Effort to throw garbage
Got up at 4.30 in the morning and made preparations to leave. Madhu and Bhanu had made the puris in the night itself. Prepared vegetables in the morning. After all the preparations were done, Vijay and I went to throw the garbage at 6.47 am. The owners of all three service apartments in Rome, Florence and Venezia gave us strict instructions that we must throw out the garbage before leaving the apartment.
We knew that it is not like India here to throw garbage wherever you want. The waste has to be dumped at the designated place of the waste. In Venezia at 6.30 am a sweeper comes with his trolleys which are available till 7.30 am. We found him on the bank of the canal.
When we asked him about the garbage-container, he pointed to a trolley parked in a corner. The clothes of that employee looked better than even the collectors of India and he had almost the same emotion in his eyes as was seen in the eyes of the woman who sold vegetables in the boat yesterday! I don't know, seeing the strange expression in his eyes, I was having some difficulty!
When he returned after throwing garbage, he forgot the way to the service apartment but did not have to look for more. We returned back to the apartment by 7.03 am and left the apartment at 7.06 am.
Rs.3200 for 13 kms
It was raining at this time. With the help of Google search, we reached the taxi stand at 7.23 am. There were many taxis parked here. A taxi dropped us outside the airport at 7.46 am. Paying 3200 rupees for only 13 kms, we did not like it but there was no other way!
No drinking water!
By scanning the barcode of the flight tickets that Vijay had booked in India itself, we got boarding passes from a vending machine. We feared that the airport would be overcrowded but the crowd was negligible here. The reason for this was probably because it is a local airport that only serves flights to various cities in Italy.
We could catch an international flight to Delhi only after reaching Rome from here. We had our breakfast after printing the boarding pass, just then the check-in counter was opened. We got our luggage deposited at this counter. The lady employee sitting at the counter instructed us not to carry any kind of liquid in our handbags. So we emptied all the water bottles before check-in. Our plane was at 11.20.
By the time we got to the door next to the hangar, it was only 9.30. After sometime when we felt thirsty, we looked for water here and there but drinking water was not available inside the airport. Inside Palam International Airport in India, Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia and Jakarta Airport, we had filled our drinking water bottles but this facility was not available here.
In the end we had to buy a one liter bottle of water for 2.5 euros i.e. 200 rupees in Indian currency. The plane to Rome was late by 25 minutes. So instead of 10 o'clock he reached Rome at 12.25. Our next flight was at 2.10. Here too the crowd was very less. It was not as bad as Delhi airport.
Probably from here many tourists would have left by road to other countries of Europe. We did not have to check-in luggage here so we reached the plane on time. We got lunch on the plane at 4 pm (Italian time). This included pasta and boiled rice. The pasta smelled bad and the rice was raw. This food was not eaten by any of us. How much more we were paid with the plane ticket for this spoiled meal!
We ate last night's puris brought from home at 8 pm (Italian time) which were so much better than plain pasta and rice. Poori made 24 hours ago and vegetables prepared 15 hours ago were still edible but the hot food served on the plane stinks!
According to Italian time, the plane reached Delhi airport at 11 pm. At this time, the clocks of India had two o'clock in the night. Rome is 5 thousand 950 kilometers away from India, but a few days ago after the terrorist attack from Pakistan on India, India had done air-operation against the terrorist bases of Pakistan, due to which Pakistan stopped all incoming flights from India. was banned. Because of this, our plane had reached Delhi after crossing a distance of 7 thousand 400 kilometers flying over Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Jaipur via Ankara.
Due to this it took 9 hours instead of seven and a half hours. It took about an hour to check-out at immigration and get our luggage on the luggage-belt. We came out of the airport at 3.30 am. Nowadays, to catch a taxi at Delhi airport, one has to walk about half a kilometer. If you talk about from plane to taxi, then this journey becomes about one-and-a-half-and-a-half kilometers.
Now Indian sim started working. So Vijay booked an Uber taxi on his cellphone. We had to walk a long distance to catch a taxi. The driver of the taxi was a Haryanvi jawan. He did not make any effort that he should see us, the whole responsibility of finding him was on us. Finally the driver found us, he scolded us for the delay and stood by opening the back door of the taxi.
I told him- 'Stay the luggage inside the taxi.'
The driver replied in a very loud voice- 'This is not my business. Keep stuff to yourself.'
I said- 'The taxi driver collects the goods, we can pick it up and give it to you.'
He said- 'I am not your servant. I'm the owner of the car!'
He was a strange man. He had even left behind the taxi driver in Rome in the case of misbehavior. Vijay angrily said- 'We do not want to go in your taxi, I am canceling the booking.'
He said- 'This is for the benefit of all of you.' He closed the door loudly and went away with his taxi. The drivers standing around kept watching the spectacle silently. As soon as I came to India, I was welcomed with so many bitter words! Vijay canceled the taxi booking, lodged the driver complaint on Uber's app and booked another taxi immediately.
We told the second taxi driver on the way how the first taxi driver misbehaved with us, then he said - 'Ai, this daily work is done. Somebody will be meo brother. His big complaint is coming. I have spoken bitterly to you, even if you beat it up, it is not a big deal.'
When we asked the reason for this misbehavior, he said- 'These are not some drivers. They have got this car in marriage, in dowry. There is no employment now. The girl was found because the land of her forefathers became worth crores. The girl's father gave this vehicle in dowry. Ib will do! E toh layga in taxi!'
So this was the great naked truth of my great India! There is a strange unemployment here, people have money in their pockets, but unemployment and misogyny are also abundant! People look for work but don't get the skills needed for the job! Don't even learn the normal way of dealing with the customer. By the time the taxi stopped in front of the house, it was only a matter of time before dawn.
By this time it was quarter past four. Everyone fell asleep as soon as they reached home. When I opened my eyes in the morning, it was seven in the morning in the clocks of India. In Italy it may have been only three o'clock in the night, but the body clock probably recognized the clocks of its country.
All credit to Madhu and Bhanu!
This foreign trip was possible because we did not face any food related problems during the journey. All the credit for this success goes to Madhu and Bhanu. If we had gone to Italy on pizza and pasta, we would have had to leave this trip midway. We could eat pizza and pasta, but how could we eat anything from the shops that cooked and sold sheep, goat and pork! We were also able to keep travel expenses under control by making our own food.
Our celebrity is disappearing!
Some cunning people make such false and immaterial things by using the pomp of words, which have nothing to do with reality, but those things are spread like holy mantras in the public by the cunning politicians of that country and within a few days Those wrong things become a divine achievement by becoming a symbol of national pride and caste pride and the people of the country repeat those sacred mantras daily like obedient sheep. One such mantra is- 'Saare Jahan Se Achcha Hindustan Hamara!'
Before India's independence, Dr. Iqbal wrote- 'Greece Egypt Rome has all disappeared from where, the rest is still our names! There is some thing that our personality does not fade away, the enemy has been round the corner where ours is!'
How false and deceitful is this! The people of India proudly inflate their chest while singing this song, it is astonishing to see such people!
We have seen with our own eyes that Greece, Rome and Egypt are still standing where they were. If any country in the world has been wiped out the most, then it is India which has been broken into 18 pieces - 1. Iran, 2. Afghanistan, 3. Pakistan, 4. India, 5. Nepal, 6. Bhutan, 7. Tibet, 8. Bangladesh , 9. Burma, 10. Thailand, 11. Sri Lanka, 12. Indonesia, 13. Malaysia, 14. Brunei, 15. Madagascar, 16. Vietnam, 17. Cambodia and 18. Maldives.
Some historians put their number as 24. Of these, 7 pieces were separated from India by the British. These countries broke away from India, sometimes due to political reasons, sometimes due to geographical reasons and sometimes due to cultural reasons.
These countries were part of India during the period when the whole world was divided into five major civilizations - 1. Roman Empire, 2. Egyptian Empire, 3. Hindu kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent, 4. Han Empire of China, 5. Rest of the world.
Even if the camel enters the tip of the needle!
Due to the huge influx of tourists in the cities of Italy, there has been a permanent disruption in the lives of its citizens. Everything has become expensive. Due to the crowd, it has become difficult for the citizens to come out of their homes and streets. Therefore many citizens have left their old homes and shifted to outlying colonies and some citizens have moved to cities where there is no tourist movement.
Looking at the Italians, it is understandable that tourism and capitalism can be favorable for a country only to a certain extent. Emphasizing on insurance, promoting excessive tourism, increasing taxes, increasing the fees for government services, increasing interference of laws and government rules in the lives of citizens are the 'side effects' of the capitalist system.
India is currently moving in this direction. Living in poverty is a crime against humanity, but reducing the chances of living life for the poor is a crime against both nature and God. The economy of the country should be such that neither one has to live in poverty nor any poor should be disappointed with their life.
Money is not the only requirement to fill human life with happiness, joy, zeal and enthusiasm. Cultural generosity can also make the lives of the people of a nation happy, for very little money. Expensive liquor, expensive pizza and various types of meat and egg meals remove the poor from the facilities of living.
Whereas pure vegetarian food, simple clothes, can make life happy even in less money. Increasing community services can enable common man to live with less money. How can any poor man survive in a country that charges 80 to 160 rupees for going to the toilet once!
To earn less money one does not have to resort to lies, theft, deceit, deception and how can one earn more money without doing all this! Nuclear families have to spend more money on their daily living whereas joint families allow to live life with less money. Jesus Christ may have thought of all these things and said that even if a camel enters the tip of the needle, no rich person can enter heaven!
Finally, I would like to recall a paneled scene in a church in Florence in which the son of a wealthy nobleman expresses his desire to become a Christian saint and live the life of a monk. He becomes a beggar and when he dies the angels from heaven come to take him. This saint is given the same respect as Jesus Christ in the Catholic society of Rome.
In India too, the ideals of Mahatma Buddha and Mahavir Swami are in front of us, where these princes lived the life of monks and kept preaching to the society to live a life without pomp, luxuries. Rama and Krishna, the great heroes of Indian culture, became classics because one lived in the forests for 14 years and fought for the forest dwellers and the other spent the initial part of his life as cowherds to serve the cows. People raised in gold cradles could never become heroes in any country, in any culture!
The origin of Christianity is also in living a life without pomp and pomp, but some countries of Europe including Italy expanded capitalism and used imperialism as a tool of capitalism. Because of this, half the world has been a victim of exploitation, oppression and poverty for centuries.
यदि यूरोपीय देश भारत से धन छीनकर नहीं ले गए होते तथा सादगी से रहे होते तो आज भारत में गरीबी नहीं होती और यूरोप-वासियों को अपने बेटे-पोतों से अलग-थलग एकाकी जीवन नहीं जीना पड़ता। भारत में अहिंसा, शाकाहार, सादगी, उच्च विचार, स्वदेशी आदि पर जोर दिए जाने का अर्थ पूंजीवाद से दूर जाना है, इसके अतिरिक्त और कुछ नहीं है।
सादगी और सरलता पर खड़ी है भारतीय संस्कृति!
भारतीय जीवन में सादगी कितनी गहराई से प्रतिष्ठित है, इसके ढेरों उदाहरण भारत के बड़े नेताओं के आचरण में देखी जा सकती है। मदन मोहन मालवीय, लाल बहादुर शास्त्री, गुलजारी लाल नंदा, जॉर्ज फर्नाण्डीस आदि के जीवन भारतीय सादगी के महानतम् उदाहरण हैं।
मदनमोहन मालीवय कपड़े धोने से लेकर भोजन बनाने तक, अपना सारा काम स्वयं करते थे। लाल बहादुर शास्त्री, नेहरू का दिया हुआ पुराना कोट पहन कर ताशकंद गए थे जिसका कॉलर फटा हुआ था। जॉर्ज फर्नाण्डीस अपने कपड़े स्वयं धोते थे और उन पर कभी इस्तरी नहीं करते थे। एक बार दिल्ली के एक बहुमंजिला इमारत में बम विस्फोट हुआ। उस फ्लैट में भारत के पूर्व-प्रधानमंत्री गुलजारी लाल नंदा रहते थे। उस समय अपराह्न के तीन बजे थे। 82 वर्ष के नंदा इसलिए जीवित बच गए क्योंकि वे स्नानघर में बैठे हुए कपड़े धो रहे थे!
आप चाय वापस ले जाइए!
पुराने नेताओं की सादगी आज भी हमारे सार्वजनिक जीवन से नष्ट नहीं हुई है। इसका उदाहरण अरुण जेटली के जीवन में हुई एक घटना में देखा जा सकता है। जब वे भारत के वित्तमंत्री थे, तब उन्होंने किसी एयरपोर्ट पर चाय मंगवाई, जब उन्होंने उस चाय का दाम पूछा तो अरुण जेटली को उसके इतने अधिक दाम सुनकर आश्चर्य हुआ। उन्होंने कहा कि-‘नहीं मैं इतनी महंगी चाय नहीं पी सकता, आप वापस ले जाइए!’
यदि आज हुआ होता वह ईसाई संत!
भारतीय सादगी के ठीक उलट, इटली में दो सौ रुपए लीटर के भाव से पानी तो खरीद कर पीना ही पड़ता है, लघुशंका से निवृत्त होने के लिए भी एक बार में एक व्यक्ति को अस्सी से एक सौ साठ रुपए तक देने पड़ते हैं। यदि रोम का वह राजकुमार जो ईसाई संत होकर भिखारी का जीवन जीता था, आज रोम में पैदा हुआ होता तो उसे पानी पीने और लघुशंका जाने की सुविधा तक उपलब्ध नहीं होती! हमने कैसी दुनिया का निर्माण किया है!
वी कान्ट डू, एज द रोमन्स डू!
पूरी दुनिया में एक कहावत कही जाती है- ‘व्हैन इन रोम, डू एज द रोमन्स डू!’ यह कहावत रोमन सभ्यता की उच्चता और उनके दंभ को प्रदर्शित करती है। संभवतः इस कहावत का निर्माण उस समय हुआ होगा जब यूरोपवासियों ने प्राचीन भारत और उसके निवासियों को नहीं देखा होगा। रोमन लोगों के इतिहास, सभ्यता एवं संस्कृति में मुझे ऐसा कुछ नहीं लगा कि एक भारतीय, रोम में जाकर वैसा बर्ताव करे जैसा कि रोम के लोग करते हैं।
यह केवल दंभोक्ति प्रतीत होती है। रोम की बजाय भारतीयों के हृदय अधिक उदार हैं। रोम में बूढ़ी आबादी विशेषकर वृद्ध औरतें अधिक दिखाई देती हैं जो इस बात की गवाही देती हैं कि उन्हें गृहस्थी बसाने की अपेक्षा स्वेच्छारी और एकाकी जिंदगी अधिक पसंद है। ऐसा समाज संसार के लिए आदर्श कैसे हो सकता है जिसमें बच्चों की किलकारियों के लिए स्थान नहीं हो! यही कारण है कि आज इटली के मूल लोगों की जनसंख्या गिर रही है। वहाँ दूसरे देशों के लोग आकर बस रहे हैं।
हमारे अनुभव केवल हमारे हैं!
इस पुस्तक में लिखे गए अनुभव नितांत हमारे हैं। निश्चित रूप से अन्य पर्यटकों को हमसे बिल्कुल अलग अनुभव होते होंगे, अच्छे भी और बुरे भी! अतः यह तो नहीं कहा जा सकता कि पोप का देश बिल्कुल वैसा ही है, जैसा हमें दिखाई दिया किंतु जैसा हमें दिखाई दिया, वैसा पूरी ईमानदारी के साथ लिख दिया गया है, बिना किसी राग-द्वेष अथवा पूर्वाग्रह के!