Khajuraho (11) : Jainism....

Saturday, 27th February 2010.

The third temple we visited that afternoon was the Jain Temple of Khajuraho.

Jainism is an ancient religion of India which prescribes peace and non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy relying mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness. Any soul which has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state of supreme being is called "Jina" ( conqueror or victor).

The 5 basic ethical principles (vows) preached are:
1. non-violence - no harm to any living being
2. truth - to speak the truth and not lie at all
3. non-stealing - not to to take anything not willingly given
4. celibacy - not to indulage in any sensual pleasures
5. non-possession - detached from people, places and material things...

the 2 plaques at the entrance of the Jain Temple

explaining the basic teachings of Jainism..

a Jain ?priest at recital of their Holy book

at the end of the corridor...

these white structures at the complex are the newer temples,

the browner ones below

dated back to the 11th century AD (900 years old)

The group decided to see the "Light and Sound Show' on the grounds of the main temple of Khajuraho which turned out to be a little disappointing due to the poor sound system and the very mediocre and average 'light effects". The show did attempt to describe the history of the rulers of Khajuraho until the invasion of the Moghuls, but fatigue, mosquitos and as said earlier, average sound and light effects made pakdokter's attention to the show rather weak.

We had dinner at the Taj Hotel and pakdokter ordered a Khajuraho thali which is pictured below.

Khajuraho (1)....

Saturday, 27th February 2010

After getting quite frustrated at the apparent 'lack of urgency' and a lack of " SOP" ( standard operating procedure) of the hotel staff in handling the theft at the coffeehouse, Ravee and Siti decided to follow pakdokter to Khajuraho as planned in our original itinerary. In the van to the airport, Ravee dialled Siti's handphone and, voila!, whoever it was at the other end had pressed the button on but forgot or did not know how to switch it off. Over the phone, Ravee could hear several voices talking in Hindi and mentioning his room number at the hotel etc etc. This made us all very suspicious that perhaps some of the hotel staff were involved in the scam. Attempts to get the hotel executives by phone to look around the hotel proved futile, further evidence at the hopelessness of the hotel staff at handling such a situation.

The flight to Khajuraho left New Delhi via the new domestic terminal. The Jet Airways flight was delayed by about 1 hour. Enroute to Khajuraho, the plane stopped for a short transit at Varanasi, a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination. We arrived at the little Khajuraho Airport at around lunch-time and was picked up by the local tour agent and transferred to the Taj Hotel, the best, if not one of the best hotels in Khajuraho.

a stressed-out Dr Ravee trying to look relaxed and reliefed

after checking-in at the Taj Khajuraho...

the lobby of the Khajuraho Taj Hotel....

The afternoon was a 'free and easy' programme and we decided to ask our driver to take us to places not covered on our official tour programme. We drove to the nearby village and town for a look at this small farming community ( Khajuraho is a farming town with about 20,000 population). And apart from this, the driver also took us to the sites of 2 ancient temples not included in our itinerary. These were 2 smaller Hindu temples, not normally included in the standard 0ne-day tour of Khajuraho. Pakdokter's group had requested for a 3day/2nights stay in Khajuraho for we did not want to be rushed through the tours.

a farmers' village in Khajuraho...
wheat and mustard appear to be the main crop...

The first Hindu temple we visited was a single structure with some reconstruction/restoration work still in progress. Pakdokter photographed the explanatory plaque about the temple with a few pictures to highlight the features of the temple.

The second temple we visited was slightly bigger and was already completely restored. It was located in the centre of a well-tended garden.

What a Way to Start a Holiday!....

Saturday, 27th February 2010

Pakdokter and partner and regular travelling companions Dr Ahmad Raveendhran and his partner Dr Zaliha Zainal had come a few days earlier to Delhi before the train journey because we wanted to make a side-trip to Khajuraho for a few days to view the famous temples, on the walls of which were erotic etchings and scupltures of the Kamasutra. We had to check out early Saturday morning to catch the domestic flight to Khajuraho and were amongst the first to go for breakfast at our hotel's coffee house. While busy with our breakfast and expectantly and excitedly talking about our trip, Siti Zaliha suddenly realised that her hand-bag which was put under her chair was gone! Cash, jewellery, credit cards, a handphone and an expensive digital camera were lost within seconds.

The in-house security CCTV captured on record the gang of 2 elderly Latino gentlemen and a middle-aged fat woman carrying out the heist! We were told later that this gang had already done similar 'stealings' at the coffee houses of the Taj Palace and the Oberoi ( all 5 star hotels..) over the previous two days.

Ravee and Siti initially had wanted to stay back in New Delhi to make the police reports etc, but after realising the speed at which things happen in New Delhi, they decided to proceed to Khajuraho and left it to the hotel management to do its part to try and salvage whatever that could be salvaged.

Credit cards, telephone SIM cards etc had to be cancelled before more damage could be done by these daylight robbers. It was a terrible start to our holidays.....

Back to India Again!....

Friday, 26th February 2010

Pakdokter and partner had booked to re-visit the Golden Triangle of India, this time by travelling on the luxurious train "Palace on Wheels" way back in November 2009. We had, in January 2009, traveled to the South Indian state of Kerala, but some time in January, when India was warned by 'big brother' the USA government, that India faces a serious threat of a terrorist attack, the Indian government came out with a policy that foreigners were not allowed to travel to India again except after 2 months of the last trip! Pakdokter and partner were resigned to cancelling this trip and loosing our hefty deposit, or God Willing, be allowed to travel some time in April without incurring any loss or having to come out with a penalty payment. Fortunately for pakdokter, with the help of some people in the right position, our appeal for a special consideration was entertained by the Indian authorities, thus allowing pakdokter to join the group of 5 couples from Malaysia to make this special journey.

The Palace on Wheels took us to the fabulous cities of forts,castles and palaces of Rajasthan as well as to Agra where the world famous Taj Mahal is located.

Pakdokter and friends left KLIA late Friday afternoon on a fully-booked Malaysia Airlines flight which took 5 hours to hit New Delhi. New Delhi was in a frenzy of construction, to complete the infrastructure needed to host the upcoming Commonwealth Games in October 2010. The New Delhi International Airport is nearing completion and new highways link the airport to the city. A rapid-train line is almost completed which would connect the airport to the city.

But apart from this, the New Delhi pakdokter remembers from previous trips 10 and 15 years ago has not yet changed very much. The crowded streets, the traffic jam, the dust and the noise have not changed much if not much worse. The the mass of poverty is still pretty obvious.

Hopefully, with its new economic vigour, India will catch up with the rest of the developed world in the not too long future.....

being garlanded and adorned with Rajasthani headgear

at the Safdarjung Station in New Delhi...

Jaipur...

Chittore...

Udaipur

Jaisalmer...

Jodhpur...

Agra....

the rapid train line from New Delhi Airport to the city..

highways and overhead bypasses....

mass poverty of yesteryears was still very much evident...

The STAROBA Masters 2009....

The STAROBA Masters 2009 was postponed from December 2009 to this date due to some unforeseen circumstances. A full turnout of 72 golfers took part in this stroke-play game held at the Nilai Springs Golf Course.

Pakdokter had had an overdose of golf the past 10 days or so, having played 4 days in a row during the Chinese New Year break and 3 more days in a row starting last Friday. With the weather being as it was ( it's a heat-wave season now!) pakdokter was feeling quite exhausted even at the beginning of this championship.

Pakdokter played with batchmate AK (Ahmad Khalid) who pakdokter played with every Sunday at the RSGC. The other 2 players in the flight were Said, 2 years our junior at school and Ariffin who was 6 or 7 years our junior at school.

Apart from the championship itself pakdokter partnered AK in a matchplay against the juniors. AK played to a handicap of 12, Said 15 and Ariffin 16. Pakdokter played to the 'proud' handicap of 24.

In the 1st Nine, pakdokter's pair was more or less slaughtered by the juniors. Said was in his element, scoring 1 birdie and a few pars. Pakdokter contributed nothing to the pair and AK was somewhat off-form. We went 3 down with 2 to go, but having lost the 1st Nine, made amends by getting even on the 'buy'. So we lost 3 balls there.

As losers we opted to 'double up' for the 2nd Nine. And AK came back with his game, delivering an escalation of 4 pars in a row! The juniors must have got quite rattled. They came back but we went 2 up with 3 to go at the 16th hole when pakdokter finally came back and scored a par at the par-5 island hole( the other 2 sent their ball into water and Ariffin missed his par after pakdokter holed-in for par from 12 feet away....yeeeea...) which gave us the game for the 2nd Nine. With game over, the last 2 holes were fought for the 'buy' and we were square on this.

So the 'senior gentlemen' proudly walked back to the clubhouse with our heads held high, taking home 3 balls with us.....

The 'Masters' was won by one of the junior golfers ( apologies...pakdokter forgot his name ) who played to a handicap of 23 and returned a net score of 66!.....

Congratulations...

pakdokter, Said, Ahmad Khalid (AK) and Ariffin.....

Fancy Learning How to Cook Fine Dining...?

Pakdokter and partner decided to walk to the nearby KL Hilton 2 weeks ago for dinner. And pakdokter's partner saw this brochure and decided to sign up for this monthly cooking workshop conducted by the chefs of the hotel. For RM160 each , the group of about 20 ladies ( a maximum of 25 places were available on a first-come-first-served basis) were given a demonstration (and many tips) of how to prepare a 3-course Valentines Day Dinner. After the workshop, all the participants had the 3-course set lunch with a glass of wine thrown in as well. Not bad for the price......

Pakdokter has already had one night of fine dining at home when pakdokter's partner decided to practise what she learnt from the workshop....

The Way Things Look To Me....

A book on how a family struggled to cope with one of its young siblings (who suffered Asperger's Syndrome ) upon the death of their mother who was the principal carer of the 'special' child..

In pakdokter's practice, there is a common encounter of similar stories of families becoming destabilised upon an the demise of one of its pricipal parent . It's like reading one of pakdokter's case files actually.