ISLAND OF GODS

Belonging to a country which has its God’s own land created by Lord Parasurama, an incarnation of Lord Maha Vishnu according to Hindu mythology, it is no wonder that a sense of bondage is attached to a place across the seas – a place with innumerable temples, a place which has its umbilical cord relations with India, a place where people feel proud to say they are Hindus…..Lo !! Welcome to BALI- the Island of Gods.

A prelusion before I start the write up! Every overseas vacation that we have planned in the past decade and a half would definitely have Bali featuring first in the list. Somehow it always ended up to be the first in the ‘hit’ list!! Reasons used to be aplenty…Why to an island? Why to a sunny place? Why in the summer? Why in the winter? Why during rains? What if the volcano erupts (he..he..he!!! you guessed it right- that perennial fear was mine ). In mid-February this year, my daughter and Son-in-law took a short break from their busy schedule and visited India for a fortnight and they very much wanted to spend a couple of days as a family in a South Asian country. This time, I opted for Vietnam and the rest finalised the island in Indonesia!! The Covid fear was slightly gripping up in some parts of the world then. Reasoning that, I put my foot down not to go – it was the wrong foot- I was vetoed by the majority. Bali..here we come…

Since it is a ‘visa on arrival’ at Bali, not much preparations were necessitated. Our ‘man Friday’-the travel facilitator Vacations Exotica – loyalty shared mutually ever since our Swiss trip in the late 2000s,- made quick arrangements for logistics, stay and tour and what not?

We took a midnight flight from Madras and reached Malaysia past dawn break. We were travelling east and lost two and a half hours other than losing sleep. As usual the Kuala Lumpur airport was abuzz with activities- one marked difference was the movement of hundreds of Lee Falk’s comic character Phantoms wearing the domino mask …..so, the covid fear seem to be real indeed. How much ever I wanted to be tight-lipped, the muscular organ behind my set of teeth could not be controlled – it started wagging. Need not elaborate on the consequence that followed- which is quite obvious!!!! The layover was an agonising four hours for a four hour flight to Bali. I gave Rip Van Winkle a good run for his money while crossing Indian Ocean. Grudgingly I had to come out of my deep slumber as the plane started descending – the fleeting glimpse from the window outside -wow…it was enthralling! Lush greenery , water streams, cloudless blue sky – brought me to the actuality – we were reaching the much awaited island destination.

While taxiing to the gate after a silky smooth landing at the Ngurah Rai -Denpasar International Airport, I could see tens of aircrafts in the likes of  Air India, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Garuda Airlines, China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines were lined up in the tarmac – we are in a real international tourist destination. Brilliant mid-day sunshine greeted us.

No sooner we stepped inside the airport we were thrust with self-declaration medical forms. Though we knew ourselves well that we were not carriers of infection, still the butterfly in the stomach does an extra flap with its wings . The tension was evident in many faces. I heaved a sigh of relief after the incident-free (?!) medical clearance. Serpentine queue in the Immigration did not bother us much as the personnel handling the counters were at their efficiency best. Stepping out of the Customs area, we could see the facade of the airport – a beaming mammoth red brick structure with all handiworks of a Hindu temple as in the Southern India. The drivers were clad in a dhoti/ lungi sort of dress splashed in bright colours and a matching kurta-type top and wearing a headband. More about the dress as we wade through the pages…A car was waiting for us to take us to our hotel.

After a bit of stretching of our tired torso, we were ready to hit the road. The Hotel arranged us a car to reach the beach-side. Hundreds of Australian and European tourists were enjoying sunbath in the vast stretch of sand. The Sun God too seemed to have taken a stroll in the beautiful beach side. He was glowing with all his glory. It was quite hot. We, being from a tropical country ourselves, wanted a much cooler place at that point of time. Facing the sea is an enormous shopping arcade that houses all international brands and a sprawling food court with all Balinese and Indonesian delights. It was akin to a marketplace with all types of street foods in neatly decorated carts. The array of foods would make lovers of sea and poultry foods a compulsory glutton and a nauseating experience for strict vegetarians! We moved on to the top floor- a lovely atrium facing the blue sea with white sand . The soothing evening breeze from the Indian Ocean curling over the back of the ears brought in a refreshing zeal for us to move on to the beach.

The atmosphere of the beach and its surroundings reminded me of Pattaya in Thailand- a typical beach carved for tourists and sports activities. That we were in the shores of the mighty Indian Ocean after a ten year gap ( earlier it was Sri Lanka in 2009) was very thrilling.

The swirling waves was entertaining scores of water surfers. Sitting on the sands and watching them surfing amidst the banana boats and the speed boats was a straight lift from some Bond movie. For the first time I witnessed sea surfing  ( remember the yester year’s Old Spice advertisement?)– riding on the rolling waves on a plank to the shores and again swimming against the tide, select a big wave and get back to the shores again and again and again….I didn’t get bored once. There were many Pamela Andersons in the beach whom I turned a blind eye on ( Ram…really ?????  are you kidding ??.. not to be believed !!!!!!).

After witnessing a breathtaking sunset with its bright orange shine slowly merging in the distant horizon it was time for us to get back to our dwelling place after gobbling the ubiquitous pizza. We paid around 4 lakhs for it and hired a taxi for around 3 lakhs!!!??????? The conversion value of the Indonesian Rupia is .0050 against INR 1.00 – we were spending like Sultan of Brunei !!

The breakfast at the Hotel had little choice for vegetarians – apart from the breads, cereals and fruits. The shrewd beaming restaurant manager seemed to have sensed that and she had few exclusive vegetarian items, specially made for us, laid on our table by the time we came back after checking the food counters. Meanwhile, our tour guide was ready in the coach to engage us for rest of the day.

We were off to our first destination on a sunny day.  All along it was lush greenery on both sides of the road – a visual treat for the eyes . Each and every house has a small temple – a decorative coconut tree shoot erected on the entrance of the house indicates the presence of a temple. In the short span of 20 minutes ride, we would have witnessed one thousand and odd such temples of various size and shapes. Statues of Lord Ganesha, Lord Vishnu, Lord Rama, few Demi-Gods adores the periphery walls. They are wrapped around with bright textiles. Even tea trunks, rocks are decorated in such way – mostly in black and white checked design- this indicates the spirit and its energy are embedded inside.  We could see ladies carrying big trays with offerings to the deities at that point in time in the morning.

The mighty ocean was expanding in front of us and we gradually climbed a peak . Wow. .what a sight it was. We were in the Batu Bolong  and Tanah Lot Temples  and there we were- at the tip of a rocky peak stretching out to ocean with void in the middle.  It is a place in the formation of English-letter “V”.  Facing the water, to my left was Tanah Lot and on to my right was Batu Bolong. The uniqueness of the temples in Bali are, no deities will be inside the shrine and also all and sundry cannot enter the precincts of the temple. It is out of bound for random visitors. The rocks the temples are situated on are perforated ones – the water gushes through the hillock – at times it splashes to a height of a fully grown coconut tree. That reminds me of the tender coconut water I had there….it was in the size of a moderate jackfruit and it could not be held in the hand. They placed it on the table with a straw. Believe me… I am not exaggerating- near to 1500 ml of nature’s distilled water was inside each coconut. It was like a full meal (honestly, we skipped lunch that afternoon).

We were being roasted in the scorching sun, but our guide was as cool as a cucumber. He kept telling that the weather was wonderful at that part of the year…we could imagine how hot April/May months be!  Our guide Mr. Komang spoke tolerable English in an SE Asian slang. He was so delighted to escort an Indian family- in general, Balinese have a very great regard for Indians. They consider all Indians as staunch Hindus. He was very well versed in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the South Indian kings and the Chola dynasty which was ruling their country for ages. The Chola Dynasty ruled Indonesia few centuries ago, and it was during that period Hinduism flourished there.

I was so impressed with his attires- from him I learned that all Balinese men wear a headdress called an ‘Udeng’, which is symbolic of the Hindu Trinity. The front wing-like vertical appendage symbolises Lord Shiva. They clad a loin cloth in the nature of a lungi/ dhoti tied to their waist and held with a thick Turkish towel like belt. For the upper half a flashy short kurta-type vest. From a distance,  they look like Lord Krishna with his peacock feather on his forehead. I was looking to buy one particular set of dress which captured my attention in the airport-but till I returned, I could not find one of its sort in any outlets!

We reached Taman Ayun -the Mother Temple. The place looked very serene with enveloping calmness. It has a beautiful garden with many temple towers protruding tall. Each temple has got a common place for public to gather, the inner place for worship by the specific class of devotees and the innermost- the sanctum sanctorum. Each temple tower has also got significance – the six “chakras” of a human body…. Am i getting too technical??..only these things of the scores of details by Mr. Kom is retained  in my mind….even if you want something more on this, I do not have!!  The water body, the stream, the tall trees, the flora and fauna- it has it all. A small museum shares us the history of the place and how the Royals have patronised the place.

That evening, it was the beach again with more concentration on the local market- not a very great place to buy. Shops were akin to those in Mahabalipuram or Langkawi. It is a typical seaside town.  Pitchai guided us to an Indian Restaurant for a reasonably good dinner. Half-tanned in the hot sun during the day , we returned to the Hotel for a well-earned rest.

An interesting itinerary had been drawn for us the next day – first we were on to the biggest handloom factory on the way to the slopes of Mount Agung. The fingers of the designing ladies were elegantly dancing on the freshly loomed garment. The continuous sound coming from the loom in interlacing the yarn’s warp and weft was so rhythmic. The outlet exhibited varieties of linen which even the Sultan will have second thoughts to buy for the enormity of cost! What we saved in loom was spent in sculpture – the place we visited was a sculpting village . The Balinese handiwork at its best. We yielded to temptation and grabbed a few artefacts. Tourists patronise the place and the vocation thrives. An exclusive tour was organised for us to visit a typical Balinese house. We were astounded the moment we stepped in- it looked more as a temple in the inside complete with a courtyard, open space with a well and a tree and with few rooms for dwelling . Every family is equipped with some handiwork or other – be it art and painting, sculpting, looming, pottery. The house we went had some magnificent art pieces – looked more like an exhibition. The house inmates were very cordial and a special intimacy to Indians.

It was a long ride on the silky strip to the slopes of Mt. Agung-yes…the volcanic mountain that erupted in 2017. The Besakih Temple situated on the vicinity of the mountain is the largest in Bali. From the foothills of the hillock, if we look up, the grandeur of the place is stunning. Layers and layers of temple towers seem to be piercing the clouds on the ascent. Probably that brought in the downpour. Luckily we all had umbrellas and that did not spoil our day. The scenery from the top was spectacular – paddy fields , streams, coconut trees and the mountain in the background – to borrow Emerson’s words- “Nature is beautiful because it is alive, moving, reproductive”.  As it rained, so it shined. The visit to Tirta Gangga Royal Water Garden was in the bright sunny afternoon. The place brings joy by itself. Irrespective of the age the child in everyone projects out . I am sure this Water Palace has been captured in many movies- I recently watched in TV a dance sequence of a tamil film picturised there.

It was one of the shortest visits we have ever hand in a foreign land. Most parts of Bali was left uncovered by us in this trip – we have stored it for the next. But, two days was enough for us to be tanned beyond belief. The home run again was an eight hour flying and a four hours layover…that part was really tiresome. Honestly, looking back, the entire trip seem to be a pilgrimage-sort…..visiting not less than a half a dozen temples, seeing deities all around and experiencing the Hindu spirituality at its best in an Islamic country – Unity in Diversity.

Till I lace up for the next……

J.Ram