Intrepid and foolish
My first day after
the torture of lecture I thought I’ll be the intrepid tourist seeking out the tourist
attractions of New Delhi rather than hiring a cab to take me around for the
day.
Sometimes I forget
that I get disorientated quite easily that my sense of bearing might be lost
when I think I am charting a course somewhere.
On agenda was the Bahá’í
Lotus Temple and the
India Gate, they were as far apart as you could have them in the large expanse
of New Delhi but I was confident I will make it.
After 2 changes of
the metro I was just about 8 stops from where to get off on the Violet Line; I
wondered about that choice of colour but having used Red, Yellow, Blue, Blue,
Green maybe Brown would have been an option and Black was out of the question.
I had been advised to get off at Nehru Place but the Lonely Planet guide
suggested Kalkaji Mandir – I stayed on the metro to Kalkaji Mandir and caught
my first glimpse of the temple before I got there, it looked close enough.
Going everywhere but there
However, getting
out of the station was a maze that by the time I was out, I had made it into
the compound of a Hindu temple before I realised I was off course. I risked the
ire of a religious mob too because I could not count the number of leather
items I had on my person – belt, phone case, camera pouch, wallet, shoes, bag –
everything short of a leather thong.
Turning around, I
made for the main road and saw my first pedestrian bridge in New Delhi, built
in such a way as to discourage usage; the riser was looking from the side a
zig-zag of close to 500m probably to aid wheelchair users and there was a
staircase opposite the riser but getting there meant jostling with busy
traffic.
On crossing, I came
upon serious a National Geographic type enclave or slum as I risk political
incorrectness, but I had already realised that the road to great monuments was
not paved with finesse at least that much I saw in Agra.
Another Hindu
temple but no Bahá’í temple, I was at the point of giving up having walked up
and down the road to no avail and really decided on returning to the station.
No gate in sight
As I approached the
station, I caught a glimpse of the temple and a smile crossed my face, wiping
away the despair that had clouded my countenance as I chided myself for being
too adventurous for my own good.
The temple was
imposing but there were no directions to the entrance, not from the station where
they had put up an advertisement and synopsis of the Lotus Temple or from the
roads around the temple.
From the fence, it
appeared you could gain entry from a field behind the temple, that ended up in
a perimeter walk of the fence around the temple grounds through places the
wiser would have done well to retreat from, I did not retreat until I got round
to where the gate was.
Learning and viewing
I have gotten used
to the security rigmarole; we all have to walk through metal detectors, be
frisked and have our bags X-rayed and checked, even at the temple of universal
peace.
Not knowing much
about the Bahá’í faith,
I made for the information centre, walked through the exhibition and sat to
watch the 21-minute introduction to Bahá’í which was quite enlightening.
I could not help
but think that the premise of Bahá’í was ambitious in that it from my own
thinking had found the superfluity of sophistry to suggest that it is the
culmination of every revelatory religion allowing for difference by
assimilation.
The teachings
appear humanist though the monotheistic theme directs the sense of devotion, I
could relate to the core elements of the recognition of humankind and the
service of religion to humanity which many of the established religions are
losing in the quest to fulfil creed and tenet at the expense of the people.
Not my opiate
However, I could
not connect with the supposed spirituality of the message, in all, within the
supposed difference most religions still to the same narrative – leaders rising
out of obscurity with a message for the day, gathering a following, upsetting
the political order, earning persecution and either being martyred or dying.
Each person is
persuaded of their convictions and as Karl Marx once said, in German, “Religion is the opium
of the people.” Opium is a drug – a painkiller, a sedative, a narcotic, a
stiller, a dream-inducer that can separate people from reality into fantasy, it
offers the succour of numbness in the presence of pain and suffering – Religion
does in many cases opiate, on my way to the Lotus Temple, there was a queue
almost a kilometre long of people mostly unshod and certainly well-dressed
trying at access a Hindu temple – Go figure!
Not another burning bush
After the
exhibition, I walked towards the Lotus Temple and there realised we had to bag
our shoes to walk the hallowed confines of this amazing architectural edifice
that they say draws more visitors than the Taj Mahal.
I thought the Taj
Mahal was awesome even though it is a mausoleum, but I was not ready for
another “burning-bush”
experience of walking unshod when my own religion does not make that a
requirement of others. There might be a conservation concept behind this but it
has not been suggested.
The deification of
humongous premises as the incumbency of the holiest interactions in my view
belongs to centuries past, the matter of devotion is purposefully of the heart,
if it still beats to some rhythm; that we are gathered together for the purpose
of worship does not change the building into the throne of deity but that is
just an opinion – I passed on the opportunity and clicked away with my camera
from afar.
Not!
Now that the Bahá’í
have ensconced themselves in sprawling landscapes in Israel and
have erected amazing architectural beauties on all continents, they probably
have a claim to some legitimacy but they did not come close to when King
Agrippa said to Apostle Paul, “Almost
thou persuadest me ...” I am neither convinced nor persuaded but impressed, yes,
impressed, indeed.
Then I was off to
the India Gate.
