by Aline Dobbie
The answer was found in the form of biogas digesters that provide gas for cooking to villagers around the park and so ease the pressure on the dwindling forest resources. So far Prakratik, under the tireless leadership of Dr Rathore, have installed 225 biogas plants using cow dung as the raw material. Over 1,350 villagers are currently benefiting from this technology that not only produces gas for cooking but also provides organic fertilizer in the form of slurry which is proving to be a better and cheaper alternative to commercial fertilizer. This is benefiting villagers in numerous ways including improving the health of women and children by reducing indoor air pollution, saving time and energy otherwise spent in collecting fuel wood, reducing dependence on chemical fertilizer which saves much needed rupees.Employment is also created through the use of skilled masons as well as unskilled labour in the construction and maintenance of the biogas energy plants.
Award money will be used to expand the energy programme to all of the villages around the park by constructing a further 150 biogas units and developing a wood for wood programme where people are encouraged to plant trees to meet their fuel needs instead of relying on forest resources.
It is so heartening to have this report and I have such admiration for the Rathores, father and son for all that they have accomplished in and around Ranthambhore.
“If we wish to maintain democracy, we must hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our objectives.”
These were the words of Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of the architects of the Indian Constitution; they are as true today as they were in 1950 and India has much of which to be proud. Beloved Bharat, land of my birth your ‘tryst with destiny’ was and is to show the world that tolerance and respect for your diverse peoples and their beliefs is your great strength. The polyphony of culture, caste and language can exist hand in hand with unity and pride in nation.
At the end of a long journey, however enjoyable it has been, there is a powerful longing for home. After weeks in India, the idea of my own bedroom suite, lovely home cooked food, Raju my little cat, my family and friends, with the prospect of Christmas round the corner was a powerful attraction. Now, writing a year later, I look forward to another trip to India but, this time, we will be arriving by ship at Mumbai from Dubai and Oman and exploring the West Coast of India and then on to Sri Lanka. The journey by ship will have started in Dubai. It will be exciting and I have no doubt immensely enjoyable. The prospect of Christmas in Goa will be lovely. I have heard that Christmas Eve in Goa is really a very special event. The prospect of visiting Sri Lanka fills me with excitement.
My abiding memory of these most recent Indian travels will be the wonderful wildlife parks and their animal inhabitants. Cold misty mornings, travelling by jeep in the sunrise, the anticipation, the thrill, and the sheer beauty of seeing tigers and other beautiful creatures will live in my memory for ever. These are some of the gems in India’s crown and she must protect and conserve them for ever. I am prepared to do whatever I can to help with others to achieve this.
At Bandhavgarh there is a notice that one sees as one leaves the park: “Do not be disappointed if at the end of your visit you have not seen me! Believe me I have seen you!”
At the side of the notice there is the painting of a tiger’s head with a benevolent expression, almost wistful in my opinion.
Oh! King of the Jungle, Icon of India, I saw you many times and delighted in your beauty and strength. I looked into your golden eyes and was grateful to know that you did not feel threatened by my own presence or by those around me. Those ten sightings will live in my heart for ever, and truly I can say I have heard ‘The Tiger’s Roar’.
Notice at Bandhavgarh National Park
EPILOGUE
This book could not be published without some comment on the astonishing outcome of the Indian General Election 2004. Briefly, it should be explained that Atal Behari Vajpayee, the personally respected Prime Minister and head of the B J P – the Bharatya Janata Party decided to call an early election because the government was riding high on India’s perceived commercial and economic successes of the last two years. Their slogan ‘India Shining’ appeared to have in the first instance bedazzled a large number of the electorate. In truth however the bulk of the Indian electorate have not benefited from an economic bright light, and when Sonia Gandhi took to the hustings and travelled the country with her slogan ‘Gareebe hatao’ – which in translation means eradicate poverty, those two words resonated with tens of millions of the rural poor who have very little, and certainly no running water or domestic electricity. Sonia Gandhi and her children used all their charisma, determination and family name and harnessed all the unpalatable facts that affected the majority of the electorate.
In fact a voter does not need an education to realise that their living standards are so appalling that no-one actually wants to know about them and their poverty stricken life. By voting, just by making a cross, the rural voters of India showed how to have pride even if one owns nothing. These rural masses used their voting power with dignity. Truly, the world’s largest democracy showed the world how to use that vital democratic strength, and at a time when the rest of the world was reeling from some hugely repugnant truths that were being revealed about a dominant nation as an occupying power. I feel so proud of India that whilst the world focussed on mayhem in the Middle East her massive general election resulted in a completely unforeseen result and the country has completed the transition of power peacefully.
The new Congress led government under the premiership of Manmohan Singh has severe challenges ahead. He however is universally regarded as a man of integrity and quiet stature. In 1991 he was P.V. Narasimha Rao’s finance minister and he initiated the economic reforms with which the world has largely credited the recent BJP government. He had however also been economic advisor to Rajiv Gandhi, Chandra Shekhar and before that Indira Gandhi. As well as having presented five budgets he had served as a governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Now he faces a daunting task. When he stepped down as finance minister in 1996 he commented sadly ‘So much more could have been done...’ Now it would seem ‘Cometh the hour, Cometh the man’. In his Independence Day speech on August 15th he said ‘...I have no promises to make, but I have promises to keep.’
Sonia Gandhi has with wisdom and strength of character shown India that she is very worthy of the country’s respect. Astutely she had declined the premiership and handed the job to a most loyal ally, who we know will do his best to serve India well.
As a team and a government the Congress led new government must deliver some of the aspirations of the great rural masses. She is the Leader with supreme control as she remains the President of India’s oldest party, and her moral authority may well overshadow the Prime Minister himself. Sonia Gandhi could indeed become the embodiment of Mother India, but it would seem that there is a good dynamic between Mrs Gandhi and the Prime Minister of India. If each respects the other for what they can achieve together for India, the synergy will continue to be positive.
For me personally this outcome is a good one, as above all the things I wish for India it is that as an ancient land of amazing diversity, beauty and spirituality she retains her position of secular democracy and religious pluralism. Hopefully, then a light will, in time, shine on the lives of all of her peoples as they strive for their rightful places in the sun.
October 2004
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CHAPTER
NINETEEN
OH HOLY Narmada!
The holy river Narmada I first encountered ten years ago when researching for my second book India: The Tiger’s Roar. In Chapter Eight I talked of this very special river that comforts the spiritual of India. In February 2012 the opportunity to return to Madhya Pradesh presented itself and we flew to Indore from Bengaloru. Indore I have written about briefly already; it must have been a city of great grandeur in the time of its opulent maharajahs but is currently a thrusting industrial city with many five st
ar hotels and shopping malls but its soul and atmosphere has been dissipated. The current Maharani is Usha Malhotra to whom I referred briefly who lives in Mumbai. Her brother is Prince Shivaji Rao Holkar, son of the last Maharajah and known as Prince Richard Holkar. The Holkars are a Maratha dynasty and considered one of the great royal houses of India. They have a most wonderful ancestor of whom there are many wonderful stories Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar who ruled Indore State from 1760 to 1795. A staunch devotee of Lord Shiva she built a temple town at Maheshwar on the Narmada’s banks and this remains one of the finest pilgrimage sites in the entire country.
We were collected by a willing driver sent by the hotel. This is no ordinary hotel however. Ahilya Fort is the residence of Richard Holkar which he has very successfully developed as a heritage hotel; it is utter enchantment and Graham and I were delighted to arrive in time for lunch and survey the great clean beautiful ‘virgin’ river beneath us from the high ramparts of the Ahilya Fort and observe the pilgrims on the very clean ghats below. The temple to Shiva is absolutely adjacent to the Fort and there is a constant stream of pilgrims going and coming from the river’s ghats. The welcome was warm and the sun was high in the sky and what we needed was a cool drink, a rest and opportunity to explore and then a welcome lunch. It all happened and I was like a child in a sweetie shop in this most charming of heritage homes. For a start the Staff are welcoming and efficient and responded to my Hindi and the Housekeeper is a formidable woman called Kantabai who was nanny to Richard and Sally’s two children. Kantabai takes great pride in her work and position and maintains a high level of service and attention to detail. Her English is a little stilted so some might think she was ordering you but in fact she is just ensuring that you manage to participate in all that is offered at this lovely place….and believe me there was plenty to do and Graham and I were so glad that we had devoted six nights to our stay here. The charming Aimee is also an admirable hostess and facilitates the guests in the friendliest of ways.
For keen gardeners such as us the place is a jewel with February being a peak month in which to see the flowers and indeed the splendid kitchen garden. This is most beautifully laid out with delicious vegetables that appear regularly on the menus. Luncheon is a European meal and light but served al fresco in the kitchen garden under shade. Of course there are alcoholic drinks and wine but I stayed mostly with nimbu pani or fresh lime and water with ice and sweetener. I wandered into the kitchens early one morning and was so impressed to see a good clean efficient working kitchen and ante rooms of which anyone would be proud. As well as the kitchen garden there is a serene beautiful swimming pool with various places to sit in shade or sun and stand on the highest rampart and look down on the river. Beyond the vegetables there are domestic animals – cows, goats, and turkeys, geese, guinea fowl and chickens. At one point Graham brought his veterinary know how to bear with filing off the overgrown hooves of a big nanny goat….now that was a ‘tamasha’ to use a good Hindi word and all caught on my camera. http://picasaweb.google.com/alinedobbie would take you to the gallery on Ahilya Fort.
Well you might ask, I have written about the exterior but what about the interiors. They are stylish and comfortable and depending on one’s budget luxurious but so interesting with courtyards full of urlies and sacred statues and shade and grace. Guests eat together at breakfast on a few tables in the main courtyard and at lunch those who are not out and about eat in the vegetable garden and in the evening everyone eats at candlelit tables beautifully adorned in different locations, high on the rampart, or in a courtyard or by the pool. The evening meal is Indian cuisine. Breakfast is a feast as well.
We had left B’lore (Bengaloru) at a very early hour on another excellent Indigo flight so an afternoon rest in the Cardamom suite was indicated but then we listened to Kantabai and presented ourselves for the late afternoon boat ride which took us to the Baneshwar Temple in the middle of the river. Ancient texts apparently speak of this as the centre of the Universe, the axis that connects the earth with the polar star. In the light of the setting sun the river is calm and peaceful – except in the monsoon. The Narmada is not polluted and one could swim there I suppose…but the swimming pool had greater appeal. The hotel’s own boats have drinks on board and the ambience is one of quiet friendliness amongst the guests and a delight in the setting sun. I am a complete devotee of the sunrise and the sunset in India anyway and to find myself in this very special spot was a huge privilege and pleasure.
When we visited Mandu two days later the Staff at Richard’s instructions laid on a splendid picnic banquet which they transported all the way to Mandu and served at a beautifully laid table in a mausoleum overlooking the stunning scenery. Mandu is such an impressive place and the drive is not far at all. A good day’s outing the memory of which I will always treasure. Mandu is situated at the edge of the Vindhya Range and overlooks the Narmada River. Once known as Shadiabad ‘The Citadel of Joy’ it was the pleasure resort and capital of the rulers of Malwa for nearly a thousand years.
Malhar Rao the chief of the Holkar dynasty managed to accrue significant pieces of land and in time Malhar Rao’s daughter in law Ahilya Bai, once widowed, took over control of the state which became vast and stretched as far as the Ganges and the Punjab. The Rani was a superb ruler and praised by contemporary British diplomats, and not being content with creating modern Indore went on to build a whole series of temples, palaces and dharamsalas (rest houses for pilgrims) throughout the country. She died in 1795 and her four grandsons destroyed a great deal of her legacy by dragging the state into a civil war and then a war with the other Marathas and the East India Company. Finally the dynasty was left with a much smaller dominion and the prosperous capital of Indore.
It is thought that Mandu became a fortified hilltop from around the sixth century AD, when it was known as Mandapa-Durga or Durga’s Hall of Worship; this in time was distilled into Mandu. By the eleventh century it was strategically important when the Paramaras moved their capital from Ujjain to Dhar which is 35 km north, but it eventually fell to the army of the Sultans of Delhi in 1305. The Sultanate however continued to have its hands full fighting off the Mongol Hordes from the North and the Afghan governor of Mandu seized the chance to make it his own independent kingdom. He died prematurely but his son went on to reign for 27 years and Mandu became Hoshang Shah’s royal capital and acquired some of the finest Islamic monuments in the whole of Asia. Successive rulers built more palaces and the place prospered and entered its golden age under the Khaljis, but by 1526 the Sultan of Gujarat found it an easy target and gradually it decayed until it was deserted by 1732.
It is worth recalling that Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of King James I of Britain passed through the gate on the Emperor Jahangir’s triumphal procession of 500 elephants. James became King of England in 1603, when he succeeded to the English crown on the death of Queen Elizabeth I in March 1603. A couple of years later in 1607 the first settlement of a few hundred people took place in Jamestown in Virginia in the New World, now known as the United States of America. The Dutch East India Company had received its charter in 1602. As all these world changing events were taking place Mandu was enjoying the height of prosperity and yet a hundred years later it was abandoned. As I silently contemplated ‘earth’s proud empires do fade away... .’
Hoshang Shah’s Tomb apparently was the first marble structure in the country. Emperor Shah Jahan is said to have sent master builders to study it before starting to build the Taj Mahal. The Jami Masjid is patterned on the great mosque at Damascus and is perhaps the finest example of Afghan architecture in India. The Asharfi Mahal is known as the palace of gold coins and Mahmud Kalji’s victory tower.
The city is still haunted by the love story of Rupmati and Baz Bahadur, and Baz Bahadur built the queen a pavilion on a crest of a hill on the southern side overlooking the Narmada River, which looks especially beautiful on a night of the full moon. The Hindola Mahal or Swinging Palace derives its name from the leaning walls
of the palace that resembles a swing. The palace combines immense proportions with a simple design. Finally the Jahaz Mahal, as its name suggests is The Ship Palace because it resembles a ship and is about 130 metres long and 17 metres wide, double storey with domes and balconies and is built between two lakes. Today the ASI has restored with care quite a bit of the whole city, but one can see what was beautiful and the turquoise tiles that are still in evidence must have looked lovely together with the blue ceramic tiles that plastered the Afghan style domes.
Returning to my theme of earth’s proud empires the most moving example is the Nil Kanth Palace, which was an old temple dedicated to Shiva which the Mughuls converted into a water pavilion. Emperor Akbar used it as a royal retreat and Persian verses remind one that despite victories and empires there is a futility to material achievement.
Maheshwar is a nice little town in which to stroll and see the shops; we bought a kitchen sieve as a happy memento of our time there and Ahilya Fort has close links with the Rani Ahilya School which is right next door and the Rehwa Society which gives employment to local female weavers who produce the most wonderful cloth. This tradition owes its resurgence to Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar and under whose patronage the weavers prospered. Sadly at Indian Independence this craft seemed in danger of dying out but with a grant of the Indian Central Welfare Board in 1979 the Holkar heirs established the non- profit Rehwa Society and revitalized this cottage industry. We bought some items as gifts for our friends and relatives here in Britain.
One of the most enchanting memories is the banquet arranged for all of us one evening; we set out in boats with glasses of champagne serenaded by musicians and landed on a river island that had been decorated with thousands of little lights and then we had a delicious dinner by the light of the moon and stars – so very special! “O holy Narmada, Messenger of Passing Time, Sanctuary and Salvation, You dissolve the fear of time….O holy Narmada.” http://picasaweb. google.com/alinedobbie
