Jewels of Mumbai: GLOBAL PAGODA @ GORAI

Lord Buddha in front of Global Pagoda @ Gorai

According to Global Pagoda website:

The Global Vipassana Pagoda is declared as one of the "Seven Wonders of Maharashtra" by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in partnership with ABP Majha, a Marathi news channel; after they reviewed 350 destinations. The results of this selection were declared on 6th June 2013. You must visit Global Vipassana Pagoda to witness the developments and its unique nature for getting selected as one of the seven wonders of the state.

Lakshmi & Ranga on the ferry

I read about the Golden Global Pagoda before it was completed in 2009 and had been wanting to visit it since then. Finally, I got an opportunity to go there with my sister Lakshmi and brother-in-law Ranga last Wednesday when they had come for a visit to Mumbai.

Yours truly on the ferry

We left by car at around 11 am. Luckily, Venkat has found a driver who comes when we call and we pay him on a day-to-day basis. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the Gorai canal to catch the ferry. While it’s possible to drive directly to the entrance of the Global Pagoda, we wanted to experience the ferry ride. Tickets cost Rs. 50 per person for both ways. We waited for about 15 minutes for the ferry to fill up and left along with many people who were on their way to Water Kingdom.

From the ferry

The moment the ferry turned towards the sea, we could see the Golden Pagoda that stood majestically on the other shore. The ride lasted for about 15 minutes and we got off to walk to the Pagoda. We had to walk up a slight incline to reach the entrance. This took us about 10 minutes.

The ferry leaves after dropping us

The pictures that I have posted here will show you the grandeur of the place. It was too gorgeous for words. One has to climb up a number of steps to reach the Pagoda. There is a pillarless meditation hall that has enough space for 8,000 people to meditate at one go. Only those who have done the 10-day Vipassana Meditation Course are allowed to enter this hall to maintain sanctity. I was a mite disappointed as the place appeared so peaceful and we weren’t eligible to go inside. We just stood outside and absorbed the atmosphere.

On the way to the Pagoda

We weren’t in time for the lecture and hence didn’t take part in it. We went to another A/C hall where they showed us a video of how the Pagoda came about.

Nature at its best

The Buddhists of Myanmar (Burma) wanted to show their gratitude to Lord Buddha’s country of birth, i.e., India and hence got the idea of establishing the Pagoda here. Mumbai was lucky enough to be chosen as the right place for this. The architecture of the Pagoda leans more towards the Orient with a lot of red and gold.

Almost there

We also visited the art gallery that houses more than a hundred lovely paintings depicting scenes from Lord Buddha’s life beginning with the strange dream his mother had when the Lord was in her womb. It took us more than half an hour to browse through the paintings.

The top of the Global Pagoda

We left the gallery to see Lord Buddha’s statue that is right at the front of the Pagoda but away from the main staircase. Soaking in the beauty and taking pictures, we finally went to the food court to have sandwiches and lemonade before stepping out.

At the entrance

We walked back to the jetty but had to wait for 40 minutes before we got a ferry back to Gorai. It was an enjoyable visit indeed.

Gorgeous Burmese architecture

More info:

• Timing: 9 am to 7 pm
• No charges for entry to Global Pagoda
• Donations are welcome
• Clean toilets with water facility available
• Food Court is available
• You can reach by road as well as ferry
• BEST buses go to the Pagoda entrance
• Vipassana Meditation Courses are conducted here

The long climb up to the Pagoda

Almost there. Isn't it beautiful?

Up the staircase

Entrance to Pillar-less hall

On the way down

Lord Buddha in meditation

Visitor's Guidelines

Jewels of Mumbai: UDIPI SHRI KRISHNA BOARDING

Outside Matunga Station

This blog has been long overdue. I have visited Udipi Shri Krishna Boarding umpteen times since I had planned the write-up.

The counter where you buy coupons

This restaurant was established in 1942 – yeah, since before Independence. Amazing to see the quality of food served and so cheap too!

The Full Meal begins...

The restaurant serves a complete South Indian meal – read Karnataka style. There is a Full Meal section – costs Rs. 180 as of now. They serve everything unlimited here except for the sweet. In this meal, one gets to eat rotis or puris (puris are served only in the evenings and Sunday afternoons), rice, three types of veggies, sambar, rasam, dal, fried papad, one sweet, pickle, one cup dahi and chaas. You need a gargantuan appetite to do justice to this. But, it tastes amazing. We used to visit this section regularly some years back.

The Plated Meals section

Recently, not able to consume much, we have shifted focus to the Plated Meals section that costs Rs. 55 plus. The ‘plus’ is for those extras that you might want – like a sweet, extra sabzi, papad and so on.

Rotis being prepared

This serves three limited sabzis, unlimited sambar, rasam, dal, limited papad, pickle, curd, chaas along with 3 sets of staples. You can combine it any which ways. 2 rotis-3 puris-1 cup rice – you can have 3 cups of rice, or six rotis, or 9 puris or a combo that suits you. It’s quite flexible.

Puris & Papads fried here in different kadais

On a regular day, there is a choice of four sweets on offer.

They have one condition in both sections – DO NOT ask for items and waste. In fact, if you waste sambar, they charge you extra for that.

Cups of rice being readied

All the food items are freshly prepared and taste absolutely delicious. We always avoid going to Rama Nayak’s for Sunday lunch as the crowd is just too much. There is a snaking queue that runs down the lobby sometimes down on the staircase. You will probably need to wait for an hour or two to be accommodated.

Vattis for Sambar, Rasam & Dal

Any customer can visit their kitchen on request. They even allowed me to take pictures. I got to talking with the owner’s son on one of my visits.

They buy all vegetables from APMC Market in Navi Mumbai. Only seasonal vegetables are used. All the tables and chairs are moved against the walls and newspapers spread on the dining room floor for cutting veggies in preparation for lunch and dinner.

Diesel boilers for cooking rice, sambar, etc.

While LPG stoves are used for cooking rotis & dry sabzis, they use diesel to cook rice, sambar and the like. These are cooked in what look like boilers. The guy manning the rice cookers said that it takes barely 5-6 minutes to cook a few kilos of rice. Amazing!

The waiters, cooks and cleaning boys are well-behaved and treat the customers with respect. There are at least 2-3 supervisors keeping an eye on all customers to ensure that everyone is served well. One can get a copy of their booklet that tells you Shri Krishna Boarding’s historical journey since 1942 and even before, when Shri A. Rama Nayak came to Bombay.

Notice Board with newspaper cuttings

You will find all classes of people from different communities coming there to eat the excellent fare served. You will find a notice board full of clippings from various newspapers & magazines where the restaurant has been featured.

The restaurant is just one step away from Matunga station.

A. Rama Nayak’s
Udipi Shri Krishna Boarding,
1st Floor, LBS Market Building,
Matunga, Mumbai – 400019.
Phone: 24142422
Lunch: 10.30 am to 2.30 pm
Dinner: 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm
CLOSED ON MONDAYS

Jewels of Mumbai: ISKCON TEMPLE @ CHOWPATTY

Radha-Gopinath at the Sanctorum

I have been wanting to write about special places of Mumbai for a long while. The first one, about Koolar Restaurant @ Matunga was published on my blog in July last year. Unfortunately, it has taken me more than six months to come up with a second Mumbai jewel. I hope to have more on my blog in the future.

ISKCON

My sister-in-law Chandra had come to stay with us on January 1. She had plans of visiting the ISKCON Temple at Chowpatty the next day morning. Chandra goes to the temple every Sunday. I was keen to go with her on this Sunday and luckily for me, I could make it.

Temple Gates

We set off in a cab at 7.45 in the morning - yeah, on a Sunday. I surprised myself. We got off at a point as Chandra was not too sure about the way and walked a bit.

Entrance to Radha Gopinath Temple

It was terrific walking around in Chowpatty that early on a Sunday morning. There were some pedestrians and almost no moving vehicles around. I got to see the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (University of Bombay) for the first time in daylight. What a lovely building, it is!

Along the downstairs corridor

We reached the temple by 8.15 and I started clicking away my camera beginning at the gate. Believe me, the temple was beautiful with carved pillars and motifs and paintings. A lovely vision, indeed!

An intricately carved wall

The temple is set in the heart of Mumbai and its obviously prime property. The decor and etchings are amazing. Looking at some of the pictures, my daughter Vinitha mentioned that they could have been shot somewhere in Rajasthan.

Up the staircase to the first floor

We went to the first floor where there was the sanctorum with idols Radha-Gopinath in the middle; Lord Gopinath’s devotees on the left and Udipi Krishna on the right. The idols were beautifully decorated in jewel colours and I have tried my best to capture them in my camera.

The Sanctorum with the beautifully decorated idols

Bang opposite, at the other end of the hall (about 50 ft long), was the statue of Srimad Prabhupada sitting on a chair. The statue appears so lifelike. At the two corners on the same side were idols of Garuda and Hanuman facing the sanctorum.

Srimad Prabhupada at the other end

The ceiling was painted beautifully with chandeliers, both big and small. The walls around had a number of wood carvings and paintings of scenes from Lord Krishna’s life. I feasted my eyes on all of this, not getting enough. There were a lot of devotees dancing away as they waited for the morning Bhagavatam lecture that began at around 8.30 am.

The ceiling with chandeliers

That Sunday was the scene when Lord Rama confronted Ravana, the King of Lanka. The person who gave the lecture – it was in English – first read the shloka, letting the audience repeat after him and then gave his explanation.

Bhagavatam lecture in English

The lecture:

Lord Rama looked at Ravana and called him ‘abominable’ and ‘shameless’ for taking away another’s wife. The Lord points out to Ravana how despite having all things material, he still felt the greed to possess something that belonged to another.

The beautifully polished floor with a Rangoli painted on it

The lecturer suggested that we contemplate on this. He pointed out that how the greed for material possessions has made man so uncaring that he keeps grabbing from nature, depleting it. Today, he said, Mother Nature is reciprocating with Tsunamis and Volcanoes but Man is unable to relate to this for what it is.

One section of a wall of the hall with carvings and paintings galore

There are a number of summits happening around the world to bring down Global Warming. But the lecturer suggested that the solution to this cannot be brought about by materialism but only by spirituality. I could not but agree with him.

The decorative fountain just outside the sanctorum

There was more on the same lines and also how Man is being punished for his sins. Well, I don’t believe in a punishing God and hence I could not relate to this. But the audience obviously enjoyed the lecture. It lasted about an hour and was a unique experience for me.

The rich carving with gold motifs next to the sanctorum. This is just one side.

We went down after that and had prashad for breakfast – it was upma made of lapsi and tasted yum with a lot of vegetables. They also served herbal tea, but I did not have any as I don’t much care for the taste.

Painting - A scene from Krishna's life on a door panel

We visited the ISKCON shop selling herbal products and other sacred things. Chandra bought some packets of agarbatti for me.

The shop selling pooja articles

There was a tiny Satyanarayana Temple in the same compound. We visited that too and went around the compound clicking more pictures.

Entrance at the side to the Satyanarayana Temple

I had prayed that I should get to visit the various places in and around Mumbai in 2011. And exactly that happened right on the second day of the New Year. A totally wonderful experience, indeed! All thanks to God and Chandra.

Satyanarayana & His Consort

Garudan

Hanuman