Saturday, May 20, 2006 ||
6:41 PM ||
The largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet, is a good 120 kms off Mysore, and simply sounded fascinating. A nagging throat ache was fast proving to be a dampener in my plans for the day, but my spirits perked up at the sight of a couple of Tibetan monks at the bus station, all set to leave for Kushal Nagar along with me. Barely three hours later, I get off beside a sturdy road sign that proudly proclaims Byle Kuppe. An elderly woman from a local pan shop is quick to ward me off with a ‘No English, No Hindi’ warning. One of her customers however, turns out to be more forthcoming, and suggests that I should visit the Golden Temple for sure. The auto speeds past narrow streets where maroon and yellow colors have spread a magnificent hue. And then the landscape all around me, which is astonishingly Tibetan all the way. Ayub is my guide cum driver for the day, and quite abruptly stuns me with a few Malayalam queries that he confesses to have learned from Mallu roommates, while working somewhere in the Middle East. The Golden Temple expectedly turns out to be a visual extravaganza. Unbelievably gigantic idols of the Buddha greet the visitor inside the temple that mesmerizes you with a unique alloy of the best and worst of colors strewn together to create a divine arena of worship. The Tibetan children roaming around with tonsured heads and the most endearing of smiles, the noon prayer with the chanting of hymns and the loud bellowing of horns and drums, the incredible fragrance of incense and the seemingly forever bowed devotees, the delectable Tibetan food, the local school, court and hospital that have been dabbed in a singular Tibetan tang, the prayer hall inaugurated by none other than the Holy Dalai Lama and the monks riding about on motor bikes; you could be in Lhasa, for all you care. Ayub gracefully agrees to have lunch with me, and offers to take me up to Nisargadhama, a forest resort near the Tibetan settlement.The resort visit over, back on the bus to Mysore, I feel my throat ache hassling me again; but I resign to a peaceful sleep with a deep sigh. I dream of a distant land where time stands still and raindrops hang around in the midst of the air. A canoe drifts about in a blue lake, the waters of which lie placid. As I jadedly open my eyes, I faintly sense the heady scent of an unknown charm that has undeniably cast a spell over me.
