Global Vipassana Pagoda

Global Vipassana Pagoda

Last weekend, I checked out the incongruous pagoda that's arisen out of the mangroves in Gorai, once an island but now a peninsula hanging off the north-east coast of Salcette - the island that barely contains suburban Bombay.

Two thoughts ran through my head as I boarded the ferry that crosses Manori Creek. One, I wanted to shoot myself in the foot for not checking the charge on my camera's battery. Two, I could have been floating down the Irrewaddy in Burma in the shadow of Shwedagon. The Vipasanna pagoda is modelled after the famous temple in Rangoon and not surprisingly I spotted Burmese craftsmen in lyongis at the site. It was pretty impressive in a sort of tacky goldeny way but the place didn't exude the tranquility I associate with Vipasanna.
 

Fisherman unloading their catch on Marve Beach. One of them is inadvertently flying the Irish flag. 

This is going to sound very irreverent but it does look like a ginormous golden plunger.