The Visit of Mr. Han Kop

A long-time satsangi* of the Swaminarayan faith visited Akshardham today. At first glance, the Netherlands-native Mr. Han Kop doesn't look like your average follower of Swaminarayan. He about 6'1", about 63 years old, balding, and very, very caucasian. I've had the opportunity to meet him in the past, though his visit today was the first time I've had a chance to actually sit down and talk to him.

In 1972, he and two of his brothers (he has nine siblings total) set out on a world tour by car. Having weaved their way down from the Netherlands, they travelled through Africa - via Zaire (now the D.R. of the Congo), Uganda, South Africa, and Tanzania. They ended up in Mombasa, Kenya, running short on cash, and not really sure where to go next. Deciding to hang around in Kenya for a few weeks, they camped on the beach every night (some serious penny-pinching). One day they came across a house with the doors wide open - not a very common sight in Kenya at the time for political reasons. So they went in.

There they first laid eyes on the murti of Bhagwan Swaminarayan - but from a different sect. Not seeing anyone inside, they walked out again and kept moving down the road. About 100 yards further down the road, they came to another set of wide open doors. Curious, they poked their heads inside, this time into a BAPS Swaminarayan Sampraday mandir. There, Mr. Kop says he saw the murtis of Swaminarayan and Gunatitanand Swami, the ideal disciple, as well as the image of Yogiji Maharaj, who had passed away, unbeknownst to them, just the year before. He says when he saw the image of Yogiji Maharaj, he wanted to meet him. There were some youths singing kirtans (devotional songs) and so he asked them where "the man in the picture" was. They said he wasn't there and that it wouldn't be possible to meet him. Thinking the youths were just trying to pass him off, he insisted. Relenting, they directed him to Mr. C. T. Patel, who family had followed BAPS since its founding by Shastri Yagnapurushdasji (Shastriji Maharaj) in 1907. "C.T. kaka" (uncle), as he was known, took Han and his brothers to his house, and so began a daily interaction where the three would come to C.T. kaka's house for lunch, and he would in turn explain to them all about Swaminarayan Bhagwan, the philosophy, and spiritual successorship - all the way to the current guru at the time, Pramukh Swami, who had been appointed by Yogiji Maharaj as the spiritual successor the previous year.

After about a month of these daily meetings, C.T. kaka told Mr. Kop that it was time for him to go to India and seek further answers there. So they loaded up the car onto a boat and sailed for Mumbai. Upon arrival, two Swaminarayan sadhus met him at the boat terminal and took him to the mandir in Mumbai. There he met Pujya Mahant Swami and stayed in Mumbai with him for some time. At the behest of Mahant Swami, he travelled to Gondal, Gujarat to meet Mahant Swami's guru, Pramukh Swami Maharaj. Mr. Kop had no real interest in meeting Pramukh Swami, however, because he was content with Mahant Swami as his guru. Nevertheless, Mahant Swami insisted, and Mr. Kop, his brothers, and four other sadhus loaded up into the 4x4 that, by now, had travelled through most of Europe and Africa, and set off for Gujarat.

They arrived in the evening that same day in Gondal right before Pramukh Swami was to have his dinner for the day. The sadhus sat with Mr. Kop in the room where Bapa (father, as Pramukh Swami is more affectionately known) was having dinner. As Bapa looked up, he looked directly into Mr. Kop's eyes. Han's next words encapsulate that moment beautifully:

"As Pramukh Swami looked at me, I looked back into the exact same eyes I had seen in that picture of Yogiji Maharaj in Mombasa. At that point I realized, they are the same person. I realized why even such a pious sadhu like Mahant Swami made Pramukh Swami his guru. There was so much love, joy, and divinity in the eyes of Yogiji Maharaj, and that same love, joy, and divinity radiated from Pramukh Swami's eyes. I did not want to leave."

After staying in Gondal with Pramukh Swami for almost 2 months, asking so many questions and receiving so many satisfactory answers, Mr. Kop indeed did ask Pramukh Swami if he could stay. But Pramukh Swami said he should return home, but continue his daily prayers to Lord Swaminarayan. If in one year he still felt strongly, he should come back to visit.

Mr. Kop has been a staunch satsangi of Pramukh Swami Maharaj since 1972, longer than many of the Indian followers today, and he has come back for Swami's darshan once a year since then. He says that 35 years later, he still sees the same love, joy, and divinity, radiating with the same strength, in Bapa's eyes.

*devotee, or follower; literally "a member of truth."

La Facciata Group

The tours of Akshardham usually consist of the guide doing a lot of talking and the visitors doing a lot of listening. For the past three weeks, that's generally been the case. Yesterday, however, was an exception. For a change, I got to do a little talking, more listening, and a lot of translation.

Our distinguished visitors were representatives of the La Facciata quarry of the Campolonghi Group from Carrara, Italy. They were amazed that such intricate carvings could be done on their marble. They wanted pictures so they could enter some of it into competitions. Their visit, though, turned out to be more of a lesson in geology for me than a spiritually-enlightening tour for them.

Their first stop was the exhibitions. Because I was busy, another guide FT'd (Fast Track) them through the exhibitions, and I met up with them afterward. There were three - Dr. Mauricio Lorenzoni, who looked way too stylish to be a Ph.D in geology (maybe a plastic surgeon, but not a rocks geek), his wife Greta, and Emanuele, their interpreter. I began with the standard
"Benvenuto a Swaminarayan Akshardham. Mio nome e' Arpit e sono la vostra guida." To which they respond, "Parlate italiano?!" To which I answer "Purtroppo, non parlo italiano. So I will be speaking to you in English." Once off on the proper foot with a quick jab at Zinedine Zidane for head-butting Marco Materazzi (see the video here) in the World Cup Final, we marched off to see the piece d' resistance, the Akshardham monument itself. Inside the main monument they were completely taken aback. They wandered here and there inside the main monument for about an hour, looking at different carvings, inspecting the stone quality, and just sort of gaping goofily at the intense intricacy.

At one point, Dr. Lorenzoni walks up really close to the marble and stands on his tip-toes (did I mention he was probably 5'2"?) to inspect one particular stone (that was about nose-height on me). I asked him what he was looking at. He responds "Oh it's nothing, really, I just thought I saw some staining." "Staining?" And with that simple question, I got a barrage of follow-ups:

"What bonding agent did you use between the stones?"
"How many ppm trace metals are in the sand/concrete mix?"
"What water source was used to mix the materials for the sealing joints?"

Whoa there. I'm a tour guide. Not an engineer. But what I did get was a science lesson on the staining process of marble. It turns out that water actually can seep INTO marble, and if the "glue" that's used to level the pieces and stick them together contains trace metals, these metals will oxidize and seep into the marble with the water. Then as the water seeps OUT and evaporates, it leaves the oxide stains on the surface. And all this time I thought it was the pollution in the air... Well, apparently the acid rain simply helps the oxidation process along even further, so a combination of New Delhi's pollution and the trace metals in the water is turning very small parts of Akshardham a slightly blackish color. I asked Dr. Lorenzoni where he thought he saw the stain. He points to a blackish streak in the wall - it looks exactly like the natural texturing of the carrara. "Now how on earth could you tell that's a stain?" I asked incredulously. "Anni di esperienza. E mio nome e' Dottore Mauricio Lorenzoni." Point well taken, I guess.

The "tour" (read: geology lesson) went on like this for another half-hour or so. I learned about the three types of carrara marble - Type A, which is very rare now that most of it has been sold to very very rich people to tile their bathtubs; Type B, also very rare but still can be purchased for a premium; and Type C, the most common type of carrara and quite durable.

Walking with us through the monument was Mr. Sagun Patel, who had, during the initial phases of the Akshardham project, been an essential part of the marble selection process. The conversation between him and the Italians turned to how to solve the staining problem. Samples of stone, water, and sand/concrete mix were to be exchanged and taken for testing and experimentation to see what kind of processes could best tackle the staining issues.

The level of conversation quickly went over my head, but I definitely got the idea that our organization is VERY interested in making sure Akshardham stays clean and beautiful for as long as it can. When you look around India and see the great temples of the past beginning to decay and crumble, it's a comforting feeling to know that even for a complex so new, preservation efforts are already well under way. With some good science, a bit of luck, and maybe some divine intervention, Akshardham should be around for quite some time.

Project #1, Done!

I finished my first major project on Friday, by sealing up and mailing out information packs about Akshardham. These packs were sent to the editors of the travel-guide books like Lonely Planet, Let's Go, and Fodor's. LP is my favorite, but they hadn't included Swaminarayan Akshardham in their last publication on India. So I put together a package that included a guidebook, hi-res file photo CD and short introductory DVD. A cover letter and really pretty folder made rounded out a package that gave the impression that the reader was going to get a glimpse of traditional India from the get-go. I even designed the mailing labels myself.

Hm... it was actually a lot more work than it seems... Oh well, onto Project #2 now.

An Encounter with a Staunch Roman Catholic

Today I gave a tour of Akshardham to a rather wealthy (and rather old) Italian businessman. He was a gentle, and rather harmless fellow, and I figured that he was most likely a fairly staunch Roman Catholic (being from Rome as he was), but I didn't realize immediately just HOW Roman Catholic.

A bit of background first. I usually start of my tours to foreigners with a small conversation where I try to gauge their knowledge and perceptions of Hinduism. I let them know that other foreigners sometimes come to Swaminarayan Akshardham with some minor misconceptions about Hinduism and India. For example, over the course of a western, predominantly Christian-community-immersed education, one is led to believe that the three most representative parts of Hinduism and India are the adherence to the Caste system, the worship of Cows, and the eating of Curry. I then ask if they would be willing to let me share India's amazing cultural heritage with them. When they affirm, I ask them to put aside everything they think they know about India and "follow me!"

This opening number went according to plan with the kind, old Italian man. We went to see the exhibitions first. He was stunned by the audio-animatronic presentation in the first exhibition hall, but didn't quite understand why we kept referring to Swaminarayan as "Bhagwan," especially since that was the term for God:

"But I don't understand... The Bible says that the only way to salvation is by accepting Jesus Christ as the saviour. And the Father is in heaven, so how does He come down to Earth?"

I realized at that point what I was dealing with. Having accepted the Bible as an infallible truth, he attempted to view the world through its lens and it skewed his perception of just about everything he saw at Akshardham. After a significant amount of explanation, I managed to convince him to accept that not EVERYONE perceived the world as the Bible dictated it, and that seeing the world a different way WASN'T an affront to Christianity - Hindus simply did things differently. "I'm just trying to share a bit about the way we see the world," I told him. It worked. I told him about BAPS' socio-spiritual goals, and the extensive humanitarian work in which we engaged. By the end of his visit, he had done the abhishek pujan (ritualized bathing of the murti* of God), and commented, "While our bishops can't seem to keep their pants on, yours are re-building entire villages!"

At the end of the exhibitions and the trip through the main monument at Akshardham, he said, "Wow, Swaminarayan really IS doing God's work."

I think that was a pretty successful tour.

*life-like image that worshippers believe to be enlivened, through ritual, by God Himself.

First Visit Home... The Long Sleep.

So I finally went home to visit my aunt and uncle on Sunday night. The sanskrit-based languages have very specific terms for peoples' relatives. So in particular, I went to visit my mama (mother's brother), and mami (mother's brother's wife). They're an interesting family. Both parents are Ph.D's, and they have two kids, a 13-year-old named Akshar and a 5-year-old named Raghu. My nana (maternal grandfather) also lives with them.

Some of you may have heard stories about the infamous cousin Akshar, who in all his spoiled-brattiness has managed to garner himself quite a few new toys from his foi (father's sister) and fua (father's sister's husband), a.k.a. my mom and dad. I'm pleased to report that his temper tantrum upon not receiving a new video iPod was less intense than the previous one he threw over not receiving the particular game he wanted for the PSP which he had gotten only a few months prior to that. That being said, he's still quite fat, but that's to be expected from a kid who tries to out-eat his 6'0", 210 lb. dad.

I'm also glad to say that little Raghu is proving to be quite the bright young little boy and rather eager to please. During dinner yesterday he recited the stories of the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" and "Rumpelstiltskin" IN PERFECT ENGLISH. Very impressive. He's also quite hyperactive, but hey, he's five. He has picked up a few of the less-desirable habits from his older brother, including being somewhat disrespectful to his mother, father, and grandfather. I think that comes from his dad, though, who patronizes his extraordinarily intelligent wife on a fairly regular basis. Raghu likes to shout a lot, too, but that doesn't make him any easier to understand.

Yeah, they make for an interesting family.

Anyway, I'm planning on going home to stay the night with them once a week (Sunday night - Akshardham is closed on Mondays). So Sunday was my first time home. Jayu mama (his name is Dr. Jaivardhan R. Bhatt) picked me up from Akshardham at 10:30 PM on Sunday and we began the arduous 45-min ride home. See, it's not actually that far, maybe 20 Km at the most, but Jayu mama doesn't drive his little Suzuki compact car any faster than 35 Km/h (about 21 mph). And no I'm not exaggerating. That's not to mention the fact that he takes the long way around to get home. So anyway, we eventually made it home, and I promptly passed out.

I didn't realize exactly how tired I was until I tried to wake up the next morning and failed. After two weeks of non-stop 13-15 hour days, I basically slept the entire day Monday, getting up to bathe, eat, and drink water. I got up at noon for lunch, then again at 8:30 PM for dinner. Quite a day, huh? It was restful and relaxing, though, which was very nice. Shortly after dinner, we went on another 45-min ride back to Akshardham, and after calling my sister to wish her happy birthday, I promptly fell asleep again until 7:30 AM Tuesday morning. Amazing.

More on this family to come later. I'm sure there will be PLENTY of interesting stories about them over the next month-and-a-half.

Pictures

I've posted a few of the file photos from the Akshardham website onto Flickr so you can see them easily here on the blog. Click the picture in the slide show to read a small caption about it.

A Story of Transformation

I've gotten to know some really amazing people here in the first few days at Akshardham. Take the story of our dear Nathuram, or "He Nathuramji!!" as we so affectionately call him (gotta imagine that being said with an Indian accent...), one of the aajivan (has volunteered for the remainder of his lifetime without pay) workers here:

Nathuram was born in a small town in Orissa, on the east side of India to a very poor family. They lived in one of the shanty towns and made a very meager living on the day-laborer wages of his father, who under the stress of poverty was an alcoholic and a chronic smoker.

When Nathuram was 15 he left home to go try to strike a living on his own. He'd go from one odd-job to another, and, after picking up heavy drinking and smoking like his father, added stealing to help finance his addictions. He garnered a cut job (a job contracted for a fixed sum but actually pays less b/c the "boss" takes a cut) as a golf-cart driver in an expensive resort for foreigners. He'd pretty regularly steal money out of the purses or bags of the guests, one time lifting $350 (almost one year worth of salary for him at the time) from the purse of a guest he was driving around. He said that weekend he and his friends spent every last bit of it on hookers, drugs, and alcohol.

When Akshardham was opening, they were hiring golf-carts and their drivers so he came to work here. They gave him a place to stay, fair wages (with no cut), and square meals. He said he couldn't believe it when they said they'd pay him Rs. 2800/- per month and actually gave him Rs. 2800/-. He met with Pramukh Swami Maharaj (the current spiritual leader of BAPS), before the inauguration of Akshardham, who apparently told him "not to steal $350, or any sum of money, from anyone, ever again." Nathuram still has no idea how Pramukh Swami knew about that incident. Pramukh Swami went on to tell him that if he needed anything, he was to simply ask, but ask only for what he truly needed. But he swore not to steal ever again. Shortly thereafter, he said he realized he didn't really "need" the alcohol or the tobacco, so it wasn't worth spending his hard-earned money on. Within six months, he had completely quit using drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

He credits his association with Swaminarayan with changing his life so much that he decided he wanted to work here for the rest of his life, even if only as a golf-cart driver. And since then, that has been his duty.

Two days ago, "in the same golf cart in which [he] used to rob people under their noses," he chauffered APJ Abdul Kalam, the President of India, around the Akshardham complex. Yesterday he drove around Pramukh Swami Maharaj, and later this month he will be the driver for Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister.

Rags to spiritual riches.

Interactions with Sadhus

It takes a bit of explaining to portray the concept of a Sadhu. They are members of a religious holy order, and in this case, of the Bochasanwasi Akshar-Purushottam Sanstha, or BAPS, a sub-sect of the Swaminarayan faith. They are people like you and me who have renounced their worldly attachments to serve God.

For most of my life, the ones I've come in contact with have been sadhus since before I was born. But as I grew up, some were initiated into the ascetic fold after I had gotten to know them as householders. And even more recently, a group of three of them, who received diksha, or initiation into the order, very recently, are only a few years older than me, and were my temple youth group leaders in Houston. One of them graduated from Harvard, one from UT-Austin Plan II, and the other from Georgetown Law School. They've been friends of mine for years, and so it's interesting interacting with them in this new context.

They just left yesterday to go back to Sarangpur, a tiny little town in Gujarat, where they are still continuing their religious studies. That leaves me with their projects they have going here in New Delhi. It's a pretty big load, considering that these guys were some pretty heavy-hitters in terms of ambition in the projects. Hopefully I'll be able to do their work some justice.

On another note, my wallet got stolen. On the bright side, it means I don't have to be so careful about my credit cards anymore while I'm in India. :)

The First Week

I arrived in India on September 6, 2006. The trip had only two legs this time, thanks to a cheap, new non-stop service by Continental Airlines from Newark, NJ directly to New Delhi. That second leg is 14 long hours, but the seats have those neat personal video screens, and they were showing episodes of House, M.D. and some other crappy movies, so I stayed entertained enough.

New Delhi will be my home until the end of October. I am serving in the P.R. department of a cultural monument built by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, the vaishnavite Hindu sect to which I belong. This monument, called Akshardham, is unbelievable. It is a tribute to the cultural heritage, art, and timeless values of India. I'd attempt to describe it to you, but I still find it hard after being here a week. The main monument is about 13 stories tall, and is almost entirely hand-carved. It has revived the ancient (and almost forgotten) traditional art of temple-building, and has upped the ante in doing so. No structure even close to this magnitude has been built in India in the past 8 centuries. Check out the file photos of the monument, and the carvings from the website - it'll give you an idea of the amazing place where I spend my day.

Needless to say, it's an honor to be serving here. And they keep me busy. As the only native English speaker in the department, I started getting work from day one. In fact, the very day I arrived, I had to interview the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi. Talk about no adjustment period. Guests to Akshardham come from all over, though. I've given tours to Australians, Americans, Indians, Iranians, and more. We also don't really get a break, either. Akshardham is open 6 days a week, and we prep for the next week on the one day it's closed (Monday).

On top of being a tour guide, I've been assigned quite a few other projects, too. Much more than can be easily done in 2 months time. Well, we'll see how it goes. This entire complex was built in 5 years. I figure that I should be able to get it listed in the next edition of guidebooks within two months. For those of you who knew how much of a bum I was this past summer, God's going to have me make it up. Fast.

Flashpacking, ver.2.0

So I fancy myself as an amateur photographer of sorts. At the very least my friends say my photos are decent. Maybe they're lying and trying to get me to waste money by making prints for them. I hope not. Needless to say, I couldn't come to India without taking a single picture, so I've brought along a pretty decent amount of gear for the ride. The term "flashpacker" has been recently coined for those geeks who enjoy backpacking and so take lots of technological stuff with them on their trips. The poster child of this phenomenon is a freelance writer named Lee Gimpel, whom I also thank for his insights on his webpage Passing Through India.

For this particular trip, I've armed myself with the following:

Canon 300D digital SLR. This camera has been my workhorse since I purchased it in 2002. It's taken over 20,000 pictures without a hiccup. I managed to get liquid all over the sensor once, so photos take a little more touching up than usual, but they still turn out well. I should probably invest some money in a proper professional cleaning.

Nikon Coolpix 7900. For all the times I want to put myself in a picture and don't want to frighten the kind soul who has agreed to do so by handing them an SLR. Or for the "out on the town" nights when carrying an SLR really becomes a pain in the ass. This little camera is a trooper. It's been all around the world, and even 140 feet under the sea and hasn't coughed once.

Epson P-2000 Portable Media Player. This might be the coolest new little gadget I have. With 40 GB of portable storage, along with a built in SD and CF (I & II) reader, this is my photo storage solution. It's also my entertainment solution, and is currently loaded with Season 2 of House, M.D., which, YES, I DID PURCHASE.

Motorola L7 SLVR. This quad-band GSM phone will be my link to the outside world. Powered by a Hutch (a Hutchison/ESSAR partner company) prepaid SIMcard loaded with a bunch of rupees and a year of validity (Plans are by rupees here, not minutes, and they expire at the end of a given validity period), this phone is small, lightweight, discrete and provides ample standby time when I've gone a few days in need of a wall-socket.

Jabra bt620s. This stereo bluetooth device (A2DP and AVRCP) will connect to my phone wirelessly and allow me to move around my room wherever I am and leave my phone near the window where I can get the best reception. Turns out most rooms here are walled in thick plaster or cement which, inadvertently tends to make them deadzones for phones. It also lets me connect to my

Apple iPod (3rd Gen.) when using the iMuffs MA110 bluetooth adapter from Wi-Gear that I also brought along. I've got a bunch of songs on here, but as is always, we tend to listen to our favorites over and over again and ignore the others. Who needs 30,000 songs worth of music player space anyway? Hm...

What's that? No laptop? What kind of a wannabe flashpacker am I? Actually, I decided against the laptop because of weight concerns. Even though my laptop, a Dell 700m series ultraportable is lightweight, mine has the same storage space as the Epson, same video playback features, but lacked a CF slot, and weighed about 3 pounds more. And considering that India's becoming the next technology hot-spot, even the small gammadas (villages) are reported to have internet cafes.

With all this gadgetry, we'll see how the travelling goes. I'm looking foward to sharing pictures on this website as well as my Yahoo!Photos site. Keep coming back for updates!

About Katabatics

Well, I suppose I should explain a little about the name of this site. While some of the story is, in fact, confidential, the name Katabatics.com came into my possession through the industriousness of Mr. Andy Boothe.

Katabatics actually refers to the meteorological term "Katabatic Winds," which are gravity-driven air masses that rush down the sides of mountains. These are commonly found in Antarctica and are known to reach velocities of up to 300 Km/h. These winds plagued Sir Ernest Shackleton in his legendary attempt to reach the South Pole.

Andy insists that it is actually the name of a travelling troupe of acrobatic cats.

We welcome everyone's comments on this pressing debate.

Welcome to Katabatics.com

Welcome to the weblog Katabatics.com. This site will chronicle my 9 month sojourn through India. First, though, a little bit about me.

My name is Arpit Mahesh Dave, and I am a PIO (Person of Indian Origin), born in College Station, Texas. Having graduated from Rice University in May 2006, I decided to postpone my entry into medical school by one year. For quite some time I have had the feeling that spirituality will play an important role in my life, so I decided to spend this one year exploring those sentiments while traveling. As a born-and-raised Hindu, the destination became rather obvious - India.

And so here I am.

To begin, I find it necessary to engage in some thank-yous. First and foremost to God for having provided me with everything along the way to the realization of this amazing opportunity. I can only hope that for the rest of my life, I will continue to look back and still come to new realizations of His greatness.

Second, to my amazing family for being so understanding and supportive in this venture. In Indian culture its sometimes common to relentlessly push forward in life toward financial independence without really stopping to engage in any self-assessment along the way. I am ever so thankful that my parents have been so open to the idea of sidelining other plans in favor of my personal, spiritual growth. Special thanks to my sister for spending 30 years of her life paving the way for me. Without her wonderful stubbornness, thoughtfulness, and rebelliousness, none of this would likely be possible.

Third, to my fantastic girlfriend, Mary Niemann, whose warmth, love, and support I also can feel across the Atlantic. Thank you. For everything. I love you.

And last, but not even CLOSE to least, my best friend Andy Boothe, whose advice, well-wishes, thoughtfulness, and constant friendship have helped mold me in to the person I am today. Without his help, the chronicling of this journey would like not have taken place. He set this site up for me at a moment's notice, so for anyone that reads this site, you have Andy to thank.

I'm not entirely certain yet what form this site will take, but I hope among its posts about my travels and insights (spiritual, cultural, etc), you might find something worth reading. Even if just to keep posted on me (if it interests your) or to satiate your boredom.

So without further ado, we begin the journey.