Patna Diary
"Music when soft voices die..
Lingers in the memory..."
It is just a day since i left Patna, and i am missing it already. How many preconceived notions have been altered, how many perceptions changed, how many cliches shattered.
Patna was nothing like i had thought it would be, and everything i hadn't thought it would be....
First the cliches...No, the roads were not full of roaming buffaloes; no, the people were not at all rough, but almost softspoken; no, the expected despair was not there at all..not in the air not in the sky, infact, nowhere...
Yes, the place was dirtier than i would have imagined it to be, yes, the system seemed to be performing as though fuelled only by God's grace, and yes the ambience was unique...different from any other place in India..
The biggest surprise was the people we interacted with...bright, intelligent, and with an old world charm that made me feel i was travelling back in time...The city was a smorgasboard of sights, visions and aromas...
While each city, town or village i have ever visited has had something to offer by way of uniqueness, Patna stands head and shoulders above the rest as far as furnishing surprises is concerned.
Extreme contrasts are woven into the very fibre of its being. The rich and the poor, the ugly and the beautiful, the coquettish and the brash, the sweet and the sour, the birds and the animals, the desi and the videshi, all coexist in a surreal sort of way..
The ride through Ashok Rajpath was like a walk through the lanes of history, as might have been read in a classic Salman Rushdie, and illustrated by a cubist painter, in the backdrop of other-wordly chants. Except that my guide was a very rooted Rakesh, who was speaking about the evolution of Patna from its existence as a hallowed capital city, a nurturing land of the greatest Buddhists that India has known, to its present status as a mute witness to a confused and tired identity of the Bihari. Rakesh's moving narratives were the thread that wove the embroidery of meaning into the chaotic and psychedelic stimuli the road provided, as the car zoomed in and out of traffic and snaked its way to its destination without a single scratch or dent.
The Ashok Rajpath, is where Emperor Ashoka rode on his grand elephant and surrounded by horses once upon a time. Today, it is home to quaint houses that time has forgotten since the seventies...It is lined by shops and dwellings of all kinds. Men and women and babies and dogs, bicycles and the occasional cow, all buzz to and fro...and it is akin to a dream where everything one has ever experienced seems to be replayed..in a random manner.
The Harmandir Saheb puts life into perspective though. The edifice is a poem in white and the souls of the saints can be felt here...i say this because i got initiated into the Universe of Kabir, while i waited my turn, a tad impatiently at the Guru Ka Langar. The birthplace of Guru Gobind Singhji is a simple and humble reminder of the presence of beauty and goodness and love...or to put it in one word..the presence of the Divine...
My first ever glimpse of the Ganga left me speechless...The setting sun, the confluence of the Son and the Gandak to the right, the fertile banks where banana trees were swaying and fields of a variety of vegetables growing, the breezes and the steady flow of traffic..have made an imprint which will remain amongst my favourite pictures in the album of my mind...i heard about the Sonpur Mela that starts on the Kartik Purnima and suddenly wished i hadn't missed it so narrowly.
The Ashoka Pillar which lies strong and proud, amidst a garden emanating an air of joy was the last stop in the day's sighseeing tour...
I was once again enlightened on the influence of the Buddha on the mind of the Emperor Ashoka, and i was left marvelling at the depth of knowledge my host seemed to possess on the complex history of the City...
Evening falls early in Patna, and it was quite dark at 5.30 pm when we reached the guest house.
My Patna diary monologue finds a semicolon here...
The delights of shopping- whether khadi or stationery or books, and the even loftier ones of the divine food of Patna deserve a separate page...
Lingers in the memory..."
It is just a day since i left Patna, and i am missing it already. How many preconceived notions have been altered, how many perceptions changed, how many cliches shattered.
Patna was nothing like i had thought it would be, and everything i hadn't thought it would be....
First the cliches...No, the roads were not full of roaming buffaloes; no, the people were not at all rough, but almost softspoken; no, the expected despair was not there at all..not in the air not in the sky, infact, nowhere...
Yes, the place was dirtier than i would have imagined it to be, yes, the system seemed to be performing as though fuelled only by God's grace, and yes the ambience was unique...different from any other place in India..
The biggest surprise was the people we interacted with...bright, intelligent, and with an old world charm that made me feel i was travelling back in time...The city was a smorgasboard of sights, visions and aromas...
While each city, town or village i have ever visited has had something to offer by way of uniqueness, Patna stands head and shoulders above the rest as far as furnishing surprises is concerned.
Extreme contrasts are woven into the very fibre of its being. The rich and the poor, the ugly and the beautiful, the coquettish and the brash, the sweet and the sour, the birds and the animals, the desi and the videshi, all coexist in a surreal sort of way..
The ride through Ashok Rajpath was like a walk through the lanes of history, as might have been read in a classic Salman Rushdie, and illustrated by a cubist painter, in the backdrop of other-wordly chants. Except that my guide was a very rooted Rakesh, who was speaking about the evolution of Patna from its existence as a hallowed capital city, a nurturing land of the greatest Buddhists that India has known, to its present status as a mute witness to a confused and tired identity of the Bihari. Rakesh's moving narratives were the thread that wove the embroidery of meaning into the chaotic and psychedelic stimuli the road provided, as the car zoomed in and out of traffic and snaked its way to its destination without a single scratch or dent.
The Ashok Rajpath, is where Emperor Ashoka rode on his grand elephant and surrounded by horses once upon a time. Today, it is home to quaint houses that time has forgotten since the seventies...It is lined by shops and dwellings of all kinds. Men and women and babies and dogs, bicycles and the occasional cow, all buzz to and fro...and it is akin to a dream where everything one has ever experienced seems to be replayed..in a random manner.
The Harmandir Saheb puts life into perspective though. The edifice is a poem in white and the souls of the saints can be felt here...i say this because i got initiated into the Universe of Kabir, while i waited my turn, a tad impatiently at the Guru Ka Langar. The birthplace of Guru Gobind Singhji is a simple and humble reminder of the presence of beauty and goodness and love...or to put it in one word..the presence of the Divine...
My first ever glimpse of the Ganga left me speechless...The setting sun, the confluence of the Son and the Gandak to the right, the fertile banks where banana trees were swaying and fields of a variety of vegetables growing, the breezes and the steady flow of traffic..have made an imprint which will remain amongst my favourite pictures in the album of my mind...i heard about the Sonpur Mela that starts on the Kartik Purnima and suddenly wished i hadn't missed it so narrowly.
The Ashoka Pillar which lies strong and proud, amidst a garden emanating an air of joy was the last stop in the day's sighseeing tour...
I was once again enlightened on the influence of the Buddha on the mind of the Emperor Ashoka, and i was left marvelling at the depth of knowledge my host seemed to possess on the complex history of the City...
The delights of shopping- whether khadi or stationery or books, and the even loftier ones of the divine food of Patna deserve a separate page...
Comments
Pristine description!
I have experienced the evening beauty and grandeur of Ganga at Dakshineshwar in Kolkata, and agree 100% with you..had me speechless too !!! Please continue to write such wonderful articles and bring out the glory and beauty of our motherland..