India, Like It Is!!
- Hector Dsouza
What does India mean to me? Is it just a country I live & wander in? Is it a land that offers me endless opportunities to eke out an acceptable lifestyle? Or is it an astounding land that draws the best out of me? Is it because I feel there is a great connect between me & one of the oldest civilisations? Though am adept at living in different continents & fairly comfortable with all its offerings, I always returned back to my engrossing homeland. Blame it on my forefathers, I say. They were all India Lovers!
It isn't exactly the environs of the place I live in that makes me delirious with joy or explain my unending enthusiasm for `squeezing' more of India. Instead it's this great mind play when am sitting at my workstation in office surrounded my maps, travel books & access to the web, that provokes me into daydreaming, where a million images of different facets of the life of India keep popping in & out of my mind. Having a collection of pictures & memories of this intriguing country dating back to over three decades, in many ways drives up the excitement & enthusiasm.
Me not standing in front of Buland Darwaza (Victory Door) at Fatehpur Sikri doesn't bring me regrets, instead am reminded in a jiffy of that cloudy afternoon, where me along with a group of Spanish Clients listened in sombre silence to the guide describe the finer & lesser known details about the enchanting ghost city. And all of this transpired more than three decades ago. Many years later when I was again at the Victory Door, it was bright & sunny & our group basked in the morning sun. Bright & chirpy, or should I say - the Sun brought out the best in us!!
That's what I miss most when I travelled & lived in a few other places in the world. The sun not showing up, when it was supposed to. India in many ways spoiled me but also made me a `warm' person. Sunshine apart, it's the variety that shakes me out of my stupor. Should I meander to this part of India where unending spires roam the sky or should I simply wander to the mountains & hill slopes & finally uncover all the sheaths that have made me the person I am? It's said & there is some truth in it - mountains make you super fit, engages all your reserves, empties the mind & creates a voracious appetite for absorbing more. It's as though the sponge bag we `carry' inside our head has finally started working again!
Working 24 hours a day is not in my blood, I take a break & where else but to the beaches of Goa? Having a tan doesn't mean I need to sit unclothed, but I spend hours walking during my waking hours. Mornings are spent practising yoga on pristine sand (often without a mat!), going for a swim & finally watching fishermen tug their boats in. There is a lot of mystery to fishing boats - how long was it in the ocean, where did they find their catch, was finding it easier than expected, how much should we charge & so on. That's why I love fishing boats. & fishermen, they never cease to amaze me, their hopelessly tanned bodies glistening in the morning sun, endless energy they carry in their torsos & such calm written all over. Did they pick (calm) from the ocean? Is the sea less boisterous than we make it to be?
Am back during sunset when the colours of Nature play out an enchanting drama that can hardly be replicated. There are some constants too during the production of these epic moments. The endless chatter of tourists, an ocean that's distinctly calmer than it was during the noon & `aroma' of curiosity: what will night fall bring? This apart - it's the changing hues in the sky & over the horizon from distinct bright to a shade of luminescent orange at twilight, followed by fading crimson until the sky finally `gives up' & darkness falls. Play it again, Goa. Yeessss for sure, am back again the following day.
Tigers too have a habit of returning back once every other day to mark their territories. Its more like a long walk the tiger takes during the morning hours when it covers its area, squirting urine on trees that mark its boundaries. It's called - `initialling one's area'!! Where else but at India's many famous Wildlife Tiger Reserves you could watch this spectacle unfold. Over the years, I chose my favourite reserves: Kanha in Madhya Pradesh & Ranthambore at Rajasthan. Not just marking, I've been privy to many different aspects of tiger behaviour that has often left me bewildered. How does one explain its hunting skills or the fact they can spend hours sleeping on their backs during daytime?
It's not just tigers, it's the entire forest that baffles - enchanting trees & their canopies that guarantee shade & protection from the blistering sun, the roaming attentive alert eyes of Spotted Deer on the look for prowling carnivore, ant hills that are almost a man's height, wild dogs decimating carcass for bone marrow & langurs constantly feeding deer & chital by dropping berries & fresh leaves from treetops. They even go a step further, letting out a distinct alarm call each time a predator is in the vicinity. Just as dogs are man's best friends, monkeys lengthen a deer's life, first, by feeding & then warning them!!
Be warned or guided then, that India is much more than its most valued monument - The Taj Mahal. I myself have never let my eyes of this glistening mausoleum, whenever am there. As though losing momentary sight means missing something special. There's ethereal feel about this fabled building that will last forever in the minds of those who've seen it. And then, there are those sparkling temples across our sub-continent with tales woven around it about how they came into being. A class apart their magnificence can be truly appreciated by the curious traveller. I tried learning about temple styles, their forms & significance over the years, I admit it's the seamless blend of philosophy with tradition & customs that `upped' my appreciation quotient of this beguiling religion. Any favourites for me? Plenty - Meenakshi, Srirangam, Khajuraho, Birla Temple, Modhera, Brihadeshwara. Last name was a real tongue twister, so I will end here!!
Not just temples & Hinduism, India is also a land of many religions. There's no such thing as an ideal religion as it's a land that encompassed & accepted all religious patterns. This probably explains why we had a Gautam Buddha in the 5th century B.C, a Mahavir who created Jainism about the same time; the great Emperor Ashoka & many more religious luminaries including the founder of Sikhism. Islam made its mark in the 12th century, while an Iranian Persian `brought' the light of fire from Persia & Zoroastrianism was born here in the 8 Century C.E. What about Christianity? As per records Thomas the Apostle introduced the Christian faith in 52 C.E, when he landed on the port of Muziris of Kerala in South India. India was & is the melting pot of many World Practicing Religions to this day.
The `India of Today' continues to fascinate me. Yes, there are challenges, but I hope many are illusory by nature. I often take solace from the words of wise men & one of my favourites is
Mahatma Gandhi - A Universal Giant, Born In India. In his words - "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." India is much more than a wandering experience; it is humanity itself. Discover it for yourself.