A satellite view of Baanganga. Its the dark green quadrangle on the left.
If you have Google Earth: enter the co-ordinates as above, or in fractional degrees as:
18.945454N 72.793612E
But first, in PREFERENCES and the default VIEW tab, select "Degrees."
After a refreshing early morning run in Mumbai I recounted the route to my parents. I had run from Electric House, via Mantralaya, along the Chowpatty sea face, past Wilson College to the top of the hill.
"That's Walkeshwar hill!" my father informed, "and if you had gone a little further you would have reached Baanganga and the Walkeshwar devasthan (temple or mandir)." My father explained how the Baanganga - the fresh water spring only a few yards from the ocean - came to be by the grace of Shri Rama. Being a Bombayite, I prided myself on knowing every significant site here. How had I missed this important landmark while growing up only a few miles away? Perhaps I was not ready to walk here; here where Rama walked?
On my next day's run, I continued to the top of Walkeshwar hill and over to Baanganga. Here enroute to Lanka, Rama and Laxmana are believed to have rested. And here, I too removed my shoes and stretched my feet.
According to legend, Shri Rama and Laxmana did not find drinking water on this spit of land surrounded by salty ocean. Laxmana then shot an arrow into the ground, springing forth a stream of fresh water. The water pooled forming the Baanganga, (see pic above) refering to the purifying waters of river Ganga brought here by an arrow Baan.
For his prayers, Rama fashioned a linga from the sand, giving the area its name Walkeshwar (Wallu - sand + Ishwar - God). The crudely fashioned linga, with petrified finger marks is now enshrined in a tiny temple right across from the Baanganga.
It was Indu's recent post on Baanganga that inspired me to share these pics with you. The Walkeshwar mandir is to the left on this schematic. For bearings, the above pic was taken from the steps by the Ganapati mandir.
The Walkeshwar devasthan is a tiny shrine and I shot this pic from the doorway. You can see the Nandi (seated bull) in the small antaralaya - foreroom. Past the collection box on the left, the linga is slightly below ground level, under the watchful eyes of the Snake God. Early in the morning, all visitors can pour water on the linga (performing abhishek) and pray.
My fingers traced the ridges on this linga, where fingers had crudely moulded and the whole turned to stone. How many had touched this before me? The blessed Shri Rama! And Lakshmana too! And the millions and millions of devotees before me, thanking the divine for her munificence. And then I realized, how insignificant my life is. A tiny being, a tiny droplet from the ocean of Brahman - the Paramatman. I let the water flow over my fingers over the linga, and watched it swirl away into the unknown. Another devotee had offered a few bael leaves on the linga. I picked one up as a blessing from the divine, touched it to my forehead and carefully placed it in my running shorts.
I picked up my running shoes and walked around the numerous shrines, which have sprouted around this hallowed tank.
In front of the Walkeshwar Mandir, these steps lead to the tank itself. There is a tiny shrine to Ganesha in the niche in the wall, behind where the lady in the red saree is praying to Nandi. The rest of the family appeared to be enjoying their outing here. 
The little girl and the younger brother she held, were both mesmerized by the glinting waters of the Baanganga.
Yes! Its the shoes! It is my running shoes which bring me to fascinating places, where I meet fabulous people and take away great memories. And yes, everyday I run is a day to remember! If you see me smiling, its because I am running today!
Factories play an important role in India's rural economy. They provide jobs for local men and women, which translates into money to buy food, send kids to school, buy medicines if needed, repair and maintain a house and save some money. Villages and towns in India (as elsewhere in the world) don't need an handout, they need a hand-up! People are willing to work hard, but they need jobs with good working conditions and a decent pay. And customers who are willing to pay a fair price for their products. On every visit to rural india my ears are alert for news of well run companies creating jobs for locals.
In the Konkan town of Kumta, I visited the Sahyadri Cashew Processing factory run by Mr Murlidhar Prabhu. He is a cousin of a cousin. 
I was particularly impressed that he hired a lot of women in his factory. Of the more than 250 people he employs, only 8 were men and more than 240 were women. WoW!
"But do they like working here," I asked. "Most of our new workers are younger daughters, sisters, and relatives of those already working here," he explained, implying that if the pay was not good, or work conditions onerous, workers would not be bringing other family members in to work. Within a few years of working the women are able to save a decent amount of money. They generally leave when they get married and move out of town. Their ability to earn a living also makes them more marriageable, to a better person and gives them the confidence to seek other jobs wherever they move.
We need more such social entrepreneurs in the villages and towns of India. No! We do not need more television sets, or dainty models selling shampoo, or fancy soaps. Certainly not coffee shops or liquor bars or 'menthol' cigarettes or posh grocery stores. So the next time you munch on the nuts, remember all the folks working in the factories in rural india and elsewhere whose job depends on your choices. Did I mention nuts are actually very good for you?
How are Cashew Nuts Processed
cashew fruit pic from an Indian Cashew Trade Association website.
The hard, gray, raw cashew seeds, perched below the fruit are collected and dried. Seeds are first steamed and allowed to cool in large heaps on the factory floor. The quick heating and cooling causes the kernel to separate from the shell. Operating steam boilers and loading /unloading large bags of cashew seeds was the only tasks in this factory performed by men. Women handled all other jobs here.
After cooling, women on tables with rudimentary cutters expertly position each seed in a v-grip using the hand lever. Then a foot operated lever snips the outer shell longitudinally in half. Cut seeds tumble through a hopper to a basket on the floor.
... where another woman separates the whole nut kernel from the shell. The gray shell has corrosive agents and women rub oil on their hands to protect from the corrosive effects. The shells are sold off to companies which extract oils, which are apparently an important ingredient in marine paint used on ships and docks. May explain why most ships are painted gray?
Collected nuts are dried in an oven, making the skin brittle and easy to remove. While I suffer at this chore, the women fly through at a dizzying speed. They use a tiny knife to scrape and release the skin on the inner surface of the nut. Then the rest of the skin just falls off. Preliminary sorting of the nuts is also performed at this stage. 
On these tables the cashew nuts are sorted depending on their size, colour and if they are chipped. Halfs and pieces of nuts are also sorted by size. This grading determines the ultimate price of the cashew nuts.
The sorting tables were in a large well-lit area.
The cashew nuts undergo extensive quality control before packaging. Nuts are placed on a conveyor belt and inspected. Over a sieve, dust and other contaminants are sucked. Over a magnetic table, metallic contaminants are removed. Cashew nuts are then packaged in vacuum in large packs (greater than 10kg). Most of the cashew nuts from this factory are exported through bulk dealers. They do have their own private label that you saw above. Depending upon the needs of the customer, the factory also does some post processing such as roasting cashew nuts with spices.
Note: All factory pics were shot in Sept 2004 at the Sahyadri Cashew Factory, using my Olympus C4040, 4MP point and shoot digital camera. The opening cashew fruit pic was from an indian cashew trade association website.
Outside my cousin-brother's house in Kumta, these kids were walking back from school. They seemed eager to pose. After shooting this pic, I offered them one of the Britannia cream biscuit packs I always carry in my bag. They grabbed and ran - jumping in joy!
Do you like this Sepia toned pic better?
