Samarpan’s Recent Visit to India

As I set off for India in mid September, it was not with a great deal of enthusiasm; the day before, terrorists had exploded five bombs in the city. I knew my time would mostly be spent in Delhi, a great city yet one also suffering from long traffic jams and high pollution levels. One positive aspect to the city is a general acceptance of Osho although this is often on a rather superficial level.

The main purpose of this trip to India was to oversee the printing of my new book. Each day a car would come for me in the morning and take me to Old Delhi, a journey that might take half an hour. The old city of Delhi is full of history with its monuments and city walls but the publishers’ offices are modern with air conditioning. Indian snacks appeared on a regular basis and for lunch, Shobit Arya, the director of Wisdom Tree, and I would share a meal together on his desk; this usually meant daal but there was also the possibility of samosa and even sweets like gilebi or gulab jamun. For several hours a day, I would be labouring away on the laptop preparing my book "Indian Birds in Focus" for print. Wireless broadband was available and really essential as the final edits of my book needed checking online. A few days away from printing, I decided to change many of the usual Indian bird names to those agreed by the International Ornithological Conference whose website, although difficult to navigate, proved invaluable.

On my first day, I left the office early to visit Ma Nandini, a sannyasin who lives in one of the better areas of Delhi. She holds weekly meditations and invites friends around. There is no charge for attending and one is usually treated to a fine Indian meal afterwards. I sometimes facilitate meditations here but on this visit it was Nandini who lead a Kundalini meditation. I began to feel I had arrived in India.

A day or two later I went to Osho Dham, a beautiful place to stay but too far outside the city if one wants to commute. As it happens, on this occasion, I did not have to go to the office the next day since I was to be meeting an internationally renowned photographer who would hopefully write an introduction to my book. Osho Dham is a lovely place if you are ready for meditation and during the Evening White Robe Celebration, a barn owl often appears in the metallic eaves of the meditation hall for a few minutes. My taxi was ordered for late morning through the staff but did not arrive; they told me it was on its way but this was not actually the case; a friend of theirs had merely agreed to come when he had time. I had missed my appointment with the photographer and although I did see him later, the introduction to the book was never written.

This might have put me off Osho Dham but I went back a few days later to recover from a cold and be part of the meditation camp happening there with Ma Yoga Neelam. Although this was conducted largely in Hindi, it was a chance to be in a friendly space and meditate without being hassled.

Before heading homewards, I managed to make it to Pune for a few days. There was no time for groups but I attended the Osho Auditorium for talks and meditations as well as visiting the ‘white-sock-only’ samadhi. This mini-routine helped me to calm down and move inward. Before I left, I made a few photographs for the Resort.

Reading news stories about the attacks in Mumbai, I am given a chilling reminder of what the country can be like. Was this India’s 9/11? Possibly, but the massacre was not on such a huge scale while 9/11 did bring people together at least for awhile. In India, rival politicians have simply renewed their barking at each other as tensions between India and Pakistan reach a heightened level.

Perhaps my account of a journey that lasted a little over a month might sound a little downcast as it relates the various hassles that were encountered, yet the bliss of sunny mornings and even overcast but cool ones, being with nature and observing birdlife even in the city, all added up to an experience that, tempered with the light of meditation, made it seem worthwhile.

Travelling the planet can be invigorating, even fun, and may serve to remind one that the only place to go is in.

 

Read this month’s profile of Samarpan and the Story of Samarpan’s first book with many photos of birds.

 

Contact: amanosamarpan (at) gmail.com

text and photos by Samarpan – December 2008