Bodh Gaya
Day 1 in Bodh Gaya has probably been one of the funniest days during any of my trips by-far. These are possibly the stories I'll tell as an 80 year old lady.
I arrived at Gaya from Kolkata by train around 6 am. I got nicely ripped off by the auto driver at the station who charged me 450 rupees to drop me at the guest house I was staying at in the outskirts of Bodh Gaya, on a shared auto. More on how to economically get to Bodh Gaya in a later article.
However, despite the ripping off, that auto ride was possibly a huge eye opener for me. When I tried to explain to the driver, where exactly I wanted to go on the map, he stared at me for a solid 2 seconds, then told me he was illiterate and couldn't read a map. Having lived in quite different surroundings before this, I've never actually come across somebody who is completely illiterate. Even the support staff of the university I attended in rural Haryana, always seemed to have the basic literacy to operate Whatsapp, make phone calls and such. While to many it may be a shocker that it was my first time interacting with somebody who's fully illiterate because that is the reality of a large population in India - I have been truly living in a bubble. In fact, our house help back home in Kerala, considers herself illiterate despite having finished 10th grade, and being able to read and write in Malayalam.
Anyways Sudama, my auto driver in Bodh Gaya had lots to tell me - this was possibly my first account with (extremely) chatty Biharis. I asked him why I saw like at least 12 private schools in the 3 km stretch we drive passed - but not a single government school. Especially, because the locality seemed economically weak, it seemed absurd that people could afford to send their children to private schools. Sudama explained the pathetic condition of government schools in the locality and told me, that no teaching happens there. He went their and vowed to never let his kids there.
I spotted hand pumps in every agricultural field, every house and every few metres. I have never used one - except once when I posed with one in Chandi-Chowk - so I asked him if people do not have normal wells. Sudama jumps in to say that wells are too dangerous because kids fall in them. Later learnt from my home stay hosts that the major reason that they don't have motor pumps is because electricity is extremely unreliable in the area.
After a long ride with Sudama, I said goodbye to him as I reached my home-stay. I had found this property on Airbnb - situated in the midst of a vegetable field this property is around 3km's from Bodh Gaya city centre. It is hosted by a Indo-Japanese couple and their family. I had a great time here, the host's were extremely helpful. However, the location is not the most convenient, if you're travelling without a personal vehicle since it's a little away from the city centre.
After a short nap, I set off with a lot of sunscreen and an umbrella on my way to discover Gaya. My first stop was the Mahabodhi Temple Complex which includes both the temple and the famous Banyan tree under which Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment. I don't have any pictures from the place, as you have to leave your footwear, any belongings and all electronic devices (even earphones) at the entrance where they have a cloak room.
At the Temple complex I first visited the famous Banyan tree, under which Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment. Here I met a young 13 year old child who was a monk at the monastery attached. We communicated with each other about our lives in our broken Hindi and broken English respectively. He told me he also went to the nearby school during the day, but lived in the monastery for the past 6 or so years of his life. I told him I'm from Kerala, and since he didn't know where that was, he assumed it was a separate country. Eventually, as I stood up and told him I'd get going, he told me he'd show me around. I told him it's okay, as I quickly realised the child was becoming a tour guide, who I would have to pay. However, my 'no''s weren't given much notice and the child kept following me and explained in great detail the significance of everything in the complex. Eventually, I caved and though at least he's doing a good job explaining stuff. At the end of the showing me all the Buddha stupas and meditation rooms in the complex, the child told me that I could contribute towards his education by paying him for his services, which I did. As I handed him the money in cash, he pulled me in for a deep embrace. Thinking nothing much of it as I was dealing with a child, I didn't react repulsively, till I figured he'd also managed to plant a kiss on my neck. I quickly realised what was happening, and said bye a left the Mahabodhi Temple while I processed what had just happened.
As I walked down the street to see the various Budhhist temples built along the same street, I was approached by a man on a bike. He quickly realised I was a tourist and told me he conducted bike tours if I was interested. I declined, but he told me about a bunch of spots in the outskirts of Bodh Gaya, that I should definitely visit. Towards the end of the conversation, he asked me where I'm from. When I answered Kerala, he laughed and said, you must be a huge Bob Marley fan. Seeing my confused face, he explained, 'I know Malayalis love to smoke some good marijuana, I know a government-authorised spot if you are interested'. After forcing me to take down his number, in case I changed my mind, he left me in the state of confusion while I walked further down the road.
Back in his days, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru saw in Bodh Gaya an important resource for strengthening India’s diplomatic relations with the newly independent Asian nations. He had invited many Buddhist nation to build a Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya - most of which are functioning with rituals of their home countries till date. Hence, you will find a street with Japanese, Chinese, Thai and even Mongolian temples. It's an interesting experience to go through each one of these and get a glimpse of each Buddhist nation. You can also see the Great Buddha Statue or the 80ft Buddha statue in the vicinity.
For my final stop of the day, I decided to go to the Sujata Stupa, across the Phalgu river - near my home stay. The Stupa is dedicated to the milkmaid Sujata, who is said to have fed Gautama Buddha milk and rice, as he was sitting under a Banyan tree, ending his years of fasting allowing him to attain illumination. Next, I opened my phone to check the map to get back to my home stay as I walked through some small walking paths and muddy creaks following Google Maps. I quickly realised that wasn't a great idea as I was now walking thorugh a small village where I clearly looked like I wasn't from there. And to make things worse, the map was telling me the way to my home stay was through a few people's houses! 👀👀
A few metres in I heard somebody calling me, "Ma'am". I turned around to see a group of 20 odd men and a few children crowding behind me. They asked me, where I was off to. When I told them I was just following the map to get to my guest house, they told me there was no such guest house here, and I was probably mistaken. They told me I was walking through their houses. I felt a little scared since this was clearly and lot of people, and I was probably at fault. However, the villagers quickly noticed I was frightened and told me to not worry and they'd send somebody to walk me to the place I needed to get me to. Later turns out the guest house was actually less than 300m away from the village, except there was no road.
Anyways, a villager was sent to walk with me as I found an alternate way that took me a 40 minute detour, and a whole Bisleri bottle of water (it was really really hot!). Anyways, made it back safely and in one piece, before I decided to call it a day and take rest!
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