Bihar beckons

Isnt this the city of Chandragupta Maurya ?
Who had a wiseman whom they called Chanakya ?
with Viharas and Stupas and illustrations of the Pittika,
Megasthenes wrote everything in the Indika.
Now if you go and see this very city,
It is a heap of forgotten history.
A few reminiscences still reside in our minds,
and force us not to forget Pataliputra's pride.

Then you come to the great university,
Nalanda by name where monks observed chastity.
Acres of land filled with ruins of Buddhist relics,
destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khalji, a ruthless fanatic.

Lo and behold! you come to the famous Rajgir,
situated on hills mere scenic prodigy.
All around the hills different holy places stand,
show us the diversity of India our land.
A rose coloured temple, where hot sulphur flows,
all those who come here, take solemn vows.
Not far is a grove where Gautama Buddha meditated,
High or low by everyone he is venerated.

On your journey you shall pass many a river,
the Ganga during monsoons fills Villagers with hysteria.
Now it is time to pick up your travellers guide,
and visit Bihar for its sure a lovely sight!

Sonali Gupta @ 1991 on a train journey to Pataliputra

A nomad who taught me the true meaning of a thank you.

Dear Captain, And its thanks giving today. I'd like to call it Dhanyavaadi din :) Translations add a little spunk don't they? It set me thinking, how often do I say thank you for the things I have on my platter. We as humans usually think about the things we don't have, the ones we so much yearn to have. Remember that wonderful film of Tom Hanks- Cast Away? I remember watching that scene where he ignites the lighter in a jiffy after he is back from his long ordeal on the island. He just stares at this lighter askance. How easy it was to have a flame while he had such a hard time trying to find a way to make fire. That scene set me thinking as to how much we take everything we have for granted. This laptop I type on, this warm cozy bed I sleep on each night, these have become a part and parcel of my life. How would I feel if I didn't have them?  It is so easy to just drive past homeless people on the streets and label them poor. The winters are cold for us, but freezing for them- a stark difference, the haves and the have-nots, and never the two will meet or would they? Thank you- such a beautiful word. Have you ever noticed the smile on the face of a stranger- their eyes gleaming with gratitude when these two words are spoken aloud! The frown transforms into a smile a mile long. The happiness one feels within is overwhelming. Hmmm, I have to tell you this story of Mohammad Eid who lives in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. He is an Ababda nomad. These nomads have African features and piercing light brown eyes.They own no possessions and keep moving from place to place. For shelter, they make these hutments using discarded wood, so very scarce in the Eastern Saharan desert. Their women are veiled and have tatoos on their faces. They have an interesting custom of wooing men with their hair  during their festivals. They form a long line with their backs towards the men, dancing with snake like movements and their hair falling down on their backs. Their hair are beautiful, black tresses with curls swaying with the rhythm of the Tamboora- a stringed instrument. No words are exchanged but love is expressed in the moonlit night in the vast Ababda landscape. So back to Mohammad Eid, he is an old man or maybe young but a hard life has taken its toll on him He is very poor according to the standards of the world. But he is the richest when it comes to humanity. He wears a white Galabiya, traditional flowing dress of the nomads and has three children. The eldest is mentally challenged and extremely affectionate- a grown up man with a child like bounce, tough to find these days. Every morning at 4 am when I would get up and leave my tent, I would see Mohammad camped outside on a small hillock making Gibana-traditional coffee (green beans) with cinnamon and ginger on the open hearth. I would occasionally go  and sit with them in the wee hours and watch the sun rise. On my last day at Berenike, I had some short bread, a bottle of olives with pimentos and lots of chocolate. I wanted to give them all to Mohammad. As I approached him with my offerings, he broke into tears. He said, I have never been given so much in my life... thank you! I felt so small in front of him. I did not value these few eatables but for him, these things were weaving a memory that brought him to tears. We both cried and watched the sun rise together. I often think of him when I open my bottle of olives or when I feel like throwing something away.Mohammad taught me  that I need to value what I have, a lesson from an Ababda nomad is filled with profound wisdom, His thank you has been the best thank you of my life. He often times gives me a missed call from his friend's shop in El-Shelatin, the southern boundary of the Nomadic Ababda's and I give a missed call back acknowledging that I thank him for remembering....And yes, with that story, I need to thank you for reading this excerpt too ...till my next story....or your response... Sonali

Berenike & the Egyptian Revolution

Dear Captain, Another take off, I just got home from a long day of studying French-the bane of my current existence. However, as the wise ones always say- sometimes one needs to take a long circuitous route to what one loves most. And for me, to get to the core of archaeology, french needs to be a part of the journey. This is all thanks to Monsieur Napoleon Bonaparte who went with his entourage to Egypt in 1798. Well, when he did, he left a part of history in the form of Institut français d'archéologie orientale and their French publications for me to translate :(

So, the topic for today is Egypt, the gift of the Nile as Herodotus the historian so aptly described this beautiful land. I woke up quite disturbed today after reading the happenings at Midan el-Tahrir or Tahrir square, now a symbol for the January 25th, 2011 revolution. I hear that 16 people have been killed in the wake of the upcoming elections and the military using suppression mode to counter free and fair elections. It takes me back to the time I landed in Egypt this year, January 21st, 2011. On the 24th (one day before the famous revolution), I was in the notoriously famous building called Mogamma in Tahrir. This is the ugliest grey concrete structure I have ever seen. It represents in essence the disconnection of the then President Hosni Mubarak with Egypt. How could a president allow such a horrendous building stay in such a beautiful square-it therefore speaks volumes of what Mubarak was all about. So back on the 24th morning, I was in the building to get myself registered as a foreigner. This rule is more specifically for "Indians". Separate visa policies for South Asians, more like "make a brown cry till her tears dry" and yes Captain, that has happened to yours truly. To cover the details will be another letter dedicated to just what an experience going to the Mogamma is all about! So after getting myself registered, a fellow archaeologist from The Netherlands, Martin Hans suggested that we go for our excavations to Berenike- about 1200 kms south of Cairo, the next day. Intuitively I told him, we ought to go that very night. I am glad we did, coz if we had stayed that night in Cairo, we would have been in the thick of the revolution. While temperatures were rising at Tahrir, I was in a rickety bus to Berenike, far from the maddening crowd, actually far from civilization as we know it. Berenike is an ancient port dating to the Hellenic times in the centuries before Christ. Interestingly, this ancient port had active trade with India. Reaching there was a feeling I cant really put in words. Knowing that my ancestors visited this place with pepper(most valued commodity back then, gold did not figure!) and cloth from India.

The port is surrounded by the Red Sea mountains, amidst the eastern desert and next to the translucent blue of the Red Sea. Yes, its not the blue sea but red! Doesn't appear red at all! Perhaps it has something to do with the algae with the reddish tinge, I wonder? So, in this halcyon atmosphere I was busy with excavations and analyzing ancient pottery while Egypt was facing a revolution. Friends and family were very worried. Firstly coz they couldnt reach me all the time.

We just had one cellular tower owned by the military in the middle of nowhere. To get connected, one had to go on to the roof of the ramshackled dig house and point the phone towards the tower and pray that the wind was in our direction. I was told my university ordered an evacuation. All UCLA students in the north of Egypt were evacuated and taken to spain ( for a wonderful siesta before hopping into a plane to Los Angeles) while I was left behind to deal with the revolution!

So, i was planning my escape! If I even had to make one, for, which revolutionary would come out to the boonies to oust Mubarak? And if they did, I had an idea! I would construct a boat! Wood is scarce in this region but the landscape is dotted with wooden boards made for temporary shelters by the Ababda's-the nomads of the eastern desert. I would make a boat and plan my escape via the Red sea to the Indian ocean and perhaps relive the journey of my ancestors (but then what if I was held captive by Somalian pirates?) or I could perform a herculean endeavor and swim across the Red sea to Saudia Arabia, but here too women have to be escorted by men, be wearing an Abaya or they are denied entry! Ce'st la vie! Anyway, for now I was safe. The only problem we faced was water and food. Interestingly the one policeman we had for the project realized that with Mubarak ousted, he did not have a job. He offered his services as a pottery assistant. It was quite entertaining to say the least to have a tall, burly policeman with a gun on his holster washing pottery for me! He does have an alternate job now :)

In the entire time at Berenike, we were in our own world. There was no television, internet but occasional news that would filter in from a settlement 300 kms away. I realized that most of the problems in today's world are caused by news which spreads like fire(it is both a good thing and a bad one too).

However, In Egypt being away from the epicenter of the turmoil, in a rugged landscape made me feel that peace is so much more valuable. We do not constantly need telephones, internet or televisions. Introspection brings peace and in some parts of the world, the past still exists, all we have to do is reach out and embrace. But yes, I do feel the revolution is important to get to that peace- the news is important to make the world aware of oppression and then it is upto us what we do with our life and these gadgets, be enslaved by them or perhaps use them to write my letter to you captain till you take the next flight :) and you may have just landed.....

My tryst with truth..Notes to a flight

Dear Captain, Another day goes by, the never ending cycle of life. Today as you take off, I was thinking of  events that unfolded during the day. Events that made me think of how important truth is to life. Truth- a five letter word so potent that it slays like the sword and illuminates even the blind mans sight. Speaking the truth is by far the easiest thing to do- simple, clear and devoid of complications. Yet, most of us choose to speak lies-complex, hard to keep track of and so difficult! Why do we choose complicated things in life Captain? Have you ever wondered? Why do people find it tough to side with what is righteous ? why is it difficult for people to be simple?  Our national emblem (Indian)- the Ashokan pillar with "Satyamev Jayate","Truth always triumphs"-an age old adage, as relevant in Emperor Ashoka's time as it is in ours today. Then how are we so divorced from such simple a concept?  The quest for truth leaves me with more questions than answers, perhaps because it is so rare nowadays. I too like the others am a victim of lies. It is a garb to protect myself from vulnerability of truth. Sad as it may be, speaking the truth bares you and makes you an object of attack. Being alone, is cold and at times freezing but you know what? I feel it is all worth it!  And then isn't truth so important, beautiful and honest. A truth bereft of vices and stained feelings. It is just pure all the way, akin to the heaven like skies you fly into each day Captain. The colour white is the only shade that does justice to how clean truth is.  How do you feel about truth?  Do you feel more connected to it when in the sky? Is it really the same kind of feeling when you touch terra firma ? 

And if you wonder what  truth is to me- It is that smile that stirs my soul, the goodness lighting up dark lurking shadows, the moment well shared and remembered, a moment when each one of us seems real, touched and more human. Today I felt that sense of well being, my smile just felt like a mile. It made me feel, we still have hope, we still are real and won't fade into oblivion or fear. For, I am glad I sided with truth today and hope it feels  this good everyday :) And as you fly away, I hope truth embraces you too in its own special way. And before this letter turns out to be a poetic soliloquy, I shall sign off and hope you land safe and sound wherever it is you are...and yes, truth is what it is, what it is- this has been my tryst with truth and i shall now wait for yours....till our next flight.. Sonali

Amun RE

Burning the midnight oil for you Oh Amun Re-the One and the many? or perhaps the only one so lonely amongst the Oh so many!!

My cup of tea :)

Hot water on the stove, Bubbling up with a roar, The steaming waters come gushing down  Joining hands with my black tea pot  Moments of sole claritea in ones own puritea Questioning it's abilitea Would flowing be an impossibilitea? In the spirit of humanitea- with utmost solidaritea  merging with familiaritea and then the renewed vitalitea Fusing together in form and meaning giving hope to a new beginning  All that is, is  sharing and giving  With this deep claritea ive now learnt  in every possibilitea  Lies a soulful  cup of tea And With this  humilitea-I now sip my cup of tea :) With this humility..I now sip my cup of tea :)

or maybe not..

Time my constant companion... seems to have come to a standstill.....
I feel even the cool breeze of the ocean has decided to take a different route..is it time for introspection?

Its dead silent..........but then im not dead and silence is speaking louder, so loud that it screams..... ...
Let me gather my thoughts, my self and see what I have to offer tomorrow...for that tomorrow ....is a today that could be mine, alive and talkative..or maybe not......:)