Dwarika trip

We had a one day tip to Dwarika last Sunday.
It all began with a few people rooting strongly for Dwarika over my preferred destinations , Diu or Gir forests.My arguments fell on deaf ears as most people wanted to write off a few sins before they committed more of them.

The level to which it was uncharacteristic of me can be summed up in my father's response when I informed him that i was going to Dwarika. He asked me if I was feeling alright!!! Though I am not an atheist , but neither am I of the most religious kind.

Anyway , we decided to leave early in the morning at 6 30 (!) to beat the rush and to make sure that we dont miss "Bet Dwarika" , which has its doors shut by 12 noon.I somehow managed to up in time , courtesy some generous sunlight directed at my face.

After some light breakfast , it was time for an agonising wait for the cabs to arrive.The stupid drivers dint arrive atleast an hour later, and that too after one of us showed them the way to our place.

It was a Tata Qualis.8 of us fit into it peacefully(6 from IITM and 2 from IITG)as we were about to leave a guy from kgp also joined us as they were not able to fit into on car. The car for the girls hadnt reached their place either, so we showed the way.One of my friends managed to make a good impression by doing so(which i hope for him, will be rewarded suitably) all this while the kgp guy was stifling and gasping for breath, for he was surrounded by loud M guys who could make fun of anything conceivable if they wanted to.

This person joined other kgp guys at the first opportunity he had to do so.Meanwhile we continued on our journey into deep philosophical meanings of stopped windmills and wide roads.

Our driver , sensing our mood, tried to race with the Innova that girls had boarded.What ensued was a display of clever road tricks of "pass and bypass".

As we had started off late, we could only visit the main Dwarika temple before the curtains were drawn. After that we were a bit hungry so we sneaked into a restaurant, only to find that the humble place did not have the capability to serve a large group such as ours.(we were a group of 28 people totally). So we waited albeit a bit less patiently for our turn.

From there on , we went to "Gopi ji ka mandir". I am not sure how it fits into mythology.(As far as I know , Krishna Ji spent his childhood and adolescence in Mathura and not in Dwarika.He was the ruler here.)But all the same they still have a gopi ghat here.
There also was a floating stone kept.The more curious among us tried to analyse the reasons for this.Finally they reached a conclusion that it was fabricated as a cut was faintly visible.















Then we went on to take a steamer to the island where "Bet Dwarika" was situated.It was an amazing experience with the steamer dancing to the tunes of the sea, wavering as if to say hello to the winds that passed by.We did a cost benefit analysis of the owners in the case the steamer drowns.And found that even in an unlikely high probability of 1% failure rate, it is still profitable for the owner to continue his business.

After we got down, we took this amazing ride in whats called a "Jugaru"(Hindi for makeshift) here.This has the engine of a bike(Rajdoot, I guess) and it drives an ingenious light weight wagon.

Then we visited the temple and from there on we went to a beach.This beach ,our driver claimed was good enough to do scuba diving, and we laughed at his boastfulness.But once we saw it , we knew he wasnt off by miles. Awesome was the first word I uttered after being spellbound for a couple of moments.We had great fun at the beach. I have been to many beaches, and this one was the best till date.

PS - Bet as in "Bet Dwarika" does not derive its name from the English usage of the word. Rather its to do with Beta - son in Hindi. The priest tried to tell us the enormous importance of the temple , but it was all lost on me.

Internship

For the uninformed , I am doing my interns at Jamnagar , Gujrat - Reliance.
Here I am , sitting at the site of the "World's Largest grassroots refinery" , and I am supposed to marvel its vastness.But I cant help but scorn at it.

Its too big to remain efficient, The people here are too frustrated at the way of life to concentrate on the work.At the more down-to-earth places, one does not get the exposure to the rigorous method of obtaining an entry pass, but not Jamnagar. One stays in line for atleast a couple of hours while the people supposed to be doing the job discuss in gujju about the weather.During this period , your endurance levels are continuesly tested.Only the mighty soldiers who can endure pressure(pushes) from all sides finally get to get the retinal scanning done.This is after submitting the finger impressions.I cant make out why they need finger impressions when they already have the retinal image.May be its to detect in the event of loss of both the eyes.(I know most of you will be surprised at me being so crass , but after the orderal , I was pushed to such a state of mind)

To this base , add a layer of stiffling hours of inactivity in a room and you have the perfect receipe to hate a workplace.

Thankfully everything is not so ridiculous at this place , the mentors dont mind helping you out , even though they hold very senior positions.Atleast they sublet one to a young guy who both understands our tendencies , and our helps us like a friend.

I have enough material to write another post about the ironic and hilarious things existing at this place, so wait till I again have enthu to blog again .Till then subh ratri , sabbakhair ,fir milte hain isi jagah pe kuch din baad .

PS - (This summary of the internship has been written after the completion ) The experience on the whole was very good - did some good work, made new friends, saw how a huge industry operates & most importantly saw how its business model works.