I generally avoid travelling by
buses in India, even though it’s a great window to know India, after Indian
railways. Day before yesterday, I had to return from Jodhpur to my hometown
Udaipur for Ashtami celebrations. Ashtami
happens to be on the eighth day of Navratri, the festival of power in which the
entire nation delves into the worship of Goddess Durga, who sits on the tiger,
and her sisters like Shailputri, Kalika, Kalratri etc. All of them have
interesting forms, attires and favorite vehicles which even includes a flying
donkey. It’s a day to worship power. The human search for power has often taken
the shape of myriad religions. What is the real power? Is it absolute freedom
i.e. the freedom from even the desire of power? If this is the truth then all
the worship and esoteric meditative practices in Navratra become a religious
pursuit in circle. By the way, this Navratra definitely marked the onset of
India’s power in international politics. Prime Minister Modi went on 100 hour
visit to United States where he conducted 50 meetings. He was on a complete
fast to please Goddess Durga and in the official dinner with President Obama he
just sipped water. It seems that Goddess Durga had actually showered India and
Mr. Modi with her power!! The visit reminded me of dear friend Ambassador Muley
who visited Cornell University at the request of International Affairs Forum in
2013 and delivered a terrific and enlightening lecture on India’s soft power
and economic growth. The visit of Ambassador Muley, in many ways marked the beginning
of the trends initiated by the honorable Prime Minister in his recent visit to
US like giving an importance to public diplomacy and emphasis on India’s great
soft power traditions of Yoga.
Coming back to my departure from
Jodhpur, I would like to mention that I bought a bus ticket of a Volvo bus from
Jodhpur to Udaipur. I paid $7.50 for a journey of 187.5 miles and about six
hours. Officially, the Volvo buses are the most luxurious and the costliest buses
of India and previously, they were known to be mostly used by the foreign
visitors. But the bus which I hopped on was full of the great Indian middle
class, explicitly showing the impact of 10 percent growth rates that India
witnessed in the last decade.
The bus was not just a numerical
congregation of the great Indian middle class but, more than that it was a
complete kaleidoscope of the people’s values, ethos, beliefs, culture and a
story of a nation’s ,rather Hindu civilization’s evolution in the last 2000
years.
The topics of discussions spanned
diversity of space and time. Mr. Mishra
and Mr. Badamiya were arguing over number of Brahmins that should be fed on one’s
parents’ shraaddha[1] .
I was amazed at the strength and longevity of the belief in the unseen spirits
of the father and mother. The practice was Shraaddha is as important to 21st
century India’s digital/software men as it was to the Vedic tribal men who migrated
to the sub-continent from Central Asia in 1500 BC.
“Prime Minister Modi has supernatural
powers. He will make India the supremely powerful nation through his mystic
yogic powers”, uttered Swami Ajodhanand Ji Maharaj to his team. He further
roared, “India will force the world community to worship all the holy cows of
the world and abstain from alcoholism. The European girls will girls will start
wearing saree”. Everyone touched his feet at his victory speech. However, after
a while he was challenged in a debate by Mr. Mathur who was a member of
rationalist society. “India has been the
country of migrants and Hinduism must be accommodative in every respect. Hinduism
should learn from west and adopt scientific temper. We must stop worshipping
cows, snakes and dogs. “, remarked Mr. Mathur. He was about to be thrashed at his
revolutionary ideas but was saved by the bus driver.
I got to meet Mr. Raju who serves
as a revenue inspector in Udaipur. Mr. Raju was a very humble, good hearted, simple
and a family man. He says that he besides the salary of $400 per month, he is
able to manage about $1000 from ‘unmentionable sources’ every month. He seemed
quite happy with that. He comes from a very poor family of Jharkhand.
Previously, he appeared for Indian Civil Services exam about seven times, but
he was rejected in the interview. Thereafter, he worked as a monitoring consultant
in the immunization program of UNICEF in Jharkhand. In that journey he encountered
extreme poverty and countless deaths due to government negligence, corruption.
“Often Tribal girls are molested
and raped by the forest officials, landlords. The vaccines supplied by UNICEF
are sold by corrupt doctors. Most of the people do not even get two-square
meals. They wear absolutely nothing. Even if they get to eat something, it is
watery soup of lentils and course rice. Such conditions have given rise to
Naxalism i.e. left wing radicalism. Naxals do not want any official interference,
be it development or infrastructure. Government has lost faith in this belt.
But the Naxals are nice to common people. Non-official visitors are not harmed
by Naxals”, said Mr. Raju with slightly
philosophical and helpless smile on his face as if the solution to this misery
lies, only in Nirwana.
Besides, the aforementioned
colors of Indian society there are a couple of mother things worth mentioning.
After my conversation with Mr. Raju, aroma of oily and spicy potato curry and
parathas invaded my nose. In the middle of dense forest the heavenly smell of
the parathas was a real delight. Having home-cooked meals in buses and trains
is the most treasured pleasure for a middle-class Indian. However, soon after,
there was an unpleasant invasion of spicy farts. The farts reflected a refined
mixture of all oriental spices and some oriental philosophy (which could
inspire one to realize the futility of this dirty human body and begin a
spiritual quest).
By the time, I reached Udaipur I
needed a dosage of pain-killer and some fresh air as the old-fashioned AC, its
occasional fumes and smelly, spicy farts produced a strange combination of
lethal aromas which could almost kill a human baby!!!
[1] A
Hindu practice dating back to Rigvedic times, which has sustained itself as an important
part of Hindu identity through the last 3500 years
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