Journeys and Jottings
Monsoon edition, from Valparai to Jaisalmer- where to visit, ruins of the colonial past, timekeepers of Melbourne and their connection to London.
“The Bangalore woman cried, ‘Yesterday there were dragonflies in our hotel garden. They are a sign. We knew monsoon was coming soon!”
― Alexander Frater, Chasing the Monsoon
Yea, there are plenty of winged creatures including mosquitoes announcing the monsoon in Bangalore. The skies are getting darker and the sun has been playing the truant. But it’s the wind, a strong gale that has been whistling and howling all day and night, rustling through the leaves, breaking the twigs and even pushing my plant from the window sill to fall three floors down. I am rueing the loss of my flowery wax begonia and have been shifting all my plants to safer terrains. July has just swept past me and I have been as always doing a lot of things - reading and rereading ( Chasing the Monsoon is my current favourite), gardening, writing, and travelling. And that has left me with no time for Substack, although there is so much to say and I don’t know where to begin.
So hello and welcome and we are on the July issue of Journeys and Jottings. The monsoons have not been very kind, with floods in different parts of the country but is it nature’s fury or our own selfish lifestyles that is raining havoc upon us ? However there are still some destinations, that are meant to be experienced during this season. A little snippet from my Melbourne trip on two giants who are timekeepers . And a glimpse of the colonial past through crumbling ruins of history.
Travel in the monsoon
“As a romantic ideal, turbulent, impoverished India could still weave its spell, and the key to it all - the colours, the moods, the scents, the subtle, mysterious light, the poetry, the heightened expectations, the kind of beauty that made your heart miss a beat - well, that remained the monsoon.”
― Alexander Frater, Chasing the Monsoon
Yes, it’s romantic, misty and musty and all that but monsoons in India can also be about deluges and landslides and life literally coming to a standstill. However, travelling in the monsoon, especially to some of the Western Ghats destinations is an experience. It’s not just the rain but you get to experience the entire monsoon package.
Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Goa are some of the popular destinations during monsoon but my favourite would be Valparai in the Annamalai Mountains of Tamil Nadu. And an unusual experience was Jaisalmer in the monsoon. Can you imagine being stuck and stranded in the desert due to the rains?
Three posts from my blog on monsoon travel in India for your weekend reading
A wet and wild weekend in Valparai
Monsoon and the Maratha Trail in Lonavala
Monsoon drive along Coastal Karnataka
Leaving you with a photo of Lakshman Sagar Lake in Rajasthan captured during the monsoon
Melbourne revisited
Melbourne has always been one of my favorite cities and even after several trips, I have always found something new and fascinating in this Victorian capital. The lanes of Melbourne are iconic and they form the very fabric of the city . And in the heart of these lanes, right in the CBD is a grand arcade, one of the oldest in Australia called the Royal Arcade that dates back to the 19th century. And as you enter from the Southern end, which is along the Little Collins Street entrance, you will hear the gongs from a clock if you happen to be there at the top of the hour. Look up and you will see two giants flanking the clock and manually striking the chimes.
Gog and Magog are seven feet tall mythological characters that are the timekeepers of Melbourne and have been keeping a watch over the city. Although there are several references to them in the Bible and the Quran, these giants have a different story to tell. They were commissioned by Thomas Gaunt, jeweller and a horologist and hence the massive clock in the arcade is called Gaunt’s Clock. Gaunt had an artist called Mortimer Godfrey who carved these two ginats from pinewood. They were apparently inspired by their namesakes who had been guarding Guildhall in London since the 15th century. The Guildhall dating back to the Roman and Saxon era and these two giants were built apparently there “to symbolise the war between the ancient Britons and Trojan invaders”
If you read the display below the statues at Melbourne , it says that the giants may have been “captured in battle by the Trojans and made to serve as porters at the gateway of an ancient palace on a site later occupied by the Guildhall.” Here however, they seem to be just keeping watch and telling you the time. If you are here at the top of the hour, don’t miss Gog and Magog showing you their skills as they strike the bells manually with their hands.
A peek into the colonial past
Leaving you with a view of the ruins of an old fort near Pondicherry called Alamparai which dates back to the colonial era. I am working on a very interesting project with Radisson Blu hotels owned by GRT Hotels and Resorts. More stories coming up in the next issue.
Feedback, please
I do hope that you enjoyed reading this issue. Looking forward to your feedback as always. I would particularly like to know if you have any other suggestions regarding the travel content.
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