The holiday that melted away age
AS a septuagenarian couple, when we joined a motley group of youthful friends and relatives for a trip to Bali, we hoped to shed a few years in a boisterous company visiting an exotic location. And we were not disappointed.
Merging our indulgent smiles with the riotous laughter of the youngsters while swinging over rice terraces at Ubud or enjoying snorkelling vicariously in the tingling crystal-clear waters at Nosa Punida or exploring the stunning beaches of the island, we did forget our age for a while. We felt like a pair of adolescents bathing and frolicking in the lukewarm water of the hot springs at Mount Baur. And when we hesitated to go for the sea-walking venture at Nusa Dua, 16-year-old vivacious Advika wheedled us, "You must do it, uncle-aunty! Yeh zindagi na milegi dobara! I shall take you along with me."
So, filled with childlike wonder and curiosity, we stepped into the ocean through a ladder, wearing astronaut-like helmets with transparent visors. It was a blissful experience, walking on the ocean floor surrounded by colourful marine life and coral formations, holding the hand of a fairy of a girl. It felt like being in a giant fantasy aquarium. Although we were only 10 m under the sea, I felt like a character in Jules Verne’s novel, ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’.
What struck us most during our week-long sojourn was the dominant prevalence of Hinduism on the island. It enveloped us from the moment we landed at the airport. Three beautiful girls attired in traditional Balinese dresses garlanded each one of us, joining their hands in ‘Namaskar’, with a chant of ‘Om Swasti Astu’ (‘May God shower grace upon you’). The drive from the airport took us past giant sculptures depicting scenes from the ‘Mahabharata’, ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Bhagvad Gita’. We noted with surprise that the ‘Gayatri Mantra’ in a soft sonorous voice was being played at the restaurant where we lunched.
In the evening, we enjoyed the mesmerising performance of the Kecak dance. It was a choreographed love story of Rama and Sita. We were told that 80 per cent of the Balinese population follow Hinduism. I wondered how and when Hinduism travelled almost 8,000 km away from India to Bali centuries ago and thrived in a Muslim-majority country like Indonesia.
Recently, I read William Dalrymple’s book, ‘The Golden Road’, and got my answers. In this well-researched treatise, the eminent historian uncovers India’s role as a driver of global change centuries ago. From 250 BCE to 1200 CE, this country exported its civilisation through art, mythology, language and much more via traders and religious missionaries. An area of Indian influence or a cultural zone was created by the sheer power of ideas, which Dalrymple calls the ‘Indosphere’, spanning the South-east and central Asia, Arab world and Mediterranean Europe.
I was filled with renewed pride for my country and wondered when we would achieve the position of such influence again.
