Bodh Gaya: A life of contrasts

Last updated on: November 17, 2010 at 12:11 pm by Justin Whitaker

Bodh Gaya: A life of contrasts 2010-11-17T12:11:00-07:00 Justin Whitaker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As I wrote before (regarding Varanasi), past visitors to India often described it as a land of marked contrasts, at once beautiful and foul, spiritually enlightening and humanely heart-wrenching. The more time I spend in Bodh Gaya, the more I feel these extemes myself. Though it may just be the meanderings of my own heart: at times joyful and light, at others heavy with nostalgia and longing.

I learned today that 80% of the people of Bihar, the state I live in, are considered ‘villagers’, meaning that they live an essentially subsistence life in homes made of mud and grass, some having brick as support and cowdung-insulation. Reading A.L. Basham’s classic, “The Wonder that Was India” we see that this archetecture is essentially no different from that of India’s inhabitants three thousand years ago in the Indus valley (now Pakistan).

While I type away on my $1000 laptop, men thirty feet away stack bricks, two by two and four high (weighing 30-50 pounds in all) on a piece of cloth wrapped on their heads. They then carry them 50 yards or so and up three flights of stairs to the latest area of construction here at the vihar. There is a kind of beauty and peace in living in a place so lightly touched by the sands of time. And yet our romantic bubble is quickly burst as the sounds of the busy street peirce the monastery walls. Bodh Gaya is a tourist town, and giant buses now compete with noisy auto-rickshaws, tractors and motorcycles on the narrow, unmarked roads.

It used to be quieter, according to our program director. Back in the 70s it was just bicycle rickshaws and people on foot. The occasional jeep or bus would lumber through, but the roads were poor and bandit-ridden and Bodh Gaya was a destination for only the most committed travelers. Some time in the 70s the first auto-rickshaws arrived with their noise-and-air polluting 2-stroke engines. Today it is a constant caucophany of horns and engines; though at times the chirps of a bird, the playing of a singing bowl, the crowing of one of our roosters, or the washing of the vihar pots and pans can be heard, reminders that I’m not in London any more, but a land far, far away.

I try to write at the local internet café, but there it is even worse. Indians don’t seem to have that sense of ‘I keep quiet in my space and you keep quiet in yours’ that many Americans and more English tend to have in my experience. In this tiny café, which seats only 5 people, countless times an Indian would set his cell phone out, allowing it to ring in the loudest, most annoying ring-tone imaginable, and completely ignore it. If he (and it has always been men) does pick it up, he’ll procede to yell at the person on the other end as if he were trying to talk across the above-mentioned traffic. And if it’s not the noise there it is the mosquitoes, or the neighbors smoking us out with their coal stove, or the ‘mobile disco’ (a new feature this year) passing by, shaking the walls with its booming Indian techno.

Not all of India is like this, I am assured. Our Hindi teacher from Jaipur is every bit as rattled and annoyed. Other visitors and travelers likewise remark on the oddity that has become of Bodh Gaya in recent years. An oddity fueled, no doubt, by people like me.

Merchants flooded the streets last week with bounties of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Men crowd onto an auto rickshaw cruising by the broken-down truck near the police station here.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 5, 2010

Sunsets and good coffee, life is good

Next Post

November 27, 2010 Destination Dharamsala

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Activism American Buddhism Art Book review Buddhism Buddhism Today Buddhist Ethics Burma/Myanmar China Christianity Commodification Environment Gender Happiness Health Humor India Interfaith Islam Japanese Buddhism Kant Media / News Meditation mindfulness Photography Poetry Politics quicktakes Running Teaching Technology Thailand Theism/Atheism Theravada Tibet Tibetan Buddhism Travels Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism video Western Philosophy Zen

Select a Month June 2021 January 2021 November 2020 August 2020 July 2020 March 2020 January 2020 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 November 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz