From Benares to Bollywood, India

Arranged by Indian Ambassador Navrekha Sharma, our exciting 10-day visit to India started in New Delhi where we joined the Republic Day parade. An annual event, it was supposed be one of the highlights of the IPI (International Press Institute) 50th General Assembly in 2001, but had to be canceled when Gudjarat suffered greatly during the earthquake that just struck then. My husband Max Soliven, being a military buff, was so disappointed for it has been one of his lifetime dreams to witness this stirring sunset ceremony. Finally, in January this year, we made it.

The Beat Retreat

This century-old tradition dates back to the days when troops disengaged from battle at sunset. As soon as the bugles sounded the "Retreat," troops were expected to cease fighting, sheath their arms, and withdraw from the battlefield. (Modern war, of course, ignores these niceties.) In "Beating Retreat," the drums are the centerpiece. They speak to the men, telling them what to do. The fanfare by buglers signals the adieu.

The President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, arrived in a shiny, black Mercedes 600, while the generals and dignitaries arrived in locally manufactured white "Ambassador cars," which is a cross between a London taxicab and a Soviet tank.

The flag was reverently lowered, the colors furled while the crowd stood to the national anthem. No words can describe the impact of the massed military bands: the pipes and drums of the Artillery Center, the Bengal Engineers, the Brigade of Guards, Grenaciers, Rajputs, Sikhs, the Gorkha (Gurka) rifles, Punjab Regiment, Madras Regiment, Assam and Bihar Regiments, as well as the Mahar Regiment. In Scottish plaids, the bagpipers skirled the fiercest music in the world, pirouetting and tramping around; the drummers, rum-tum-tumming with rhythm and power.

The ceremony concluded with the Christian hymn, Abide With Me, reverently answered, like an echo, by dulcet chimes floating along the twilight air from the former Palace of the Viceroy, now the presidential complex of palaces. The bands and pipers touchingly did the hymn, heads bowed in respect, the muted drums bringing the cadence along.

Benares: One Of The Oldest Living Cities In The World

A one-hour plane ride took us to Benares (Varanasi), one of the oldest living cities in the world, where the most sacred stretch of the Ganga river is. For more than 2,500 years, it has attracted seekers and pilgrims since Benares is the home of God Shiva.

To die here in this city on the banks of the holy river is to achieve moksha or liberation from the cycle of life and death. Death is not hidden in India since it is part of life. This is one reason you find cremation grounds in the very center of Benares.

As the sun rises, the golden rays fall on the innumerable temples and 70 bathing ghats or stone steps at the riverside, as well as on the priests under their tilted umbrellas, and devout Hindus taking a purifying dip.

Bangalore, Infosys, Winpro And Tcs Headquarters

After a two-night stay at Benares, because we had to catch the early sunrise ablutions on the Ganges riverside ghats, we flew to Bangalore where we stayed in the palatial Leela Palace Hotel, an exact replica of the fabled palace of the maharajahs of Mysore.

Bangalore, a former military garrison city, is today world-famous as India’s "Silicon Valley" and one of the IT capitals on the planet. In fact, young Indians look to Bangalore as the headquarters of the multi-billion Infosys and Wipro which we visited.

India has 3,000 software companies, of which 15 are giants, spearheaded by Infosys, Wipro and TCS with globe-girdling networks that give India revenues from information technology (IT) of $12.7 billion a year. What is interesting to note is that China with an immense population of 1.3 billion (compared to India’s 1 billion) is trying to catch up. However, it seems that it will take many years for China to pose a threat to India in IT.

In the south of Bangalore is the 240-acre (97-hectare) Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, laid out in the 19th century by Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali. It features a glass house similar to the Crystal Palace in London. Lalbagh is the venue of flower shows in January and August.

Goa, The Most Roman Catholic Of India’s States

We arrived at Goa via a Jet Airways flight from Bangalore. You can easily take another route from Mumbai (Bombay), which takes an hour and a half.

Goa is a fascinating change from the rest of the vast sub-continent since it is the most Roman Catholic of India’s states, although Kerala has also many Catholics. The Portuguese arrived when the great Vasco de Gama, Portugal’s famous navigator, discovered the fabled "Sea Route to the Indies" and landed in Calcutta in May 1498. Twelve years later, the daring Alfonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa, wrestling it from Adil Khan, the Muslim Sultan of Bijapur. The Portuguese called their hub of Asian empire Goa Dourada or Golden Goa, Perola do Oriente or Pearl of the East, and even "Rome of the East."

There are more than 100 churches and basilicas identical to our old Spanish churches, monasteries, and public buildings erected by the Portuguese and Goa’s Catholics in their golden yesterday, when trading riches attracted a population by the 16th century that exceeded even that of London.

The Basilica de Bom Jesus (Basilica of Born Jesus) in Old Goa is where most of St. Francis Xavier’s body is enshrined. His body lies in a sealed air-tight glass coffin, where you can see him inside, not ‘"incorruptible" as he was the first 150 years but somewhat faded in feature. Still impressively holy in appearance, the skull is showing, but four toes of his right foot and his right arm are missing. His right arm is enshrined in a church in Rome, while a bone from his right hand ended up in a Japanese reliquary. It is said that a Portuguese devotee bit off a toe while kissing the saintly corpse’s feet and carried it in her mouth back to Lisbon.

What made St. Francis Xavier or San Francisco Javier great? He gave up the material world of noblemen and a brilliant scholarship in Paris to become one of the most zealous, self-sacrificing missionaries of the faith. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, was the person who made possible the conversion of Francisco with his question to him: "What doth it profit a man to win the whole world but lose his immortal soul?" San Javier left his life of gambling and spread Christianity in the East – in Goa, Malabar, Ceylon, Malacca, Macau, Japan, and China.

Bollywood Surpasses Hollywood

The cinema of India is enormously diverse with monumental studio systems in South India and Bengal. But, Bollywood, the bustling film industry centered in Bombay, is the largest in the world. It is a vast dream factory cranking up to 800 films each year that are watched by 3.5 million people daily and producing over 100 million ticket sales every week.

Until recently, the industry relied solely on its devoted domestic audience, the Middle and to some extent the Far East. In the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s stars like Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar attained superstar status in Russia and the Middle East.

A special tour of the approximately 200-acre Bollywood studios in the suburbs of Mumbai (Bombay) enabled us to see both movie and television stars in action. The huge sets include a real forest and a man-made lagoon.

The studio manager remarked, "Our stars may not have the acting talents of Lawrence Olivier and Greta Garbo but they are so handsome and beautiful. The fabulous dancing scenes and glittery costumes always delight everyone. Today, so many Indians have spread out and migrated all over the world. Just imagine that this is just a fraction of our population of a billion people who are the biggest market of our video films exported abroad. All of them have English subtitles that add to our foreign market!"

I say amen to that. The Indian scriptwriters usually add down-to-earth philosophy of life whether it concerns poverty, natural disasters or famous love stories of their ancient histories. Max and I have more than a dozen such video films. Take our advice and buy their classic favorites.