Bharat Darshan - Travelogue

Writing about the experiences in a journey is never an easy task, especially when the journey is across the Indian landscape, a country too diverse to be described in set frameworks. This country has been home to many a visitors, across time and space, who have struggled with words to somehow describe their experiences and present in palatable form to their home audiences. Though names of travellers like Ibn Batuta and Al-Biruni come to the fore, many a times the kings decided to write on their own, foremost being Babur in Babarnama who ended up describing coconuts trees as a tree with the shape of a human head, for lack of a better word. The British also tried to write about the country, for it was too big and diverse to be understood by a few men and written records about it were essential to pass on the information across generations.

My journey across the length and breadth across India started against this backdrop through the opportunity given by the Bharat Darshan, also described as Winter Study Tour.

The first station was the army camp in Northern Sikkim. Though it snowed heavily throughout my stay there, I was able to explore the surroundings, which apart from the official visits included a visit to the nearby monastery. An unfortunate incident occurred in the same area when an ITBP jawan of a nearby ITBP camp lost his way in forests and was found dead the next morning. While coming down from 9000 feet, the mini-truck carrying his body, which was accompanied by four jawans, was moving right next to us. How unfortunate that the mountains returned the body of the jawan to the family after taking the soul out of it. That body, those four jawans, that truck, that terrain, that whole scene had the potential to push oneself into thinking about life. That jawan must have had a normal family with normal aspirations, but little did he know that the soul carrying those aspirations will be left in those mountains. No wonder that the color of those mountains was white; they must have had many souls wandering amidst their valleys, covered under that white snow, with unfulfilled dreams, seeing that the body they once resided in was now converted into ash, and the same snow melted and took that ash to the sea. That puts the whole meaning of life to nothing.

The next few days included a visit to Pobitora wildlife sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh and seeing four Su-30 fighter jets taking off right before me. Though the Su-30 flights were fascinating, with that purple exhaust flame shining in the dark night while take-off, it was also a stark reminder that since the time that Babur brought cannons, most of our defense equipment have been procured from outside.

The ten days district attachment provided an opportunity to visit the Mahabodhi temple at Gaya. Though Buddha was ambiguous on the existence of god, and was against making a god of himself, his followers did the same thing as other religions and erected a temple at the very place that he attained Nirvana, fighting against these worldly attachments of glory and fame. I wondered what Buddha might have thought about this if somehow he could see this.

The remains of Nalanda University were a paradox: while pointing to the excellent state of higher education in ancient India, with even the gatekeepers so empowered and educated that they conducted the screening test for students by asking questions, they also force us to think about the current status of Indian education system.

The visit to Murshibad in Bengal was truly historical, in the literal meaning of the word. The office of DM was in the same building which housed Robert Clive and was used by him to plan the Battle of Plassey. This made perfect sense: we are using the same administrative structure as left behind by the likes of Lord Clive. I also happened to visit a palace-like house. As I was looking at it and lost into the vintage feeling that its high roof and thick pillars radiated, the person accompanying me suddenly shouted “oye nawab, idhar aa”. Here came this man, around 75 years old, barely able to walk, with broken voice, introducing himself as belonging to the lineage of Siraj Ud-Daulah. I talked to him for a while, still coming to terms with the feeling that I am talking to a person with direct, though distant in time, connection to that dreaded Battle of Plassey. I couldn’t resist myself to think how the sands of time level out the glories of humans across generations; from being “The Nawab of Bengal”, to being called “Oye nawab, idhar aa”, the house of Siraj Ud-daulahs had completed its sojourn with fame and fortune.

After brief visits to Durgapur and Calcutta, it was time to fly to Andamans, a place in the wish-list of every Indian. The Radha Nagar beach in the Havlock island is rated as one of the best in Asia, and for all valid reasons. The crystal clear blue water shining against the dark green forests and the red hue of the setting sun was a treat both to the eyes and the camera lens, allowing me to shoot some memorable images there. Sunset at sea provides some of the best frames to photographers.

The best of Andamans was however yet to come: in the form of Scuba diving. There is a fascinating, beautiful world out there, at the bottom of the ocean, hidden (though not now) from the most dangerous animal of this planet. There are colors: purple and green to violet; fishes: transparent to star-shaped; and other sea creatures floating around those corals. If only these could have remained completely hidden from us humans, they would have been of unparalleled beauty; the human touch comes at the cost of bleaching.

The visit to these distant seas ended with a trip to Chennai. The Rath temples of Mahabalipuram and the Shore temple were a window to the glory of the ancient India. Standing tall against the ferocious sea, the Shore temple has had innumerable waves with full force striking its base, for nearly 1300 years, only to return without damaging the temple. Such was the skills of those who created this.

The next few destinations involved Kasargod in north Kerala and Karvar naval base in Karnataka. Karwar also provided an opportunity to go deep inside the sea and watch dolphins, with their force and flexibility, playing with water. The trip ended with  3 day stay in Goa exploring the beautiful beaches and also the famous “Dil Chahta Hai” spot on Chapora fort.

Between the two flights of going out of Delhi in January to flying back to Delhi in February end, a lot had changed inside me. Yes, I had studied a lot about India, had written about it in places and seen it through the eyes of photographers and filmmakers. But to see it through own eyes, from the heights of mountains to depth of Coral reefs, from the landscape of Arunachal to that of Goa, from the house of Lord Clive in Murshidabad to the streets of South Delhi, from Andamans where only a few people live to Chennai where a lot of them live, India has a lot to offer. To eyes, to brain and most importantly: to the soul.