Happy Diipavali!

On Saturday Oct 17 we celebrated Diipavali in Bhuvaneshvar in the state of Orissa. Diipavali is perhaps the greatest festival in India celebrated over many days with great intensity culminating on the main night in an inferno of fireworks and bombs that last from sunset around 6 pm to midnight. It is very difficult to have a normal conversation during those hours due to the unbelievable noise and incessant fireworking. Those who only had the experience of a western new year's celebration should really try this one! We enjoyed it from the roof of the jagrti building in Bhuvaneshvar, a large three storey building that houses an Ananda Marga pre-school and organisational activities here. Diipavali means "row of lamps" and all homes, buildings, etc are decorated with lamps. The typical home decoration is rows of tiny oil lamps and elsewhere electrical arrangements have made much forray. As we write it is Thursday and still explosions are heard here and there in most places in India.

Earlier on Saturday we had visited Konark and Puri by a friend's car. The suntemple at Konark is huge, a tourist magnet famous for its erotic scultpures on the temple walls. The entire construct is a massive wagon on many colossal wheels drawn by huge creatures, a magnificent tribute to the sun. We did not like though that we had to pay 25 times as much for the entrance fee as the Indians have to. The authorities have made such rules at many sights in India, they make foreigners pay a whole lot more. It seems the taxi drivers follow up on it even as they just don't accept normal pay from us. A breach with the traditional Indian hospitality methinks. In Puri we were simply outdone by the massive Hindu crowd that were out burning straws ("their karma?") and doing other rituals at the Jagannath temple, so we never made it up to the temple walls there. Not a big problem as foreigners are not allowed inside that temple anyway. Walking on the beach of the Bay of Bengal at Puri was grand and very refreshing in the hot afternoon. Te Indian families know how to bath together, playing and enjoying in the waves like anything! On way we also managed to climb a hill outside of Bhuvaneshvar where there is a spectacular view from a Buddhist peace pagoda constructed by the Japanese we heard in memory of some Hindu royal who had converted to Buddhism. The vast landscape stretching out in numerous ricefields and other crops is just so green these days right after the monsoon. A very beautiful sight.

At the Japanes pagoda 

At Konark

Found a new friend at Konark

Orissa is a beautiful coastal state and like most of the other eastern areas it is very poor. The contrast between the serene, colourful landscapes and the devastating poverty is really ugly. The exploitative forces that keeps sucking the wealth of these poor states are generally found in western parts of the country and abroad. As a consequence of its huge exploitation India is a remarkebly apathetic and at the same time radicalized country. Nothing is hidden here, the multiplicity of Indian life is also found in its soco-economic, political and cultural spheres. Typically in the airport of Hyderabad there are piles and long racks of books on poverty, ecological democracy, upirisings, leftist politics, and works by thinker and activists such as Vandana Shiva and Arundhati Roy, along with the timepassing literature usually found throughout the world's airport lounges. We had never seen such an amount of radical literature in an airport before.

The freshness of the Bay of Bengal, at Puri

By coming there we have deviated from our original travel plan, which we thought we would do at some point. The reason for our deviation was a visit to a homeopathic doctor recommended to us. We visited him and his family on Sunday 18 Oct in Banth village a few hours from here. A trip into the quiet, beautiful interiors and not the least to the traditional hospitality of rural India. Were we taken care of! The love, care, smiles, simplicity. The lost treasures of contemporary urban life, not to speak of western individualist society.

Monday we did Bhuvaneshvar city. We saw some exquisite example of the local Kalinga temple style with wonderfully balanced architecture and graceful ornamentation and figurines. We weren't allowed inside the Lingaraj Shiva-temple by a young Brahmin boy. One wonders how long the exploitative upper castes of India can hold on to their horrible positions of supremacy. We also visited an area of Jain caves. Tuesday (yesterday) we left for Patna, which wasn't on our plan either. Originally we had thought to go by train up to Jamalpur but most recent hard political violence en route in the states of West Bengal, Jharkandh and Bihar has made us think differently. Even in Munger next to Jamalpur Maoists last week burned a railway station. They have destroyed rail tracks and public buildings in many places along where we were supposed to travel. It is not difficult to understand why peasants ("Maoists") in those areas are desperate; the explotation is extreme. They therefore have our sympathy and understanding but we don't want to be involved in violent troubles just like that. We arrived safely in the grand Ananda Marga jagrti in the blessed city of Jamalpur last night, Here we will do plenty of meditation an enjoy the company of great spiritual people. So long.

Everyday yoga and meditation is a good way

to spend holidays and everyday life as well