Gir lions and more

India is all about experience. Most of it is mystical. Your trip to or within India depends on what you are thinking at that moment of time. Are you open to the magic called India? Are you ready to experience where words fail to describe the feeling? Its about do you want to explore yourself? I am not talking about a pilgrimage but a spiritual journey, for sure. Are you inspired? Do you want to really look beyond or is it a place to be tick marked from your list or should I say crossed from your list. Is it a task done well or is their some more to be explored. As a traveller, one can never really strike off a country as 'done'in terms of travel experience. Wondering about the place, looking at the finer nuances and feeling them is what travel is all about to me. As a travel weary Mumbaikar, one always hears stuff like "Oh if you had to travel for work , you wouldn't be talking like this. "

Travel these days,for the rich,has become a hotel experience. People just want to share about the hotel they stayed in and how Wow it was. Was shocked when I heard a student in her early twenties say her trip was fantastic because she shopped till she dropped. There is a lot of disposable income that parents in urban India have. To send your child on shopping holidays is taking a step too far. Kids vacation alone and its all about fancy hotels, pubs and parties. This starts as soon as tenth standard is done. First trip is usually Goa with a stay at Fort Aguada, all sponsored by the parents, Of course. I may seem to be crying hoarse against rich parents spoiling their children. The not so rich parents also are doing the same. Instead of showing India with its diversity, people are taking their children on packaged tours abroad. Holidays have become about shopping. Most Mumbai born brought up people don't want to instill the value of travel in their children. This problem is with the first generation moneyed parents. They have worked hard to earn and want to lavish a luxury lifestyle on their children. Children in school are talking about latest gadgets or their foreign junkets. They know the parents will send them on a full paid course to a foreign university. I am scared what this generation of children will grow up to be and how will they contribute to our nation. They do not have the correct value system. They have never been the have nots. If they have done charity, its because they have had excess.

We went on a holiday to Gir. After the safari, all including the amazing hotel staff , wanted to know if we spotted a lion. And the friends wanted to know how many lions? No one wanted to hear about the mystical magical brown forest with its gentle hills and amazing wildlife. The least visited museum was a treasure trove of information. It said spotting a lion is easy but hearing the sound of a deer, as it warns its bretheren about spotting the lion, is rare. Respecting nature is the prime thing we have forgotten after our school history lessons, which said Early Man was a nature worshipper. The callousness in our people is killing. I did not go to a beautiful highly recommended place called Banej inside the forest because I had been to the museum. It said the three religious sites inside Gir brings in lakhs of pilgrims and that is destroying the forests.In Mumbai, if you have encroached a land and dont want authorities to touch it, just hoist an orange or a green flag. Orange will signify a temple and a green will signify a mazaar.

At the Gir hotel, they did dhoop every evening. Dhoop is dry cow dung which is burnt, some herbs are added to it and the resulting smoke is purifying the air and keeps mosquitoes away. Its like a natural pest control. The person Razzaq took the Dhoop at sunset thru the entire hotel including the corridors, restaurants, kitchen and one day I just followed him. The fragrance was magical. He crossed the property and went towards the river. There under a neem tree trunk, he kept the dhoop. I prayed to the Neem tree as dusk set in. Birds were almost home and the full moon was out , albeit not shining enough. The river was tired of gliding by and seemed to take a breather. The village lights were just coming on. Razzaq and me stood in complete silence. He prayed to his God and I to mine. At that moment, our God was one.The difference was only in my language. The brown dried Gir forest across the river and the green lawns and trees were a contrast but only in my mind. For that moment, all was one. The moments had coverged or, should I say submerged into that one moment. Magical or mystical are the words I play with. It was endless and overflowing. It was a feeling of deja vu and creation. It was calm and yet churning. It was all and none together.