St. Francis Xavier in Goa, India

Dateline: May 6, 1542 – St. Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time. Here is my photo of his coffin inside the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa. 

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552) was a Roman Catholic missionary born in Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain), and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534.He led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time. He was influential in the spreading and upkeep of Catholicism most notably in India, but also ventured into Japan, Borneo, the Moluccas, and other areas which had thus far not been visited by Christian missionaries. In these areas, being a pioneer and struggling to learn the local languages in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. It was a goal of Xavier to one day reach China.

India Road Motto: Blow Horn

During my 2009 trip to India , i guess i agree to the comment that if we want to find some mottoes for India, Blow Horn would certainly be one. Not only is this motto plastered on the back of most trucks, every other vehicle driver practices it religiously. Basically it appears a way of saying, I'm behind you (or passing you) and I want you to move over or just know I'm here. There's no malice.  People tend to blow horns at the drop of a hat: night, day, wherever and whenever. A vehicle horn may be  a warning that I am millimetres away from being mowed down as I attempt to cross an obstacle courses which passes itself off as a road.

 A traveller even noted in her blog her observation of india road rules. Although she has not actually driven a car in India,  After careful consideration, she  come up with the following guidelines for correct horn usage a la India style.

• Beep if you see a horse.
• Beep if you see a cow.
• Beep if you see a camel.
• Beep if you see an elephant.
• Beep if you see a pig.
• Beep if you see another car.
• Beep if you see a truck.
• Beep if you see a motorcycle.
• Beep if you see a toy car (technically these are known as autos—they are green and small and have three wheels, use CNG, and are everywhere).
• Beep if you are about the merge.
• Beep if you are illegally going through a red light.
• Beep if you are not going to stop at the stop sign.
• Beep if you are changing lanes.
• Beep if you don’t believe in lanes.
• Beep if you are about to get hit.
• Beep if you think you are about to get hit.
• Beep if you think the guy next to you is thinking of hitting you.
• Beep if you are about to hit someone.
• Beep if you are thinking about doing something that would hit someone.
• Beep if you are about to hit something.
• Beep if you are about thinking about doing something that would hit something.
• Beep if you see an accident.
• Beep if a car is stopped in front of you (in this case continue beeping until the person moves regardless of if they can do anything about it).
• Beep if you haven’t hit your horn at any point in the past 30 seconds.
• A single beep cannot count towards two of the above at once. For example if you see both another car that is about to hit you and a cow, you should beep three full times (once for the car, once for the cow, once for almost being hit)

“Blow Horn” is painted on just about every truck in India, and for good reason. The vehicle horn has a definite purpose. Please keep in mind that while these general mandates are not followed by everyone and are not legally binding—they are the norm (and only slightly exaggerated- perhaps).The horn is a multi-purpose tool for all occasions. It can take the place of:

• headlights (two short taps)
• orange side indicators (tap a few times as other vehicles part)
• brake (hold down until in the clear)
• rear- and side-view mirrors (tap sporadically until required manoeuvre executed)
• Western-style emergency horn as above (hold down with gusto for ten seconds, yelling of expletives optional)

Upon my return here in the Philippines, the first thing i did was to visit an ear doctor to check if i still have my hearing senses intact and without perforated eardrums.

Leaping at taj mahal

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Agra, India October  2009.

As they say "When in Rome, do what the Romans do." Now, i may say "When in India, do what the Hindus do."

Travelling yesterday to Taj Mahal is a lonely planet experience for me. Imagine travelling in a bus filled with Indians and i am the only foreigner in the bus. A needle in the hay stock perhaps.

For 500 rupies ( or P500.00), i joined a local tour to the magnificent Taj and other spots in Agra and the neighboring places upon recommendation of the hotel operator where i am staying. The bus left around 7:30a.m., very late i suppose since the other tour that i browsed upon states that the bus should leave delhi at around 6:00 a.m.

We arrived at Agra at around 12:30 noon. After eating lunch, i entered the Taj Mahal compound around 2:00p.m. and went out after two hours.

My original purpose was to have a picture of the real Taj Mahal as the background. I had one picture of the replica shot in Japan last year from one of their amusement parks in Kinogawa-onsen.

For local Indians, the entrance fee is 20 rupies, However, for foreign tourists, one has to shell out 750 rupies.

Nevertheless, a trip to the Taj is very overwhelming experience. What I just hear and see in the books and documentation is now in front of me. And the nearer you come to the structure, the more that you will be amazed with this Wonder of the World. The Taj Mahal is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles. Staring and touching the walls is very gratifying as the Taj utilizes bas-relief and pietra dura inlaid decorations with floral motifs. The vaulted ceilings and walls have elaborate geometric designs.

I was told that the Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia and over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials. The translucent white marble was brought from Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab, jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, twenty eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.

Trivia or urban legend: the fingers of those who worked in Taj Mahal were decapitated so that they can not replicate thier work.

Later in the evening, we visited the birth place of Krishna in Mathura. He is often depicted as an infant, as a young boy playing a flute as in the Bhagavata Purana,[1]or as a youthful prince giving direction and guidance as in the Bhagavad Gita. We also visited another site, Nandivan, whose architecture is a site to visit.