{"id":183036,"date":"2021-05-03T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=183036"},"modified":"2021-04-22T10:50:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T09:50:36","slug":"india-large-charming-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/05\/india-large-charming-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"India \u2014 Large, Charming and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

India is a vast country that has\u00a0the hottest places
\nYes and the coldest regions on the planet
\nHow come? Well, don\u2019t we have the Himalayas
\nThe word\u00a0himalaya<\/em>\u00a0means home of snow
\nThen we have\u00a0the home of\u00a0\u00a0clouds\u00a0–\u00a0Meghalaya<\/em>
\nClouds, yes; rain of course \u2014 rainiest place on the summit<\/p>\n

How many languages? Too many \u2014 twenty two
\nIn our Constitution, and a few hundred more
\nAnd how many does an ordinary person speak?
\nPerhaps one and a half. What do you mean?
\nHe speaks his mother tongue and bit of Hindi
\nAnd a language spoken by a thousand people, Sindhi<\/p>\n

But he likes Hindi songs and often becomes poetic
\nHow? He talks to his beloved like this
\n\u2018Don\u2019t ignore me my love; your tears will flood the attic
\nCannot afford the palatial home that you inhabit\u2019<\/p>\n

How many religious faiths do we have?
\nLarge number\u2014 eight or ten\u00a0or perhaps eleven
\nLarge number of Muslims, Sikhs, many Christians
\nAnd Parsees and Baha\u2019is and Buddhists and…<\/p>\n

What about Hindus?
\nOf course \u2014
\nHindus who feel that\u00a0Hindustan<\/em>\u00a0is the safest place for all
\nYou may be rich or poor, man or woman,\u00a0short or tall<\/p>\n

Hindus love Lord Krishna, the naughty Krishna
\nWho will win your heart by his musical flute
\nAnd the wise words he showers in the\u00a0Bhagwad Geet<\/em><\/p>\n

Food is\u00a0something one always talks of
\nIf we don\u2019t have enough to eat
\nWe go and see the various dishes on the next street<\/p>\n

How beautiful \u2014 taste….
\nNo, no my friend, how delicious fragrance
\nCome to India on your next trip
\nAnd carry back home this unheard of elegance<\/p>\n

India is a beautiful country
\nI\u2019ll be waiting for you\u00a0mon ami<\/em>
\nYou won\u2019t need a Google translator
\nTo enjoy its magnificent charm
\nAs long as you have me by your arm.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, an<\/em> educationist, Gandhian scholar and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University. His new book, <\/em>A Garland of Ideas\u2014Gandhian, Religious, Educational, Environmental was published recently in Delhi.<\/em> ravipbhatia@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India is a vast country that has the hottest places
\nYes and the coldest regions on the planet
\nHow come? Well, don\u2019t we have the Himalayas
\nThe word himalaya means home of snow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":115836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[868],"class_list":["post-183036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}