|
I
had never traveled outside the United States until I visited
Mumbai, (Formerly Bombay) India. Ironically, I was always
attracted to "Hindu" religion and philosophy
since the 1970's when I got into yoga and meditation so
I found it "karmic" as they say, to be going
there. The first visit was an all-expense paid, 3 week
excursion working for a "Bollywood" movie producer
in October 2002. Of course, because I knew nothing but
5-star hotels, I was pretty much sheltered from the day
to day bustle which lurked on the busy, noisy streets below
me. India is a kaleidoscope of color, a festival for the
eyes. And since I never go anywhere as a tourist per se,
there is an excitement as well as danger that permeates
the air. Hindu-Muslim riots have been known to break.
But
I love India for its sense of terror that something could happen
at
any moment and the exhilaration of being far away from
America, a stranger in a strange land as it were. The ancient
mixed with the modern or what I term, "cell phones amidst
human squalor." Yes, for all it's vast wealth, India is
also a country where one million homeless and impoverished people
live in the streets of Mumbai.
For the newcomer, India can be a harrowing experience. It gets
very hot, tropical hot. The heat permeates the soles of your
shoes and the sun burns into your soul. In India, there is a
smell in the air of human and animal feces mixed with the sweet
smell of incense and garbage being burned in the streets. Like
most urban cities in the world, Mumbai's air is heavily polluted
with the fumes of thousands of motor rickshaws, taxis, buses
and cars. On any given day one sees cows, water buffalo, an occasional
elephant with rider and there is nothing more surreal than waking
up early in the morning to the sight of a camel lumbering down
the street.
India is primarily a country of gods and goddesses. Not just
commerce, technology and industry. Pictures of Hindu gods like
Krishna, Shiva, Brahma, and Ganesha, are commonplace. There are
virtually thousands of temples in which pilgrims and worshipers
flock daily to worship their god.
It
wasn't until my second trip to India in January 2003 that I
finally
went to visit Vrndavana, a village the Hindus or "Vaisnavas," (Devotees
of Krishna,) consider to be the holiest place on earth, indeed,
in the universe. It is known as Vrndavana in Mathura district
roughly 900 miles Northeast of Mumbai. Why is it so holy? Because
Lord Krishna took birth there 5,000 years ago and one can feel
and perceive it, just by spending only a few days there. It is
very hard to describe how an area of 84 square miles with 5,000
temples can be so surcharged with the kind of spiritual energy
I had never experienced before. It still retained the charm of
a small village although in India with a population of one billion
people, "small" can mean a million or under.
Watch out for the monkeys that run wild in Vrndavana. They're
very clever and move swiftly to steal the glasses off your
face or a bag of potato chips from your hand. They can be quite
vicious. I was surprised at their size as well, almost mini-baboons.
The
foreign exchange rate in India is 44-46 Rs. (Rupees) for $1
USD. So
as far as living arrangements are concerned there
are many hotels and "ashrams" that by American standards
are cheap, say, 200-600 Rs. per day or an apartment for 1,000-3,000
Rs. per month.
My train trip from Mumbai took 20 hours but I saw the beautiful,
lush scenery and small villages and farms that peppered the country
enroute. I went 1st class but on my return trip, I chose second
class which was a bit more harrowing. There is so much to say
about mystical India but perhaps the best way to experience it
first-hand is to just go there. I hope to return again soon.
|