever had. I also realized that I was completely covered in dirt, train floodwater and curry when I got back to my room. Thank god for fabric whitener.
So that’s the end of my story. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I now realize why my round-trip 13 hour sleeper class train ticket cost just 10 dollars. Thank you Indian Railways.
I now have a 10 page paper to go write!
Hopefully I’ll have time to post again next week. If not, I’m going to Gokarna (a beach) next weekend so I’ll definitely do an update on that.
-Mia
So our journey started out with a train ride south from Mangalore in sleeper class (open air, non-AC). It was about a 11 hour trip and it actually wasn’t that bad on the way there. I think that’s because it was Diwali which is comparable to traveling on christmas eve in the U.S. I was pleased to actually get some sleep (it was an overnight train) on my lower bunk. We arrived in a small town called Kayankulam in Kerala at about 5:30 am. and managed to hail a rickshaw which took us the 30 minutes to the backwaters where the ashram is. There is no bridge that vehicles can cross over to get to the other side of the backwaters so we walked the rest of the way over a footbridge. They also have row boat type things that you can hail and they will take you across if you have a lot of luggage. Walking across the bridge was an amazing scene because the sun had just started to rise and at the top of the bridge you could look over the backwaters at all of fishermen starting their workday. Also, from the bridge the ashram is very visible. There are two tall pink dormitory buildings that rise above the palm trees. I guess they had to build taller buildings to be able to house the huge crowds of people that come when Amma is there.
 |
| The train station in Mangalore |
 |
| Our berths on the way to Amritapuri (before a bunch more people came on the train). |
 |
| A view from the bridge of the backwaters at dawn |
 |
| The view of the ashram from the footbridge. Our room was on the 11th floor of the tall building on the right. |
| A view of the kali temple at the ashram and the Arabian sea beyond it (not my picture). |
4:30 am.- wake up
4:50-6:00 am.- archana (chanting and songs) in the temple
6:00 am.- Chai (included in the stay)
6:30-9:00 am.- personal meditation or reading
9:00 am.-breakfast
10:00-12:30 pm.- Seva (selfless service) at the composting center sorting through the compost and recycling
1:00 pm.- Lunch
2:00-4:00 pm. - More seva or personal meditation
4:00-5:30 pm.- Chai and reading/meditation
6:00-8:00 pm.- Bhajans (songs and chanting) in the temple
8:00 pm.- Dinner
9:30 pm.- Bed
I thought it was going to be really hard getting up at 4:30 am. every morning but it was actually pretty painless. During morning chanting in the temple I would start to get pretty tired because it was still dark out, but just as we were finishing up the sun started to rise which definitely helped me wake up. I had never really meditated a lot before so it was definitely a learning experience for me to meditate for 2 or so hours at a time. A lot of people gave me some really great pointers and techniques for meditating though and near the end of my stay I felt like I came a long way. It also helped that I could choose from either meditating on the roof of the temple, our 11th floor balcony, the pool under the palm trees, or the beach.
Oh, I should also mention that Amma wasn’t actually there when we were there. She does her Europe tour for all of October and November and, unfortunately, that was the only time we had to visit. As a result, the ashram (we were told) was a lot quieter and less chaotic than usual. It was actually the first place I've been in India where I didn't hear car horns, traffic and whistles so I was pretty much in heaven.
I met a lot of really interesting people, many of which were living long-term at the ashram. Maybe about a little less than half of the devotees who live there are westerners so there is a really cool mix of people from different countries and people who speak different languages. I had tons of great late-night (until 10:00) conversations with the people who live there about spirituality, life, etc. Just to give you an example, I made an Indian friend who’s living there and who’s from punjab in norther India and lived in Brooklyn for a while, I met girl from Israel who was just passing through for about a month and traveling all throughout India to meet different gurus, I met a girl from Austria who is also traveling all around India, and a lady from Chicago who has been living at different ashrams and monasteries in different parts of the world for the majority of her life.
It was kind of bittersweet for me to leave and all the people we met were sad to see us go. Somehow I’m sure I’ll come back though.
Now, our return trip back to Manipal was quite the adventure to say the least. So on Sunday at about 10:00 am. we left the ashram to go to the Kayankulam train station. When I got on the train it dawned on me that this was probably the worst day and time to be on a sleeper class train. First of all, it was in the middle of the day which means that it’s extremely hot and you can’t lay down because everyone is piled on the bottom berth and so you can’t pull out the beds. Second of all, it was the end of Diwali, which is a huge Indian holiday and everyone was traveling home so they could get to work by Monday morning. So here it goes:
Chapter 1: Confusion and lap-sitting.
I walked to find my “seat” number and came to find that there were five people all squeezed into the berth where me and two other people were supposed to sit (Each berth has 3 people assigned to it and once it’s night time you can pull out the middle and top bunk so that each person gets their own bed to sleep on). I didn’t even feel like trying to argue with the people sitting there about my seat since there really was nowhere else for them to relocate to seeing as people were even standing up in the isles. So I decided to sit next to my friend on her berth where there are supposed to be two people assigned to it. It was fine for about 20 minutes until a lady and her baby got on and proceeded to basically sit on my lap with her baby instead of asking me if she could sit there or if there would be room for her. I presumed that meant that she wanted me to squeeze next to my friend so she and her kid could take up the other half of the berth only meant for two people. So I learned that apparently, even though mostly everyone had tickets and seats assigned to them, no one sits in their seats and there are way more people than seats available. Also, sitting or laying on one of the top bunks would have been an option had everyone not stuffed their entire family’s luggage onto all of the top bunks.
Chapter 2: Laying on bags
After the lady and her kid squeezed next to me even more people got on the train who didn’t have anywhere to sit. I spotted an upper bunk (where I think my actual assigned bed was supposed to be but one can never be sure) with some people’s bags on it but I figured if I just went up there and sort of sprawled out on their bags, no one else could come up there and squeeze in. The plan actually worked, for a while, until the train stopped for much longer than usual and the smell of sewage and completely stagnant air started to overwhelm me and I desperately needed some air. Keep in mind that there was no AC and no windows near the top bunk. I asked my other friend who was sitting near the window if she wanted to switch with me for a little bit so I could get some air.
Chapter 3: Upright fetal position
It was definitely nice to get some air and a slight breeze by the window but my gratitude soon disappeared when some more people got on the train and decided to sit in the “extra space” next to me and two other guys. Before I knew it there were four guys sitting next to me on a berth that is only made for two people to sit on. In order to accommodate everyone I had to curl myself up in a sort of upright fetal position with my bag sitting on top of my knees and in front of my face. I sat in this same position for 6 straight hours without hardly moving at all because there were people standing in the skinny aisle so there wasn’t even room for me to put my legs down. On the upside, I got in some pretty great people watching.
Chapter 4: The flood comes
Sometime after about 6 hours it started to rain outside. The train windows have some glass that you can pull down if it starts to rain however, none of the glass really pulls down all of the way. I was sitting with my back pressed against the window while rain literally poured inside, completely soaking my shirt and the entire berth. At one point I looked down at the aisle and realized it was flooding. There was a stream of water creeping all the way up the aisle and people started shouting at each other to grab their bags off the ground, underneath the seats and put them on their laps. It was quite the chaotic scene.
Chapter 5: Sitting in curry
So after about 11 hours, with about 2 hours still left, the people sitting next to my friend got off the train and I decided to go sit next to her so that I could sit in a different position from the one I had been sitting in for the last 7 or so hours. As soon as I sat down It felt like I had sat on something wet and I figured it was just rain, but when I looked I realized that I had sat in a bowl of curry. Apparently it wasn’t even my friend’s food it was probably just left there by the last person. For the rest of the trip I had a giant yellow spot on the butt of my pants.
Chapter 6: Wrong stop
At about midnight the train arrived in Mangalore which is actually where our tickets said we were getting off but once we found out the train went all the way to Udupi (only about 3 miles from Manipal) we decided to stay on for the extra hour and a half and get off in Udupi. When the train started to slow down after it had already stopped in Mangalore people kept telling us that Udupi was the next stop so we stood near the door and got off when the train stopped. After walking for maybe 100 ft. I saw a huge sign that said “Surakhtal”. I asked my friend if she was sure that we were in Udupi and she said that she was pretty sure we were. I then remembered hearing about Surakhtal before so I asked one of the workers at the stop if we were in Udupi or not and he said no. He pointed to the train which was still stopped and shouted “go go!”. So we ran back to the train and climbed into the first car we could. It immediately started moving so we were lucky. We had nowhere to sit so we just stood at the doorway for the rest of the way to Udupi which actually took a lot longer than it should have because the train kept stopping in the middle of the tracks. We finally arrived in Udupi at around 1:30 am. For the following 24 hours in Manipal I felt like I was still in a moving train and I experienced some of the worst back and body pain I’ve ever had. I also realized that I was completely covered in dirt, train floodwater and curry when I got back to my room. Thank god for fabric whitener.
So that’s the end of my story. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. I now realize why my round-trip 13 hour sleeper class train ticket cost just 10 dollars. Thank you Indian Railways.
I now have a 10 page paper to go write!
Hopefully I’ll have time to post again next week. If not, I’m going to Gokarna (a beach) next weekend so I’ll definitely do an update on that.
-Mia
