Vrindavan
A slow start to the day. We are still recovering from yesterday's wake up call at 4am.
We started our journey by relaxing in a small park right where we were staying. We waited in the park until just after 11 o'clock. This is when the Tatkal train tickets are released. Trains in India are very busy and tickets booked 3 months in advance. One of the only ways we can get a ticket sometimes is to use the Tatkal quota issued one day before at 11am. However, this is also the only way a lot of other people can get a ticket too.
Just before 11 there were 109 tickets ready to go live at 11. We waited patiently ready to book...
At 11 the booking system grinds to a halt due to the volume of traffic. At about 11.01 there were 37 tickets available and we had to restart the booking app due to it crashing. At 11.03 we had confirmed tickets for the train!! At 11.04 there were no tickets and there was already a waiting list. Wow, we were booked on the train, the only problem being one of us is in carriage 1 and the other in carriage 6! We will try to resolve this at the station or ask if anyone will swap on the train.
We left the park behind and headed along the main road to find an auto to take us to Vrindavan. This town is very famous as the place where Krishna spent is younger years. We had been told the price of a shared auto by our friend (30 rupees). The first price we were offered was 1000 rupees. Other prices were also very high. No one spoken English so it was quite a tricky negotiation. After quite a while we managed to get a shared rickshaw agree a better price but first he would head back to Mathura to collect more passengers. This was our best option so far so we jumped in. We had travelled about 50 metres the wrong way when another auto stopped at the traffic lights. He was waving at us and had another passenger. We decided this could be our chance. We jumped out of our auto, jumped in the new one and we were off. The new auto said he would take us to Vrindavan for 20 rupees each. Great, no negotiation, no arguing. Wow, thanks! We actually handed over extra money as a tip to thank the driver for not overcharging us.
We arrived in Vrindavan and walked to the Iskon temple. We had to hand our shoes in and the man kept pointing at the sign indicating they closed at 1pm ... It was 12.30 so this didn't give us long. Also a man told.Christine to be careful of the monkeys as they take glasses off people ....so the sunglasses came off.and into the bag!
It was quite busy and on entry we ate some food which was being handed out. It was a yellow, wet rice and potato combination and tasted pretty good.
We followed the flow of people to a little temple and a small Krishna museum before heading into the main temple. In here there was music playing and people were dancing. There were also people lying face down on the floor in prayer.
Time was running out to collect our shoes and it appeared we had not seen the main temple so we headed back.
Back out on the busy street we spotted a banana seller so decided to buy some. We ate a couple and Darryl was carrying the skins and the last banana. Darryl felt a tug on his hand. He turned to find a monkey helping himself to the remaining banana! A little further on and there was some commotion. One man had had his water bottle taken by a monkey. Another had his glasses removed from his head and the monkey headed up the telegraph pole. A stallholder took a small carton of fruit juice and threw it at the monkey, who caught it and released the glasses .... It appears the owner of the glasses had to pay for this intervention....maybe a little money making scheme!!
Next stop lunch. A very tasty veg thali with no onion or garlic ... So the man told us. We had seen signs for no onion and garlic so a quick Google told us that Iskon believes that these increase passion and ignorance and therefore are not eaten by Krishna devotees as they are detrimental to meditation.
After lunch we walked through the little lanes and suddenly everything came to a stop. There were hundreds of people queuing in the streets from all directions and we were not white sure why. Some people were making their way down the side of the queue so we followed them to a beautiful building, although we are not sure what it was and it was not what everyone was queuing for. Outside the building a small boy was standing on a box and a make set up a phone camera on a stand which went 360 degrees around the boy whilst he danced. The man showed us the end video which was really good!
We headed back into the street and joined the queuing masses. Around the corner we found we were queuing for the Nidhi van. This is a garden area of tulsi bushes with a small temple amongst them. Devotees believe Krishna dances in the garden at night .... So the area is closed at night.
We walked on down to the river and indulged in a mango ice lolly, again we were warned to watch out for the monkeys (which are everywhere). We stood under a tree, each facing in a different direction to ensure we did not have to share out lollies! Along the road we saw people laying on the ground, getting up, moving a bead along a string, laying down and repeating. We believe this is a kind of prayer offering to Krishna.
After a quick stop for chai we passed the Sri Radha Madam Mohan ji temple and we completesour walk along the riverside.
We then started to make our way back, the same way we came, to visit a temple we had missed earlier in the day - Prem Mandir. We are so glad we came later when it was getting dark as the temple looked stunning lit up with changing coloured lights. It is beautifully decorated with carvings and paintings and the gardens had lots of beautiful statues and water features.
Then it was time to start heading back to our accommodation. We walked to where we had been dropped off in the morning.and saw some buses going in the opposite direction. We asked a policeman where we could catch one and he told us to stand with him. The next bus that came along he flagged it down and on we got on. It was pretty packed but was heading in the right direction. The driver dropped us almost outside our accommodation.
We decided we need some chai so walked into a little village. A few people pointed us in the direction of chai but we didn't find any. We were about to give up when another man stopped on his motorbike and asked where we were going. When we told him, he told us to jump on and he'd take us. It was quite far but soon we were sat drinking chai together with our new friend.
Chai time up. The nice man took us back to where we had met outside a gym. The owner invited us in to see the new equipment and meet some people training. Everyone was very friendly and demonstrated the equipment to us. One young man was rather strong! The boys all had to do a press ups challenge including Darryl. Darryl also had to have a go on the bench press once the heavy weights were removed!
The gym owner kindly invited us back to his house for chai. It was an amazing experience and we got to meet the whole family. We not only met the family in the house but also talked to members in the USA and Dubai on WhatsApp.
Chai was served along with loads of lovely snacks. One we had not had before came from water lillies. It was a little like crunchy popcorn and very healthy. After chatting to brother, sister, aunty, uncle and a lot of others too, we were presented with a blessing on our forehead. This was followed by a piece of chocolate and some gifts! We were given 2 scarves and even some money as part of the ceremony! It was amazing. We had a tour of the 10 room house and on the roof top terrace we had a full 360 view of Mathura.
Everyone was lovely but eventually we had to leave. The family took us back to our friend's apartment in their car.
Our friend came out to meet our new friends .. .maybe we have sparked another new friendship!
