I came across an interesting nonfiction essay “The Pilgrimage” by Susan L. Adkins (sent to me by a young sensitive lady Sucharita Sengupta who now lives in New Delhi).
Susan describes her visit to the site of an ancient ruin in Pakistan. The essay was recently published in a Pakistani journal, The Way Ahead.
Susan has also published nonfiction in a number of magazines, including the Cousteau Society’s Calypso Log, New Scientist (U.K.), MS., Viewpoint (Pakistan), and others.
Excerpts: “Let your eyes settle over this tiny, isolated site–the heart of a once holy land known as Gandhara. Cutting a wide path down the spine of Pakistan, Gandharan remains hug both sides of the Indus River as it tumbles thousands of miles from the heights of the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.
“Alexander the Great marched his legions onto this bit of Asia, uniting East and West more than 300 years before the birth of Christ. Gaze over the wide plain with its low, terraced land stretching northward to the treeless hills, and you will see the dust from his army’s feet still settling in the distance.
“On this land you will sense the ghosts of the hundreds of thousands who came before you. The worn foundations of their cities echo the joy and sadness lived here, and the surviving stone relics hint at their story.
“Long before the time of Christ, Buddhist religion, art and civilization flowered from this piece of earth. With the stone footprints left by monasteries, temples and religious shrines, touch the handiwork of a 700 year flood of Buddhist pilgrims who journeyed from as far away as China.
“Rub your hands across the scars of its decline–those left by the Dark Ages brought so long ago by the marauding White Huns. Many pilgrims and barbarians alike stopped at Dharmarajika as you do today…”
To read the full essay please click here…
In my earlier posts I have written about the shared heritage of India and Pakistan. Although some people in Pakistan may describe the country as pure Islamic, you cannot completely whitewash the past…Can you?
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.