India – the most extraordinary country!
I have seen the most amazing sights in the pink city of Jaipur and at Agra the stunningly beautiful Taj Mahal. I have visited palaces of Maharajas and heard stories of their wars, family feuds and love.
We took the overnight train to Varanasi (very grim!) and then at dusk and again at dawn walked and took boat rides along the famous Ghats that lead down to the Ganges – mother Ganga – the river that is worshipped and also used for bathing and laundry and cremations. The burning Ghats of the Ganges are the most holy place for a Hindu to be cremated believing that cremation here will send their soul to heaven and put an end to the reincarnation cycle of death and rebirth.
I have made wishes with Deepak (candle flowers) on the Ganges, been blessed by an elephant, and just over the border in Nepal at the birthplace of The Buddha lit incense sticks and received a sutra and a bracelet from a Buddhist monk.
But my lasting memory of India will be of the friendly happy, smiling people.
Most of the population have very little. More than half of the 1.2 billion people don’t have a toilet of any sort. Water for most is from a pump or river. There is no compulsory education. Most people have enough – just enough – to eat.
The 14 hour drive from Varanasi to the Nepalese border was past mile after mile of dusty, dirty, noisy towns and villages with tiny concrete, corrugated iron and straw houses where the only possession seemed to be a large wooden bed with no mattress for the family to sleep on.
Yet the people smile, they sing and they seem to be genuinely happy.
Our guide Karni told us this is true. People are accepting of what God gave them in this current life and see no reason not to be happy with what they have been given. That is not to say they are not hard working and ambitious – they are – just that they can be happy with what little they have right now.
I have so much – an embarrassing abundance of material possessions – and yet how rarely I am happy and smiling and singing and thankful. I am resolved to do better.
