Beijing : Olympian dreams and Neighborly impressions

The idea of the Olympian has traveled a great distance. From the dusty, hot Hellenic mountains to the verdant plains of China it has indeed been a long journey. The Olympics has come and gone in Beijing but its legacy is scattered around the city. It is to explore this Olympian legacy of Beijing that i ventured into on my last outing in China. And also hoped to get some neighborly impressions along the way.

December 15, 2012, Saturday

Olympian dreams

The winter was settling into the vast Chinese landscape. It was a foggy morning indeed with visibility down to the few nervous meters. This was my third visit to the capital and i aimed to visit some of the other major attractions in the city.

Soon after arriving at the Beijing railway station i was onto the by now much familiar metro. The Olympic park was on the northern end of the city. In fact it stretched the famed historic axis that passed through the Tiananmen square and Forbidden city in a northern direction. Since the Olympic park was in the northernmost end of the city i had to do around four metro switches . However this showed the breadth of the Beijing metro as i seamlessly moved across the city and without once being over ground reached my destination in under half an hour!

A pall of fog had enveloped the famed Olympic 'Bird's nest' stadium. The iron twigs of the Bird's nest were vaguely visible in the fog and beckoned us to come closer for a clearer view. On going further the view became much clearer and also hit home the vastness of the Olympic park.

The Bird's nest affirms its name brilliantly with the numerous iron beams bending like twigs and forming a huge metallic nest. Even the uneven shape gives it a distinct view as opposed to a regular stadium. Although a great sporting success, the Olympics were also viewed as a kind of coup de grace over the Chinese economic miracle. And the Communist party left no stone unturned in ensuring that it was a resounding success. The Olympics were controversially awarded to Beijing even as the world was recovering from the horror that had unfolded at the Tiananmen square in the summer of 1989.

But China led by the party had moved forward in great gusto and built remarkable sporting infrastructure and also more importantly readied a crop of spectacular athletes who could win medals by the dozen.However as the Olympian tryst loomed on the horizon, the Tibetan protests around the world came in as a rude reminder to the party in early 2008. Tibet had long claimed independence from China claiming a distinct religion and tradition from mainland China. However it inevitably got caught in the fervor of the Communist revolution in 1949 resulting in the en masse displacement of the Tibetan monks along with the Dalai Lama to India. Bulldozers thundered into peaceful towns strewn with monasteries and in no time entire Tibet was under Communist rule. Thus the embers of human rights violations had been festering for over half a century and the Olympics gave the perfect opportunity to bring Chinese misdeeds into the world's attention. However the situation was rescued in time and the Olympics went on as planned.

And what an Olympics it was. It was kicked off by what is by far the most spectacular opening ceremonies in Olympic history. It was so good that even the Greek gods must have smiled at the audacious display. China had pooled in its resources in a way no other country had and delivered a spectacular ceremony.

'Friends have come from afar, how happy we are' chanted the enthusiastic bunch of drummers as China greeted the world. This Confucian aphorism symbolizing the famed Chinese warmth towards foreigners was quite an apt way to welcome the world. However it was just a start and performance after performance by the various enthusiastic troupes of singers and dancers and musicians had the world spellbound. The piece de resistance however was the lighting the torch by a former gymnast who seem to run across the ceiling of the stadium without any harness.It was one of my great TV spectacles i had ever witnessed as i watched it from the comfort of my drawing room and making a mental note of visiting the place if ever i had a chance. And as luck would have it i was there at that very place!

Apart from the Bird's nest there are various other stadiums around the Olympic park, however the pick of them would be the famous 'Water Cube' swimming stadium. This stadium which hosted the swimming and diving competitions is shaped as a huge water cube. The brilliant blue as well as the elastic appearing exterior gives the impression of a water container. With all the snow around it , it looked as if the water cube was on ice!

After roaming around the Olympic park for a while it was time to turn attention to another aspect of China, its affiliation with that great neighbor to the south.

Neighborly Impressions

India and China have been great neighbors over the centuries, sometimes reluctantly so but neighbors all the same. They have affected each other sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly. Like two enormous giants they have embraced each other with passion and shared each other's genius and also at other times bickered with each other to show that the world is imperfect.

The Chinese interaction with India started with the advent of Buddhism. China itself a very godless culture relied more on Confucian thoughts as a moral compass. At this time however India was being swept by a storm called Buddhism. Arising as a rebel movement due to the increasing inflexibility and dogmatization of Hinduism , Buddhism came as a new light in the tunnel with none of the affectations that plagued Hinduism. It was devoid of Casteism  hence inclusive in its appeal and its rejection of moribund rituals attracted it to the masses. It had also shed Sanskrit the famed 'Language of the Gods' and had embraced the vernacular thereby able to reach a multitude of people. Also unlike Hinduism it was a proselytizing religion which meant that more and more people were being converted from Hinduism to Buddhism everyday. The great emperor Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism was a turning point in Buddhist history as the religion of the heretics now got state sanction. It was similar to what happened to Christianity after it was adopted as the state religion by the Romans.

The Buddhist wave was not just confined to India but spread far and wide into Asia. Within a few hundred years it had spread to Sri Lanka, China , Japan, much of Indo-China and South east Asia. Buddhism was a typically Indian idea in that it did not seek to uproot the existing cultures but instead mingled with it and took shape in the contours of those cultures. This must be one of the great integrations in history and was so much successful that you could not distinguish the additive from the base in the mixture. Even to this day if you visit Buddhist temples around Asia it will be an effort to think that Buddha was indeed Indian, it is so seamlessly meshed with those various Asian cultures.

In order to explore this Indo-Chinese synchronization i visited the Yonghe Lamasery which is the second biggest Buddhist temple in China. It was built at the time of the great Mings and originally functioned as a residence of the Chinese royalty. However with the building of the Forbidden city the royal family moved there converting it into a monastery. As i entered the place it was redolent with 'Indianness'. The various Sanskrit and Pali inscriptions, the Buddhist incantations, the incense sticks and the way of worshiping of the devotees all were reminiscent of India. It was one of my proudest moments of being an India to see a quintessentially Indian concept being respected and adhered to in such a fashion. It was not as if Buddhism went to a backward culture, in fact China was one of the leading civilizations in the world and the fact that Buddhism found a place and respect there is quite instructive. It shows the universal appeal of Indian values and culture which made by chest swell with pride.

As i explored the temple further, i came across various statues of Buddhist legend which included Gods, incarnations, teachers and monks. It was interesting to know that Buddhism had a pantheon of Gods obviously inspired by Hinduism. The center-piece of the temple was the 20m statue of the Maitreya Buddha carved out of a single sandalwood piece. Also nearby was the statue of Kasyapa Matanga, who was an Indian monk who came over to China to spread Buddhism by translating numerous Buddhist texts to Chinese.

This interaction was not just one-sided. Several Chinese monks visited India which they viewed something of a pilgrimage visiting several places of Buddhist significance and also the great universities of Nalanda and Taxila which were the Harvards and Stanfords of the day. The Chinese had a strange predilections of writing history. In fact they were obsessed about documenting history, not only theirs but even of other people's and so as it came to pass monks such as Hiueng Tsang and Fa Hein wrote most of Indian history in the first millennium. 

Confucian tryst

From the place of Indian impressions it was time to go to a place quintessentially Chinese. The Confucian temple was quite nearby to the Buddhist temple and the contrast was obvious. The Buddhist temple and its street wore a vibrant look with buildings of various colors and the steady stream of incantations. The Confucian temple street was very sober and austere quite like the man himself.

Confucius was born around 600 BC at the time of Chinese history when it was plagued with constant strife and unrest. The period was aptly called the warring states period and as the name indicates was full of chaos and civil wars among the various states. This had a huge influence on Confucius whose thoughts aspired for an orderly and peaceful society , no doubt to counter all the strife around him. His teachings took the form of classical books , poetry and analects. In each of these he expounded values such as loyalty to elders, loyalty to Emperor and those in power , filial piety , peaceful interaction among people and such things. In fact this can be viewed as the beginning of humanism and considering that China started such humanist thought almost 1500 years before the Europeans simply boggles the mind.

Unfortunately Confucius seemed to be way ahead of his time as his China was not ready for it. He searched relentlessly all through his lifetime looking for a King who would patronize him and implement his ideas and bring peace to the society. Alas no such thing happened and despite a huge body of work and a handful of disciples he died thinking himself as a failure. But his ideas were preserved by his disciples for almost 400 years and when China was ultimately united his philosophy came across as the exact idea needed by the Emperor to control his people. Hence Confucianism was institutionalized and spread all over China as the primary moral compass of the people ensuring loyalty of the people to the rulers.

The Confucian ideal of Order is deeply ingrained in the Chinese people whether they acknowledge it or not. This can be traced right through Chinese history right until today in Communist times. The thrust has always been on Order even at the expense of personal freedom and aim is always to foster common views and avoiding of all possible conflicts. This was in marked contrast to India where the individual views and diversity of views were tolerated and in fact encouraged. This fascinating clash of world view was on display during the heydays of Indo-Chinese interactions when the monks from India argued so much with each other that it shocked the Chinese who looked along in disbelief.

In fact this obsession with Order in my view is the main reason for the continuance of Communist rule in China. The communists promised a war ravaged people order and delivered it even at the cost of freedom. What also play on the Chinese mind are the periods when chaos replaced order. This happened during the Taiping rebellion in the mid 19th century which started as a Neo-Christian cult and ended up in a massive civil war resulting in the killing of millions. Soon after that there was the Boxer revolt that started out as an anti-imperialist movement but again sadly ended up in chaos and civil war and millions dead. All these events have ensured that the peaceful Chinese put up with the communists even though they pawn their freedoms in the process.

The Confucian temple opened with the statue of the great man himself and even the temple built for him was unlike any temple. Instead of gaudy idols and incense it had placards which had words written on them. The Chinese in fact believed that words had divine power and this was an example. The Chinese were cultured and knowledgeable even in their superstition! It was not the prettiest of buildings as like the man himself it was very sparse and austere. What were beautiful were the rows of pavilions outside the temple which reminded me of the Forbidden city.

The temple also contained the Imperial college which was responsible for the training of the bureaucrats who would later govern the country. The students came through to the college from a unique system. This was the Imperial examination system. According to the system all the aspiring students from various parts of China had to sit for a rigorous central examination where their knowledge in Confucian classics was tested and the students who passed it were privileged to join the college and pass out to become bureaucrats. The system was started in the first century and went on right till the 20th century when it was put to an end on account of the revolution. Its remarkable to imagine that at a time when kinship and closeness to the King were the primary ways of become a bureaucrat China had a rational system to pick them. There is an adjacent courtyard where the students who had passed out from the college had engraved their names in stone. Its amazing to look at these names which are more than 500 years old. It just showed how much the Imperial examination mattered to young Chinese.

With that my visit for the day and my Chinese trip came to an end. It was satisfying to go to a country which i had always dreamed of but seldom thought it was possible to visit!

Badaling : Something of the gods

Walls are generally a bad sign. They are barriers between people and ideas as shown in places as diverse as Berlin, Cyprus and recently Israel. However sometimes these very walls can help guard people against advancing enemies and so keep the flicker of Civilization burning. The Great wall of China is one such monumental piece of human achievement that has served this purpose for Millennia. It is to this marvel that i traveled to on my next leg of my sojourn through China.

December 8, 2012, Saturday

It was a bright cold day and the clock was striking 7. The biting cold enveloped me as soon as i came out of my hotel. I was filled with excitement at the prospect of visiting a wonder. The Great wall represents China in more ways than one, it stretches for miles just like the way China's history stretches centuries, the sheer audacity of its constructions reflects the audacity displayed by China's myriad rulers, the rise and fall of the wall over mountains represents the rise and fall of China over time.

I caught the fast train from Tianjin to Beijing and the rapid pace of the train transported me to Beijing in no time. Beijing shown brightly in the sun and i proceeded to board another train to Badaling from there. The Great wall stretches for over 5000 KM and Badaling was the most visited place on the wall. It is about 50 KM from Beijing which makes it an ideal spot for foreign tourists to visit. The train to Badaling seemed to jog across the landscape as opposed to the fast pace of its fast train cousin. The slow pace however gave me an opportunity to gaze into the Chinese countryside.

Though it wasn't quite the season for greenery, the scenery was still captivating. As this was the northern part of China it was a mixture of mountains and plains with animals grazing the grass strewn grounds and people going about their quotidian lives. After almost an hour into the journey i sighted the crepuscular outlines of the Great wall for the first time. It was rising on the back of a distant mountain, at fist it appeared like a sliver but soon became quite distinct. Just thinking about the audaciousness of the idea of the wall was mind boggling. Its tough enough constructing any building but it was insanely tough to build something that covers that much distance through various landscapes. After another hour i was at the Badaling train station.

There was a hoard of tourists disembarking from the train at the Badaling station, despite the biting cold. The air was was so thick with cold that you could almost cut it with a knife. But even a cold as severe as this was no hurdle when you are aiming to visit a wonder, so the mind simply shut off the cold even as the body struggled to. A short walk from the station led me to the entrance to what seemed like a tourist base camp with shops of various hues lined up next to each other. The entrance itself was a magnificent gate in resplendent red and painted in various colors at the top.

A little distance from the entrance brought me to the base of the section of the wall. I climbed the wall through steps carved on the niches on the side and sooner than i could realise i was on the wall. The sight that greeted me was simply outstanding. Wherever i looked - either front or back or on the sides - the wall seemed to be omnipresent snaking through the mountainous terrain. The grey of the wall blended brilliantly with the sober color of the mountain and the whole scenery appeared very picturesque.

 The premise of the wall however was to be found in history and geography. The northern part of China bordered Mongolia. Whereas a supreme culture flourished in China, Mongolia was ruled by warlords with ferocious attacking abilities. Even though China's culture rivalled the best in the world they were no match for the Mongols on the battlefield, it was like an old cultured man facing an uncouth youth. So the Mongol threat was a real and present danger right through Chinese history and generations of Chinese grappled for a solution to this Mongol menace.

At this time China was being united by a maverick called Shih Huang Di who united all the warring provinces of China and gave rise to the Qin dynasty - due to which China got its name -  in the process giving himself the exalted title of 'First Emperor'. Once the internal issues were settled the first emperor turned his focus to securing China's northern border. He hit upon the idea of building a wall spanning from the sea on the east to the Gobi desert in the west, this wall he envisioned would stop the marauding mongol armies and protect Civilization.

Although the First emperor's intentions were noble and grand they were realised on the backs of the poor labor force of peasants. The peasants were forced most of the times against their will and made to break their backs building the wall. There is also an urban myth that some of the peasants who died in the process were buried inside the wall and that their revenants still haunt the area. Well, there is always the dark side to every monument i thought, be it the great pyramids or the great wall or even the Taj Mahal, these objects of grandeur and beauty always come at the cost of the proverbial have-nots. Their names and nationalities might change but the exploitation of the haves of the have-nots is the same everywhere. At least in our modern world the laboring have-nots seem to have got a better deal and such horrendous tasks appear not to be thrust on them anymore and we can be thankful for that.

As i was in this reverie, the wall with all its beauty was snaking in front of me. Even though the Great wall was started by the First emperor the wall was made 'Great' by the Ming emperors. Even the section of the wall that i was on which is the most well preserved section of the wall was a Ming accomplishment. Since the Ming period came around the middle of the second millennium the total time needed to build the wall comes to a staggering 1500 years which is more time than one could ever imagine. Even so it shows the determination that the Chinese had to resist the Mongol invasion.

The wall was dotted at regular intervals by watch towers and it is said that during times when messages needed to be transmitted fast, smoke signals bellowing from one watchtower being picked up by the next watchtowers was the quickest way to go. It sounds quite tedious for us now but at that time it was indeed a highly practical way of getting messages across.

The irony of the Great wall is that even as it took well over 1500 years to construct it really did not serve its purpose. As a little after its completion the enemies found a chink in not the wall but human nature as they merrily bribed the soldiers guarding the wall and sneaked into China. Soon the whole of China was raided and occupied by the Manchu armies of the north resulting in the Manchu or Qing dynasty which ruled China until the revolution in 1911. The failure of the wall to protect China gave rise to a contempt of the wall, it was forgotten for all practical purposes until it was rediscovered by curious westerners. This was later picked up by the Communists as part of their agenda of reviving Chinese pride and hence the Wall was rescued back to the present times.

Whatever be the effectiveness or otherwise of the Great wall it remains a prime example of what humankind can achieve when it thinks and performs to its potential. The realization that primates who looked and sounded like me were able to build something so monumental gave me a great sense of satisfaction and pride. A shared sense of humanity enveloped me as i left with a great thought from Nehru who said...

 'Whatever gods there be, there is something godlike in man, as there is also something of the devil in him'.

Yes, there is certainly something godlike in man and when he applies his mind he can rival the gods and produce things like these that resemble something of the gods.

Beijing : On Forbidden ground

Exclusion it seems to me to be the regnant theme throughout most of history. It is the one constant thread that ran through most cultures. However the wheels of history have turned since the advent of the modern period after which the ideas of freedom,equality and inclusion are fortunately replacing this as the prevalent impulse of history. But for most of history exclusion was enforced, if it was the caste system that bred exclusivity in India then it was the feudal order  of master and  serf that plagued  Europe, color and race  too became part of the mixture later on. This notion of exclusivity had its equivalence in China too and nothing exemplified it more than the Forbidden City - the famed residence of the Royal family whose precincts were the exclusive privilege of the King alone. It is to this place that i ventured into as part of my trip through China.

December 1, 2012, Saturday

It was a cold morning in Tianjin that signaled the arrival of the last month of the year. I had readied myself to visit Beijing shielding the cold weather with brash enthusiasm. I proceeded to take the new high-speed train between Tianjin and Beijing which enables the distance of 120 Km to be traversed in under 30 minutes. The fast train was built as part of the Olympics of 2008 and has been an instant hit as it connects Tianjin to the capital city so efficiently that you feel the two cities have merged. The train was very comfortable and very modern and had a speedometer at the head to boot which duly showed the speed. 150 Kph became 200 and then 250 and then reached a peak of 292 which was really exhilarating. Within no time Beijing had arrived.

Beijing showed all the signs of a big city with massive crowds everywhere. In a way the crowds reminded me of the ones back home. The infrastructure of the city which got a boost due to the 2008 Olympic games was simply outstanding. At least the inner city is almost on the level of some of the best cities in Europe in terms of infrastructure, efficiency and cleanliness. The railway station merged seamlessly into the metro station and soon i was inside one of the metro trains precariously wedged between the denizens of the city. After what seemed like eternity i was out of the metro or rather shot out of it and soon i was out above on the ground walking the promenade en route to the Forbidden city.

The first building that came on view was the Chinese communist party office. It was a dour, gray building symbolizing raw power. Apart from the bright red Chinese flag there was not much of color on the edifice. I continued for a bit longer on the promenade and soon the ramparts of the Forbidden city were visible, painted in bright Chinese red. A little further down and the Tianmanen gate - the magnificent entrance to the forbidden city - became visible in all its glory. Opposite to the gate was the equally famous Tiananmen square which with its vast expanse is the largest public square in the world. The square itself is surrounded by lot of buildings of the Chinese state including a mausoleum of Mao Zedong where the Chairman's preserved body gets a steady stream of visitors everyday. In the middle of the square is the Monument to the people's liberty celebrating the victory of the Communist party over the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) in 1949 which lead to the formation of the People's republic.

Magnificent as the square was it dimmed in the presence of the Tiananmen Gate. The Gate was the first of the numerous gates that comprised the palace complex of the Forbidden city. It was in bright red color and the magnificent wooden roof blazed with bright shades of red, green and blue. There was a slew of Red flags dotting its exterior , however surprisingly these were not the Chinese national flags but the red flag of the communist revolutionary left. The most noticeable feature of the gate was the huge portrait of Chairman Mao which hung in the middle over the grand central entrance. The Chairman seemed to fix his gaze on me as i enthusiastically galloped around the gate. The Tiananmen gate symbolizes power. In ancient times it represented the supremacy of the King, for a brief while after the overthrow of the monarchy a portrait of the KMT general Chiang Kai Shek was hung in the same place symbolizing the nationalists' seizure of power and eventually when the communists won power in 1949 and chased the KMT to Taiwan it was duly replaced by Mao's own portrait. So the exterior of the Tiananmen gate is almost a physical canvas on which the history of China gets written on.

After enjoying the exterior it was time to make a move inside. I proceeded to the entrance and as i did i was filled with a sense of awe about the place i was entering. If i were to be at the same place a 100 years earlier i would have been barred from entering and must have settled with just a fleeting glimpse. For centuries the precincts had been the sole preserve of the King and his assorted coterie of wives, concubines and eunuch ministers with the rest of the people actively forbidden from entering it which helped coin the moniker 'Forbidden city'. With these thoughts in mind i passed through the gates and i was finally on Forbidden ground!

One of my earliest memories of the Forbidden city was watching the famous movie 'The Last Emperor' based on the last days of Imperial China on a grainy black and white TV set. The movie came around midnight as English movies used to in those pre-liberalization days and i had stayed awake to watch it,i did not understand much though and slept mid-way through and was really angry with myself the next day for dosing off. So it was unreal to be at the same place and roam the same courtyard the young Emperor Pu Yi roamed in the movie. What must the little boy have felt i thought to have ascended the throne so young and to have caught up in the churning of history and losing his crown and driven away from the palace by the KMT nationalists and eventually dying as a lowly laborer  It must be one of the great tragic stories of the 20th century but history is sometimes like a force of nature and puny human beings are powerless to stop it.

I was always aware of the 'Forbidden' part but seldom thought of the 'City' part of the name. Once inside i realized why it was called a 'City'. The inside was really huge and gives one the feeling of being a city all by itself. There were bewitching ramparts and rooftops and courtyards wherever the eyes set their sight. There is no other country in the world which is connected to a color as much as China is to the color red, the color symbolizes good luck in Chinese culture and it was all pervasive within the forbidden city. Legend says that there are 9999 rooms within the palace complex and the figure seemed fantastic to me before i had been there but now i felt it could well be true , such was the expanse of the complex. Some of the rooms had yellow roofs which indicated the rooms used by royalty and the others had green or blue roofs denoting the rest of the people.

As indicated by the name, the number of denizens of the Forbidden city was quite limited. It was a very exclusive list. The King and his various wives and concubines and the eunuchs who ran the court were the only people inside the forbidden city. The eunuchs were a curious lot who owing to their impotence were

deemed to be 'harmless' and hence gained lot of power within the court , so much so that it became a quite sought after position. From here the Emperor of the middle kingdom as he was used to being called ruled over a large swathe of land with a huge multitude of peoples making him probably the most powerful man on earth. This feeling of being powerful also lead to hubris especially towards the end of imperial China, this is illustrated by a great story where an envoy who brought a request for trade from the English King was chastised by the Chinese emperor who asked the English king to '...tremblingly obey and show no negligence...' which must rate as one of the most arrogant utterances in history. Well such hubris met its nemesis soon enough as in a little over 50 years China lost the opium wars to England and had to sign away Hong kong along with other humiliating concessions.Its a lesson from history that irrespective of whether its a person or a country its best not to be arrogant and always stay humble.

As i moved from room after room, the splendor of the palace was increasing. In one of the rooms the royal throne was kept upon which Emperor sat while his court as well as foreign visitors kowtowed to him. Although China had lot of dynasties the Forbidden city is the work of mainly the Ming and the Qing dynasties with the Ming period like its name being the brightest period of China's history. Ming China produced some of the most sophisticated pieces of art in the form of paintings, porcelain and poetry. There was a room inside which exhibited some of them and it was simply spell-binding. What needs to be stressed is at the same period Europe was undergoing its Renaissance and yet Chinese art equaled and sometimes beat it. The Qings who replaced the Mings though originally not Chinese and who came from Manchuria quickly assimilated with the Chinese and became complete Chinamen and gave rise to the pigtails which was their way of marking out the Chinese as 'occupants' , how ironic is it then that the pigtails which was a mark of servitude came to represent Chinamen around the world. This way of assimilating peoples and cultures is something that China shares with India as even India has this capacity to absorb. I guess the fact that both India and China show little insecurity regarding their glorious cultures gives them the confidence to absorb external elements without any hindrance.

Finally after a long procession through the palace complex i entered the royal gardens. Though it was not verdant enough due to the winter it was still pleasant to walk through the gardens. What caught my eye was the beautiful pavilion in the middle with its circular base and multi-layered roof. One of the features of Chinese and indeed far eastern architectures is the extensive use of wood. Wood being as soft and malleable as it is lends a creative flourish that stone and metal can rarely provide resulting in such marvelous structures.

After exiting the royal gardens it was time to exit the forbidden city. It had been quite an experience for me to actually visit the place which i had only imagined in my mind and its memories will stay for a long time to come.

The Road to Cathay

In the Middle ages when Europe was in the doldrums and America was yet to be discovered two great cultures dominated the world space: India and China. They were the super powers of their age. It was the mission of every traveller and tradesman to set his sails to these two lands and harvest the dividends of opportunities they offered. 'The Road to Cathay' as Marco Polo famously used to call his journey to China was a turn of phrase that was prevalent everywhere as the great land beckoned people around the world.

In a way the narrow label of 'Country' does not befit places like India and China. It seems too inexpensive a box to place somethings so precious. I have always identified these two great places more as 'Lands'. The word Land encompasses something of a larger area in the mind space containing the exotic, the enchanting  and the enigmatic. It is to this great Land of China or Cathay as the medieval Europeans called it to which i set my sails.

Imagine a culture that gifts the world among other things Tea, Silk, Paper, Gunpowder, Compass, Printing and Porcelain. Even inventing anyone of the above would have been enough of an achievement but inventing all of them and some more really boggles the mind. Apart from these the peaks to which artistic and aesthetic beauty were taken to in the various fine art forms also confounds one. Also unique among the ancient cultures it was the only one that summarily dismissed the idea of divinity and emphasised on rationality rather than superstition, any culture that can do that so early in history had to be special. Add to this a turbulent and interesting recent history and its comeback into mainstream world affairs it does make for a very interesting place to observe and commentate on.

My earliest memories of China were from the late 80s as i remember Rajiv Gandhi - the then Indian Prime Minister - along with his dainty Wife Sonia strolling through the vast expanses of the Forbidden City. This was a historic visit as it was the first time in more than a quarter century an Indian PM met his counterpart. It was indeed the beginning of the thawing of the relations between the two great neighbors. The 25 years interregnum was enforced due to the frosting of relations due to the Sino-Indian war of 1962 during the time of Rajiv Gandhi's grand father Nehru. These 25 years were an unusual impasse as it went against the grain of history wherein for millennia the two great Asian giants had been culturally bonded together , first by Buddhism and later on by a fraternal anti-imperialist mindset.However Rajiv Gandhi was determined to reverse this back flow of history and set its flow in the right direction. However the thawing has ebbed and flowed over the years and even as we come to our times the two giants if not dancing together are at least holding their hands in peace.

There were other brushes with China later on especially when reading Marco Polo's accounts of it. During the same time i remember a great documentary on Discovery Channel i think about China and its traditions that completely changed my view of it and awakened me to its glorious civilization. A little later i remember viewing the Oscar winning 'Crouching tiger hidden tiger' movie which again increased my fascination with Chinese culture, so much so that i went onto read a whole lot about Chinese culture and history.

The travel to China came as bit of a surprise and at the end of a roller coaster 'am-i-going-am -i-not' few months. At one point the trip looked certain to be cancelled so finally when i came to know that the trip was back on, i was happier than ever. Once the trip was confirmed the mind leapt back to the memories of the place in your mind space and dug up all the hidden remnants. Finally when the day of departure came it was a feeling of deja-vu as this was my fourth foreign trip and brought back memories of the previous ones.

This time however i was flying East. The first flight was till Chengdu which is in the center of China. As the flight got underway my thoughts went back to Ancient times when intrepid Buddhist monks from both India and China travelled several harsh months and miles braving the weather, the mountainous terrains and brigands to reach their destinations. How strange is it that nowadays lesser mortals like me get to cover the same journey comfortably in a matter of hours!

Finally it was time to get down at Chengdu in the overcast cold morning. When thinking of Chinese cities i usually thought them to be coastal cities either on the north or south of the country's eastern coast. So i was surprised to find that Chengdu was quite a big city even though it was miles away from the eastern coast. The airport seemed to match the size of the city with the number of departure ports running into 180. Used to as i was with port numbers in their double digits this number was astounding. What made it even more painful was the fact that our port was 160. As i walked through the airport i began to realise how big it was.

The exoticness of the place was unmistakable. The people looked different, and spoke a radically different tongue, the signage and shop hoardings were in a different script. That is something i dread as well as i look forward to on visiting a foreign country which is far removed from India. Its as if the grammar and rules of life that i am used to in India do not hold in such places and i needed to learn newer rules of life as it were. China was certainly one such place, it seemed more exotic than Europe where at least there was a semblance of familiarity. One thing striking at first was the fact that there were hardly any people on view which seemed a bit ironic since this was the most populous country in the world. But the people started to come later on and it became a quite noisy place so that it resembled India in a way.

Next i boarded by flight to my final destination, Tianjin. The journey was quite uneventful except for the bland airline food which made me miss the food back home. On arrival at Tianjin, it seemed to be a much bigger city than i thought. There was a number of construction sites dotted around the city proving the economic boom in China. I was surprised at how much similar to India the place looked. The people looked genuinely cheerful and wanted to help us but the language barrier prevented any real interaction from happening which was a real shame. The sense of urgency and the feeling of things moving around was also there similar to India.

The journey had just started and promised a lot more in the days ahead. More adventures abound in the next few days and i was eagerly looking forward to them.

The Hague : City of Justice

The idea of Justice is a concept that humankind has grappled with since time immemorial. Justice defines societies, sets the ground rules for those in the society, moderates human behavior. In a society filled with inequalities it holds forth a beacon of equality for all. Among the throngs of cities in this world only one can claim to be the City of Justice and that is the Dutch city of The Hague. It is to this city i go to next on my Eurotrip.

July 3, 2011, Sunday

The second world war was an earth shattering event when the 'dogs of war' were let loose on the world. Among other things it made the world realize the extent of injustice present in the world and how not punishing them can lead to catastrophic wars. This lead to the setting up of the International court of Justice, a judicial arm of the UN that would arbitrate disputes among states, punish the perpetrators of injustice and in essence see to it that justice is served in the world. This court was setup in the Dutch city of , The Hague.

The Hague is located about an hour from Amsterdam and is also the political capital of Netherlands. It is also the royal city of Netherlands and houses the Dutch royalty. I was up in the morning and took the train from Amsterdam and after an hour's journey through the Dutch countryside i was at The Hague. On first look the city did not look as big or as beautiful as Amsterdam instead it looked like a smaller city with a curious mixture of the old and new. From the railway station i took a tram and made my way to one of the most 'touristic' attractions of the city - the Madurodam.

The Madurodam is a garden housing the miniature versions of many of the famous sights and attractions of the Netherlands. Its a big draw with visitors especially families who bring their children to this park. As i enter the garden i behold an incredible sight. The vast expanse of the garden is filled with scores of miniature buildings and artifacts even as people wander through them appearing like giants. Once i get amidst the miniatures i realize how precise they indeed are as every detail of the buildings they attempt to replicate are executed with perfection. It was a joy to see some of the buildings i had seen the day before in Amsterdam being reproduced there in excruciating details. Even the Schipol airport that i had got down from yesterday along with its legion of airplanes was 'miniatured'! The bright sunshine also added to the setting as i roamed inside for a good couple of hours.

After the fun filled loitering through the miniature garden it was time to get serious and head into the center of the old city. It was interesting to observe the architecture of the city. It was a mix of old world buildings as well as modern skyscrapers. As big as Amsterdam was it was dominated by old style buildings and the modern buildings here were something different. The road finally ended in the biggest square of the city called the Plein.

The Plein like all European squares was really beautiful. It was open to a street on one side while the other side was filled with Cafes and opposite to it was a classical old building housing the Department of Justice of the Dutch government. In the middle however stood a magnificent statue of William of Orange. In many ways William of Orange could be seen as the founder of the modern Dutch nation. He was originally from the Principality of Orange in the south of France and served under the Spanish Hapsburgs during the time of Dutch domination by the Spain. However he soon began to resent this Spanish domination and started the revolt that eventually resulted in the Dutch independence from Spain and the constituting of the Dutch republic. Hence he is rightly termed as the Father of the Dutch nation.

However William of Orange also had one more rather queer contribution. William belonged to the family of Orange whose royal flag carried the bright orange color. Over the years this color came to represent the Dutch nation and was widely used to exhibit Dutch pride. This color in fact can now be seen around the sporting world wherever Dutch teams compete as they are all dressed in Orange. I always used to wonder why the Dutch footballers wore bright orange jerseys even though their flag just had red, blue and while colors. Now i know the answer!

A short distance from the Plein is one of most charming art museums in Europe - the Mauritshus museum. The museum is housed inside an exquisite 17th century palace built by count Johan Maurits. The museum is in fact named after the count who was a great lover of the arts and accumulated most of the collection inside. The building itself is built in a Dutch Classicist style and is simply amazing to gaze at. The view got even better as i entered the museum. The interiors of the museum was beautifully crafted with spectacular doorways , staircases and archways.

As with the Rijsmuseum in Amsterdam this museum holds some of the greatest works of Dutch art in the world. Some of the best works of Rembrandt and Vermeer can be found here along with works of other great Dutch masters. The rooms were an absolute joy to behold as each of them was filled with great works of Dutch art. In each of these artworks the Dutch essence came through in terms of themes, attention to detail and then the exquisite finesse of execution. Particularly impressive was the room that housed Rembrandt's works including his self portraits. Looking at those paintings one could sense what a great artist Rembrandt was and why he is famous even after 300 years!

However the museum is best known for two paintings belonging to Vermeer. These two paintings are widely regarded as the best painted by Vermeer and indeed arguably the best works of Dutch art in the world. As i enter the Vermeer room i am filled with excitement. A kind of excitement one feels just before beholding something unearthly. And the paintings did not disappoint. One painting was a landscape by Vermeer and was titled 'View of the Delft' depicting the view of the town of Delft over the horizon of its river. Delft was Vermeer's home town and his knowledge of the town was evident in his detailed depiction of it. Standing in front of it i could almost feel that i was on a hillock overlooking the town of Delft along with the artist who was showing his town to me.

Right opposite to this painting is what is widely considered as Vermeer's greatest work 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'. As the title suggests its a portrait of a young girl wearing a pair of pearl earrings looking over her shoulders turning ever so slightly almost as if she has turned because of you. She looks almost annoyed as if you have intruded her as she is going through her daily chores. It was an amazing painting as i feel almost absorbed within the painting. Here i am far away from India all alone in this room in the middle of these two great paintings steeped in 17th century Netherlands. Simply surreal!

After visiting the other collections of the museum it was time to leave. As i came out i was filled with a glow that can come only from witnessing something spectacular. That is the power of art. It lifts your spirits and takes you to an altogether surreal level where the world outside with all its imperfections seems at least for a few moments a little bit more perfect!

As i said earlier although Amsterdam is the capital of Netherlands, The Hague is the seat of power. Right next to the Mauritshus museum is the Dutch parliament complex called the Binnenhof . I entered the Binnenhof through the spectacular Maurice gate which with its colorful and intricate design was quite magnificent to look at. One inside the complex is filled with a slew of beautiful buildings that house the various government offices including the parliament. One of the most prominent buildings inside is the Knight's hall which is an elegant Gothic building standing in the middle of the courtyard. In the early days of the monarchy the hall served as a public meeting room and at the time was one of the biggest halls in Europe.

Also present inside the complex is a beautiful chapel built in the post-reformation style. However religion has long ceased to be a force in the Netherlands and chapel is but just a tourist attraction nowadays. This lack of respect for religion can be traced back to the fundamentals of Protestantism. As a concept Protestantism encouraged the questioning of everything including blind faith and superstition. However once you start questioning everything you eventually start questioning the concept of religion and god itself. Hence in this vein people started to question God's existence and finding a deep rift between what is portrayed in the religion and the contradicting realities of the outside world people slowly lost confidence with the concept of God. Hence now after half a millennium after the reformation, religion and god have finally fell out of favor not just in the Netherlands but in the entire protestant belt of Northern Europe. In an interesting way its a complement to the ideals of Protestantism, the ideals that started out to reform Christianity eventually led to the demise of the religion itself.

Also present inside the complex was a beautiful fountain which looked stunning in the sunlight. Right adjacent to the complex is a beautiful pond called the Hofvijver. The view of the parliament from the pond was a sight to behold.

A short distance from the Binnenhof is the Noordeinde Palace which is the official residence of the Dutch Queen. A little further from the palace is the Peace Palace which houses the International court of Justice. This is one of the most important arms of the UN where war criminals are tried and punished. Of late some of the leaders who perpetuated the infamous 'ethnic cleansing' in former Yugoslavia in the early 90s have been tried and are still being tried. Its a great tribute to the peace keeping mission of the UN. However a lot needs to be done to bring the many war criminal politicians around the world who still roam freely in their respective countries. I could easily think of a few in India like Modi who could be tried in this court for his role in the Gujarat riots or George W Bush for that matter for his war crimes in Iraq. However they are not only free but the former is still in power. I guess the wheels of Justice do move rather slowly. Anyway only time will tell if Justice can be served in this world and this International court of justice is a great step in that direction.

As the day came to an end my visit to the city of Hague came to an end and so too my visit to the Netherlands. It was one of my dreams to come to the Netherlands and experience its history and culture and i was fortunate that i was able to fulfill it with these amazing few days in the Lowlands!

Amsterdam : City of the Lowlands

There are some countries that tend to achieve more than what they are entitled to by dint of sheer grit and genius. The Netherlands is one such country. Lying on the northwestern lowlands of Europe the Dutch overcame their geographic hindrance and went onto establish one of the earliest modern republics, build an empire, define a new motif of Renaissance art, and most recently consistently produce world-beating Football and Hockey teams. It is to this great European country i bustle into on my Eurotrip and first up is its Capital Amsterdam!

July 2, 2011, Saturday

The Plane makes a nervous and bumpy landing on the runway at the Schipol airport. Just as well, as it wakes up my fellow travelers who have got into a slumber on this early morning flight. The landing notwithstanding it seemed to be a particularly nice morning in the Dutch capital however the fickleness of the Dutch weather keeps my happiness in check as i eventually find out later on.

The Schipol airport is one of the biggest airports in the world and as i walk towards the exit its size is quite telling on the feet. After what seemed like an eternity im finally out of the airport and onto a bus bound to a suburb of the Capital called Amstelveen. The climate seems to be a touch cold and for the first time the Gothenburg i left behind seems quite warm. However the scenes outside resemble that of back home in Sweden. Orderly roads, neatly trimmed greenery, laid back wondering people and generally an air of calmness giving one a feeling that everything's alright with the world. After a short bus ride i arrive in Amstelveen and the suburb seems to be still waking up from the previous night's revelry quite oblivious to my arrival. After a quick fresh-up it was time to jump into the great city.

I hop onto a tram bound to the city center and am filled to the brim with expectations. My earliest memories of the Netherlands was not surprisingly related to the arena of sports - Football specifically. Back in the early 90s i was still a wide-eyed boy in one of the most prestigious schools in Bangalore. I had just come from one of the smaller primary schools and most things looked alien to me - the books, the big movie screens showing cartoons, the funny language and a strange game played with the feet. Football was the obsession in the school and my first attempt at it was quite disastrous for my team as i innocently caught the ball in my hand displaying great agility only to result in a penalty kick for the opposing team! The bad start notwithstanding i grew a fascination for this game and one of the first superstars i came to know was in fact Dutch. This was the entertaining Dutch Footballer Ruud Gullet and at that time he was part of the all conquering AC Milan side. I was as much impressed by his football as by his long mane and dashing red and black AC Milan jersey. I remember collecting his sport cards and reading that he is from 'Netherlands' wondering where it was. Lo and behold twenty years later i'm in Gullet's country!

The tram had moved on without being bothered by my little flashback and was entering the city. For a city mostly on water and joined by canals the roads looked quite wide. One road was infact named after the great classical maestro Beethovan, not sure what connection he had with the city but it was another example of genius transcending space and time. Here was a German musician being honored in a Dutch city which goes to show the broad mindedness of the Dutch too and Europeans in general. In fact Nationalism is a tricky subject for the Dutch. Since the time they suffered at the hands of the highly nationalistic Germans the Dutch have always been wary of the threats of nationalism and hence have kept it at a safe distance in the national discourse and the attitude has been that of Internationalism rather than Nationalism. And this road named after Beethovan is a great example of this Dutch progressive Internationalism.

As i entered the city the first place set for the visit was the famous Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum is one of the great museums of the world and has the best collection of Dutch art in the world. It is located in the MuseumPlien area of the city which consists of a beautiful garden in the middle with the Rijksmuseum at one end and the National opera on the other. The remaining sides are filled with other famous museums including the Van Gogh museum.

The Rijskmuseum is housed in a magnificent neo-gothic building which is as beautiful as it is huge. Unfortunately the museum has been in renovation for sometime now which is slated to end in 2013. Fortunately however all the major art works are assembled in a small part of the museum building called the Phillip's wing. Entering the Philip's wing is like jumping into an ocean of Dutch art.

Although much of Dutch art was Renaissance in style it was completely different from the Renaissance style of the Italians. While Italian Renaissance art dealt with more religious subjects with some interplay with characters and motifs from Classical Greece, the Dutch departed markedly. The Dutch Renaissance art on the other hand was more secular and dealt with such subjects as portraits, still life and paintings of everyday village life. This difference can be traced to the religious backgrounds of these two countries. While Italy steeped in Roman Catholicism got its inspiration from the Bible the fiercely Protestant Dutch got their inspiration from the secular everyday world around them. Hence over the years Dutch art developed its own niche and became a different branch of Renaissance art altogether.

As i walk through room after room of the Museum the collections bewilder me. The paintings are from the legendary 'Golden age' of Dutch art which was in the 16th century. The 16th Century was really the Netherland's greatest century. At the start of the century they were ruled by Spain which was in turn was controlled by the Hapsburgs. However the Dutch waged a valiant freedom struggle and managed to overthrow them and establish a republic. What is amazing is that this was still a full hundred years before the French revolution and was one of the first republics in the modern world. During the century the Dutch not only freed themselves but went onto colonize the world. They even came to India but were thwarted by the British and French. However they moved further east and colonized the Indonesian archipelago. Its the ultimate irony isn't it, the Dutch did not have qualms about snatching the freedom of another people right after they got theirs!

Since the Dutch had just attained their freedom from Spanish rule they were filled with creative energy like any new republic. Also the colonization had resulted in a mercantile boom which had made the Netherlands the most prosperous country in Europe and had resulted in the creation of a wealthy merchant class who were willing patrons to the many artists. For the first time in feudal Europe there was a class which was not from the aristocracy or the clergy and was still rich enough to fund art. This fact was evident in the kind of art that was commissioned. Instead of the religious art these merchants preferred art forms taking the shape of portraits, still art and depictions of everyday life. In a way Dutch art was trying to elevate everyday life into the realm of the larger-than-life and almost the divine. In Italy exactly the opposite was happening where the path breaking artists there were trying to give a sense of reality to the paintings of Gods and saints.

During the 'Golden age' the Dutch were lucky to have a group of artists whose mastery has been barely touched let alone surpassed. Artists such as Rembrandt, Frans Hal, Vermeer and many others introduced a new dimension to European art. As i browsed through their paintings i was mesmerized by the attention to detail that these masters displayed. I was particularly impressed by the paintings of Vermeer. He left behind a very small collection of paintings but each of them is a gem. His most famous painting in the museum is titled the 'Milkmaid' and depicts a young woman pouring a jug of milk into a bowl. Such a mundane act is elevated to the point of divine by the artist as you can almost see the milk being poured and filling up the bowl. The painting also shows his mastery over light as the painting also shows a window from where light enters and illuminates the setting. The way in which this light is distributed over the painting is a work of genius, you can almost be excused for thinking of it as a photo taken from a camera! This is what Dutch art was all about, it was a celebration of the everyday life and even i started to think the significance of the mundane in our lives. Maybe that's a lesson for us from these great artists to not neglect the everyday life but to enjoy it as even it is special.

It was mid-afternoon by the time i came out of the museum and the weather had turned a bit cloudy and threatening even. From the Museum i made my way into the heart of the old city. Along the way i passed the famous Vondel park which is the most famous green space in the city. After a short walk i came to the central square of the city called the 'Dam Square'. It was a beatiful square filled to the brim with people. It consisted of the Royal palace on the one side and the Nieuve Kerke or the New Church on its side. Opposite to the church was the famous wax museum of Madam Tussauds and opposite to the Royal palace was the National monument which was erected in memory of the sacrifices of the Dutch people during the second world war.

The Netherlands as everyone knows is one of the most liberal countries in the world. However they take this progressiveness to its extreme, in a way they are the mirror image of a highly conservative country like Saudi Arabia but on the other side of the spectrum. Its an extremely liberal society where such things as Sale of 'soft' drugs such as Marijuana is legal and are infact sold in the euphemistically named 'Coffee shops'. Also there is the infamous red-light district where prostitution is legal. The Dutch argument however is that these are societal evils that happen despite the strictest laws, hence by legalizing them they can regulate them and earn extra revenue instead of criminalizing them which they say does not wipe away the evils anyway. The counter argument would be that legalizing these activities might induce innocents to fall prey to them who would not have indulged in them if they were deemed illegal. The jury is still out on these highly liberal Dutch moves even as other countries including the US mull over following suit. However the Dutch are comfortable with it and only time will tell.

From the Dam square i took the central street of the city called the Damrak which ended at the Central railway station. Here i decided to take a cruise through the magnificent canals of the city.

Amsterdam is made special because of the water that covers it. In fact the city derives its name from the river Amstel that envelopes it and cuts through the city in the form of various canals. Most of the canals are man made and were constructed to join the city to the North sea thereby building Amsterdam as a major trading city. The canal system is brilliantly constructed and is made up of three principle canals - the Herengracht or the gentlemen's canal, the Keizersgracht or the Emperor's canal and the Prinsengracht or the Prince's canal. Each of these canals is unique and offers a different facet of the city. Here too one can sense the Dutch bias for progressiveness as one out of the three canals - the Herengracht - is named after the regents of the republic who ruled the city! The Canals provide a great view of the city with the water giving a splendid backdrop to the city's various buildings. No wonder they call Amsterdam the Venice of North i thought. As i had been to Venice before i could see why it was called so. It had a striking resemblance to the Italian city although Amsterdam was much bigger in size comparatively.

Water though has had a great role to play not only in Amsterdam but also in Dutch history. The name Netherlands infact means the 'Lowlands' and it was named so for the reason that almost half of the country is below sea level. This fact is almost unbelievable as in many coastal areas of the country one has to go up a staircase to go to the sea! The Dutch have been able to resist the sea by building dykes and also through the windmills that pump out the water from the mainland back into the sea. No wonder the windmills are such a symbol of the Netherlands!

The cruise also passed the famous bicycle parking lot of the city which is near the railway station. To my amazement the parking lot was huge. In fact it was three-tired and each tire was packed with cycles and the entire lot must have consisted of atleast a thousand cycles. How anyone can find his cycle in this parking jungle confounded me. The bicycle is probably the most ubiquitous object in the Netherlands, apparently there are more bicycles in the country than people. In fact i think it could be argued that the bicycle could be a better symbol of the Netherlands than the windmills. In a way it represents the Dutch progressive value of equality better than anything. The bicycle rider - be it a King or pauper - is on his own. Its man and machine together fighting against the force of gravity. Gravity neither cares nor gives concession to the rider whatever his status maybe. What could be more egalitarian than the bicycle i mused.

After getting down from the cruise i made my way to probably the most famous attraction in Amsterdam, the one i had read about when i was in school and had always dreamed of visiting.

The Anne Frank House stands on the banks of the Prinsengracht canal and is a city icon on its own. This was the house where the famous and unfortunate Anne Frank lived in hiding along with her family during the second world war. I had read the famous 'Anne Frank diary' when i was in school and always imagined what it was like to live in such an unreal and dangerous atmosphere. Luckily here i was right at the house where the diary was written by Anne. It was a surreal feeling for me , one that gave me goosebumps all over again!

Legend has it that the nickname for the city of Amsterdam is Mokum which is a Hebrew word for 'safe haven'. The name came into being during the second world war when Amsterdam became a haven for the persecuted Jewish population of Europe. Anne Frank and her family too hid themselves in Amsterdam after escaping from the clutches of the Nazis from Germany. The Franks as with most Jewish families ran a prosperous business until the ghost of Holocaust started to haunt them. Once they fled to Amsterdam they felt as if they had escaped the torment. However within months Hitler declared the second world war and subsequently occupied the Netherlands and with it the Franks safe haven came under threat. In order to escape the Nazi persecution the Franks decided to build a hideout in the attic of their house and thus hid from the infamous Nazi Gestapo. However their story had a tragic ending as the Gestapo were eventually tipped off by an anonymous caller and thus the Franks were captured and sent to various concentration camps. Anne Frank herself was sent to the camp at Bergen-Belsen where she died of Typhus. However her father Otto Frank survived and when he came back to his former home in Amsterdam found the diary that Anne had written during the time of hiding. Upon publishing the diary as a book it became an overnight sensation as it voiced the tragedy that was the Holocaust. Millions of people around the world learnt about this human tragedy coming from the pen of a teenage girl.

As i was still thinking about the tragic life of Anne the long line had snaked into the premises of the house. Since it was a regular house the number of people entering was restricted and so i had to wait for a while for my turn. There were several booklets there informing one of the life of Anne but interestingly there was a booklet in Hebrew which was quite apt i thought. As i entered the house it was one of the most moving experiences i had ever had. The house was described at each step by using words from Anne's own diary and this made the effect so much more deeper. I could almost feel as if Anne was talking to me and walking me through her house describing in painful detail the ordeal she had to go through.

The lower rooms of the house was where the Frank business was and they are preserved the way they were during the Franks' time. The story of the family right from its origins in Germany to their flight to Amsterdam to their hiding to their tragic end was described very touchingly. I was also informed how during their hiding some of their Dutch friends and colleagues had helped them out. This was really interesting because it showed the dual character of humanity where it is as capable of doing evil as it is of showing love and mercy.

As i moved to the higher rooms the staircase became smaller and smaller and finally when i reached the attic it was narrow enough just for a single person to pass through. The Attic was where the Franks hid by constructing a hide out behind the psedo walls. The hide out is hidden behind a large bookshelf which was a red herring that opened into the hide out. The hideout consisted of a couple of rooms, one for Mr and Mrs Frank and the other for Anne and her sister. The windows were sealed off from the outside world with black curtains and it was strictly forbidden to open the curtains during the day time. The facilities were very basic as can be imagined and one could almost feel for the Franks' plight. Amazingly the house also showcased some of the pages of Anne's diary. They were written in beautiful cursive handwriting in German and described the feelings of young Anne in captivity. One got a feeling that Anne was a young girl after all and yearned for the life of a young girl of going out into the outside world, to ride a bicycle, to hear the birds sing. Alas the world is a less than perfect place and such was the tragedy of Anne's life that you almost felt a sense of pain inside you. If anything Anne's diary shows us the power of the written word, the way it can outlive its creator and influence people across different countries and languages even beyond the imagination of the creator himself.

As i exited the House i felt how important such places are to us even after so many years have passed. Although bad memories should be wiped away it helps to keep some alive in order to remind us of the evil that was done. This will prevent us hopefully from committing such evil acts in the future. In fact i think we should have similar things in India. We could have similar memorials for the victims of past riots in Bombay and Gujarat where the victim's side of the story, their pain and suffering is portrayed. This will at least make people realize the horrors of a riot and the next time a politician incites them they would think twice before they join the mob.

On my way back to my place though i saw a very interesting sight. A young girl in her teens boarded my bus with a hockey stick in hand! It was incredible to see our National game being played and followed here in Europe. Although this puzzled me initially i reminded myself that hockey was one of the more popular sports in Netherlands and in fact the Netherlands were the best team in hockey today surpassing the great Indian teams of the mid 20th century. A hockey stick in a Dutch girl's hand, that is one sight from Europe that i would never forget!

With that the day came to an end and thus ended my trip of this great city. A city which showed me amazing beauty as well as poignancy and i am ever the more lucky to have visited this great city.