Back in the bubble we drive some more. Wherever I look I see images that wouldn’t look out of place as full page photographs in the National Geographic. So those photographers aren’t that talented at all, with subject matter like this and a photo opportunity every three yards or so, how could they go wrong?
I’m still a bit disorientated, breathless - after all its not everyday that you meet a dwarf and touch a leper. I hope that nobody notices. We are driving away from the Charminar, back to the new city. We stop off at a pharmacy – our Indian host has a sore throat – perhaps he could buy me some tablets that would make me forget the images and experiences whirling in my head. India is giving me a headache, I need to calm down - do I? Don’t I like this headache?
We are driving to Lumbini Park. The traffic has eased a little and our progress is good. Out of the window I can see a stretch of water – it’s the Hussain Sagar Lake - our host tells us and the park is named after the birthplace of Siddarth, the latter day Buddha - we are going to take a boat out to look at the statue of the Buddha in the centre of the lake. He tells us that four people were killed when the statue sank at it was moved to the island where it stands. I wait for him to talk about the terrorist attack that killed forty-four people while they were watching the laser show in the park in 2007, but he doesn’t mention it.
We wander through the park. It is quite a nice park with a musical fountain and a water cascade, it isn’t Alton Towers, it is all very simple. The water cascade is a small man-made waterfall that you can walk behind, Indian families queue excitedly to walk behind the twenty yard run of splashing water, they laugh and scream as they cross, the women hold their saris off the concrete walkway to stop them getting splashed by the water. The musical fountain isn’t working and the laser show is later. Behind me young Indian men pay sixty Rupees to have a bowling machine bowl two overs worth of cricket balls at them. I stop for a minute to watch. The young man in the nets misses his first ball, the crowd laughs –he scowls and hits all the other balls.
We walk onto the jetty to get on the boat that will take us out to the statue. The water is completely flat and stinks, it looks stagnant and dull, and I wonder if there are any fish in it, and if so what sort of fish they are – grey ones probably. There are a number of boats waiting to take passengers out to the island, some are quite large, one even has coloured lights and dancers. To save time we are going by speedboat, a small blue and white four seater that looks like it has been around for a long time and is used a lot. We all choose a life jacket. Mine is a little small and only one of the clasps will fasten – I really have to lose some weight. We get into the boat. It rocks from side to side as we step into it. To balance the boat I get to sit in the drivers seat, the wheel has been disabled and our boatman uses the tiller on the outboard motor to steer.
The boatman starts the engine and we are off. Its dark as soon as we get ten yards away from the lights on the shore. We are moving at a reasonable pace and the wind is on my face. it seems to blow away the smell of the decaying water. The lights from the city reflect in the water, the sky is full of stars. If it wasn’t for the noise of the outboard it would be peaceful. We are approaching the island fast, the Buddha gets bigger with each passing second, it’s huge – how on earth did they get it out of the water when it sank? It occurs to me that I am travelling across a deep lake, in the dark, in a slightly dodgy boat with no lights, wearing a life jacket that doesn’t quite fasten – I wonder if it invalidates my insurance?
We are close to the island. The statue looks blue in the floodlights, it can’t be made from concrete – can it? There are people on the island but we don’t stop, we turn sharply to go around the far side of the brightly lit island and turn towards the shore. We land safely.
Back on dry land I think about the boat trip, it was fun, nothing spectacular, but definitely fun. No thrills, no spills, nothing to make you scream, or cry, or throw up. No whizzing, whirling, upside down, inside out sensation. There’s none of that at Lumbini Park, perhaps there is none of that anywhere in India. The families walking around aren’t looking for the thrills of a theme park, they don’t need the adrenalin rush of a roller coaster – they were just families out together to have some fun and take the refreshing evening air.
And it was refreshing - despite the smell from the lake - refreshing in more ways than one.
We walk onto the jetty to get on the boat that will take us out to the statue. The water is completely flat and stinks, it looks stagnant and dull, and I wonder if there are any fish in it, and if so what sort of fish they are – grey ones probably. There are a number of boats waiting to take passengers out to the island, some are quite large, one even has coloured lights and dancers. To save time we are going by speedboat, a small blue and white four seater that looks like it has been around for a long time and is used a lot. We all choose a life jacket. Mine is a little small and only one of the clasps will fasten – I really have to lose some weight. We get into the boat. It rocks from side to side as we step into it. To balance the boat I get to sit in the drivers seat, the wheel has been disabled and our boatman uses the tiller on the outboard motor to steer.
The boatman starts the engine and we are off. Its dark as soon as we get ten yards away from the lights on the shore. We are moving at a reasonable pace and the wind is on my face. it seems to blow away the smell of the decaying water. The lights from the city reflect in the water, the sky is full of stars. If it wasn’t for the noise of the outboard it would be peaceful. We are approaching the island fast, the Buddha gets bigger with each passing second, it’s huge – how on earth did they get it out of the water when it sank? It occurs to me that I am travelling across a deep lake, in the dark, in a slightly dodgy boat with no lights, wearing a life jacket that doesn’t quite fasten – I wonder if it invalidates my insurance?
We are close to the island. The statue looks blue in the floodlights, it can’t be made from concrete – can it? There are people on the island but we don’t stop, we turn sharply to go around the far side of the brightly lit island and turn towards the shore. We land safely.
Back on dry land I think about the boat trip, it was fun, nothing spectacular, but definitely fun. No thrills, no spills, nothing to make you scream, or cry, or throw up. No whizzing, whirling, upside down, inside out sensation. There’s none of that at Lumbini Park, perhaps there is none of that anywhere in India. The families walking around aren’t looking for the thrills of a theme park, they don’t need the adrenalin rush of a roller coaster – they were just families out together to have some fun and take the refreshing evening air.
And it was refreshing - despite the smell from the lake - refreshing in more ways than one.
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