INDIA BLOG ARCHIVES (8) - 17 Feb 2008

This was posted by me on a/o as Msg# 25835 on 17 Feb 2008 as `Another Indian Odyssey - Pt 1`:

And so we have done yet another Indian trip (our sixth ever, over a forty year span), this time to places that we hadn`t been to before and some that we had. In a little over a fortnight, then we took three internal flights (taking India and Nepal together), one train journey and covered the rest of the large distances by road, all in the north. Throughout it remained cold, and we had to have several layers of clothing on a daily basis, to be discarded as the day wore on. After an initial couple of days in Delhi, we flew by Jet Airlines to Kathmandu. Nepal had been on our itinerary when we first visited India in the winter of 1968-69, at a time when it was rapidly becoming a favourite destination for hippies and other Westerners, but we had to abandon that plan, simply because there was so much else to see. So it had always remained in our sights as a place to visit some day; but now forty years on we found that it has, alas, lost its charm. The mystic of `Video Night in Kathmandu` (by Pico Iyer) is missing; it is rather a crowded, tumbled down mix of unappealing streets, dilapidated buildings and traffic jams. We stayed at the `Grand Hotel`, an oasis of faded grandeur in the midst of narrow back-lanes. The absence of aesthetic sights gave the city a grim air. Everything was grey and dull and there were hardly any modern buildings with attractive frontages. It all smacks of poverty and decay; even the Durbar Square and the Royal Palace lacked glamour. But the people of course are friendly and hospitable. It was also noticeable how small in stature, though presumably quite sturdy, they are. They are also conscious of how much they have been left behind in terms of development; this is very much at the root of the anti-royalist fervour that has characterized their all but in name toppling of the monarchy. We were left in no doubt about this by our very good local guide; he was passionate about `people power` and the need to remove the sycophantic elite that surrounds the King and how ordinary people are looking up to India and China, their immediate big neighbours. While Kathmandu itself then was a disappointment, our trips out into the countryside, to Bhadgaon - the timeless and almost medieval (9th century) Newar city and Dhulikhel from where we were able to see the Himalayas at close quarters - provided a different and more gentle and picturesque perspective of the country, its geography and its people. We also visited the nearby city of Patan, with its long Buddhist history and stunning display of Newari architecture. But walking through its narrow back streets was a reminder of the general backwardness of the country. Of course Nepal is still a haven for tourists who wish to climb the Everest and engage in trekking and other mountaineering activities; so it is not exactly a bankrupt state, but the people there are now hungry for development. We of course stood out among our party of 16, all the rest being white English, and were often asked if we were Indian - Indians in Nepal are a favoured people, and India is admired and respected as a powerful and advanced neighbour, and so Indians are welcomed with friendliness as valued tourists or visitors - after all they have a lot in common in cultural, religious and linguistic terms. This reminded us of what we had found in Thailand, Cambodia, Bali etc in our earlier travels there. We decided not to take the early morning special one hour flight over the Himalayas (at a cost of £80 per person) as we had had a splendid view of the terrain, including the Everest, while our plane from Delhi did a few rounds before being cleared to land in clear weather.

We then took an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Varanasi. The view from the air on approach to landing was a surprise: it was green pastures, rich farmland and a fairly developed countryside generally - contrary to what I had always imagined the place to be! And the journey from the airport merely confimed this. Although according to our guide, UP is not a rich state, this part of it certainly appeared to be. I was all mentally prepared for two uncomfortable days of ugliness and revulsion. Retreating into our hotel, the Ramada Plaza, after rigorous rounds of sightseeing was thus always a relief, but the squalor in the innards of the bustling complex that one has to traverse in order to get down to the `ghats` on the sacred river was somehow tempered by an extraordinary sense of calm acceptance that seemed to pervade the atmosphere. We trampled down those streets in the early hours, to catch the morning sequence of rituals as dawn was breaking. At that time, there were hardly any crowds and hustlers, so it was an easy passage. We watched the people as they prayed and performed their ablutions, and some who did their puja and yoga, and other forms of exercise (`danda`) etc. That there was an aura of sanctity was not in doubt. We sailed up and down the river in a boat, to look at the famous skyline of Hindu temples, `gopura` towers, Muslim minarets and Mughal domes.

Although being an agnostic and a sceptic, I personally was not moved by any of these, I have no problem with people of (any) faith who wish to practise their beliefs in this or any other way - so I was a mere curious spectator, as I think most of our group were. This our morning tour finished with a walk through the back streets, `reminiscent of those very narrow `gullies` of the Mombasa and Zanzibar old towns, where we had to take care to avoid stepping onto human and animal excrement and to contend with all manner of street vendors and shop sellers who by then had begun to ply their trades.

We also took another tour of the same parts in the evening, when the going was much tougher and the place was teeming with thousands of people and there was much more excitement, hustle and bustle around. We saw live cremation ceremonies taking place, with dead bodies being immersed in water as the first step to being put on the funeral pyre and burnt, several of them lined up, each awaiting its turn, all of this being conducted with a practised degree of professionalism and a commensurate lack of sentimentality (so it appeared to us from our boat off shore). We also saw the `aarti` ceremony being performed on the ghats - an impressive blend of dedication and automotive worship. Again, walking up back towards our transport through the crowds of people who thronged the narrow streets was an exciting exercise in itself, but we managed it somehow. And what about the much discussed polluted nature of the Ganges? We were advised that scientific surveys have proved that its water is bacteria free, with an 0.05% sulphur content, and indeed a sample scooped from the river by my wife revealed its purity!

So what of the Varanasi experience? That the place is steeped in religiosity and ritual is not in doubt; but that is not the same as a haven of spirituality, which to me represents something different. Others may of course see it differently. That said, I have no problem with those millions of Hindus who from a deep-seated sense of faith and belief feel impelled to make a pilgrimage to Varanasi - much as I respect people of other persuasions for whom, say, Mecca, Bethleheim, Jerusalem, Rome, Bodhigaya etc have an equal significance as sacred places which they too must visit at some time for personal purification, confirmation, blessing or salvation!

In the morning we had driven through the huge and magnificent campus of the famous Benares Hindu University. Our guide - an excellent man with complete mastery of his subject whose command of English and communication skill were truly impressive, had studied there, as had his wife who was a practising lawyer in the city - was able to give us a first-hand account of what the university had to offer, its antecedents and vast complex. In the afternoon, we did a tour of Sarnath, a few miles out of Varanasi. This is a Buddhist sanctuary, where Buddha gave his famous Deer Park sermon, reputed to be the beginning or the foundation of the religion, to five disciples around 530 BC. It has now become part of the tourist circuit for visitors from the Buddhist countries in South and South East Asia - and we saw many groups of them. Again, it is a beautiful site: we saw both the Chaukhaudi Stupa and the Dhamekh Stupa, and Asoka`s Pillar. Its peaceful and expansive environs provide an ideal spot for quiet reflection and family visits. Its extant historical structures of the towers and sculptures have remained in remarkable good condition, which gives them a sense of continuity and connection.

Next to Khajuraho and beyond!

RAMNIK SHAH
Surrey, England