Part – I

“Chooglee”.

“What does that mean?” I asked my 9 year old daughter, Riddhi.

“That is the name of the pigeon – birdie. It is going to grow up to peck”. She tried to reason out.

I have seen Riddhi watching the pigeon couple build their nest in our balcony with straw and dry leaves. Then an egg was laid and the birds took turn to hatch it for almost a month. Her heart skipped a beat every time our maid said that she was going to clean up all that mess.

All the while Riddhi waited patiently till one day she woke up to the excited chirpings of the birds. An ugly  birdie, smeared with muck all over making it uglier, was being welcomed by its parents.

Riddhi’s joy knew no bounds as she watched the little bird grow and make constant noise.  At times she scolded it also. After returning from school she would straight go to the balcony  and speak with the avian family for some time. She kept some grains of  rice and water for them before having her lunch.

For the next fortnight when the parents took turns to give training sessions on flying, the birdie made the loudest cry out of fear. It was then that the crows took note of the young one.

It was difficult to say whether it was previous night’s storm or the crow, next morning the birds were found to guard the listless body of their young one.

Speechless, and with tears welled up, Riddhi touched her Chooglee for the only time to certify that it was dead. All the mess was cleaned up but not before leaving a scar in a young heart.

Part –II

Sofia was a young lady when she joined as my grandma’s maid. With the passage of time, she got trained in the household work and commanded respect from all due to her simplicity.

As my grandma’s family expanded, so did Sofia’s responsibilities. She saw grandma’s children growing up, getting married and bearing children. My grandma nurtured a special relation with Sofia and both the ladies used to chat at length on topics they knew the best.

Even when grandma became old and her health failed, Sofia continued to serve her with the same earnestness. Despite my grandma’s daughters in law being always on the toe, Sofia would herself attend to grandma’s personal needs.

The evening grandma passed away, Sofia gave her a bath in the noon, washed her clothes and went home, only to return next morning as usual.

Early morning when we were about to take the bier out, my mom asked us to wait for Sofia. In the meanwhile Sofia came, and ignoring the gathering at the front gate, entered through the side gate and went upstairs to grandma’s room, only to be welcomed by her empty cot.

In a flash she understood everything. Giving a heart-wrenching wail she ran downstairs and flung herself on grandma’s listless body. “Amma , where did you go, leaving me behind ?”

Grandma had gone away leaving her nest albeit cot, empty.

Yesterday I took my mom to hospital for her cataract operation.  Since we do not have our own conveyance in Ranchi, we had asked a known rickshaw-wala, well in advance, to come at sharp 8 am.

Kal subah aath bajey aa jana. [ Come at 8 o’ clock tomorrow morning]

Theek hai. [Ok]

I wasn’t much surprised when yesterday he pressed our doorbell at 5 minutes to 8. With utmost care he drove his hand rickshaw and dropped us at the hospital.

Have you had your morning tea? I asked.

No. He gave a sheepish smile.

Why? There was enough time.

What he said left me speechless.

Last evening he decided not to go home which is quite far off, fearing that he might not be able to turn up on time. And he did not want to fail his commitment as he knew that would result in much inconvenience to us. So he spent the cold night in his rickshaw (without any warm clothes). It did not matter much that he could not send a word back home regarding his not returning at night.

He finished his story with a smile.

I was looking at his disheveled hair, unshaven beard, untidy clothes, dusty feet and satisfactory grin.

Was it a smile or a slap? I wasn’t sure.

We often wonder what would be the relevance of the message of a monk today, who was born 150 years ago, lived the life of a mendicant and left for his heavenly abode at a very young age of 39 years.
Let us examine some important traits of Swami Vivekananda’s personality.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was born at a time when India was ruled by British. He saw the oppression of his countrymen from close quarters when he travelled throughout the length and breadth of India. Sitting on the rock at Kanyakumari, he meditated on not any god or goddess, but his beloved motherland for three days and three nights continuously. Thereafter he declared that India will again rise to her zenith far overshadowing all her previous accomplishments. Swamiji enthused his followers to sacrifice their lives for the betterment of his motherland. By doing so, he said, they will easily attain ‘Nirvana’. His messages were vibrant with utmost patriotism. Swamiji poured his heart out for the poor by saying, “I call him a traitor who, having being educated, nursed in luxury by the heart’s blood of the downtrodden millions of toiling poor, never even takes a thought for them”. He further declared,” They only live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive”. It is no wonder that his books were regular companions of our freedom fighters, and the British government, at one point of time, had banned them altogether. Rabindra Nath Tagore said, “If you want to know India, study Vivekananda. In him everything is positive and nothing negative”. Mahatma Gandhi said, “I have gone through his [Vivekananda’s] works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold.” According to Swamiji’s western disciples, whenever he used to utter those five letters I N D I A, it created such a shock in their body and mind which could not be explained by any language. Today, amongst us there are many people who have come out of their puny self-interest and started thinking for the society and the country at large. They have certainly found a meaning of their lives.
Swamiji was a scholar and a great exponent of scriptures. Throughout his entire life, he propounded the message of Upanishads. He used to say that the primary teaching of the Upanishads is “Abhi”, that is, “Be fearless”. Katha Upanishad was closest to his heart and Nachiketa was his hero. He wanted the youth to attain immense self-confidence and be fearless like Nachiketa. A person commits crime when he gets overpowered by his weaknesses – at physical or psychological level. Swamiji said, “Have faith that you are all, born to do great things”. He wanted the youth to have that much of faith by which they can uproot the mountains and drink up the ocean. Today if we look around, we will find that the key of each success story is limitless self-confidence and willingness to fight the odds.
Another aspect of Swamiji’s personality was his universal brotherhood. Speaking at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, he said, “As the different streams mingle their water in the sea, different paths which men take, various though they appear, all lead to the same god…. Upon the banner of every religion will soon be written, ‘Help and not Fight’, ‘Assimilation and not Destruction’ ”. Today the world realizes that to bring peace, there is no other ideology more proper than this.
Swami Vivekananda, who was said to have the intellect of Shankaracharya and heart of Buddha looks into our eyes and makes us realize that his messages are much more relevant today than ever before.

As a tribute to Swami Vivekananda on his 150th Birth Anniversary on 12th Jan, 2013.

Yesterday I took a relative of mine to the hospital for chemotherapy. While I was running around completing the admission formalities, I saw a sister in her spotlessly white apron coming out of the OT. She was carrying a new born baby close to her chest. She stood for a while and then started moving very carefully to the Private Ward. A group of 8-10 people who were waiting at the door, soon followed her. Bright eyes, lit faces with happiness overflowing. When the sister passed by me, I had a close look at the bundle of joy in her arms – a tiny face with tightly closed eyes blissfully sleeping in the warmth of a lovely blanket. Welcome baby.

After some time when I was passing by the Emergency Ward, a middle aged woman came out holding a child close to her chest. On seeing her, a group of 10 people waiting outside wailed together. A young couple in the group collapsed. Women howled and men had uncontrolled tears rolling down. The woman- possibly the grandmother stood speechless, expressionless, holding the weight of endless love in the body of a one year old child wrapped carefully from head to toe in a lovely blanket. Adieu baby.

About a decade ago, once we thought of distributing our old clothes to the poor and needy.  Possessed by this noble idea, we searched our trunks, lofts, and closets and stuffed all the old garments in a couple of polythene bags. Then my wife and I headed to the Sai Temple of Lodhi Colony, thinking it would be the right place to do some charity. After all, I had seen swarms of beggars in that area every time I passed by.

No sooner did we arrive at the temple premise each carrying 3-4 polythene bags, we were surrounded by a strange group of people—matted hair, running noses, crooked black nails, naked and half-naked famished bodies holding bowls of various shapes and sizes. We were in for a rude shock. We had definitely seen beggars before, but had never been in such close proximity. By that time they had known that their objects of interest were in those bags so they became anxious to get them. They were certainly not convent-educated, disciplined, or well-mannered lot; we did not know how to start. Our inaction added to their restlessness.

I asked them to make a queue. Nothing happened. I raised my voice—after all I was their benefactor; again no change. They still hovered around us, looking greedily at the bags.  I tried again—this time my eyes popped out, veins showed up and hand stretched. They got a little surprised and stepped back two steps. Ah! it worked. I took out a dress and handed over to the first person without even seeing whether it was a frock or a shirt. We continued mechanically till the last piece was handed over. The result was that a toddler got my old trouser and a middle-aged woman got only a scarf of my wife. It was all over in less than a minute. A boy came and asked me what he will do with the frock he received. I was dumbfounded. We had not anticipated any ‘exchange offer’. We had failed, miserably.

After that incident, I introspected several times and each time I concluded that I was unfit for any charitable work . Is this the way how I should give back to society from where I have got everything in my life? All these days I am making a constant endeavor to prepare myself psychologically strong to share the pain of the deprived lot. Very soon I hope to be able to look into their eyes and bring some happiness in their lives because now I understand that,

“Key to happiness is how you manage when you have nothing, and also how you behave when you have everything.”

Let us pledge to decorate a face with a smile and bring some light in the eyes of someone who has seen only darkness till now, in addition to decorating and lighting our homes. That would be a true Diwali celebration.

Happy Diwali !!

Bathing in the light of the rising sun,

I was diving deep inside me.

When I want my life to be full of fun,

Why is it not granted by thee  ?

When I want to touch the shadow

Of someone close to me,

Or  feel the cool wind blow

Why is it not granted by thee  ?

Just then a rain drop fell on the leaf

Wriggled to the tip, cleaning its way.

I understand, my belief

Why you have made it this way.

Each drop,  howsoever short-lived and small

Plays its role to the tee

Collecting dust, dirt and all

As planned by thee.

People whom I have lost forever,

But still long to see,

After making  my walk easier

Have only gone back to thee.

As a respectful homage to my beloved father who, on this day 18 years ago paused for a while before resuming his eternal journey of life.

Our Guide and Driver

Time to return home. After breakfast, Kinley and Jumbo saw us off at the border gate from where we had started our journey.

We bade goodbye to them and decided to cherish the memory of this

Carriage with the passengers

spotlessly clean country and its cheerful, friendly people for many years to come.

After a 4 day trip to the Land of Buddha, we returned with a rejuvenated body, mind and soul.

Goodbye at Bordergate

Our last day of the trip. After breakfast we visited Paro National Museum, housed in the Ta Dzong (watchtower). Here an intriguing collection of artifacts provides a wonderful glimpse of the rich culture and heritage of this country. The multi storeyed building houses rare collections of religious artefacts as well as huge animal motifs. The Dress, Utensils and Arms sections are also worth watching. The Mask section is a must watch.  Here numerous masks of animal faces are beautifully displayed each depicting the intrinsic characteristic of the creature. Quite interestingly, these characteristics can be correlated with human behavior.

Idyllic Paro market

After lunch, we lazed around in the clean and empty streets. Paro market has many curio shops and is a good place for shopping. After we were done with, we drove to Phuntsholing to spend our last night in this Himalayan country.

After breakfast we drove to Paro which is 65 Kms from Thimpu and took us almost 1.5 hrs.  Jumbo quickly turned off the car stereo the moment he saw a funeral procession approaching from the opposite end. What a wonderful way of showing respect to the departed soul.

Tiger's Nest - a panoramic view

Once we were in Paro we headed for Taktsang Monastery, also known as ‘Tiger’s Nest’ at an altitude of 3000 mts. The climb up to the viewpoint which is almost half way will take around 3 hours and from there a spectacular view of the monastery can be seen clinging to the side of the cliff. From there, a steep climb upto the hilltop, then deep into the gorge, and then to the next hilltop comprising of 700 steps will finally lead to the monastery, which will take about 1 hour. It is said that in the 8th century Guru Rinpoche flew on the back of a tigress from eastern Bhutan to this place and meditated in a cave here for 3 months. There have been shrines at this sacred place for many

Weary trekkers to Tiger's Nest

centuries. The principal Lhakhang (monastery) of the present monastic complex dates from 1692. Taktsang was damaged severely by fire in 1998 but has now been fully restored to its former beauty. Ponies are available for ride. For those who want to climb on foot, it is advisable to take hiking sticks available at the foothill. The monastery timings are Apr-Oct 8am to 6pm, Nov-Mar 8am to 5pm. 1pm to 2pm is the lunch time. Halfway down the hill, there is a cafeteria where we had our lunch.

Indispensable Trekking Stick

On the way back, we visited Kichu temple, one of the 108 temples built in the 7th century by the Tibetan King Songsten Gampo. The story goes that a giant demon lay across the whole area of Tibet and the Himalayas and was preventing the spread of Buddhism. To overcome her, King Songtsen Gampo decided to build 108 temples, which

Kichu Temple

would be placed on all the points of her body. Of these 108 temples, 12 were built in accordance with precise plans. Thus, it happened that in about the year AD 638 the temple of Jokhang in Lhasa was built over the very heart of the demon.

After a long and tiring day, we checked into our resort and refreshed ourselves with a cup of hot coffee.

Ugyen Resort-Paro

The resort was only 20 minutes drive from Paro airport ( the only one in Bhutan) and our room had a panoramic view of Tiger’s Nest and Mt Jomolhari – the highest mountain peak of Bhutan. The other speciality of this resort is that the whole show is managed by a group of young and dynamic girls moving around with broad smiles in their bright colored Kira. The overall structure of the resort is designed to provide a distinctive Bhutanese life style with an impeccable ambience of peace, spelling the very essence of Gross National Happiness.

Togetherness

Takin-National animal of Bhutan

We were ready for the day after a sumptuous breakfast. First we went to see the Takin Preserve. Takin is the national animal of Bhutan and is usually found at the altitude of 13,000 ft. It has the face of a goat and the body of a yak. In the Preserve, a group of Takins is kept along with deer in an enclosure. It is here that we saw the Stone Bath for the first time. Water is initially stored in a wooden bath tub. Boulders are heated by the firewood and then dropped in the tub to make the water warm enough to take bath. It is very effective to relieve bodyache and contains ample medicinal value. It is one of the many ways by which Bhutanese people remain close to nature and derive the necessary energy for sustenance.

Stone Bath

This is where we also learnt that Bhutan is a no smoking country. We were startled to learn this resolve but soon noticed its effect on the healthy bodies and cheerful faces all around us.

Our next stop was National Textile Museum. It is a place to see the art of traditional weaving being kept alive and preserved through exhibition and has a good collection of old textiles which are rich in colors and designs. A small documentary wonderfully portrays the evolution of costumes over the years in this country, of both the royal and the common people. It even beautifully demonstrates how to wear a Kho (men’s dress) and a Kira (women’s dress).

Kho is a type of gown covering the male body from neck to ankle, which may be folded at the waist to make it knee length and tightened with a flap. A long pair of socks touching the knee  is worn beneath it with either black or brown shoes. At the wrist, the broad sleeves are neatly folded  which expose the white inner lining.

Kho and Kira

Women wrap the Kira around their waists, almost like our saris except the pleats, cover the upper body and fix the loose end over the shoulder with a brooch. A waist length jacket is worn on top of it. A pair of covered shoes or sandals is a must.

Both, Kho and Kira cover the whole body from neck to foot and the Bhutanese people take extreme pride in wearing them. Almost everybody wears the national dress in Bhutan. People drive two wheelers and climb stairs with utmost ease wearing  Kho and Kira. Children going to school in their Kho or Kira was a wonderful sight for us.

The roads of Bhutan are worth mentioning.  Since transport within the country is by road only, good care is taken to build and maintain them.  And all that is done by Indian laborers ! Roads here are broad, immaculately clean, with traffic flowing in orderly streams with no traffic police. People  are extremely law abiding. Once we drove half a kilometre just to take a u-turn.  Even though nobody was watching, our driver would not break the rule.

Our next stop was The National Institute of Traditional Medicine, where medicinal herbs are compounded and dispensed, and traditional medical practitioners trained. The aroma of various medicinal plants distinguishes the place. It also has a hospital of its own.

From there, we were transported into the era of ancient Bhutanese civilization. While standing in the courtyard of a rural building of bygone days inside the Folk Heritage Museum, we tried to visualize the rural life. The four storeyed wooden house had a horse stable, cow shed,  barn, kitchen, living room, bed room and an altar. The grain containers and water vessels of different sizes were made up of animal skin. Hollow bamboo stems and horns were used to drink water and wine. A primitive noodle maker is also carefully preserved. Various types of hunting and musical instruments are also present. Dress made of yak skin is also kept here. We noticed a cap made of yak skin with 5 braids hanging loosely from its rim. During rains, the water would drip along with these braids and not enter inside. An amazing piece of art.

Water turbine operated Grinding Wheel

There were two more artefacts worth noticing. A water stream has been diverted strategically to rotate the mill stone of a grinding wheel. Also a natural flow of water is used to constantly rotate the prayer wheel. It was awesome to note how intelligently the natural forces were tapped and used for day to day living.

We had Bhutanese cuisine for lunch, which started with butter tea and chilly cheese as an important dish. After lunch we drove to Dochula Pass. It is at an altitude of 3000 mts and is used to connect Northern Bhutan with South-Western Bhutan. A special permit is required to visit Dochula Pass. On the way we crossed a 168 ft high spectacular golden Buddha statue, sitting in a meditative posture.

Dochula Pass is situated on a hilltop with 108 beautiful stupas. It is a very quiet place with a breathtaking natural surrounding. Very often monks can be seen circumambulating the stupas with rosaries in hands. Since it was cloudy and drizzling, we could not see the Himalayan range which is otherwise clearly visible from here.

Dochula Pass

On our way back we visited Tashichhoe Dzong, a fortress of the glorious religion. It was built in 1641 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel and was reconstructed into present structure by the late King, His majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck in the year 1962-1969. It houses the secretariat building, the throne room and the office of the king, and the central monk body. The king and the monastic head are extended the same respect, and both wear yellow color scarves. Similarly, the ministers and senior monks wear deep maroon scarves. Government officials and general monks wear red scarves. Common citizen wear white scarves.

Tashichhoe Dzong-Thimpu