Swami becomes Sadhu

A chillum pipe in hand, wrapped in a red cloth, Swaminathan, 51, was relaxing on a plastic sheet.  River Ganges flowed just a few feet away, with all its calmness in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India.  As I observed him, I was keen to know why he had become a sadhu. And, I found out.

Swaminathan was from a well-respected family in Rameswaram.  They were a wealthy family too.  The family business was that of supplying ganja (marijuana) to the spiritual visitors, mainly Sadhus.  Thus even at the age of 10, Swaminathan had easy access to ganja and his friends tempted him to steal some and smoke with them.

One night he slept longer than usual under the influence of ganja.  He rushed to the school as soon as he got up in the morning.  He was caned hard by the teacher because he had not completed his homework.  He felt insulted in the class and felt that he did not deserve to be punished so badly.  He waited outside the school during the lunch break, and when his teacher walked out, he struck the teacher hard with a stone. 

The teacher, of course, complained to the parents. The parents, in turn, felt insulted and were angry. Swaminathan ran to a ground close by, instead of returning home, to avoid the wrath of his parents.   Indeed, his parents found him and dragged him home. They beat him too.  He was tied upside down with a little support of the wall.  After over 12 hours, he was given temporary relief from the punishment to freshen up in the morning.  That was enough of an opportunity for him to run away from home.  Without stopping, he jogged as far away from the city as he could.  Only in the evening, did he realise that he has walked away from home, not knowing how far. 

But he never felt like going back home.  He continued to walk the next day and the day after.  He begged for food and ate whatever he got.  After a couple of months, he stopped and stayed at a temple, which needed a helper for its daily chores.  After the journey all alone, he was a transformed boy now.  He enjoyed the job and sincerely devoted himself to the deity and the temple. Over a period of a few months, he became the first assistant to the temple priest. 

The priest collected all the offerings from the donation box and reported the donations to the temple’s trustees. These funds were used to maintain the temple.  On one such occasion, Swaminathan saw the process of the donation box being opened.  The priest told the boy to hand over half the money to the trustees and keep the rest aside.  To keep his dishonesty as a secret, the priest offered Rs. 10 to Swaminathan. 

This greed shocked Swaminathan, that too from a temple priest!  His conscience could not accept it and he left for an unknown destiny.

Once again, he started walking. He chanced upon the preaching of a spiritual leader.  Swaminathan was impressed with his discourse and sought to offer his services and accept him as his Guru.  He stayed with the Guru.  One late evening, he found the Guru in a compromising position with a lady devotee.  That was the last time he saw his Guru.  He left the temple.

After that, he didn’t stay at any one place for too long. Right now, he was in Rishikesh.  By June that year, he wanted to reach Badrinath on foot. 

Two orange sheets of cloth are good enough for him to cover himself.  A plastic sheet converted from woven cement bags serves as his bed.  His long, braided bushy hair form his pillow.  Someone or the other offers him food on the roadsides of holy towns.  Cash alms from the visitors to the town is good enough for him to buy his daily intake of ganja, a habit which he never disowned.

Once he reaches Rishikesh anyway, he doesn’t need cash for ganja.  Ganja plants are found in abundance in the forests right up to Badrinath.  It would not only be enough for his day-to-day consumption right now, but could also be stored for future use after drying.

Swaminathan has been roaming around the country for over forty years now. He has never considered going back home. He is happy and has no regrets in life!

“What keeps you happy?” was my question.  “No material wants,” was the reply. 

Annapurna Trek Experience # 2

The trek to Chomrung, the next day took me through thick pine and bamboo forests.  The 9-hour strenuous trek became all the more difficult because of the steps that were 12-to-18 inches high each.  Of course, all strain in the Himalayas is worth the pain. This time my fruit was a  magnificent glimpse of the Annapurna-Hiunchuli-Fishtail mountain range.

And of course, the Himalayan weather is allowed to change its mood as it very much did the next day.  Half way through the day it began to rain. We were told that the path ahead had even heavier rains and that it was snowing Deurali onwards. In fact, a heavy snow fall 3-4 ago was followed by a major avalanche and had made the route to ABC inaccessible. Hoping that the weather would improve and the path would open up, I decided to continue.  Just a day away from MBC and ABC, the weather conditions deteriorated further.  Heavy snow fall and another dangerous avalanche had blocked the trekking ridges.  Those who were stuck on the other side had somehow managed to come back, a few of them limping with ankle and knee injuries. It was anticipated that it would take  a few days for the weather to improve.

I had to return. I had a view of the mountains which would have been clearer if the weather cooperated. I could have had an even closer  and clearer panoramic view. Anyway, it was a tough trek and in the end I am grateful that my ankles, knees, heart and energy supported me commendably.

 

ABC Trekking -# 1 Excitement Ahead!

Come 16th November, I will be out for for my next expedition. This time it will be a a trek to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) in Himalayas in Nepal which will last till 26 Nov 2018. The Annapurna region is regarded as one of the best trekking destinations on the planet.

Three years back, in end April 2015, I planned for this expedition. But just a week before I was to leave, there was a severe earthquake in Nepal, killing almost 10,000 people. All tourist activities were closed. Next 3 years kept me busy in other expeditions like Drive from Road to London, solo drives to Iceland, Yellowstones in USA and Candian Rockies. I am now attempting to trek ABC again. Like the trek to Mt Everest BC, again I will be trekking all alone, of course with a Sherpa as a guide.

I wish the various authorities consider the energy level as a criteria to assess the abilities of a person rather than the age. Some of the initial challenges I am facing are due to my age factor of 73+. I expect to resolve these issues in the next 2-3 days and be ready to commence my journey on time.

I hope to share my excitements and anxious moments with you as I keep moving.

In the meanwhile I certainly need your good wishes and blessings for smooth completion of my dream.

Thrill – India Playing Pak at Sharjah

“Pushpa, quickly get ready!  I have come to pick you up to watch the second half of the cricket match.  India is all out for 125.  I am surrounded in my portion of the stadium by Pakistan fans and they were at their loudest in supporting their players.  I was the lone Indian supporter and got carried away to oppose them.  To prove my loyalty, I have placed a friendly bet that India will win…200 UAE Dirhams each with a few of them.  It is 2 to 1 in India’s favour.  India is going to win this match.  It would be interesting to watch.”  I rushed home during the innings break to take my wife to the match.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to field.  They demolished Indian batting stalwarts like Ravi Shastri, Srikkanth, Vengsarkar, Gavaskar, Amarnath, Madanlal, and Viswanath.  Only Azharuddin and Kapil Dev were the major contributors.  Imran Khan, Pakistan’s ace bowler was merciless in his pace and had 6 wickets to his name.  India wound up for a paltry 125.

Driving a distance of over 20km in about 20 minutes from the Sharjah Cricket Stadium to Dubai, we were back in time before the second inning began. It was Friday, 22 March 1985, the weekend holiday.  Anand (my son) developed Mumps and Pushpa stayed back with him.  Meeta and Seema were with me all through the match.

Pushpa resisted my insistence, “How can I?  Anand is unwell. Anyway, why do you want me to watch a match which we are certain to lose.  Just 2.5 runs per over?  Easy for Pakistan to win. ”

“No.  Just watch.  I have a strong feeling that we are going to win today.”

Anand was asleep.  When I continued to insist, she had Kannan, our part-time helper come over and joined me to the match.  I collected the money to pay for the stakes, in case India loses.

My boss was one of the of Committee members of the Sharjah Cricket Association and could manage to buy VIP seats.  We had lunch at the stadium and there were some cricket players in the buffet queue too.  Javed Miandad was just ahead of me with a friend.  He said aloud, “I am going to blast India today.  If we don’t win today, I will not return to Pakistan.”

Back on our seats in the stadium, all the Pakistan fans around us were mocking me.  It was all in good humor.   I knew some of them well.  I handed over the bet amount to one of them, Mr. Jhumkawala.

Soon, India started getting wickets.  One run out and two great catches by Gavaskar.  Miandad came in to bat, struggled and could not get a single run in 15 balls.  Frustrated, he tried to hit a lofty shot and was out for a duck!

Around the score of 40-45, they lost their fifth wicket!  Gavaskar was in a mood to entertain the crowd.  He had taken 4 catches and every time he put the ball in his pocket after taking the catch.  Around the score of 85-87 they lost 3 more wickets.  At the score of 87 for 8, my Pakistani friends started handing me the bet amount before walking out.  They lost 2 more wickets at the same score!

All Indian supporters were enjoying their best.  We were carrying a large Indian flag.  The Bollywood super star Rishi Kapoor was in the balcony adjacent to us.  He borrowed our flag and was waving for a long time.  The flag never came back to us!

What a match to win!  Well-worth the efforts to bring Pushpa!  With pleasant memories we got back home. And Javed Miandad to Pakistan!

Experienced and Written By: Badri Baldawa  Edited By : Meeta Kabra

Yellowstone National Park #6 – Wildlife

Oh! What a place! Yellowstone National Park.
Here is a glimpse of the wildlife we found.  Bisons were in plenty.

 

 

Bison

Beautiful yellow and grey deer were also found in very close proximity.  As some of the places we could walk with them

 

 

We were lucky to that suddenly a Coyote (Wolf Family) came in from front of our car (left top picture)

 

We could see a herd of deer passing through a pond in an absolutely disciplined way, as can be seen on picture at left bottom

 

 

Bears just on roadside welcoming us near Jasper. Bear was less than 10 Mtr from us. I was tempted to go out of the car and have a selfie!

Yellowstone National Park #5 – Geysers

One of the main reasons we came to Yellowstone National Park was seeing the Geysers, and they did not disappoint. The anticipation was enough. My goodness, when it erupts…

We saw many geysers. Two were prominent amongst them. One was called Old Faithful. It started with a steaming hole. There are chairs kept around it in a circle around 100 metres in radius. A computer program estimates the time of eruption, with a ten minute margin of error. Everyone sits down, and soon enough, the show begins.

Slowly, the hole begins to throw water out. It faked out three or four times, when the fountain only reached about the height of a full grown man. But then, it started, and didn’t stop. It reached a height of at 200-250 feet, spewing hot water and steam from its mouth, water flowing everywhere.

 

 

Sulphur Hot Springs