Kali Bharat Yatra 2008: Golden Moments of a Silver Jubilee Fete
February 16, 2009
Kali and His Yatris Celebrate Diwali and Everything Indian in India. Jai Bharat Mata!
MYSORE, INDIA: Sunday, Oct 19, 2008 was yet another usual day in New York. But not so for the over two dozen Indo-Caribbean group that had gathered in JFK airport to travel to India, the land of their ancestors, thanks to Kali Tours and Travel, the legendary travel company that is busy since 1983 facilitating ‘incredible India’ package tours to everyone who loves to visit India. So, it was the silver jubilee time perfectly matching the shine of the smiles of the touring party with the gleam of pure silver.
And there was Ramesh D. Kalicharran, CEO, Kali Tours and Travel, happily glancing over the smiling faces of the touring party with a deserving contentment spilling over his frame for having been able to do it for the 25th year without a break or an excuse for deferring – 25 continuous years of taking batches of visitors to India, Indo-Caribbean in particular. In the process, Ramesh Kalicharran has been simplified and recognized as just Kali by his friends, followers and admirers. The name Kali is now a symbol of Indian-ness, patronage and universal friendship. No other adjectives are necessary, just Kali is enough. Well, that’s the way the man has established himself without any conscious build-up. He is what he is – a true Indian by heart, mind and soul. Kali is simple and that is his strength. A strength that is accessible and not difficult to get at. Huddled by such a natural simplicity and austerity at the compact JFK lounge, the touring party was treated to a warm bon voyage by a team that had an executive from the Goverment of India Tourist Office, N.Y., a Pandit for spiritual motivation, and a beauty queen Neha Mutani, (Miss India New York) who provided the much needed sensual touch to the occasion. So, it was a great start to a great travel, and destination India was the ultimate motivation. The 15-hour non-stop flight to New Delhi went off like a cozy dream and nobody was tired when the smiling face of Dilip Sirwani, Kali’s India associate, greeted them at New Delhi.
It was a warm evening in Delhi but Dilip’s smiling handsome face was much warmer. Well, that’s how the touring party was treated by Bharatmata and everyone was at once giggling and eager to get on with the rest of it. When the team checked in at Hotel Clark Greens, New Delhi, the welcome was truly Indian with garlands, tilak and aarti, and suddenly everyone was relaxed. They were full of energy, especially after a hearty dinner and raring to go. The next day in Delhi began with prayers of all religions. Pandit Krishna Ramdeen, brother Tony Shafiek and Pastor Calvin Sergobin prayed and wished the team a safe and happy day and so it turned out to be. Times at Birla Mandir, Jamma Masjid and other places were ecstatic and everyone rejoiced. Tour guide Hitu Rajeev Gulati kept the team mesmerized with his scholarly and skillful account of history of Delhi. An evening with singer Veena was relaxingafter a cheerful session of entertaining music. She is a well known artist in the Caribbean too. After yet another sumptuous dinner everyone was ready for travel to Hardwar and Rishikesh the next day by the famous Shatabdi Express. During the travel in Shatabdi there were many onlookers who appreciated the spirit and energy of Kali’s team and expressed their pleasure at the enthusiasm of the team to visit India, the land of their forefathers. Co-passengers Archana Dawan and Bhupal Singh (Marine Engineer) appreciated the Indo-Caribbean community’s love and commitment to the Indian culture and saluted their commitment to the land of their ancestors. There were touching scenes of interaction with strangers and unknown. Pandit Krishna Ramadeen tied an expensive watch over the wrist of a worker of the pantry and the scene was touching. Kali moved round the carriage mingling with the co-passengers and explaining the emotional content of the travel. Strangers became friends and suddenly everyone felt at home. I watched, overwhelmed with the show of natural love and friendship.
Over to Hotel Ganga Kinara at Hardwar/Rishikesh. Nice Hotel, good food and exciting trip to Laxman Jhoola at Rishikesh. It was an interesting trip to Laxman Jhoola by the uniquely sounding three-wheelers. They were hilariously named as tuk-tuk. Walking down the narrow lanes of Rishikesh leading to Gangaaarti was unique. The Ganga-aarti was something that took the team out of this world with its serenity and devotion. Filed with divine music it moved the hearts and souls and left everyone simply
meditating, longing for peace and tranquility. It was followed by a visit to another place of tranquility, India Heritage Research Foundation of Swami Chidanand Saraswati. Effortlessly the scene
shifted toward spirituality, and there was a wonderful dialogue between the team and Swami Chidanand Saraswati (Muniji). Kali, other members of the team and I were discussing spiritual aspirations
of a human soul and Muniji spoke to us in very clear and simple terms explaining the significance of spirituality in human existence. We were led to the kitchen of the ashram for a wonderfully simple dinner a different state of mind that was busy with the purpose and meaning of existence. Whoever thinks spirituality is boring, should visit Rishikesh and have a dialogue with Muniji. Ganga-aarti with its divine music, serene spirituality and superb children will convince even an atheist, belief apart, that God and spirituality do make the world a better place for living. Back in Haridwar, there was the dip in the holy Ganga that made everyone forget the trivial and move over to the core of the existence. Homage was paid to the ancestors and the scene was charged with emotion. There was emotion that moved everyone to think about the source of our origin and ponder about the values of living, motivating us to live for a more meaningful sense of living. It was about a living that is beyond the individual fulfillments, a living that ultimately coincides with the ingredients of a wholesome community existence. Kali Bharat Yatra is special because it provides such introspective moments. Moments that can’t be perceived in a ‘usual package tour.’ It goes beyond a tour, it is a revelation indeed!
After the mellowing spiritual experience in Rishikesh, it was back to the romantic scene of Taj at Agra. At the Handicrafts Gallery in Agra there was that live music concert that threw everyone into a singing and dancing mood. Spontaneous dancing followed good live music and the whole scene was brimming with joy and uninhibited happiness. The next day was busy, with everyone becoming a part of that lovely structure, Taj Mahal. Local photographers were busy capturing everyone with Taj and what a day it was! Nobody was bothered about time and place, being immersed in the beauty of Taj and the adjoining Yamuna River. Nobody was speaking but quietly involved with the beauty of the seventh wonder of the world, the Taj. If every loving woman gets a Taj, it would be a crazy world indeed!
It was a long bus ride from Agra to Jaipur. On the way were Vrindavan and Mathura. These two places brought the memories of handsome Krishna, the Lord of everything, from romance to renunciation. At Mathura, the birth place of Krishna, tears were rolling at the sight of prison where he was destined to be
born. At Vrindavan where he grew up protecting everyone around him there were prayers to help them to overcome the troubles. The very name of Krishna is good enough to see us through, the scriptures claim. When you visit these places, you’ll realize it is no exaggeration. Krishna is Truth. Krishna is realization.
Krishna is the ultimate. That’s what you feel when you look at the temples of Mathura and Vrindavan. Hare Krishna.
It was fabulous Diwali time when the touring party touched Jaipur, the marvelous Pink City. This city stands unique with its magnificent forts, beautiful roads, mesmerizing museums and friendly Rajasthani folks. Dilip Sirwani, Kali’s able Indian counterpart, is a very charming and handsome person with a fine taste of everything that adds up to good living. He had fine tuned a lovely Diwali celebration perfectly. Blessed with a large family with an equally large heart he made those two Diwali days truly memorable. Day one was full of a neatly organized Jaipur city visit crowned with an excellent evening in a lovely temple. Simple devotional music session at the temple was refreshing. Subtle dances matching the ecstatic bhajans and kirtans gave a delightfully cultured touch to the entire gathering followed by a tasty and sumptuous dinner. There were fireworks and a very natural Diwali atmosphere. Day two was sheer fun and excitement. After the continued city visit the evening dinner exploded with music, dance, food and entertainment. Lovely Rajasthani women danced like peacocks and there was that pretty girl Sonia swinging delightfully to popular Bollywood numbers. Then there was a thirty-one year-old Lilliputian artist who danced with everyone. There was not a single soul that did not sing and dance. Dilip’s entire family with handsome men, beautiful women and cheerful youngsters mingled freely on both days and the whole gathering looked like a single lovely family. And there was Sunil Bharadwaj, our cheerful and helping tour guide, who was with us from day one at Delhi till departure from Jaipur. While getting ready to leave Jaipur and travel to Mumbai we realized suddenly we would be missing dear Sunil. In fact it was an emotional‘bye Sunil, we miss you’ scene when we inevitably left Jaipur.
The last leg of the Yatra was the ever busy Mumbai that greeted us with a vibrancy that makes it a very special city of India. We got the taste of modern India surging ahead gloriously to keep pace with the rest of the fast world. It was unbelievable we could have the company of so manycelebrities. Ace Bollywood music director Padmashri Ravi joined the gathering. Later in the banquet dinner there was his son ebullient Ajay along with his lovely star wife Varsha Usgaokar. Varsha, famous Bollywood and Marathi star, delighted the group with her glamour and melodious singing. Devendra Mohan, Senior Assistant Editor of the popular magazine Business India and Chairman of Mumbai Press Club joined the group. He introduced Gansham Vaswani, versatile singer and a renowned recording promoted by none other than Jagjit Singh, one of the top billed singers of Bollywood. Another well known music director and artist, Saxena, entertained the group along with Gansham. Then there was Jaipaul Nand, a celebrated artiste who delighted the gathering. We were rather unfortunate to miss Rohan Kapoor, son of legendary singer Mahendra Kapoor. Rohan could not make it as he was busy with the family that was still grieving the demise of Mahendra Kapoor. In fact, Kali’s cherished ambition of presenting a posthumous award for the great singer could not materialize due to the non-availability of Rohan. That was perhaps the lone unfinished item on the agenda of the tour. Ajay reserved the exciting climax of a visit to the fascinating film for the concluding day. He spared his precious time and resources to take quite a few of us to the film city and we got a glimpse of the famous Bollywood glamour. It was a nice outing as we were able to watch a few shootings. Many in the group were delighted to pose with Deepthi, a young and rising TV star. Pretty Deepthi was all smiles while posing with most of the group. She was about to get into the robes of Radha for a serial about Krishna. On the sets of the next shooting there was labor trouble and the artistes had lined up to listen to their union leader who was threatening the producers with a bunch of striking artistes. The problem was about demand in increase of the wages and understandably the artistes were an agitated lot. Ajay had spared his valuable time and resources to enable the group to have a glimpse at the tinsel world. The visit to the film city was an exciting affair for the group and they enjoyed the session thoroughly. Charming Ajay was a great hit and received bundles of thanks from every member of the group. Evening was closing in and suddenly it dawned upon everyone that they would have to start packing up for the journey back home. New York had started to beckon and that was the end of the exciting two weeks’ Mother India visit. Well, it was time to get back to the US.
Tony Shafiek, Pandit Krishna Ramadeen and Pastor Calvin Sergobin did an excellent job of maintaining the coherence and unity of the group and their daily prayers before every day began kept everyone in fine spirits. Added to that was Kali’s reassuring presence that kept the entire team confident and happy. Some of us fell sick sometime during the tour but overcame the unpleasantness with fine team spirit. It was a good show of solidarity and cooperation and the group was evidently thankful to Kali for organizing a fine tour. The sense of nostalgia that pervaded thegroup on visiting the land of their ancestors was there to see and feel. The call of roots and culture is a strong one and when it is satisfied it is a mixture of happiness and emotion. With persons like Kali around it is still possible to quench the thirst of roots and culture. That’s what every Kali Bharat Yatra does. It is not mere travel, it is an experience and a revelation indeed. All said and done Kali Bharat Yatra is the best available tool to experience India.
– BY BHASYAM G. IYENGAR The writer is a New York based freelance journalist exploring
the Arts, Culture, Religion, Sports and Current Affairs. He is a former Asst. Editor of Show Zone Plus. He has contributed to Veena, a monthly from London and is currently contributing to American, Indian and Caribbean newspapers/ magazines. He hails from Mysore, Karnataka State, India and is a published writer in Kannada a South Indian language. e-mail: biyengar333@yahoo.com
