Hi all! As mentioned in our earlier post, the three of us were busy travelling to different places either with our family or to visit them. Since it was the holiday season, how could *~The Canvirries~* miss out on all the fun? We gave you a sneak peek of our vacation in our previous post, and now we are taking you through a kaleidoscope of pictures that each of us have taken through our journey.
This post is based on my (the purple patissier's ) family trip to South India.
Me, my mother,sister and niece at the start of our journey.
Being Buddhists, our trip included visiting massive Tibetan monasteries all around a place called Koppa ( 2 hrs drive from Mysore). There are so many monasteries in Koppa. Of which, The Golden Temple is the most famous.
Above is a picture of the entrance to the Golden Temple, and once inside, you'll see this :
Here are some more pictures of the other monasteries we visited. The one below was taken on our way inside:
Whenever one visits a monastery, they see this:
This is somewhat like a throne, where His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama is seated during his visit to this place and during his preachings. If you look closely you'll see the beautiful traditional tibetan carvings on the wood. Its amazing how the works are so detailed and strikingly perfect.
This was when the monks were enjoying their tea break who are otherwise so engrossed in chanting the mantras from texts depicting all of Buddha's teachings in Sanskrit.
Tibetan monks are really talented! I say so cos I was in awe after seeing this sculpture. Its completely hand sculpted and made out of colored vegetable fat. Can you really tell?
Here's another:
The picture below was outside the prayer room. I love this traditional tibetan curtain. Its so cute and looks very antique! Sadly, it wasnt big enough to cover the huge door.
This is a common sight outside every monastery in Koppa. Look at all the bee hives. Surprisingly, they dont attack anyone. Maybe being around a holy place has made them non violent too :)
Here's a picture of me lighting butter lamps. They say it helps enlighten the paths of the souls who are on their way to their destination- Heaven or Hell. I thought I might as well help as long as I'm on Earth :)
Behind us are colorful prayer flags known as "lung ta" in tibetan which translates to "wind horse". It is believed that when a gush of wind passes by,it carries with it a good amount of luck from these flags and takes it to another place blessing everyone in its way.
I got these sandals at a store in the village. They're so cute and so comfortable. My companion through the whole trip ^_^
You haven't had the true Indian experience without having a traditional Indian meal and there's a big difference between a North Indian and a South One. Here's a snap of the South Indial meal I enjoyed:
This includes rice, roti (indian flat bread), dal (lentil soup), papaddam ( deep fried lentil based wafers), a spicy vegetable curry( sambhar), 2 sides of stir fried vegetables, some pickle, yoghurt and a sweet dish ( rice pudding or milk pudding with vermicelli). Its usually served in a metal platter or as I like it, on a banana leaf. You really have to use your hands to enjoy this.
And to gulp all of this down, a tall glass of ice cold Coke.........burrrppp!!!!
I hope you liked the pictures, next time you're in India and around the South, dont miss out on visiting these places or at least tasting a South Indian meal.
Loads of love,
*~The Canvirries~*
