The two B's ringing in the New Years

That was my first visit to Japan. As a young teenager travelling with my parents, I distinctly recall all that I soaked in with great eagerness, then. The cherry blossoms, calming Japanese gardens, the elaborate tea ceremony by a gracious Japanese lady, including the 'greenish' concoction named 'Tea' along with nice, sweet goodies to eat. All these still flash on my 'inward eye' in quite a 'Wordsworthian' way, flooding back those honeyed memories. But, two of those experiences, one of the ancient and another of the ultramodern, curiously and distinctly blend.

Thrilled by the wonder and curiosity it generated, we decided to travel by the bullet train, called Shinkansen with a cute, 'dolphinesque' nose. Armed with a pocket book having Japanese words for common touristy English words, we finally located the 'burret tlain' and got into it. Wanting to make most of the experience, we decided to go into the engine of the train to learn and understand more about it. The yet to be born scientist within me must have goaded us into this adventure! The train driver with a poker face was a little rattled at first. However, on realising that these were three harmless but curious tourists from India, he decided to indulge in us. With great politeness and patience, he responded to the barrage of questions that my dad, mom and I placed before him.

Our conversation was with words from the little handbook and all the wild gesticulations to convey our doubts and queries! He, too, tried telling us whatever he could, which we completely failed to understand. Eager to tell us more with animation, he even moved the switches and levers to show us the working of the train. He raised the speed, then slowed it down and showed us some more variations in the sound and speed. The light green console with the squeaky clean set of dials and meters in the cockpit was just the opposite of the messy engines of the diesel trains that one had seen in India, back then. I can never forget the politeness as well as the kind and helpful attitude with which that driver in the cockpit of the bullet train, with great pride in his work, tried to show and tell us all he could.

The other fascinating experience was the day-visit to the Kamakura Buddha. I recall half kneeling and squatting to light some incense sticks and also offer some water from a little stream, using a modest bamboo ladle. One gazed at the huge, green-grey stone Buddha with a smile that embraced the whole world. With some faded recollection, the aesthetics of that visit is well engraved in my mind.

As we now savour the celebrations of the Gujarati New Year, I recall the gentle feeling of the new-fangled, white, bulbous nosed bullet train morphing into the ancient, greenish-grey Buddha. Notwithstanding the noise and smoke pollution of firecrackers, this has been a serene time of celebration and joy, of conversations, of caring and sharing with near and loved ones. If we must, let's race through life at a bullet-pace. However, let's remember to enjoy and smell the scenes and breath-scents. Let's radiate the politeness of that train driver and his little Buddha within. May we also release a whole spring of joy and goodness, removing fear and pettiness. This New Year is called 'Soumya', which also means gentle. Let's have a fruitful year ahead, courageously moving on, clinging to the truth, with steadfast gentleness in thought, word and action.