Trip to Gaya, India

Recently I had a chance to go to Gaya, a place in India, where it is believed that if the ceremonies for the departed are performed, the departed soul would find peace. I had been there for performing the rites for my mother who passed away in 1999.

On a more relaxed note, i had a glimpse, as people would call, of the Bihar state. The roads were narrow and tempos are run with as much dexterity as a trained warrior in the battle of Kurukshetra. One would not be surprised, after the trip, if told that Abhimanyu hailed from Gaya. :) The roads were dusty and one could see layers of dust settled on the sunshades, on the sitouts of houses and shop fronts. The cool thing is that no one is perturbed about this feature. It has been accepted as a part of their life.

Though it is all of above, the place has a charm of its own. Though it is dusty, it does not get in the way of your admiration of the place. The sewage does not overflow on to the roads
as is the case in most of the well planned cities ! The openness with which the locals accept you compensates for all. The place has lot of pot holes and it is a sight to see the tempo drivers maneuvering them with the utmost dexterity.

Having said all this, if i do not let you in on the contrast, i may be doing injustice to the holy place. About 13 kms. away is Bodh Gaya, place where Lord Buddha had attained Nirvana. The place is a centre of attraction for the international tourists and mostly it is the Buddhist monks that one would see all over the place. The roads are huge, well maintained and the road dividers have greenery apart from sporting footpaths of about 4-5 feet on either side. The main temple is the place where the Bodh tree is situated and what touched me was the openness with which the tourist is accepted into the cult.

The tourist is asked to deposit a sum of Rs.30/- per camera and 300/- per video camera and viola! he is free to take pictures/ videos of all the premises with no restraint whatsoever! In fact, one could go into the sanctum sanctorum and take photo with The Buddha!(R to L:Brother, father and myself)

Then we came back to Gaya and performed the rites. The pundits are so well-versed that they were able to conduct 3 - 4 ceremonies of various nature in a single go... Reciting mantras for one while making the others perform the rites. There is ostensibly the Foot print of Lord Vishnu (Vishnu padam) as he had pressed his demon devotee down while the yagna was on!The pundits give away cloth besmeared with sandal paste after acquiring an image of the sacred foot print to the devotees.(My father and brother in the inset)

Friendly caution: Legend has it that the Lord had cursed all the Bramhins ther to live on alms like beggars and not be rich... believe me, the legend IS true. Better be prepared to give away totally about 1000 rupees to the pundits at every stage of the trip in Gaya.

Random thoughts

As I put my pen down, thoughts keep floating, sometimes even vying with each other to express themselves first. I had recently been through an article sent by my friend who stated that as one gets older, one's attention span tends to grow narrower. As I read it, i felt that i was very much in such a state. I was even ready to (fall into depression and ) go overboard.

Hmmm.... if that was the end, may be this article would not have seen the light of today. I forwarded the mail to some of my friends... much younger than I and was surprised to see that many had responded to my mail with similar feelings. This triggered a stream of thoughts and i recollected a poem in my school days. There was once a person who went through materia medica (!) ( a dictionary of all the diseases along with their description) and began to have a complex as to why he did not have hay fever (that was the only one that did not suit his state of health).

Are we in a state of mind to day that we are unable to find out as to what exactly is our state of mind? Are we carried away by our friends and colleagues' opinion rather than our own? Yes! to be fascinated by the views presented to you is one thing; but, to adopt them blindly without having analysed them in the light of your own experience... well! that does not really depict a mature mind.

As of today, we find that many a movie have been screened wherein the love of the youngster is right and that the views of the elders are necessarily wrong. What astonishes me is that the youth revel in the theme and fail to discern that their own children would not appreciate them when they grow up! what happens then? Since the youth is the major chunk of the viewership today, the producers and the directors go for such a theme as would attract them (the youth). When the same youth, to whom such movies have been directed, go astray, we have seen the popular public figures collapse under the strain.

May be the time has come for everyone to analyse and appreciate the fact that elders have done something for us because they felt it to be good in the light of their own experience! May be we could give credence to that single fact and pause before we jump to conclusions! May be there could be a forum where the elders and the affected youngster share their points of disparity!

Is it not time that some thought be given to make the popular media drive the youth in the direction of progress and solidarity rather than going in the direction of the achievement of narrow goals of money and short-lived fame?

Theater

All the Sons of Sai come there at the end of the day to relieve all their tensions and to enliven their knowledge about the goings-on in the world around them. The meetings at this theater.. well it is called so , not because it is the only "Official" theater in Putaparthi (BTW, there is no theater in puttaparthi) but also because most often the demands of the viewers are met by the distributor...me :) Those interested can come by mail or otherwise.... You can choose your play for the night..Telugu, English, Hindi, the language no barrier. However, the movies are more often than not, punctuated by the wisdom of the connoisseurs. The wisdom can range from the first movie of the actor / actress and go on till two or three generation either way and can you beat it!.. the comparisons and parallels are drawn to equal talents in the Industry.

The best part of the day .. rather night, is that all get to have a go at the remote to the TV.. either directly or indirectly. Wondering how? Well,
(no! for those who know me, pl. don't run away!.. i am not going to "Explain")
Those who have the remote, have but one channel; but blessed are those who don't, for they get to choose all the channels of their choice without a care in the world by directing the remote holder.

I enjoy and even look forward to these meets because they fill the void in me to a great extent and provide me with the opportunity see innocence in the younger generation and compassion and dexterity at conversations.. well.. It sums up all when i say that I am made whole in their presence.