This article is written by Hem Bhandari, an avid travel writer and photographer based in Mumbai

An everlasting Impression of a foreign land which touched me the most

Friends , in this travel blog , I would like to share with you , one very special feeling of mine , after one of my visits to foreign lands. Its quite natural that after accomplishing something, what you cherish, you are very relaxed and pleased to carry on the pleasant memories of your accomplishment. This applies to your leisure-travels or trekking expeditions too.

Bali, Indonesia

There are many experiences which you like, but still out of them there is A Specific One , which knocks at your memory again & again, but still does not perturb you, on the contrary, you welcome its recurrence in your mind. This particular thought is the one, which has impressed you the most, and this is the one which leaves an everlasting effect on you.I am pleased to share one such Very Specific Impression with you, which goes as follows ; I had very keen desire to visit Bali, which ultimately was fulfilled, when I visited this place in March 2010, with my Wife, exclusively as tourists. I am really not happy with me that I could not do it earlier, despite the fact, I lived in Kualalumpur for four years, but still could not make it, due to the unending professional and personal commitments, which kept me occupied, so long I was there. Anyhow eventually. I did it with my better half, to the best of our leisure time, in our private capacity. We had preplanned our visit and stays at three different regions in Island Bali, which is 140 x 95 Sq. Kms. in area, reasonably large for an Island . At planning stage itself, it appeared so interesting that we could not reduce our intended stay here for less than eight days, otherwise we were confident that we will miss quite a few things of our interest, and we did not want to remain deprived of it, due to curtailment in our Bali stay. The three regions, we selected for our visit & stay were “ Ubud ” , “ Gianyar” & “ Sanur “.

Coming back to What impressed/touched me the most after Bali visit, I was very pleasantly surprised to observe the influence of the Hindu mythology, culture, traditions, the brotherhood/friendly feelings for Indians, more so if they come to know that your are Hindu. I am quite convinced that Balinese folks, in general have soft corner for Indians. I will now elaborate my observations & actual experiences, right from the time we landed at Bali Airport till we bade goodbye to this Island.

Ngurah Rai International Airport Bali

At Bali, the Visas are given to foreign tourists at Visa Counters, on arrival, irrespective of nationality of visitors. This invariably ends up in long parallel queues at multiple Visa Counters, calling tourists turn wise for visa -documentation/ formalities. What I experienced here was, the European visitor immediately prior to me was diverted to adjoining counter, by the Officer on Duty, for the reason, known to him only. Next in the queue were we two and looking at us he immediately called us to him. I was really surprised by his call, when he had diverted the man before us to other counter. Anyhow before even I could hand him over our travel documents, he promptly asked us “Are you from India”. Yes was the answer. “O, I love India, so nice people there, I want to go to India” was his next expression, not bothered about his checking our papers. “How long you wish to be at Bali“ was his next query. For 8 days was the reply. “Why only 8 days, I am sanctioning you Visa for 6 months”, told that officer, making all necessary endorsements on our documents, welcoming us to Bali and wishing us pleasant stay. This entire thing took not more than five minutes. Believe me, that Officer closed his counter, immediately after he finished with us and left for the day, otherwise he had called it a day immediately before us.

Even today this incidence gives me the pleasant feelings.

Statue of Ghatotkacha inBali

After this we were heading to our first Hotel in “Ubud “ . It was about One & Half hours drive. We had engaged a local guide for the entire Bali trip, who accompanied us right from our arrival at Bali till departure. It proved to be a good decision, as his presence made our trip very convenient from every point of view. On this drive, a huge white colour statue at the first main road crossing, attracted my attention, so I instantly asked the Guide, whose statue is it. He started explaining, he is the son of a one of the pandavas of Indian Mahabharat, called Bhima . He is known as “ Ghatotkacha”, continuing his explanation, till I told him that I know about ‘Ghatotkach’ They pronounce it as “ Ghatotkach-a”. I could see his smile of appreciation. From there on he became very friendly with us. He then told Sir, many type of tourists come from India, who need these explanations about Indian things, so as a duty I was trying to explain, but I am happy you know about “ Ghatotkach-a”. Picture below I clicked, is that statue, I am talking about. Is it not amazing , such lovely statue of a Mahabharat figure finds place at an important Road junction in Bali?

A statue of Lord Ganesha in Bali

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The warmth of greeting and the ready smile is what charms you first. People are always polite and wish you the time of day whether you interact on the telephone or personally. Even the police officer, who nabs you for a traffic violation, will smile. When you grease his palm he will say, ‘thank you, sir’.

Driving here is a pleasure with good roads and petrol at one third the price back home, not to mention the large air-conditioned cars. Vehicles scrupulously stick to their lanes and meticulously follow traffic rules. Quite a contrast from good old Kanpur where one can suddenly be confronted with a car or scooter coming from the opposite direction with the driver audaciously waving at you imperiously to give way. Noise levels are low, hardly anyone blows a horn and there are no loudspeakers blaring film songs. I experience a sudden bout of nostalgia for Ganeshganj in Lucknow during peak traffic hours: horns blaring; cows, buffaloes, dogs squatting on the road while on the pavement loiterers spit out ‘paan’ & ‘paan-masala’ with a satisfying sound of ‘peetch.’

Jakarta by night

Jakarta has a large number of four wheelers and traffic jams are normal. The same journey can take 15 minutes on one day and an hour on another. I was amused to see three wheeler Bajaj scooters, imported from India in 1965, still running.

The country has more then 100 volcanoes, a number of them still active. Earthquakes are therefore common and I recall a tremor while I was at work on the 27th floor. It appeared as if some force had gripped the building and was shaking it violently.

We were witness to a momentous event when the first democratic election took place after almost 50 years. Flags of all political parties were displayed at important crossings by the Govt. and each party was allocated a particular day (by draw of lots) for their election rallies. These were very orderly with participants wearing T- shirts emblazoned with images of the leader or election symbol of the party. There were no loudspeakers blaring nor posters and banners on display.

The country is liberal in its religion and attitudes. The majority of the population follow a very liberal and modern form of Islam and one can spot churches, temples and gurudwaras. There is equality of the sexes and equal opportunity in the work place. I also did not come upon any incidents of eve teasing.

People are generally punctual and take pride in their work. Most employees wear uniforms displaying the logo of their company and there is great dignity of labour. A salesperson in a store sporting a tie will not hesitate to mop the floor if necessary. Tipping is a way of life and everyone expects tips, even the guy wearing a tie. Tea and coffee are savoured sans milk and in mild strength. Both are sipped so slowly that it may take up to an hour to finish a cup of tea.

Personal hygiene is taken very seriously and people bathe two to three times a day. Indonesians dress according to the occasion and invitation cards mention the dress code. Quite a change from what I had got accustomed to at places where staff comes to work in all manners of dress and even slippers. People are very health conscious and one hardly sees anyone who is overweight or displaying a paunch. On Sunday mornings, kids, adults and even the elderly, can be seen jogging, walking, cycling and playing football. Weren’t Sunday mornings meant for sleeping late?

Indian culture has greatly influenced the local culture. The Rupiah 20, 000 currency note has a picture of Lord Ganesha printed on it. There is a huge Arjuna Rath built in the centre of Jakarta and names of Hindu gods like Gayatri, Sanjaya, Lakshmi and Laksamana are common. Indian philosophy recommends detachment from material things and also the inevitability of death and rebirth, but this still leaves Indians amongst the most worried people in the world. I noticed Indonesian’s follow the Indian philosophy of detachment and do not weep when someone dies.

The Indonesian language, called Bahasa Indonesia, contains a number of Sanskrit words. Incidentally, the word Bhasha in India means language. Local TV channels and many movie theatres show either dubbed or sub titled Hindi movies. ‘Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai’, the title of a movie, is a frequently used greeting towards an Indian. The beautiful woodcarvings made here with skilled hands, often depict scenes from the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharat. Indonesians have a tremendous sense of art and aesthetics and the flower decorations, gift wrappings and cut fruit displays are exquisite.

You will wonder what the irritants of living here are. A guest is not expected to criticise his host. I love the country and its people. What I possibly value most about my stay here, is that I learnt a great deal about how to enjoy life.

B.S. Bhasin

2011

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