India is known for many wonders and paradoxes. There is an uncommon tale of two Indian families which are progressive and unique in their own ways. One is officially recognized for its caste-and-religion less identity, and the other is ISO Certified. Based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, both the families are the first and only to have been certified for their exemplary distinctions.

We at Travel Beats, an overseas Indian community portal by Indian Eagle Travel, explored what make these two families an absolute departure from a typical Indian family.

Indian Family with Official ‘No Caste, No Religion’ Certificate

In India, M. A. Sneha and her family is the first and only to have neither any religion nor any caste. Earlier this year, 35-year-old M. A. Sneha, an advocate by profession, was issued a formal ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate by the government of Tamil Nadu. Her family – parents, siblings, husband and children – has not been using any religion or caste as either a prefix or suffix to their name or identity.

Her 9-year-long fight to obtain an official ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate was finally rewarded with recognition to the way he was brought up in a secular environment. Her parents never mentioned any caste or religion in her birth and academic certificates. Even her wedding was solemnized in a non-religious manner devoid of age-old traditions and customs.

Following the ideals of her parents, M. A. Sneha has named her three daughters showing no attachment or affiliation to any caste or religion. She even never fills in the caste and religion blanks in her daughters’ application forms for school and extracurricular activities. Like her parents, she continues to fight casteism and communalism in India.

“When the government can issue community certificates, why not I get a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate,” was the revolutionary thought that pushed this progressive Indian to continue her efforts to be officially known only for her individuality and nationality after the initial rejection of her letters to the government authorities in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. Her family and she believe in supporting the communities oppressed in the name of caste and religion.

Indian Family with ISO 9000 Certification

The Surana family in Chennai is the first and only Indian household to have received an ISO certification and held it for the past 18 years. If you ever happen to visit the ISO 9000 Certified Surana household in Chennai, you will be treated as more than a guest to not only have a cup of tea with snacks but rate your experience of their hospitality, based on a set of parameters including quality of food served to you, in a feedback form.

Actually, every visitor or guest to India’s first and only ISO Certified Surana family is a ‘temporary customer.’ Not only outsiders, but also each member of Chennai’s Surana family has a designation and a definite role to play in the day-to-day household affairs, in compliance with the ISO guidelines. 68-year-old Surana is the Household Head, and his 63-year-old wife Leela is the Household Representative. Their daughter-in-law Rashmi is the Management Representative, while their son is a loyal customer of the family. Interestingly, each of them has been given an individual manual of work instructions in keeping with their designations.

Like ISO certified companies or organizations in manufacturing and services industries, the Surana & Surana Household in Chennai is committed to deliver on quality management and quality assurance of international standards in personal hygiene, housekeeping, food catering, guest management and facility management. India’s ISO Certified Surana family makes on-demand purchases at equal intervals. They buy perishable things like fruits and vegetables every other day from certified vendors having a good rating on quality and hygiene. Their three domestic helps strictly follow a checklist of daily cleaning and maintenance tasks.

A typical Indian household spends over 160 hours a year on discussing the daily menu, as per the stats available. But the Surana family revises the menu once in a month to save time. Every item from the kitchen to the storeroom is properly labeled leaving no chance for ambiguity and kept in an order, as per the ISO guidelines. The pictorial labels on the periodically cleaned containers serve the motto, “Everything in its place and a place for everything.” Any food containing preservatives or having a chemical coating is banned in Chennai’s ISO Certified Surana household. Even the meals are served with inimitable clockwork precision.

In addition to periodic internal audits, two BIS audits are annually conducted to make sure that the Surana family abides by the ISO guidelines on quality and management to continue to hold the prestigious ISO Certification. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the nodal agency for the certification. Notably, the audits cost India’s first ISO Certified Surana household Rs 90,000 a year.

Travel Beats, a subsidiary of Indian Eagle, publishes latest visa, immigration, passport, aviation and Indian diaspora news stories. A leading travel booking partner of Indians in USA, Indian Eagle not only guarantees lowest airfares for flights to India but also strives to promote achievements of overseas Indian communities. 

The post A Tale of Two Indian Families: One is Certified for No Caste, No Religion and the Other is ISO Certified appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Indian Railways, the world’s fourth largest railway network and eighth largest employer as of 2017, did supposedly take the first step towards mitigating open defecation in British India. We do all know that the British had introduced railways in the colonized India, but what many of us don’t know is who was responsible for the introduction of toilets on trains in India.

The first commercial train journey in (British) India took place between Bombay and Thane in 1853. The 14-carriage passenger train deployed for achieving the first historic milestone in becoming the transport lifeline of India had its debut run without a toilet back then. Passenger trains were equipped with toilets after the railway network had gradually spread to the erstwhile provinces of Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan over a period of five to six decades.

If Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor General of India, is hailed as the father of Indian Railways, the father of toilets in railways is a dhoti-clad Indian named Okhil Chandra Sen from the then undivided Bengal (Bengal Presidency).

Photo Credit: Nationalgeographic.com (right)

An aggrieved Okhil Chandra Sen’s letter of complaint, in broken English, to the Sahibganj divisional railway office drew attention to the discomfort and inconvenience of passengers for the lack of toilet facility during train travel in 1909-1910 when the nationwide protests, including Swadeshi Movement, against the Partition of Bengal were in full swing. The letter reads:

“Dear Sir,

I am arrive by passenger train at Abmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance the guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lota in one hand and dhoti in the next. When I am fall over and expose all my shockings to man and woman on platform. I am got leaved at Abmedpur station.

This too much bad, if passengers go to make dung, the damn guard not wait train five minutes for him? I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake otherwise I am making big report to papers.

Your’s faithfully servant,

Okhil Ch. Sen”

Okhil Chandra Sen’s hilarious letter of his frustration, written in broken English, cut an ice with the British railway authorities and paved the way for toilets to lower-class passenger trains running more than 50 miles in those days. Undeniably, this Bengali made it possible for millions of travelers to answer the nature’s call comfortably onboard during train travel across the country.

A hand-painted copy of the letter, an important document in the history of Indian Railways, is on display at the National Rail Museum in New Delhi. This November 19 is the World Toilet Day.

This story about the introduction of toilets on Indian trains is brought to you as part of the campaign, “Explore India with Indian Eagle”, aiming to promote what is lesser-known about India through our overseas Indian community portal, Travel Beats. Travel Beats is a subsidiary of Indian Eagle Travel, a leading international air travel booking partner of Indians abroad. 

The post An Indian’s Hilarious Letter in Broken English Helped Get Toilets on Trains in British India appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

The Tirupati Balaji Temple in Andhra Pradesh is known as one of the richest Indian temples and the highest-earning Hindu shrines in the world. Speculations about the Tirupati Tirumala Temple’s annual revenue or monthly income or daily earnings are always high. The hundi at the Tirumala shrine of Lord Venkateswara attracts cash offerings worth up to Rs. 3 crore on a daily basis, except during the 6-day Vedic ceremony, Astabandhana Balalaya Maha Samprokshanam, when restricted entry of devotees into the shrine brings daily cash offerings down to Rs. 73 lakh.

Recently, a demigod of the global IT industry has surfaced to beat the Tirupati Balaji Temple’s income from devotees’ cash offerings to the hundi. The demigod is none other than Google CEO Sundar Pichai whose salary is another interesting subject of curiosity among netizens. “Is Sundar Pichai a billionaire?”, “Sundar Pichai net worth”, “Sundar Pichai vs Mukesh Ambani net worth”, “Sundar Pichai income” are some of the most searched topics in Google.

One of the richest Indian American CEOs, Sundar Pichai who hails from the temple town of Madurai in South India has earned Rs. 1470 crores in the US fiscal 2018, as per the available reports. It means that a daily average earning of Rs. 4 crore totals up Sundar Pichai’s income in the FY 2018 and thereby making him beat the Tirupati Balaji Temple’s income from cash offerings by a few crores in Indian currency.

In the fiscal 2019, Sundar Pichai’s annual income would have been more than Rs. 1470 crores if he had not turned down a grant of unvested stock worth $58 million / Rs. 405 crore from Google Alphabet in 2018. The reason he gave for refusing to take an additional Rs. 405 crore is that he was already being paid enough. He got stocks worth $250 million in 2014 when he wore the hat of Google CEO.

“What does he think of himself? How could he outdo Lord Venkateswara in daily income and become the highest earning South Indian icon? Last month the Padmanabhaswamy Temple tried to surpass the Tirupati Balaji Temple’s income, but failed,” said some residents of the temple town.

However, if the Tirupati Tirumala Temple’s revenue is taken into account in its totality from several different sources, such as sale of laddu prasadam, accommodation of devotees, sale of hair from devotees’ tonsured heads and interest on gold deposits in banks, other than cash offerings to the hundi, it is double of Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s annual income.

A little more than Rs. 3 billion of the Tirupati Balaji Temple’s annual income comes from the sale of laddu prasadam and the auction of hair donated by hundreds of thousands of devotees at the hilltop shrine. Notably, many Indian American businesspersons and CEOs catch flights to Chennai from USA for a visit to the Tirumala Balaji Temple in Tirupati and donate to the temple hundi.

The post Tirupati Lord Balaji vs Sundar Pichai: Internet Speculates Who Earns More These Days appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

The Internet and media went gaga on the Rs-720-cr Isha Ambani wedding in December 2018. Now the stories of Akash Ambani wedding are inundating social media. Splendors of big fat Indian weddings do often eclipse the message of usual Indian weddings having a difference. Unlike the multi-billion-dollar Ambani family weddings, there are many Indian weddings on a shoe-string budget, which have proved that a wedding can be unforgettable and memorable if it serves a greater purpose for community welfare.

We at Travel Beats, an Indian diaspora portal by Indian Eagle Travel, curated eight unusual Indian weddings with a humanitarian difference, which may make you forgo the magnificence and extravagance of big fat Indian weddings.

Guests became organ donors at this Indian wedding

When Asia’s richest business tycoon Mukesh Ambani was busy with his son’s lavish engagement in Goa, Aurangabad-based Omkar Deshpande married off his sister in an unconventional wedding ceremony that created history. Both the families – the bride’s and the groom’s – promoted plantation, blood donation and organ donor registration at the wedding. Saplings were distributed to the guests, with an urge to grow them with the same attention as they give to the needs of their children. Having no belief in verbal blessings and prayers, the families entreated the guests to donate blood in an act of blessing the newlywed couple. They went on to create awareness about organ donation at the wedding venue. 20 people including the bride and the groom registered as organ donor.

18000 widows were invited to this Indian wedding

Unlike the Ambani family weddings studded with Bollywood celebs and diplomats from the US, the wedding of a Gujarati businessman’s son was graced by 18,000 widows in 2017. Jitendra Patel, a diamond merchant of Mehsana invited widows from all over Gujarat to his son’s wedding in order to break the taboo that widows’ presence in a wedding brings bad luck to the newlywed couple. Further, each of the widows returned with a blanket and a sapling. Of them were 500 economically disadvantaged widows, each of who was given a milking cow for sustenance. Evidently, it was one of the most unusual Indian weddings.

Budget for this Indian wedding funds wedding of 100 poor girls

Gopal Vastapara, a real estate merchant from Gujarat, got his son married in one of unusual Indian weddings. He held a simple ceremony and spent the savings to fund the wedding of 100 underprivileged girls in his village in 2016. He not only bore wedding expenses for those girls of Chamardi Village in Amreli district of Gujarat, but also gifted them household items. Unlike the Ambanis who spent Rs. 3 lakh on the daughter’s wedding card per invitee, Gopal Vastapara pledged to sponsor mass weddings for economically weaker families for the next 10 years.

This Indian wedding’s budget funds homes for 90 needy families

Unlike the Ambanis who have planned for their son Akash Ambani’s bachelor party in Switzerland for crores, Maharashtra-based businessman Manoj Munot built homes for 90 underprivileged families using the money he had saved for his daughter’s wedding. He allotted Rs. 1.5 crore to the building of 90 cottages for the needy by relinquishing the extravagance of big fat Indian weddings. 90 poor families including his servants got access to safe drinking water and electricity at their new residence. All thanks to unusual Indian weddings!

This Indian wedding’s budget funds RO water plant for rural people

Jayant Bhole and his family from Maharashtra made headlines for choosing philanthropy over the pomp of lavish Indian weddings in 2017. Their only son’s wedding was devoid of the trappings of big fat Indian weddings, like royal feasting, flamboyant settings and chopper flights. Jayant Bhole donated a lump sum from the wedding budget to help build a RO water plant for the people of Varkhede village in Jalgaon District of Maharashtra. They spent neither on firecrackers nor on band baja for the wedding.

This Indian bride asked for 10,000 saplings instead of gold

Unlike the richest Indian billionaire’s daughter Isha Ambani who received a Rs-450-crore sea-facing bungalow from her in-laws, Priyanka Bhadoria, a 22-year-old science graduate in Madhya Pradesh, asked for 10,000 saplings instead of gold and diamonds as a wedding gift from her in-laws. Conscious of widespread deforestation and depleting water level in her village, Priyanka broke loose from the age-old tradition and stunned everyone with her unusual wish for the ceremonial gift. In another unusual Indian wedding, a bride in Haryana interrupted the nuptial proceeding before taking the seven wedding vows and asked the groom to promise that he would fund the education of 11 needy girls.

This Indian wedding’s budget funds education of farmers’ children

Indian weddings with a difference include the wedding of IRS officer Abhay Deware, a farmer’s son in Amravati district of Maharashtra where many farmers have committed suicide because of crop failures and mounting debts. Encouraged by former President Pranab Mukherjee to be a socio-economic change maker, Abhay Deware donated the money set aside for his wedding to 10 farmer families for the education of their children. He also donated books worth Rs. 52000 to five rural libraries. Whereas big fat Indian weddings are in vogue, he had a registry marriage followed by a humble reception. The reception venue was decked with inspirational posters, instead of traditional flower décor, to motivate guests to do something for the underprivileged.

This ecofriendly Indian wedding saw 258 grooms on bicycles 

Unlike the multi-billion-dollar Ambani weddings deploying hundreds of chartered flights and luxury cars for the guests, Surat in Gujarat witnessed one of the most unusual weddings when 258 bridegrooms, along with their relatives and guests, paddled bicycles to the wedding venue. A part of the mass wedding event in Surat, the environment-friendly initiative set an example for noisy wedding processions and created awareness about the rising air pollution.

Brought to you by Indian Eagle, a leading online travel booking organization, this article is not a bashing of Ambani family weddings. Rather, the article is intended to promote unusual Indian wedding with a difference, which don’t get media attention as much as big fat Indian weddings do.

The post Unusual Indian Weddings with a Difference vs Multi-billion-dollar Ambani Family Weddings appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Post the US elections 2016 and the rise of Donald Trump to the supreme Presidential power of America, India witnessed the birth of a new human god. Before and after Trump ascended to the hot seat of US President, some sacred Hindu rituals including yagna (holy fire) were performed in honor of the newborn god in some parts of India. The new god does even share space with traditional Hindu gods and is worshipped daily in a rural India household. He is none other than US President Donald Trump himself.

While President Trump might have invited flaks for his rigorous take on US visas and immigration, his wellbeing is prayed for and his birthday is ceremonially celebrated in an Indian village. While he has critics and opponents within and outside the US, he enjoys divine stardom in rural India. The sincerest of all his fans, followers, admirers and well-wishers is Bussa Krishna in Telangana, thousands of miles away from the United States.

A 31-year-old farmer in Konne Village in Telangana’s Jangaon district, Bussa Krishna worships Donald Trump, offers prayers to him and adorns his photograph with flowers, vermilion as well as turmeric every day in his humble abode. He has installed a framed picture of Trump on a wooden altar just as effigies or imageries of gods are reverently placed in most Hindu households. He does also clean Trumpâ€s photograph with milk before worshiping it with an ignited lamp, a ritual called aarti that Hindus perform for gods and goddesses.

What made Bussa Krishna attribute divinity to Donald Trump and worship him became a universal question when it grabbed social media attention and made headlines the world over.

Worshipping eminent political figures is not an uncommon phenomenon in India. In addition to memorials and museums, brick and mortar temples have been consecrated to political personalities like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, and Mahatma Gandhi. Even Sonia Gandhi, former President of Indian National Congress, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been idolized for worship in temples built for them. Political pilgrimage is an emerging trend in India.

Not only politicians but some actors and cricketers are treated as demigods by common people, especially in the southern states of India. A new Narendra Modi temple with a 100-foot idol has been proposed for Rs. 10 crore in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Surprisingly, Telangana’s villager and farmer Bussa Krishna does not know much about the US President Trump. Far from the most common act of political sycophancy, he admires and worships Trump out of his simplicity, values and faith in Trump’s invincible leadership. Media quoted him saying, “I only know that he is the strongest invincible leader in the world. What I liked about him was his bold attitude.”

Another reason why Bussa Krishna revers Trump as a god is his steadfast belief that his prayers to the US President would reach Americans one day and make them understand the ‘greatness of Indians’ post assassination of Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a software engineer from Telangana, in Kansas City. Krishna was deeply pained at the unjust murder of Srinivas Kuchibhotla in an abominable act of hate crime. He believes,

“Indians can win over anyone with their spiritual powers. When you cannot take on a mighty person directly, you can win over him with love and worship and that is what I am doing.”

When he was being laughed at for his efforts to reach out to Donald Trump thousands of miles away from India, social media saved him from being an object of ridicule in public. Some of Trump’s fans in the US responded to Bussa Krishna and thanked him on Facebook. One of the Trump supporters wrote to him, “I am glad to see that there are people like you who recognize what a great President we have.”

Book Cheapest Flights to Hyderabad

The post This Telangana Villager Revers President Donald Trump as God and Worships Him Daily. Know Why appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

The Jodhpur Flamenco and Gypsy Festival is held at the Mehrangarh Fort in Rajasthan every year. The festival celebrates the music culture of the gypsy of Rajasthan by bringing alive their folk songs and dance on stage. This 3-day musical extravaganza in collaboration with the gypsy men and women of Rajasthan will commence on April 3 in 2019. It has lent a new lease of life to the gypsy culture of the desert. On Travel Beats, Indian Eagle explores the most interesting facts about the gypsy culture of Rajasthan in this article.

The gypsy tribe of Rajasthan is one of the nomad or vagabond communities in India. The origin of the tribe dates several centuries back. The people of this Rajasthani tribe belong to the lowest step of the socio-cultural and socio-economic ladder. They live a nomadic life and travel like a caravan from place to place. There is no permanent residence for them. They sleep under the open sky some times and in the shade of trees at times.

The Bopa and the Kalbeliya are two surviving groups of the gypsy tribe. The Bopa is a group of musicians and singers, whereas the Kalbeliya is a group of dancers and snake charmers. In the royal era of India, the kings of Rajasthan used to admire and patronize the people of the Bopa and the Kalbeliya for their performing arts. The musicians, singers and dancers of these two gypsy groups were often hired for entertainment on festive occasions in the royal families.

With the disappearance of royalty from Rajasthan, these tribal people have stooped to utter poverty. They have lost patronage and consequently, their traditional and decent livelihood that is live performance for entertainment at majestic palaces as well as forts. Today, they are street performers on the move. They perform to entertain a common lot, not a royal audience, in the fairs and festivals of Rajasthan. That is why the gypsy men and women of the Bopa and the Kalbeliya have become a common face of Pushkar Camel Fair in the sands of Rajasthan.

INFOGRAPHIC  The Story of Chittorgarh Fort

The Kalbeliya has many female dancers who perform and entertain on any occasion of joy in their community. Dancing is unique to their socio-cultural identity. Once a matter of cultural pride and recognition of the communal identity, dancing helps the Kalbeliya women make their ends meet. The Kalbeliya men became snake charmers for the sake of survival in the changing socio-economic scenario.

The swirling moves that gypsy women make while dancing resemble to the movements of snakes. The serpentine style of their dance is sensuous at times. They gracefully spin around themselves putting the entire body weight on their ankles. The way the gypsy women of Rajasthan are dressed is a kaleidoscopic magic of embroidery in different hues. Their red, black, yellow and orange outfits camouflage with the colorful milieu of Rajasthan. They are often referred to as queens of the desert.

READ  The Haunting Stories of the Haunted Fort

The gypsy men are accomplished masters of folk music. They have genetically inherited the art of playing different musical instruments including dholak, been, khanjari, pungi, morchang, and khuralio. The been is played to enchant and tame snacks. The khanjari is a percussion instrument, and the pungi is a woodwind instrument. The women perform in rhythm of the music produced by the men. The harmony of their performances is amazing!

The gypsy men are no less wonderful than their counterparts in look and appearance. They cover their heads with colorful turbans, which steal the show even from a distance. The piece of the garment that they wear on the upper part of the body is richly embroidered and embellished with delicate mirror work. Both men and women of the gypsy tribe wear plain silver jewellery.

The theme of the Kalbelia songs is inspired by the stories from the folklore of Rajasthan. Some in the gypsy tribe are blessed with the rare talent of composing lyrics for songs. The gypsy music passes through generations like an art of inheritance. In 2010, the UNESCO incorporated the folk songs and dance forms of Rajasthan from the Bopa and the Kalbeliya into its Intangible Heritage List.

A majority of the gypsy population in Ajmer, Chittorgarh and Udaipur belongs to the untouchable caste, which keeps them off from the mainstream society. The Satiyaa group of the gypsy men and women from Rajasthan celebrates death and mourns birth, contrary to the normal system of society. The death of any family member calls for celebration among these gypsies of Rajasthan. A procession of dancers, singers and drummers is organized to take the dead to the funeral ground for crematorium.

About Indian Eagle

Indian Eagle is a USA based leading international travel organization inspiring tourists to explore India and booking their flights at the lowest airfare. Book cheap air tickets to India to explore India’s cultural diversity and offbeat attractions.    

The post Rajasthan’s Gypsy Tribe: Interesting Facts about Kalbeliya Music and Dance appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Among the most interesting stories of India are stories of the few offbeat temples which are known for unusual offerings to the presiding deities. The unusual offerings to some of these Indian temples are age-old traditions, while devotees make offbeat offerings to some temples out of their unconventional beliefs. We at Travel Beats, an Indian Diaspora community portal by Indian Eagle Travel offer you a walk through some of these temples to leave you with a gaping mouth in wonder. 

Devotees Offer Chocolates to Munch Murugan in Kerala 

If you happen to visit the Chemmoth Sree Subramaniya Swami Temple in Kerala, make sure to offer Munch chocolates to the deity Munch Murugan. How the deity, the son of Lord Shiva, came to be known as Munch Murugan is one of the interesting stories of India. The deity developed a sweet tooth for chocolates since a Muslim boy offered a Munch to him. One day the boy rang the temple bell for fun and got scolded for doing so. He fell sick that night and kept chanting Murugan’s name unconsciously. The next morning, his parents took him to the temple. When the boy felt better, the priest asked him to offer something to the deity as it is a tradition. The boy took a Munch out of his pocket and put it on the altar. Since then Munch Murugan has been receiving loads of Munch chocolates from children who visit the temple to pray for good marks in examinations.

Devotees Get Books & DVDs as Prasad at Lord Shiva Temple in Kerala

Do you ever expect to get CDs, DVDs or textbooks as holy prasad in exchange of your offerings at some temple? If yes, travel to India and visit the Lord Shiva Temple at the National Heritage Center in Thrissur, Kerala. The temple authorities believe that knowledge is the best gift of God and that devotees should be blessed with it. That is why knowledge dissemination through distribution of books and writing materials is considered the holiest prasad to visitors at this temple in Kerala.

Lord Vishnu is Offered Different Types of Dosa in Madurai

Alagar Temple in Madurai is one of the unique places to visit in India for unusual offering to the deity. Originally named Kallazhagar Temple, it is a temple of Lord Vishnu. At this Madurai temple, the deity is offered different types of dosas (a South Indian delicacy) which are later distributed as prasad among devotees. Devotees on visit to the temple bring grains which are used to make crispy dosas. The first dosa is offered to Lord Vishnu and the rest is distributed to visitors after prayers.

Devotees Get Fruit Jam as Prasad at Lord Murugan Temple in Tamil Nadu

What devotes are given at Lord Murugan Temple in Tamil Nadu is among the interesting facts about Incredible India. Located in the Palani Hills, the temple is known for offering a unique prasad to devotees. The prasad is no traditional sweet but jam made of jaggery, sugar candy and five fruits. The holy jam is known as Panchamritham. The temple has got a plant where the jam is manufactured.

Liquor is Offered to Khabees Baba Temple in Uttar Pradesh

The Khabees Baba Temple at 80 km distance from Lucknow in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is one of the most offbeat places to visit in India. Surprisingly, there is neither any idol nor any priest at this temple, except a pair of two slipper-shaped structures on an elevated platform that seems to be an altar. Visitors offer liquor to the altar at the Khabees Baba Temple in Lucknow out of devotion to a mystic saint who is believed to have lived there 150 years back. Devotees receive a portion of the liquor offered here.

Clocks and Watches are Offered to Brahma Baba Temple in Uttar Pradesh  

Image Credit: Wishesh.com

If the offering of alcohol and chocolates to deities (mentioned above) does not surprise you, visit Brahma Baba’s Temple in Uttar Pradesh and see what devotees offer to please the deity there. Devotees of all religions – Hinduism, Islam and Christianity – offer clocks and watches as tokens of gratitude towards the deity for fulfilling their wishes. Among the most interesting stories of India, the story of Brahma Baba Temple dates back to the time when a man asked the deity to bless him with driving skills. When he began to drive, he offered a clock as a thanksgiving gift to the temple. Since then it has been a tradition at Brahma Baba Temple. Surprisingly, there is neither security nor any priest to take care of the temple.

Chinese Dishes are Offered to a Temple of Goddess Kali in Kolkata   

A visit to the Chinese Kali Temple in Chinatown is the most interesting things to do in Kolkata. The temple is named so since the Chinese residents of Chinatown worship Goddess Kali. They offer different Chinese dishes like noodles, dim sum and chopsuey, not traditional Indian sweets to the deity. The worshipping of Goddess Kali by the Chinese inhabitants of Chinatown in Kolkata is also an instance of religious tolerance in India.

Toy Planes are Offered to a Gurudwara in Punjab for Visa Approval  

Why Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh Gurudwara in Jalandhar is called Airplane Gurudwara or Hawai Jahaj Gurudwara is one of the interesting stories of India. Devotees offer toy airplanes as prasad to this offbeat temple in Punjab as they believe that this unconventional offering will result in visa approval for them and fulfill their dreams of going abroad. And that’s why many shops outside the temple sell toy aircrafts.

Devotees Get Prasad with Rat Saliva in Karni Mata Temple in Rajasthan  

Karni Mata Temple in Bikaner, Rajasthan, is one of the most offbeat places to visit in India. It is a temple of about 20,000 black rats which are kabbas and considered holy. The prasad brought by devotees for the deity is also offered to the rats. Then devotees receive the prasad laced with rat saliva, which is believed to bring good luck to them.

Devotees Get Cloth Moist with Menstrual Fluid at Kamakhya Temple in Assam

Kamakhya Devi Temple in Assam is one of the most offbeat destinations in India. What is offered to devotees in return of their visit to the temple during the famous Ambubachi Festival in June is one of the most unconventional and interesting stories of India. The Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati remains closed for the first three days of the festival and opens its door on the fourth day when small pieces of cloth moist with the supposedly menstrual fluid of the goddess are distributed as prasad to thousands of devotees who gather at the temple complex on this occasion.

Bottles of Wine are Offered to Kal Bhairav Nath Temple in Madhya Pradesh

Kal Bhairav Nath Temple of Ujjain is one of the most popular Shiva shrines in India. The guardian deity of Ujjain City in Madhya Pradesh, Kal Bhairav Nath is offered bottles of wine every day. Evidently wine is the only holy prasad given to devotees at Kal Bhairav Nath Temple. Different brands of wine are available outside the temple throughout the year. The temple was built during the Maratha regime, according to some Maratha legends.

Devotees Get Jaggery Water from the Mouth of Lord Vishnu Idol in Andhra Pradesh

Panakala Narasimha Swamy Temple in Andhra Pradesh is one of the few Indian temples which are known for unusual offerings to deities. An idol of Lord Vishnu in Narasimha avatar (sphinx) is worshipped at this temple on the top of Mangalagiri Hils. As per the age-old tradition of this temple, jaggery water is poured into the mouth of the idol. It is believed that when the deity feels full, half of the jaggery water comes back out of the mouth and it is distributed as holy prasad to devotees.

Travel to India

India is an endless saga of incredible stories, offbeat tourist places and interesting things. Travel on cheap flights to India and explore the country’s kaleidoscopic diversity. Subscribe to Travel Beats for more such stories and get discount airfare deals for India.   

The post Interesting Stories of Offbeat Indian Temples and Unusual Offerings to Deities appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Merit and talent knows no geographical bounds. Even the strictest US visa norms and immigration policy cannot keep brilliant brains of India away from the borders of Trump’s America. Recently, Sudeeksha Bhati, daughter of a poor tea seller from a village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh bagged a Rs. 3.8-crore scholarship to study in the United States. Adding to our rejoicing in her achievement is Aditya Paliwal from Mumbai, who has grabbed the rarest opportunity to work in Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) research team in New York.

Nothing seems better than Google’s residency program with a pay cheque of Rs. 1.2 crore per annum for 22-year-old Aditya Paliwal to kick off his career. An IIIT-Bangalore graduate, Aditya is one of the luckiest 50 in the world, including five from India, who have been selected for the residency program at Google’s AI research wing in the United States.

While pursuing an integrated M.Tech dual degree program at IIIT-Bangalore, Aditya Paliwal interned with Google in 2017. During the internship, he got to know about Google’s 1-year residency program in AI research. As he is more inclined to research than a full-time job at the current phase, he found the program a stepping stone for his career in future. Besides, he is interested in Artificial Intelligence, the future of technology.

Mumbai-based Aditya can quit Google’s residency program in AI research to study PhD next year or continue the program beyond the 1-year tenure or convert the program into a full-time career. However, the chance to continue the program or convert it into a permanent job depends on his performance during the tenure of the program in New York.

His teachers are eloquent about his academic accomplishments and his expertise in coding. He is a meritorious, bright and promising student, according Professor Muralidhara V N, an Associate Professor at IIIT-Bengaluru. He was among the finalists of the 2017-2018 ACM International Collegiate Programing contest held for coding and computer language enthusiasts.

Handpicked from among 6000 participants the world over for Google’s residency program in AI research, Aditya Paliwal will join the tech giant’s AI team in New York on July 16, 2018. The other four from India selected for the same program are from IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee and IIT Madras.

Travel Beats is an Indian community portal by Indian Eagle, a leading international travel organization. We celebrate the achievements of young Indians across the world and publish the Indian Diaspora news besides sharing regular updates on air travel, India tourism, US visa and immigration.

The post 22-year-old Aditya Paliwal from IIIT Bangalore Bags Rs 1.2-crore Package to Join Google in USA appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

Theme-based restaurants and parks are passé. A theme-based crematorium is the latest talk of the hour, both online and offline. Antim Udan Moksha Airport in Gujarat, the first of its kind in India, puts the departing souls of the dead cremated here on international flights to the heaven for ultimate salvation or moksha: freedom from the cycle of birth and death.

Located in Gujarat’s Bardoli on the banks of Mindhola River, the crematorium is modeled on an airport and equipped with two giant replicas of aircraft. The airplane replicas at Antim Udan Moksha Airport in Gujarat are named Moksha (salvation) airlines and Swarga (heaven) airlines which seem to transport the souls from the earth to the heaven on cremation of dead bodies here.

What’s the most interesting about Antim Udan Moksha Airport in Gujarat is the airport-like announcement which is made to guide funeral parties on entry into the crematorium and instruct them where to keep the body, how to proceed for cremation, etc. There is very little difference between the announcement made at the crematorium and that at airports as well as in planes.

What makes the crematorium more like an airport is the typical noise that an aircraft makes while taking off. A similar noise is created when dead bodies are placed in furnace at Antim Udan Moksha Airport in Gujarat. The atmosphere of the airport-themed crematorium is intended to soothe the mourning family members under the impression that the dead depart for salvation in the heaven.

Also Read This Temple Offers Divine Pens for Success

Somabhai Patel, the President of Antim Udan Moksha Airport, says that he wants the people of Bardoli to recognize the crematorium as a salvation airport where the souls take flight to the heaven from once dead bodies are cremated. People from 40 villages in and around Bardoli come to the airport-themed crematorium for the last rites of their dear and near ones.

The word ‘crematorium’ sounds harsh and signifies a hard-hearted reality that everyone is destined to meet with, according to Somabhai Patel. That is why; it is replaced with the word ‘airport.’ Antim Udan Moksha Airport has five furnaces including 3 electric furnaces and 2 traditional funeral pyres.

Indian Eagle is a leading travel organization booking cheap international flights to Ahmedabad, Delhi, Amritsar, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Jaipur, Goa and other cities in India. The lowest airfare, along with the best service is guaranteed at Indian Eagle.

The post Gujarat’s Antim Udan Moksha Airport is India’s First Airport Themed Crematorium for Salvation appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

It is said that what’s not in India can’t be found anywhere in the world. Let’s reverse the statement like what’s not found anywhere in the world is found in India. Truly, India is an incredible land of surprises, secrets, innovations, antiques and offbeat things. Among the few offbeat temples of India, which are known for unusual offerings and unconventional beliefs, a Lord Shiva Temple in Kerala offers CDs, DVDs and textbooks to devotees in return of their offerings to the deity out of the belief, “Knowledge is the best gift of god.”

A temple in the Indian state of Gujarat recently came to the rescue of school students preparing for the class 10^th and 12^th final examinations, by offering divine pens to make them come out with flying colors in the exams. An incredible solution to hundreds of thousands of students grappling with the conflict between success and failure! The pens are supposed to help students answer uncommon questions and critical problems in the exam papers.

The Kashthabhanjan Temple in Gujarat’s Panchmahal district released a poorly designed handbill to make parents aware of the pens as divine blessings for their children in distress. The handbills tick all the boxes of a typical print advertisement, including attention-seeking bold typography, eye-catching color, and thought-provoking questions.

Like a perfect advertisement, the handbills target the sentiments of parents who are worried about their children’s performance in exams, by putting such questions across to them as “Do you want your child to pass his exam?” ‘Are you worried that your child may lose a year due to poor results?” “Do you wish your child passes his class 8, 9, 10, 12 or college exams?”

The handbill from this Gujarat temple offering divine pens to school students has gone viral on social media, eliciting a mixed response from across the demography. It has raised eyebrows in cynicism on one hand and evoked laughter on the other hand. It’s the latest fun talk of the town in Incredible India. It has fetched farcical comments like “Play and have fun throughout the year. Qualify exams using Bapuji’s pen.”

Dushyant Bapuji, who is recognized as a great devotee of Lord Hanuman, is the inventor of the divine pens at the Kashthabhanjan Temple in Gujarat. It is said that he made the pens using his divine power acquired from a Hanuman Saraswati Yagya. In ancient India, monks having a secluded existence in precarious, inaccessible regions of the Himalayas were believed to solve problems by means of their spiritual power and invoke solutions from the divine source.

A couple of pens in a set is priced at a whopping INR 1900 and comes with a guarantee of success to users. Dushyant Bapuji assures complete refund in case a user of the pen fails in exams. The note of assurance in the handbills reads, “If your student does not pass his examinations even after using our pen set, we will return the entire amount,” (translated from Gujarati language). The handbills featuring a picture of Dushyant Bapuji display 100% guarantee in bold letters at the top.

Only those providing a valid mobile number, a receipt of exam fees, a copy of admit card, and a copy of school/college ID card can buy the divine pens at the Kashthabhanjan Temple in Gujarat for their children’s stress-free performance and promising results in exams. The divine pens will not show magic if used in works other than exams.

Also Read Offbeat Stories of Incredible India

The post Indian Temple Offers Divine Pens to School Students with 100% Success Guarantee for INR 1900 appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.