Reforming Hindu Traditions

In 2018, I had spent a few days in Rishikesh where a chance meeting with a young Swami ji (ascetic) had led to some interesting discussions about how to bring reforms in Hinduism.

In terms of discussions around Hinduism, it is strange how a new aggressive narrative of Hinduism is being pushed in some traditional and social media (especially in English). Hinduism (along with Buddhism and Jainism) is predominently seen as a religion of peace which accepts people of different religions and creeds, as shown by the millennium-long Indian traditions of accepting people persecuted in their own lands including Parsi, Jews, Armenians, etc. International image of Hinduism is also associated with spirituality and Mahatma Gandhi including elements such as Yoga, meditation, non-violence and vegetarianism. However today, there are many persons in India and outside, who talk of Hinduism exclusively in terms of hate, violence and discrimination.

This post is about a discussion with a Swami ji from Rishikesh about how to reform Hinduism, it does not go into the new narratives being built around it.

Rishikesh

Rishikesh is the last mountain town where the river Ganges passes before reaching the plains in Haridwar. I had been to Rishikesh a few times as a child. My most memorable visit was in early 1968 with my maternal uncle. At that time, the Beatles had just visited the ashram of the Guru Mahesh Yogi and this had brought international spotlight on this obscure town. Last year when I went to Rishikesh, I had vague memories of those old journeys. I went to look for the old ashram of Mahesh Yogi but it was closed and covered with overgrown vegetation. This part of Rishikesh has now many new ashrams and there is a new huge white statue of Shiva built in the middle of the river.

As the river Ganges comes down, the old town of Rishikesh is located along its left bank, near the area of Triveni Ghat. All the new ashrams and yoga centres of Rishikesh are located to the north of the old town, along the opposite side of the river.

I was staying near Triveni Ghat and spent a great deal of time sitting along the river bank, with my feet in the ice-cold river waters, talking to old men and women who had come here on pilgrimage from different parts of India. Every afternoon, underneath the trees of Triveni Ghat, persons gathered in small groups and discussed. These discussions were usually very down-to-earth and mixed an earthy humour and occasional obscenity with the spirituality.

Meeting the Swami

The Swami ji was much younger to me, probably around 40 years and was clean shaven. He wore the saffron cloth of renunciation and seemed well educated. I met him near Bharat temple, which is one of the oldest and most beautiful temples in Rishikesh. He was from West Bengal and I talked to him about my experience of living in Assam. I was curious to ask him what had brought him to the path of renunciation, but felt a bit embarassed, it seemed like a very personal question to ask to an occasional acquaintance.

We started talking about Upanishads and I explained to him my fascination with Katho-Upanishad, which tells the story of Nachiketa's visit to Yama, the God of death and their discussions about the meanings of life and death. He was very knowledgable and recited different shlokas from that book, explaining his understanding of it.

Then he asked me if I had been to the Ganga-aarti? During this aarti a group of young Brahmins do a choreographed dancing prayer holding metal lamp-stands full of burning lamps, which has a great visual impact. I explained to him that for me, the teachings of Upanishads held the real meaning of Hinduism and I did not have much faith in rituals like aarti. I had found aesthetic pleasure in the choreography of the burning lamps and prayers sung by the faithful, but not any spiritual connection to it.

 

My comments about the aarti provoked a discussion during which Swami ji explained to me his understanding of Hinduism. He said, Hinduism is like Ganges, a river made of a lot of different streams. There is the Spiritual stream of Hinduism with an abstract view of God, and this stream finds a value in the sacred books of Veda and Upanishad. There are many other streams. Like the Vaishnav stream of belief which is practiced in Assam by the followers of Shrimanta Shankar Dev, which focuses on Bhagwat Puran and does not have any idols. However, according to him the biggest stream of Hinduism is that of simple persons who believe in the different Gods, in the different avatars of Vishnu and in the stories of Ramayan and Mahabharat. For them, the stories of Ram, Krishen and Shiva are the bedrock of their faith, these are felt as true in a material sense.

Swami ji felt that many of the present problems of Hinduism were caused by the disconnect between persons believing in different streams of the religion. According to him, most of the highly educated Hindus among the thinkers, writers, academics and other influential groups are like me, who appreciate the higher teachings of Gita, Veda and Upanishad but do not have the simple faith of common persons in their Gods.

"Persons like you, they dominate the society and what they say is taken up by TV and newspapers. You do not believe in Gods and Goddesses but you give your advice on what should be done about Hinduism. How to celebrate our festivals, where to make our temple, how big should be the statue, how to reform our traditions, you know everything and you want to take all the decisions for all the Hindus. The simple people for whom Ram, Sita, Krishna and Shiva are real, their opinions are considered as inferior and unimportant. This is creating problems in our society because they are the majority but they do not have a voice and people like you are a minority but you have a big influence", he said.

My point was that if a festival like Diwali creates pollution because of crackers or if we use Plaster of Paris statues covered with chemical paints at Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja and after the festivals, throw them into rivers & create pollution, then something has to be done. Why can't we find another way to celebrate these festivals without feeling that others are persecuting us? Our religions need to change with the changed reality of the world.

He said that reforms in Hinduism must come from within, they can't be imposed by others. According to him we need persons like Mahatma Gandhi, or a Guru who understand the bigger picture and who share the faith of common Hindu - they can bring a change from the grassroots.

Conclusions

The words of that Swami ji have remained with me and I have reflected on them. I can see that I have a certain intellectual way of being a Hindu, I do not really believe in temple-rituals or Gods. I like visiting temples, just like I like visiting churches, museums and art exhibitions, for an aesthetic pleasure.

There is a lot about Hinduism in India, as it is lived by millions of persons, which I don't really understand - from Kanwariyas who walk for hundreds of kilometres to collect water from Ganges for their temples, to the pilgrims who spend weeks on the road for festivals like Ambubashi or Kumbha Mela - I understand all of it in an intellectual way but I can't understand the simple faith which moves these people.

The question is how can we promote a grass-root change in them? According to the Swami, the reformist movement has to come from them, and from their gurus and other persons in whom they have faith. These can't be forced by laws. In a way I understand this point, I had written about it in relation to the Sabarimala judgement.

But I am not convinced about the role of persons like me, who believe in Hindu spirituality but do not have the simple faith in rituals and prayers, do we have any role in promoting reforms related to that way of faith in following Hinduism? What do you think? Please do share your point of view in the comments below.

(Originally written in 2019 and updated in 2023)

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Museo - The Camera Museum of Gurgaon

Museo, the camera museum of Gurgaon in NCR (India) is a vibrant cultural space in a rapidly growing urban area, which needs many more such spaces. An initiative of the well known photographer Aditya Arya, who is passionate about photography conservation, restoration and archiving, it formally belongs to the India Photo Archive Foundation. (Image: Aditya Arya in the lobby of Museo)

During my last visit to India in late 2022, most of the time I was unwell and bed-ridden. The highlight of this stay was a visit to Museo during which I had a brief encounter with Aditya.

This visit to Museo was also an opportunity to visit and on-going art exhibition organised by Oxygen Art Guild and curated by Tarun Das. I was lucky to meet and speak to Tarun as well.

Thus, this post is about both Museo Camera Museum and the Oxygen Art Guild exhibition. I am not going to repeat the information about the backgrounds of Museo museum, Aditya Arya and Oxygen Art Guild , you can check those on their respective websites. This post is mostly about the things which had especially struck me during this visit. Before I start, I would also like to recommend you to check the different old-pics collections at the Aditya Arya Photo Archives website.

Museo Location

Museo is located off a small road in front of the Galleria market (DLF phase 3, Nathupur) in downtown Gurgaon. The nearest Delhi Metro stations are IFFCO Chowk and HUDA City Centre, from where you can take an auto or a cab to reach Museo. It has sufficient parking space but its location on a narrow and busy road can be tricky to navigate.

If you are visiting Gurgaon and are wondering about places to visit, do visit and spend some time in Museo.

Museo Activities

Museo is a vibrant cultural space with some permanent exhibitions and areas for temporary exhibitions. Photography is encouraged in all the museum spaces.

For example, it has weekend classes on photography (and other cultural activities such as dance classes) including the one year photography diploma course as well as different workshops (when I visited, there were posters of workshops about cyanotype, film and analog photography, salt print process, environmental portraits by Sundeep Bali and street photography).

There were also some on-going exhibitions, about which I have written below and there was a live music performance by Ruchika and Deepak Castelino. The ground floor of the museo building has the camera museum while upstairs are the different exhibition and workshop spaces.

Camera Installations

There were some installations made out of old cameras or in which cameras played a significant role scattered around in the building.

One striking installation was the "Hug Me" man by the well known Gurgaon artist Gopal Namjoshi made from junk metal and old analog cameras. Namjoshi is known for his monumental installations in which often junk metals play an important role.

Another installation which I liked, had a mannequin surrounded by all kinds of carrying bags for the old analog cameras. (Image below has the 2 installations - the Hug Me man and the camera-bags)

The third camera installation which particularly struck me was the inverted pyramid handing above the central gallery. There were also some big old cameras from early 20th century.

Temporary Exhibitions

Among the temporary exhibitions, I especially loved "Nirvasanama", which documented the life in exile of Dev Shumsher (1862-1914), the "liberal" Prime Minister of Nepal, who was exiled in India in early 20th century.

Colours of Convergence

In the art exhibition "Colours of Convergence" organised by Oxygen Art Guild and curated by Tarun Das I liked the works of -  watercolors by Sudhangsu Bandopadhyay, woodcut on paper by Jintu Mohan Kalita, oil painting by Aniruddha Mukherjee, acrylic on canvas by Apurba Karati and very especially the Cityscapes of cows by Jiban Biswas.

Last year, I had met Valeria Bertesina, an artist who curates the Paper Art Biennale in Schio and that had been my introduction to understanding the meaning of "curating art exhibitions". In Museo, I had an opportunity to talk to Tarun Das (in the image below), who had curated the exhibition "Colours of Convergence", which was another opportunity to reflect on the different ways in which individuals can "curate" exhibitions, imprinting it with their dialogues with the artists in selecting and deciding what gets exhibited and how.

 

Vintage Analogic World

As we go deeper into the digital world, it is not just analog cameras and photographic prints which are disappearing but the whole world is changing. This nostalgia for the disappearing world is represented in Museo by a painted ambassador car, an old lambretta scooter, a biscope and a colourful three-wheeler.

Sculptures in Museo

There are  also a few sculptures scattered in the open area surrounding the Museo, which are worth looking at. These include 2 sculptures of boys reading a book.

In the End

Except for the malls, which have a primary commercial purpose, Gurgaon has only a few cultural spaces. Another such local cultural space is the Sanskriti Museum.

I hope that the next time you are in Gurgaon and are wondering about places to visit and things to do, you can visit the Museo Camera Museum! 

Remembering Dr Usha Nayar

My dear friend Usha died last year in February 2021. I heard about it only today, when I saw a message from her daughter Priya. A very nice website has been created for remembering Usha, her life and her work, where you can find many of her writings. While I process that she is no more, through this post I want to share some of my memories of her.

I had met Usha through an Italian friend, Dr Enrico Pupulin in 1996. At that time, Enrico was the head of the Disability and Rehabilitation (DAR) team at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva. He was keen to conduct a multi-country research on implementing community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programmes in some urban slum communities. In CBR programmes, disabled persons themselves, family members, and local community persons are trained in providing support to children and adults with disabilities. Enrico wanted to see if this approach would work in the poor communities living in the slums.

Enrico had gathered some really committed persons from seven countries for this research, including Fr Alex Zanotelli from Nairobi, Kenya and Dr Eduardo Scannavino from Santarem, Brazil. Usha was also one of them. In those days days she was the professor of child and adolescent health at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai, and together with her husband Chandran, she was also the founder of a voluntary organisation called Smarth, which was active in some slum areas such as Bhiwandi and Dharavi areas in Mumbai. I was asked to coordinate that research project.

Over the next 10-12 years we met many times. In 1999, we were together in Brazil. In 2001, we all converged in Mumbai, when we visited the Bhiwandi and Dharavi areas. Not long after that visit to Mumbai, Usha told me that Chandran had been diagnosed with a cancer. In spite of all their efforts, he died some time later. That was a difficult period for their family.

In the following years, we kept on meeting on and off. Usha came to Italy for a couple of workshops. Then we were both involved in the organisation of an international workshop in Helsinki, Finland. Usha also did the compiling of responses for an international survey on disability and rehabilitation for the WHO. Her warmth, humility and humane approach made her an ideal colleague, who was appreciated and loved by everyone.

Some more years later, another difficult period for Usha came when some persons from their voluntary organisation accused her of improper use of the donors' funds. Though all the financial controls showed that the funds had been used properly and no evidence of any wrong-doing was found, it took a toll on her. Even more unfortunately, it led to a decline and then closure of that organisation which she had started with Chandran.

In August 2012, as she reached 65 years, she retired from TISS as a senior professor. Few days later, in September, she left India and came to the USA, where she started a new phase of life as a professor in the New York State University. It also meant that she could be closer to her daughter.

Once we were sitting together and talking, I don't remember in which country it was, when I had told her about some personal set-back which was worrying me at that time. Usha had told me, "Have faith in God, sometimes what you see as a set-back, can become an opportunity for a new direction in life." Then she had told me about an episode from her own life. She had completed her gradutation, post-graduation and PhD from Allahabad university and she was very keen to have a job in that university. "The job that I had wanted so much, it was not given to me, it was given to someone who had family ties to some big-wigs", she had said, "I was so disappointed, I felt that my life was over and I will not achieve anything in life. Some time later, there was an opportunity in TISS, I applied and was successful. If I had not had that set-back in Allahabad, I would not have had the good fortune to work in TISS. Only afterwards I understood that God works in different ways." I still remember those words.

Over the last couple of years, Usha had also become more active with Yoga and the teachings of Upanishads, which had long been my area of interest as well. We had sometimes exchanged messages through Facebook and I had told her that I looked forward to an opportunity for talking about spirituality with her.

Instead, destiny had other plans. In February 2021, she died a couple of days after receiving a Covid vaccine, but I never heard about it. A few months later, after the second dose of a Covid vaccine, even I developed a cardiac arrhythmia, which took a few months to improve. My doctor in Italy said that it was probably a coincidence and not due to the vaccine. Ever since the pandemic started, health sertvices have worsened and there is no way to know for sure. However, no one can deny that so many of our lives have been changed by that pandemic.

Dear Usha, perhaps one day we shall meet and have our discussion about spirituality on the other side and laugh about it. Goodbye my friend, I am glad that our paths crossed.

    

The Kashmir Story

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been reading about the film “The Kashmir Files”, its box-office success, its impact and the heated discussions it has generated. Perhaps, after a few weeks, it might become available on some streaming platform and then I will be able to watch it, though I am not sure that I will – from what I have read, it has some very graphic violence and I have no stomach for watching violence.

However, reading about “The Kashmir Files” has reminded me of another film about Kashmir and the Kashmiri Pandits – the film was “I Am” (2010), and it was directed by Onir. I think that it was a good film that merited greater attention. I had translated its subtitles into Italian, when it was shown at the River-to-River film festival in Florence.

The Kashmir Story in “I Am”

“I Am” was an anthology of four short films, loosely connected with each other. Among those four stories, the Kashmir short film was the second story of the film. It had beautiful performances by Juhi Chawla as Megha, a Kashmiri Pandit, and Manisha Koirala as Rubina, as her childhood Kashmiri Muslim friend.

This part of the film started with Megha’s journey to Srinagar to sell her house. Rubina comes to the airport to pick her up and is happy to see her old friend. Megha is by turns, angry and anguished, at the memories the return has brought back. She is unwilling to give in to romantic nostalgia about the city, and maintains some distance from her friend.

During the 24 hours of Megha’s stay in Srinagar, there are only a few scattered moments of nostalgia for her childhood home. A visit to the ruins of her uncle’s home who was killed by neighbours, brings back the memories of her terror of those days when they had abandoned their home and ran away to the refugee camp.

An encounter with a group of youth on the road, brings out that the story of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits has been changed and retold by the locals. In this new retelling, they were the cowards and villains, who had run away from the valley.

At the same time, Megha’s dispersion of her father’s ashes in the river, brings out the attachment of older generations for Kashmir and their dreams about the day when they will return to their original homes.

Those 24 hours also show Rubina’s changed life in the Kashmir valley – she is lonely, living closed at home and is unmarried, while the guy she used to love has left India. Her brother, who had become a militant, has repented and come home, but is disabled and a shell of his former self. Police comes to their home frequently to check because they are a militant family. The city is divided by barbed wires and check-points, which gets deserted as the evening falls and people rush to their homes.

Megha’s righteous anger and resentment at the fate of Kashmiri Pandits, has one final moment of push back from Rubina. A brief exchange between the two friends, brings out the tragedy of changed lives of Kashmiri Muslims, especially those of the women and youth. The awareness that in the end there were no victors among the ordinary persons on the two sides plants a little seed of mutual understanding.
Impact of “I Am”

“I Am” was a film dealing with other difficult themes along with the Kashmir story. Perhaps that is why its Kashmiri section did not receive proper attention. It had a strong impact on me because in the process of doing its Italian subtitles, I had spent a lot of time with each of its scenes.

This part of the film gave precedence to the view-point a Kashmiri Pandit. It was shot in dark and drab colours. It showed a Srinagar of barbed wires, road-blocks and sad people, and not the romantic town of lake and gardens from 1980’s Bollywood.

The whole sequence of Megha visiting the ruins of her killed uncle’s house, had a very strong impact on me. Its background score was filled with the shouts of slogans by angry people asking all kaffirs to leave Kashmir or be killed. I could identify with her refusal of Rubina’s sympathy, when she responds, “Don’t worry, I am not going to cry”.

The film also shows the impact of the events on the other side, through Rubina’s family. They have also suffered and continue to suffer due to the militants on one hand and Indian army on the other. However, I felt that it was more difficult to empathise with them, because their pain was closely linked to issues related to militancy and its violence.

For example, there was a sequence when Megha is accompanied by Rubina’s mother to a neighbourhood shop for buying saffron. The elderly shop-owner remembers that he had accompanied Megha’s pregnant mother to the hospital when she was born. However, their discussion also brings out that it was that same person’s son who had killed Megha’s uncle and later, died as a militant. Megha comes back from the shop full of indignation – “You only had that shop to take me, whose son had killed my uncle?” she asks bitterly.

While I could see the dismay, regret and frustration on the faces of the local Kashmiris, I also had a feeling at the back of my mind that “it was their sons and families who did it”! I think that is the biggest difficulty when we look at victims of Islamic terror, that we are less willing to acknowledge the pain of its Muslim victims.

The Elephant in the Room

I remember talking to Onir in Florence about the Kashmir portion of the film, expressing my appreciation and saying that it was a great pity that this episode of our recent history had been allowed to be forgotten.

To write this post, I watched again the Kashmir portion of “I Am”. I think that there is an aspect of the Kashmir situation which had remained untouched in the film – the rise of more conservative Islam which was linked with militancy. Traditionally, the Kashmiri Islam has been moderate and open, and it had a history of a peaceful co-existence with Hinduism. Over the past couple of decades, the more conservative version of Islam has become more common, but its role and significance in the Kashmiri Pandits' exodus was never mentioned in the film.

Whose sufferings need acknowledgement?

As far as I understand about the events in Kashmir, the problems worsened with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 1979. To counter that the Americans started supplying money and arms to Mujahideen through Pakistan, which contributed to strengthening of the more conservative ideas of Islam in the region and reached Kashmir through Pakistani militants in the 1980s. Apart from the militants, it impacted different groups of persons, such as -Militants from Pakistan along with radicalised Kashmiri youth killed many Kashmiri Pandits and provoked their mass exodus in late 1980s and early 1990s.

Militants and hardliners from Pakistan along with their companions in Kashmir started killing moderate Kashmiri Muslims and those seen as sympathetic or collaborating with India, starting from early 1990s and continuing even now. Around 7000 Kashmiri “political opponents” have been killed, though some say that the Kashmiri victims have been many times more. They specifically target the intellectuals and they can abduct or rape their families.

Since the 1990s, Indian army has been fighting the Kashmiri separatists and militants and once again, a large number of victims have been reported, not only among the militants, but also among the civilians. The army rule has also affected general life.

Each of these groups have their own stories to share. I have read of Kashmiri Pandit families weeping at the shows of The Kashmir File - they are happy that finally their sufferings have been acknowledged through cinema. Onir’s film “I Am” did not show that violence directly, it focused on its aftermath.

I think that one of the good films about the impact of army in Kashmir was Shaurya (2008), which touched upon the human right abuses.

Stories about the situation in Kashmir involve different and complex issues. The views of the Islamic hardliners and militants may not be acceptable or understandable for most of us. However, I think that our cinema needs to explore these different areas and view-points so much more. For example, little is known about the violence against moderate Muslims in Kashmir and it would also benefit from a greater exploration in literature and cinema.

The Angry Indians

There are some persons on the Social Media, whom I call the "Angry Indians". They can be broadly divided into 2 main groups. One group is of persons who claim that they are trying to safeguard Indian culture and Hinduism. Often they have furious fights amongst themselves and some of them are full of hate. They often act in ways contrary to the beliefs they claim to defend.

The other group of that of persons who define themselves as progressives or liberals. They claim that they are trying to safeguard India's plurality and diversity. However, their main aim seems to be to counter BJP-Modi, and they are not really concerned about anything else. Like the first group, often they also act in ways contrary to the beliefs they claim to defend.

I call these 2 groups, the Hindu Cultural Warriors and the Progressive Cultural warriors. They are also co-dependent on each other, creating spaces for their fights and constantly, feeding-off each-other. Here are some recent examples of issues around which they fight.

India Versus South Asia

Recently the American vice-president Kamala Harris greeted the "South Asians" on the Holi festival and the Hindu Warriors erupted in protests. Don't you know that Holi is a festival only of Hindus of India, they asked. They don't like to be grouped together with India's neighbours, especially with Pakistan. On the other hand, Prograssive Warriors love using the term South Asia, I think mostly because Western progressives like it and even more, because they know that the other group hates it.

I need to confess that I am partial to Kamala Harris, since she has my mother's name, but my defense of the term "South Asian" has nothing to do with her name. I feel that the term "South Asian" acknowledges the common cultural identity of what was once known as Indian subcontinent. It is an identity which is shaped mostly by Indian culture, by its tradition of creating and accepting, even encouraging, blurred boundaries between the religions and its basic idea of "all the different paths lead to the same God".

All countries of South Asia have some Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhists - in India and Nepal as majorities and in other countries as minorities. So wishing "Happy Holi" to all the people of these countries, did not seem like a bad thing to me and I can't understand why the Hindu Warriors don't like the term South Asians.

I can understand if conservative persons of other religions in "South Asia" resent Harris' greetings, because that is happening in some parts of the world. For example, there are many persons in Europe who get offended if you wish them for festivals which do not belong to their religions (for example, some Muslims get offended by the widespread Christian symbols in public spaces around Christmas and Easter times. So they are coming out with ideas like hiding Christmas trees in private spaces and saying "Season's greetings" instead of "Happy Christmas").

However, in India, festivals of all the religions are holidays for everyone and I have grown up in an environment where we wished everyone for all the festivals. For example, we always said "Happy Eid" or "Happy Gurupurab" and not "Happy Eid to Muslims" and "Happy Gurupurab for the Sikhs". So, if Harris is treating all South Asians as "people who celebrate Holi", why should the Hindu Warriors get offended? They should be jumping with joy!

Indian Festivals

Another issue which often leaves me confused is when Hindu Warriors get offended if someone dares to say anything about an Indian festival. I can understand the irritation about the extreme positions of some Progressives, who may be motivated by virtue-signalling - for example, their calls for "water saving" at Holi or for not making bonfires on Lohri and Holi. I can also understand the irritation because Progressives seem to focus only on Hindu festivals. However, I don't see the need to feel offended if someone says that Deewali can be hazardous for environmental pollution or the Durga and Ganesh statues pollute our rivers and lakes - I think that we need to look at these seriously and search for solutions.

Compared to other religions, Hinduism is not bound by any one book or any one tradition, so it is easier for us to question our old cultural practices and start new ones. For example, over past decade, I have seen different variations about the way we celebrate Rakhi, the festival in which sisters tie a rakhi on their brothers' wrists. Now, for promoting greater inclusion, some of our family celebrates it by sisters tying rakhis on the wrists of both, their brothers and their wives; and, at Karvachauth, both husbands and wives together keep fast. If we can change our rituals and practices according to the changing times, it is good for us as a community, and is certainly better than to remain with outdated practices and ideas.

Therefore, if the fire-crackers of Deewali cause horrendous increases in pollution and problems for people with breathing difficulties, especially in the big cities, and there are calls to limit their use, why should that be seen as an attack on Hinduism? IMO, it does not matter that traffic or industry or crop-burning are more polluting. On Deewali evenings, even 30-40 years ago, when traffic and other kinds of pollution were much less than today, the doctors' clinics used to be full of people with asthma attacks and breathing difficulties. I can vouch for it because I practiced medicine in Delhi in the 1980s and saw it every year. So why can't we use this opportunity to find alternative joyful and fun ways to celebrate Deewali? BTW, even Europe has campaigns around Christmas and New Year to limit the use of fire-crackers.

If chemical-based colours used in Holi can cause skin allergies or dermatitis, they also end up in our sewage waters and rivers. Our rivers and lakes are usually in terrible shape at festival-times. Use of chemical colours painted on the Durga and Ganesh statues, are bad for our environment in the same way. The answer for Hindu Warriors should not be to shout about these as "attacks on Hinduism" but to think of how to promote a wider use of plant-based natural colours. If we can promote our local artisans and organic colours' and dyes' industries by doing that, it will be even better. It can become an economic opportunity and also in line with our scriptures, which ask for the respect of nature.

BTW, the fun of Holi and the joy of covering people's faces and clothes with colours is increasingly finding emulators in Europe. Vicenza, the provincial town near which I live, has been organising "Holi celebrations" during summers, where it is an opportunity for people to drink, dance and play with colours.

Hinduism - Hinduttva

Many of the Hindu Warriors are promoting a version of Hinduttva which seems to be inspired by the ultra-conservatives of Christianity and Islam. Progressive Warriors are their partners in this, they also agree that Hinduttva means only that and nothing else. In fact for Progressives, the word Hinduttva belongs only to BJP, so they are fighting against it (they also think that the colour saffron belongs only to BJP and it should not be used).

I personally think that the word "Hinduttva" or the "essence of Hinduism" can not be reduced to only one meaning. Hinduism has developed along thousands of streams of ideas and practices across different parts of India, which have a lot in common and at the same time, an incredible amount of variations. Thus, if our ideas about Hinduism are infinite, the meanings of Hinduttva should also be infinite. So, why do we accept to let the idea of Hinduttva be hijacked by these 2 groups?

IMO, a wide public debate on the meaning of Hinduttva would be beneficial to India. It might help us to understand which cultural values are shared by the majority of Hindus and by majority of Indians. Though I don't think that we shall ever reach a consensus, this discussion would be useful. Probably, this commonly shared idea of Hinduttva would be closer to the results of the PEW survey in 2021 on the Religions of India. This survey report had shown that in spite of different religions, most Indians hold similar common beliefs. The "common shared cultural values of India" should be valued and safeguarded. Such an understanding of Hinduttva will be forged by the encounters of different religions of India and it will acknowledge the blurred boundaries between the religions, as one of its key characteristics.

The more conservatives among the Hindu Warriors do not accept anything except their ideas about traditions of Hinduism. At the same time, the ideas of blurred religious boundaries and common traditions shared across religious diversities are increasingly non-acceptable also to Progressives. They often talk about India's past and how it gave a home to persecuted minorities of the world, to cry about the lost Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb and the lost traditions of accepting religious diversities in ancient India. However, for today's world they do not want to look at the norms and processes governing the acceptance of other religions in India's past. Instead, they would like to follow the ideas of secularism developed in the west, which are based on separation of religious identities. In India, the Progressive Warriors seem most concerned about how to safeguard the more conservative ideas of minority religions. I personally feel that the ideas of identity-politics developed in the west are problematic for a harmonious multi-cultural living in India because they destroy the blurred religious boundaries which has been a fundamental characteristics of Indian cultural world. For the same reason, Progressives defend maintaining separate specific laws for minority religions and fight the idea of common civil code.

Insulting Religions

Some of the Hindu Warriors are always looking for people insulting Hinduism, to fight with them. If you use a Sanskrit verse from a Veda in a rock-song or if you print the picture of a Hindu God on a bag or god-forbid, a pair of shoes or underwear, they are waiting to rise up and start a campaign to destroy you. The Progressive Warriors are willing to overlook all insults to Hinduism but are very careful in making sure that you do not insult the minority religions.

I think that the idea of "insulting God" is stupid because it does not fit in with the basic ideas of Hinduism, which include the belief that God is within each of us. "Aham Brahm asmi", "Aham Shivam asmi", "So Hum" - all mean "I am" or that "God is inside me". In Shrimad Bhagvad Geeta, Krishna shows his Virat Roopa to Arjuna to explain that he is there in every particle of this universe. These fundamental ideas should guide Hindus to the respect of nature and respect of every human being.

So, how can anyone justify killings in the name of Gods or religion if one believes in this teaching? If one believes that God is inside every being, how can anyone justify discrimination towards any person because of his caste or his religion? And, once you accept that God is there in every particle of the universe, how can anyone offend God?

Recently, I had read about people being killed in Punjab for "offending" the Sikh sacred book Guru Granth Sahib. I wondered if they had forgotten the story of Guru Nanak's travel to Mecca? The story says that some men complained that Guru Nanak was sleeping with his feet pointing towards Mecca and thus offending God. So, Guru Nanak told them, shift my feet towards another direction where there is no God. The story says that in which ever direction they shifted Guru Nanak's feet, Mecca appeared on that side. Therefore, the idea of Sikhs who get offended because someone disrespects their holy book and kill those persons, seems incomprehensible to me.

It is a pity that such messages of "offending God" are also spoken by people wearing saffron, who talk of beheadings and killings. Their saffron clothes should signify spirituality and learning. Yet, they can refuse the temple drinking water to a thirsty boy, because he belongs to another religion and say that they are defending Hinduism. How can they defend Hinduism if they do not believe in the ideas contained in the Veda and Upanishads?

IMO, Progressives have facilitated this rise in the Hindu chauvinism by closing their eyes to similar ideas and practices of conservatives of minority religions by suggesting that only the majority bigotry matters. Every time, there is violence or aggression involving persons of different religions, it seems that the Progressive speak out only if victims are from the minority religions.

In The End

The Hindu cultural warriors are convinced that if they don't save Hinduism then it is in great danger. The progressive cultural warriors believe that the problems lies only with the Hindu chauvinists and they are blameless. The thinking of both the groups is a problem.

Fortunately, in spite of everything, life goes on. I have great faith in common Indians, as shown by the findings of the PEW survey. I think that in spite of all the mutual hate expressed by the two groups, common Indians will find the right balance and a way to go forward.

Day before yesterday was 23rd March, the birthday of Doctor Saheb (Dr Ram Manohar Lohia), the iconic socialist leader, whose ideas had so much impact on me as a child. Today it is 25 March, the day on which papa had died 47 years ago at the age of 47. He was an associate of Doctor Saheb. If he was alive today, he would have been 94. Even after so many years, I miss him. I think that I would have loved to talk about the subject of this post to him and to Doctor Saheb - though I am not sure if they would have agreed with me!

The City of 47 Ronin

The tiny town of Ako in south-west Japan is known for the story of 47 Ronin. The city has a beautiful Shinto shrine with the statues of those 47 warriors who had chosen to become outlaws to avenge the death of their lord.

I had watched the film "47 Ronin" starring Keanu Reaves, which was based on this story. A couple of years ago when I was in Okayama for a meeting organised by Sasakawa Health Foundation, I had discovered that it was not very far from Ako. Thus, I took that opportunity to go and visit this city and to become familiar with its famous legend. This post is about my visit.

Samurai and Ronin Traditions in Japan

The Samurai (Bushi) warriors became an important group in Japan in the 12th century when they worked for feudal lords. Those lords along with their samurai were the real rulers of Japan.

The samurai followed a code of conduct called Bushido. According to the Bushido, when a Samurai became master-less, for example by the death of his master, he was expected lay down his arms and to commit suicide by Seppaku (by plunging a knife in the stomach). Any samurai who did not kill himself was known as ronin, a warrior without honour.

The ronin were looked down upon by their fellow samurai and by the society. They were ridiculed and faced public humiliation.

In 1868, with the Meiji reforms, the military control of country was replaced by a centralised bureaucratic governance. This ended the role of samurai.

I feel that the idea of warriors without a lord committing suicide according to an ethical code sounds similar to the ideas in medieval India about widows letting themselves be immolated along with their husbands' bodies under the "Sati" rituals. Such ideas may seem acceptable while one is wrapped inside and isolated in those ritualistic beliefs. Perhaps some can argue that the suicide bombs by radicalised Islamists are similar rituals, though those are fundamentally different since they also involve additional killing of unsuspecting persons. However, an unwrapping of self and a contact with wider world makes such ideas of ritualised suicides seem like aberrations and a kind of mental illness (though the traditionalists won't agree with this view).

Looking at the figures of Ronin through modern eyes, I feel that seeking revenge for their lord's death was a better option for the warriors, than killing themselves through ritual suicide, though in the Ako story, they did kill themselves after taking their revenge.

The Ronin of Ako - Historical Background

"Ako vendetta", was a historical event in which a group of ronin avenged the death of their master Lord Naganori Asano.

In 1701, Lord Asano, the Daimyo of Ako, was forced to commit ritual suicide by Kira Yoshinaka, a scheming official of the imperial court. However, Asano's samurai did not commit seppaku as foreseen by the Bushido and instead became ronin. Their initial attempts to avenge the death of Lord Asano were unsuccessful. Finally, those 47 ronin managed to kill Kira at Sangakuji in Edo (now known as Tokyo).

Even though by taking up the arms after the death of their lord, they had violated the samurai code of conduct, their honourable action in avenging Lord Asano was recognized. Thus after their revenge, those 47 ronin were allowed an honourable death by committing seppuku.

During the Meijo era (1868-1912), the story of 47 ronin became very popular all over Japan through songs and traditional plays such as kabuki. It was a tale of persistence, honour and sacrifice. The Hollywood film "47 Ronin" (2013) was inspired from this story.

The City of Ako

Ako is located in the Hyogo prefecture in south-west Japan, between Osaka and Okayama. Its railway station is called Banshu-Ako. It is a small coastal town facing the inland sea. It has a population of around 50,000.

Ako is located on the banks of Chikusa river and has a good network of canals. On 14 December each year, Ako celebrates the Gishisai festival to remember the 47 ronin, with a parade of the warriors dressed in old costumes and illuminations with lanterns.

Reaching Ako

When I told my Japanese friends that I wanted to visit Ako, they were a little surprised. The city's name was not so familiar to them. I had to explain the story of 47 Ronin to them. Even at the tourist office in Okayama where I went to ask for information, they were surprised that I wanted to go to Ako. They were not sure if there was much to see in Ako. However, as you can see from the images, it is a beautiful city and is worth visiting.

To reach Banshu-Ako, I took the Ako line local train from Okayama. The journey took around an hour. Passing through small towns and villages (including Bizen and Osafune, two famous small towns in this region) along with verdant mountains, it was a beautiful journey.

The local train network also connects Banshu-Ako station to Himeji and Kobe on the east.

Places to visit in Ako

The city centre is small. The places to visit include the ruins of the castle of Ako and some shrines and temples. Among the shrines, the most important is the Shinto shrine linked with the 47 ronin located near the castle.

Among the temples, the most important is Kagaku temple. The Kagaku temple, the Ako castle and the Shinto shrine of the 47 ronin, are all at a walking distance from the railway station. The main street in front of the railway station leads to the castle. A map of the city in the square facing the railway station will show you all these landmarks. The city, including the railway station, is full of banners, posters and tiles with images of the different Ronin warriors.

In Kagaku temple, I met a group of Japanese artists, who were visiting the city and making drawings of its different buildings. They were curious about me but we had to communicate with gestures as they could not understand English.

The Kagakuji (or Sengakuji) was the family temple of the Asano family. It is a beautiful Buddhist temple with a giant bell and with different shrines. I was told that Kagaku temple has the tombs of the 47 Ronin, each marked by the number "7" to denote death by seppuku. However, I had also read that the tombs of the 47 ronin are in the cemetery of the Sengakuji temple in Tokyo, so I am not sure if the tombs in the Kagaku temple of Ako were real or not. I tried asking about them but was unable to make myself understand and thus, did not see them. In the temple, there were no sign boards indicating the tombs.

Ako Castle and Oisho Shrine of the 47 Ronin

When I reached the castle, some of the persons from the group of Japanese artists had also reached there and they smiled at me. There was no ticket to enter the castle, which does not have many things to see. Imposing walls surrounded the castle ruins. This castle was destroyed by the bombings during the second World War, and its walls have been recently rebuilt to recreate the old ambiance.

Inside the walls, most of the ruins were just empty spaces marked on the floor explaining the different building of the old castle. The castle was built by Naganao Asano Ako, the third lord of Ako domain and the grandfather of Naganori Asano. It had taken them 13 years to built this castle. I was told that the rooms of the Lord and his wife were marked on the floor, but since it was only in Japanese, I could not identify them.

On one side inside the castle, there is a short and squat tower (Tenshudai), where you can go up and have a panoramic view of the area.

A winding path passing near the Ako Museum of History and the Gardens of Ako castle took me to the shrine behind the castle. It is marked by a row of statues of the 47 ronin on both the sides of the path. This shrine is also called Oisho shrine to remember Oisho, the leader of those Ronin.

Each statue of the ronin was different - showing men of different age groups, each with his favourite weapon, some of them standing while others were sitting. Against the background of the castle ruins, the two rows of statues lining the path leading to the shrine made a powerful visual impact.

Inside the shrine gate (Torii), on the two sides were two giant wooden statues of pot-bellied old men. The one on the left was Daikoku Sama, symbolising luck and matrimonial happiness. The one on the right was Ebisu Sama, symbolising success in business and trade.

Inside the shrine, there were different memorials for persons to express their admiration for the warriors - for example, through the streamers of paper-cranes usually placed in cemeteries. The courtyard also has a statue of Oishi Kuranosuke, the leader of the Ronin.

One of the shrine buildings was Homotsu-Kan or the treasure hall, entry to which has a ticket. Inside you can see the Oishi "Glass of Rules" for the Ako samurai. The rules included the following - do not fight, do not spill drink from your mouth and do not force a non-drinker to drink.

A path from the Shinto shrine led to castle garden - a beautiful garden just outside the castle ruins. When I visited it in April 2017, it was not yet completely done and some parts were closed. Still it seemed to be landscaped beautifully with a canal, some gently bubbling fountains and a quaint bridge.

The garden ruins also include two ponds, both beautifully designed to evoke feelings of peace and harmony.

Conclusions

I could visit Ako only for a few hours. It was a rainy day. I knew that there would not be enough time to visit the historical museum or to go to the sea coast in Ako. On the other hand, I had thought that I will be able to visit Chikusa river and a couple of other shrines near the railway station. However, the visit to the castle and the Oisho shrine took most of my time and I could not do more, I had to rush back to catch the train to Okayama.

I think that Ako merits a visit. If you are visiting south-west Japan, such as Okayama or Kobe, it would be worthwhile keeping a morning to visit it.

*****

#banshi-ako #japan #samurai #bushido #legends #47ronin 

Documentary Film - Allah Loves Equality

I think that I had first met Wajahat Abbas Kazmi, then a young film-maker from Pakistan, about a decade ago, at the River to River film festival in Florence. I had even done an interview with him about his film "The Dusk" in 2011. Thus, when he invited me to see his new documentary film "Allah Loves Equality", I was curious.

Theme of Allah Loves Equality

The film looks at what it means to be a person of alternate sexuality or a LGBTQ person in Pakistan today. It starts with some examples of more accepting views towards alternate sexualities, especially towards cross-dressing, gay men and transgender women, in early Islamic society and in the Indian subcontinent, even during the Mughal period.

The film moves between 3 main strands - 

(1) The traditional communities of transgender women (Khawaja Sira or Hijra communities) and their accepted roles in the mainstream society;

(2) The struggles of gay persons (and a few lesbian persons) to live their sexual identities and their difficulties of coming out of clandestinity;

(3) The efforts of a few NGOs fighting for the rights of LGBTQ persons.

Moving between these 3 strands, the film explores their challenges, alliances and solidarities, as well as, what it means to live the porous and dynamic boundaries of different queer identities in contemporary Pakistan.

The violent reactions of a conservative patriarchal society are shown through a few social media and news clips. There is the vivid story of Alisha, a transgender woman, shot 6 times, forced to wait in the hospital because they could not decide if she should be treated as a man or as a woman and in the end, treated in the corridor of the male ward, in front of the lavatory, till her death.

The fear of violence is omnipresent in the film, expressed in the furtive gestures and anxious glances of film's testimonies. Bubbly, the guru/matriarch of a traditional Khawaja sira community, explains the importance of her traditional role in a soft and gentle voice - there is no other safe space, no space where you can find friendship and support outside their confines. She is reassuring and yet frightening because she underlines the perils of being an individual on your own in a society which does not accept you and can easily kill you.

Bubbly Malik has created a NGO called Wajood (Identity) for safeguarding the rights of transgender persons in Pakistan. She says "To live in a Daire Dari, the traditional home of Khwaja, you have to accept its rules. You get the love and support of a family but you must obey its rules."

Anaya Sheikh a young transgender stand-up comedian or Hannan Siddique, a well-known gay make-up artist, talk about the difficulties of living their sexual identities. Anaya can only be safe as a part of the Khwaja Sira and Hannan must wait for his companion, who is under family pressure to get married.

The crowd of young men dancing with joy in a private gay party or the transgender woman dancing at a home accompanied by a traditional musician are both facets of the same reality.

The lesbian women are a hidden world, briefly mentioned in the documentary for the violence they must face. "They can't even accept that lesbians exist here. To accept that would mean that women have a sexuality. So many women in rural areas are circumcised, they can't be allowed to have a sexuality."

In the film one person says, "It is better to have the traditional identity of Hijra or Khwaja Sira, it has a role in the society and it keeps us safe. Calling ourselves gay or transgender exposes us to violence." However, as Khwaja Sira, the opportunities for living are limited - you can beg or dance during marriages and births or sell your body for sex. There are no other options.

The NGOs, even if they are talking about HIV screening and prevention, need to be careful in what they say and how they are perceived. The film explains the efforts of Qasim Iqbal, who is considered the father of the movement for the LGBTQ rights in Pakistan.

If you wish to contact Wajahat Kazmi and to organise screening of this film, you can contact him through his website.

Conclusions

The parts of the film about Khwaja sira community reminded me of my (limited) interactions with the Hijra and Kinnar communities in India. Though many of the prejudices faced by persons with alternate sexualities are similar in India and Pakistan, I think that in India the LGBTQ world is much more ahead in raising their concerns and sharing their ideas.

The film does not talk of transgender men and other queer groups, showing that probably these groups are without voices in Pakistan and were not available to share insights about their lives in the film.

Some years ago, I had written about Parvez Sharma's film "Jihad for love" in which he had talked about the difficulty of reconciling the alternate sexualities with being a good Muslim. Wajahat's film briefly touches on this theme but does not go deeper. I guess that it is a difficult area to present in a sensitive way.

A few years ago, Wajahat did his coming out as a gay person and has been very active on social media in promoting the rights of young persons, especially Muslims, to live their sexuality without fear or repression. There was a period when I was worried that some radical Islamist group will kill him.

I can imagine that making "Allah loves equality" and shooting in Pakistan for this film could not have been easy. It is a hard-hitting film and shows aspects of alternate sexualities in Pakistan that are usually hidden from public gaze. Allah may love equality but some of his people do not love it. Wajahat has a long fight ahead of him, his film is a courageous step in that direction.

Film credits: 

Made by Il Grande Colibri, 2019, duration 55 min., produced by Elena de Piccoli, Michele Benini and Pier Cesare Notaro, directed by Wajahat Abbas Kazmi

*****

#lgbt #documentaryfilm #alternatesexualities #pakistan #lgbtpakistan

The Camels of Genghis Khan

While passing through Ulaanbataar (UB), I had seen a strange sculpture with a row of camels standing in a tiny park in the middle of the road. I wanted to look at them properly and photograph them. However, it was a busy crossing, always full of traffic and clicking a picture of those camels from a moving car was impossible. So one afternoon I decided to walk and search for those camels.

This post is about my walk through the city, searching for those camels in Ulaanbataar (UB), the capital of Mongolia.

Mongolian Hero Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan is the national hero of Mongolia. His statues adorn some of the famous landmarks of the country like the central square of UB in front of the national parliament. They can also be seen in some unlikely places like his giant face designed on the side of a hill overlooking the city. Genghis Khan had led his caravans to conquer the world.

Mongolia is the land of nomadic people with their animals including horses, sheep, goats and camels – in fact Mongolia has 10 times more animals/cattle compared to its human population. So those camels could have been a representation of a Mongolian nomad. Thus, those sculptures could be a representation of the great Khan or of a Mongolian nomad.

Old wall-paintings & The Motorbike Guy

This time, I am staying at Shangri-La hotel on Embassy road in UB. I came out of the hotel and started my walk by going towards left, to the Children’s Palace, while across the road I could see Bayangol hotel, which is one of the historical hotels of UB.

I have been to Mongolia many times for work related to a disability programme. During my first visit to Mongolia in early 1990s, I had stayed in the Bayangol hotel. At that time UB was a completely different city, as Mongolia was just coming out of decades of a communist regime under the Soviet influence. Hardly anyone spoke English, while many persons spoke Russian. There were only a few buildings in this part of UB at that time while the road was narrow and there was no traffic except for a rare car.

This whole area is now completely transformed, full of sky-scrappers. The much wider road is jam-packed with cars. In the nearby Sukhbataar square there is the new parliament building. It is a beautiful place today with wonderful ambience and colourful buildings.

As I started my walk on Embassy road, I saw some beautiful old wall-paintings along the road. Their colours had faded but I could still make out their designs, which seemed to be telling some Buddhist story regarding the killing of some demon. I hope that these can be rennovated.

My first stop was the metallic sculpture of the Motorbike Man, which looks straight out of the Mad Max films, with an alien guy driving an amazing alien looking motorbike. I loved this sculpture placed just outside the Children's Palace. It seems to be the work of an artist called Mr. Santo, born in Thailand, who uses chains, springs, rods, ball bearings, brake bands, gears, and lots of other recycled metal to create art.

Park Place City Marker

I turned left on Chinggis Road (another way of saying Genghis), which is a broad road with never-ending traffic. My next stop was to admire the metallic city-marker of Park Place, showing the distances from UB to major cities of the world, including London, Sydney, Moscow and Beijing.

I have seen similar distance markers in many cities but this was the first time to see a metallic sculpture made for this purpose.

Peace Bridge

Going further south along the Chinggis Road I reached the Peace Bridge which passes above Dund-Gol river and Narnii Road, the bypass road of UB made for avoiding the traffic of the city centre.

The Peace Bridge was built with Chinese help in 1963 and was renovated in 2012. Dund-Gol is a small river, which joins Tuul river to the south of UB. From the Peace Bridge, I could see little water in Dund Gol (literally ‘Middle River’). Fortunately, it seemed relatively free of the trash which such places usually seem to get due to neglect.

The Blue Horses and the Summer Fountain

After crossing the bridge I reached the area around the National Sports Stadium of UB, which is full of shopping areas, restaurants and other modern buildings. In front of the square facing the Nadaam Mall, there was an open space with two beautiful blue horses, made in plastic or some synthetic materials. After the Motorbike Man and Park Place City Distances indicator and these horses, I was really impressed by the quality of public art in UB. It was also good to see that local youth had not tried to deface these art works by writing on them, which is a common problem in most urban places.

The fountains next to the horses, erupted with water suddenly and in unpredictable ways. Children playing between those fountains, were having a lot of fun as it was a warm day and many of them were soaking wet. As usually happens in such situations, a couple of adolescent boys had picked another boy and forced-carried him above one of the erupting fountains, accompanied with a lot of shouting and merry-making. Families sitting around looked at them with tolerant bemusement.

Children's Park

Next to the Nadaam Mall is the only pedestrian crossing bridge over Chenggis road. With so much traffic on this road, it was a safe way for me to cross the road. On the other side, the bridge led to a children's park full of statues of zebras, deer, eagles and tigers, where families were children were visiting. It is almost like a zoo, the only difference was that instead of live animals, it has statues.

It also had a nice fountain with the Blue coloured sculpture of a woman wearing traditional Mongolian dress.

Behind the park, I saw an old building which had a mosaic of a Soviet style of wall-art from the pre-1990s period (in the image below). Most of such buildings are slowly being replaced by new constructions. I wish someone would photograph and keep a record of all such wall-arts as these represent the city history.

Genghis Khan Camel Caravan

Finally, I reached the Camel sculptures in the traffic island marking the point where the north-to-south going Chenggis road meets the east-to-west going Chenggis avenue, which goes towards the international airport. The metal sculptures are called the "Silk Road Complex monument" and are the works of an artist called Dalkh-Ochir.

In 2015 a competition was held to identify sculptures for UB and in that competition 15 sculptures were selected. These have been placed in different parts of UB, including the motorbike man mentioned above.

In the Silk Road sculptures, initially there was only one statue of a Bactrian camel. Now there are 9 Bactrian camels, one dog and a bearded man on a horse, who may represent Genghis Khan or perhaps a Mongolian nomad. According to the GoGo website, "Initially the camel monument complex was named Migration and the idea of camels facing towards the city center has a meaning of inflow of wealth."

I am glad that I had decided to make this walk to look for those camels. They looked absolutely amazing. The sculptures are huge and made with a metallic sheet, and thus can hopefully withstand the harsh Mongolian winter.

I spent some time walking around the sculptures and clicking pictures while the amused locals, waiting for the bus at the bus-stand across the road looked at me.

To Conclude

Just after the Silk Road monument complex crossing, there was the Palace and Museum of Bogd Khan, who was the first king of Mongolia after its independence from China in early twentieth century. However, I was too tired by this time and decided to leave visiting that to another day.

It was a very satisfying walk. It took me a couple of hours, but that was because I was stopping every where to look around and click pictures. If you are in a hurry, you can do it faster. The image below shows another Soviet-era wall-art from a building near the Silk Road complex crossing. I am fascinated by the history hidden in these wall-arts.

UB has some wonderful examples of good quality public art. Though I have been to UB many times, I am not much acquainted with the town except for the area around Gandam monastery. I am glad that this time I could explore a new part of the city.

*****

#mongoliaub #ubmongolia #ulaanbaatar #publicart #genghiskhan