Taken in Bangalore on October 11, 2014
DAILY PHOTO: Gandhi in Black
Reply
Tag Archives: India
DAILY PHOTO: Bangalorean Trees Prepare for a Harsh Winter
DAILY PHOTO: Torchlight Parade
Taken October 4, 2014 in Mysore
These photos were taken at the Torchlight Parade, which is a closing ceremony for the Mysore Dasara Festival.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: I Go Where I Want: or, The Bovine Pride Parade
DAILY PHOTO: Jumboo Savaari Drummers
DAILY PHOTO: Red Birds
Taken on October 3, 2014 at the Mysore Zoo.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Our 2014 Mysore Dasara Gold Card Experience
A small group of friends, my wife, and I were in Mysore for the last day and a half of Dasara (Vijayadashami) festivities. We purchased the Gold Card tickets in order to have assigned seating to both the Jumboo Savaari Processional and the Torchlight Parade on the last day, as well as for free access to some of Mysore’s tourist attractions. As this proved to be a learning experience, I’ll provide some of our lessons learned so that they might help future visitors.
There is a page providing information about the Gold Cards on the official Mysore Dasara website, as well as relevant information amid the FAQ‘s (Frequently Asked Questions.) However, this left some questions unanswered. While the best way to get such questions answered is probably through the official Enquiries page or a call to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, some of these questions might not occur to one until one is in the thick of things, and the answer that one receives might not be helpful. So this post will be an unofficial, ancillary FAQ.
In 2014, there were two means by which to directly purchase tickets. One could go to the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Mysore and purchase the tickets for the 7500Rs face value (roughly $122USD) or one could purchase them online through Ticket Genie for face value plus about 650Rs in charges (about $11USD.) (Plus, there may have been more costs associated with payment by credit card and with getting the ticket in hand.)
Question 1: I, like you, am a cheap skate who doesn’t live in Mysore and doesn’t want to pay rupees 650+ in fees, is there a cheaper way to acquire the Gold Cards?
We used Skyway Travel as an expediter and spent well under half of the online fees (i.e. 300Rs.) to get the tickets. Granted we would have incurred a little additional cost if we’d had to have Skyway deliver the tickets, but, as the office was located on a nearby street, there was no further costs. Even if we’d had to have them delivered, it would have remained much cheaper than the online route–especially as it sounds like one would still have such an additional charge with the online approach as well. Furthermore, Skyway gave us a nifty Mysore map and guidebook, both of which came in handy. Lest you think I’m a shill for Skyway, I will say that there may be other companies that would serve as expediters, and some may be cheaper. However, as they will undoubtedly want money up front, I wouldn’t go with a super cheap entity whose reputation is unknown.
Besides the Jumboo Savaari and Torchlight Parades, there’s a list of tourist attractions that the Gold Card holder may have entrance to. This list is on both the website and the pamphlet that you should receive with your Gold Card.
Question 2: Is the list of attractions that comes with the card all-inclusive?
No. We found that our cards got us into a flower show that wasn’t specifically listed on our pamphlet. The actual wording introducing the list is “Free entry into tourist places.” So, in short, it’s worth giving it a try whether the location/event in question is listed or not. There are a lot of events going on just for the days of Dasara that one can learn about on the Mysore Dasara website. Also, please note that one listed attraction may not be available to you and that is the actual Mysore Palace. If you’re just going for the last couple days, the Palace will likely be closed for preparations. Fortunately, we had already seen the Palace and most other major Mysore tourist attractions on previous visits.
Question 3: Many tourist attractions require a separate fee be paid for those who have cameras (at least for cameras that appear to be “professional” to the cashier who usually isn’t a photographer and uses the crude formula: clunky and/or lens sticks out = professional.) Are camera fees included?
Short answer: Yes, or so it would seem. At our first stop, the aforementioned flower show, we were asked to pay the camera fee. We paid it, having no knowledge about whether it was or wasn’t covered. Our second stop was the Zoo, and there we didn’t have to get a ticket for the camera. (We’d been ushered in through a side entrance and really didn’t want to go back to the ticket window. It was more inconvenience than cheapness that had kept us from paying the fee.) At the Zoo, the ticket taker asked for my camera’s ticket, but when we showed our Gold Card, she spoke to her boss and was told to let us through. So the correct answer is that you may be asked to pay the camera fee, but you can probably talk your way out it by waving your Gold Card around.
The brochure and / or the back of the Gold Card itself told us start times for the parade and what number of gate to enter, but this still left questions.
Question 4: What time should I get to the gate for the Jumboo Savaari and Torchlight Parade?
Our brochure said the Jumboo Savaari started at 11am, and the travel agent suggested we should get there plenty early because we might not get in if we waited until 11am. Both pieces of information proved to be incorrect. I can’t really answer Question 4. Are you the type of person for whom having the best possible seats is of the utmost importance? If so you want to get there on the early side. Are you the type of person who sees red if you’re kept sitting around for hours while you twiddle your thumbs? If so, plan on showing up late.
What I can tell you is the actual timeline of happenings. It was 10:30 when they began checking tickets and letting Gold Card holders in through the gate. It was about 1pm when the parade went wheels up. Know thyself and show up accordingly.
For the Torchlight Parade we showed up right around the published start time, and–while our seating options were limited to low seats with a camera stand in front of us (the latter didn’t matter because we didn’t look to the front but toward the center of the arena, which was laterally.) This event was begun with a military parade, and–while I won’t say it started with complete military precision–events began soon after the published start time.
Question 5: What time do the events end?
Both the Jumboo Savaari and the Torchlight Parade ran a little over 2 hours from the time they actually started (which, in the case of the Jumboo Savaari was well after the published start time.)
Question 6: They gave us a gate number to go to, but we have no idea which gate that is?
For the Jumboo Savaari, we were told to got to Gate 4. This turned out to be the gate on the South side, which is where one would normally enter if one were purchasing tickets to the palace. This is probably the norm as the procession exits the north gate and you will be toward the very beginning of the parade.
I guess this leads to the ultimate question.
Question 7: Were the Gold Cards worth it?
If you haven’t seen the Mysore tourist attractions, you can get a lot of value out of the Gold Card if you have enough time. We’d seen most of the ongoing attractions and were only there for a short time–such that we couldn’t take advantage of many of the events that occurred earlier in the week on subjects like art, film, yoga, and food.
We did visit the flower show and the Zoo, but, otherwise, it was all about the Jumboo Savaari and the Torchlight Parade. I was happier with our seats for the former than the latter. (This is not entirely because we got there early for the former and not for the latter.) The Gold Card seats for the Jumboo Savaari are right at the beginning of the parade route. There were multiple rows per tier, and so if you didn’t get in a front row, your view may have stunk–particularly if you were vertically challenged. If you stand up you will anger those behind you and possibly to the police monitoring the stands.
For the Torchlight Parade some portions, like the motorcycle stunt team, could be clearly viewed from the Gold Card holder’s portion of the stands, but the dance numbers were centered in the middle of the stadium and Gold Card holders couldn’t see that well. They did have big screens, but they weren’t that big or that close, and if I wanted to watch it on TV I’d buy the video that they seem to have been producing. (That was part of the problem is that the dance acts were densely clustered in front of the cameras, and from the ends it was hard to see.)
So it comes down to whether one is happy with what one does see. And what will you see?
This and this and this and this and this.
And this and this and this and this.
And this.
And this.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Mysore Palace by Night
Taken on October 3, 2014 in Mysore
The Mysore Palace is usually only lit up on Sunday evenings. However, during the 10-day festival of Dasara (Vijayadashami), they light it up every night. This was taken on the penultimate day of festivities.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Dasara Flower Show Gazebo
Taken on October 3, 2014 in Mysore
I just got back from attending Dasara (a.k.a. Dussehra or Vijayadashami) festivities in Mysore. Dasara celebrates Rama’s victory over Ravana, as well as Durga’s defeat of Mahishasur. There was a flower show about a block from the palace, and this gazebo was the centerpiece. The bottom pick was part of the floor of the gazebo.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
BOOK REVIEW: The Bhagavad-Gita Translated by Barbara Stoler Miller
The Bhagavad Gita by Anonymous
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Bhagavad-Gita is a philosophical poem, the title of which is translated as “Song of the Lord.” It’s often read as a stand-alone work, but it’s included in the sixth book of longest known epic poem, entitled the Mahabharata.
In The Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna teaches the warrior-prince Arjuna about sacred duty (dharma.) The setting is the battlefield at Kurukshetra as a war is about to get underway. Arjuna asks his charioteer, Krishna, to halt the vehicle between the opposing armies. Arjuna is struck with a crisis of conscience. He doesn’t want to fight and kill the men on the opposing side–some of whom are related to him by blood and others of whom are well-respected elders. Arjuna can see no virtue in the war.
Krishna, after briefly mocking what he describes as Arjuna’s newly developed cowardice, goes on to offer his explanation of why it is that Arjuna should fight. The first argument is that nobody really dies because consciousness is reborn. This makes sense if you believe in reincarnation… otherwise, not so much. A concise restatement of this argument is presented in the 11th teaching: “I am time grown old, creating world destruction, set in motion to annihilate worlds; even without you, all these warriors arrayed in hostile ranks will cease to exist. Therefore, arise and win glory! Conquer your foes and fulfill your kingship! They are already killed by me. Be just my instrument, the archer at my side!”
Another of Krishna’s argument is that if Arjuna fails to fulfill his duty he will be thought less of by others. This is an odd argument to make as Krishna makes a more compelling case for ridding oneself of ego, whereas this seems to be saying that one should put what others think of one above doing what one believes is right. That sounds a lot like succumbing to ego rather than eliminating. In the 12th teaching, in fact, Krishna tells us that the best of men are “Neutral to blame or praise…” This suggests that perhaps one shouldn’t be moved by what others will think of one.
At the core of Krishna’s argument is that one cannot escape the Karmic cycle by engaging any acts but those that are selfless. Like the reincarnation argument. One may find this logic compelling or not depending upon whether one believes in Karmic theory. Karma is the idea of cause and effect. If you do good, you’ll receive good effects and if you do bad you’ll experience bad effects. Ultimately, however, the goal is to break free of the Karmic cycle and, in theory, the only way to do that is to engage in acts that are selfless—hence doing your sacred duty. If your driver isn’t God, it’s not entirely clear how you know what your sacred duty is, at least not by way of this work. (Presumably, God talks to kings and princes, and kings and princes tell the unwashed masses what they are supposed to do. If you happened to have already done away with such a system—as most of the planet has—you may have trouble with this logic.) However, if one takes the lesson to be that one should not be consumed with personal gain when one acts, one has an argument of more general appeal.
Another argument is that devotion to God is all important, not a man’s actions in any absolutist sense. From the 9th teaching, “If he is devoted to me, even a violent criminal must be deemed a man of virtue, for his resolve is right.”
It should be noted that Krishna delivers a number of lessons beyond the need to comply with one’s dharma, and, in my opinion, many of these ancillary lessons are more compelling than Krishna’s explanation of why Arjuna must fight.
One such lesson is to concern oneself with the journey and not the destination. Krishna states it as such, “Be intent on action; not the fruits of action…” Furthermore, there are a great many teachings that will be familiar to Buddhists, such as the need for non-attachment and moderation.
The poem contains lessons of Samkhya (e.g. discussion of the three gunas) and Yoga. It describes concepts from the three original forms of yoga (predating yoga as a fitness activity by centuries): those being of action yoga (karma yoga), knowledge yoga (jnana yoga), and devotional yoga (bhakti yoga.) While The Bhagavad-Gita predates the formulation of eight limbs of yoga as described by Patanjali, it does address certain among them in varying detail. Early on, it speaks about pratyahara—withdrawal from the senses—in considerable detail. There are also references to pranayama (breath/energy control exercises) and most of the yama and niyama are listed among the virtues in the latter part of the teachings. Of course, samadhi (liberation / yoga’s 8th limb) is a central concept in this work.
While The Bhagavad-Gita remains widely cited and relied upon for guidance to this day, it’s not without its controversial elements. In the fourth teaching, Krishna explains how he created the caste system. Of course, Krishna might not have intended it to be the stain it became.
The Miller translation that I read has a few nice ancillary features. There is an introduction that offers background and context for those who have little knowledge of Indian history or mythology. There’s also a glossary that goes into detail about terms that are frequently used in the work. It’s not that there are Sanskrit words mixed into to the text. The glossary explains what the English words should be taken to mean in the context of the Hindu worldview.
What is most intriguing, however, is the afterword which is entitled, “Why Did Henry David Thoreau Take the Bhagavad-Gita to Walden Pond?” Of all the thinkers that have cited The Bhagavad-Gita, the use of Thoreau and Emerson as examples raises intriguing questions. The Thoreau of Civil Disobedience and the Emerson of Self-Reliance would seem to be as far from the message of The Bhagavad-Gita as possible. Krishna is telling Arjuna to ignore his conscience, and just do what God tells him to do—be a selfless instrument of destruction. Thoreau and Emerson both preached that one’s conscience should always be one’s ultimate guide. Thoreau went to jail because he refused to pay taxes that would support the war with Mexico. I suspect Krishna would say to Thoreau, “Hey, I’m throwing this war, and you’d damn well better do your part.” However, there are ideas in The Bhagavad-Gita that work with the American Transcendentalist philosophers. The idea of removing self-interest and egotism as a way to eliminate delusion before one makes one’s own decision is a consistent suggestion.
I have mixed feelings about The Bhagavad-Gita. Like many (most?) sources of religious doctrine, I think the central message of The Bhagavad-Gita is just another means by which to keep the masses under the control of an elite—and, specifically, fighting the wars of the royalty. However, I–like Thoreau and Emerson—also see a great deal of insight into how to be a better person in this poem.
I think The Bhagavad-Gita is worth a read, regardless of how you may ultimately feel about its message. It offers a concise summary of key ideas in Indian philosophy and psychology. It will give one a better understanding of the Indian worldview, and may teach you something about how to live in the process.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 