the hidden Saraswati River at the Adi Badri temple, where the sage Veda Vyasa wrote the Srimad Bhagavatam - border of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh

Long long ago, before the current network of roads and railways, it was natural topography that helped delineate roads and transport and movement across the Indian Subcontinent. One of the most prominent gateways to the Himalayas, ie Haridwar and Rishikesh, did not have their access from Meerut and other routes from New Delhi as it is today. The historical entrance during the times of the Mahabharata was from Adi Badri and Adi Kedar temples that are located north of the Kurukshetra battlefield. As their names suggest, these temples that were at the frontline of the lower Himalayas and the river plains, helped people plan their pilgrimages to Badrinath and Kedarnath. 

It is said that after the great battle of Kurukshetra, the sage Veda Vyasa was disturbed over how the future generations would perceive the role of Krishna in the Mahabharata, and about the reasons why brothers would kill brothers and families would destroy families. He was not content with being a central catalyst in the epic that he wrote, as he was also one of the mainstays of the various turnabouts in each generation. Without him, there would have been no Chitrangada, Vichitravirya or Vidura. He realised that the aspect of Krishna, and the aspect of victory of dharma would have to be explained differently. 

So he retreated northwards of Kurukshetra to Adi Badri and wrote out the eighteen volumes of the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the holistic and most comprehensive aspects of Shri Krishna, delving into various aspects of dharma and humanistic values. As he sat down to write, as the locals explained to me, he could not concentrate, for the fall of the Saraswati River over the gigantic mesa was very vigorous and energetic, and the sound was extremely overwhelming. So, he requested the Saraswati River to quieten down and flow through the great mountain at the location, and search out an underground terrain for herself. The Saraswati River is thought to have acceded to the request for she understood the importance of retelling the aspects of Shri Krishna. 

It is at this location that the river is thought to have disappeared, as the ancient tale suggests. I have visited the temple on various occasions and stayed overnight with the local sages and wondered at the most splendid forests around. The morning dawn is not to be seen at any other location along the Himalayas and the beauty of the place takes over all your expectations. Various sages and Sankaracharyas over the years have come to offer their salutations to Adi Badri, the Lord Vishnu, cast in black rock at the temple. This is a place where veritably, myth, epic, nature, water, religion, devotion, journeys and mystery come together. 

the ritual of sipping tea early in the morning at Dwarka, Gujarat

I was traveling from Somnath Jyotirlinga Temple to Nageshwar Jyotirlinga Temple and on to Dwarka Bet and Dwarka Shri Krishna Temple before returning to Mumbai via Jamnagar. A night halt at Dwarka was a must if one wanted to walk about within the Dwarka temple and adjacent streets at night. Its an entirely different world out there, from the morning prayers and darshan. The narrow lanes around the temple change completely. 

But, early dawn is something else, altogether. Its only about breakfast and before that, its about sipping tea at the various pavement stalls at the inner city and near the temple. Everyone you see, tourists, pilgrims, car drivers, local vendors, policemen, priests and anyone else that I may have left out, is walking about slowly, ambling actually, deliberately to these pushcart tea stalls. There is no dialogue and no talk. The tea maestro, if I may indulge thus, silently pours out the tea in good or grubby cups and saucers. Each person picks up a cup and saucer, stands aside and takes the first sip and says, 'aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh' with selfish delight and happiness.

Then comes the traditional Junagadh to Rajkot to Jamnagar to Dwarka to Porbandar trademark style of sipping tea. The hot steaming cup of tea is poured out on the saucer, and it is sipped, with a splendid slurping sound. It has to be thus, and no other way. My man friday for Jamnagar-Somnath-Nageshwar, my good friend, Virambhai, did just that. And he enjoyed it. After a couple of photographs, I picked up my cup of tea, poured it out on the saucer, and had my very splendid moment of zen like bliss, when I slurped and sipped and slurped and sipped with some bit of noise. Virambhai looked back at me, and smiled in delight, and I smiled back with schoolboy happiness. 

Crown of Krishna - at Kalady, near Kochi, Kerala. "Krishna Kireetam"

A most splendid inflorescence. Known locally as "Krishna Kireetam" or "Krishna "Keereetam" = meaning Shri Krishna's Crown. Coincidentally, and most amazingly, I shot this photograph (on 14 June 2014) of the inflorescence at the compound of Sri Krishna Temple at the Sri Adi Sankara Janmakshetram campus. At Kalady, the birth place of Sankara, who worshiped at the Sri Krishna Temple, and left his mother to travel all over India, and came to be known as Adi Sankaracharya.

Latin - Clerodendrum paniculatum - belongs to the family - Verbenaceae

I was invited by providence and by a miracle and by the goodwill of a very dear friend and elder brother whose name is the convergence of such magic - a convergence of Krishna and of Narayana. He invited me to be with him and his family at Kalady on an important occasion, and I could thereby get the blessings of Shri Krishna and all the deities at the Sri Adi Sankara Janmakshetram.

The 'Krishna Keereetam' flower was just there, and I was stunned by its size - almost 2 feet tall in the infloresence alone - and wondered if one could get a sharp enough photograph with my most trusted cell phone camera. And my trusted friend did not fail me. Got a series of photographs and each one is as good as the earlier one.