BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE DREAM IS OVER (PART-5 of 5)

Back To The Future - The Dream is Over!

After visiting the Valley of Kings at the West Bank, we went to see the giant statues of "Colossi of Memnon" and the temple of the queen Hatshepsut . While the Colosssi statutes offered the best photo-op for the tourists, the temple of Hatshepsut was unique - It was constructed by the a queen pharaoh who shined through a long line of male knigs dominating Egypt's past. So those of us , who were bored with the male mummies so far , took notice . A female pharaoh aroused our curiosity. It is said that upon the death of her father in 1493 B.C., Hatshepsut married her half-brother Thutmose-II and assumed the title of Great Royal Wife. Incest among Egyptian Royality was not rare. ( Did you know that the ravishing Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh of Egypt, , had to marry her brother aged 11, in order to be the queen of Egypt as the rule demanded a female to have a consort to ascend the throne !) Thutmose-II was the greatest campaigner of ancient Egypt and better remembered as "Egypt's Napoleon". After his death, she assumed the titile of "God Amun's wife" and ruled Egypt.
As the hot sun prepared to settle down for the day , we arrived at the famous Karnak Temple complex. Some say, this is perhaps the largest temple in world history before the era of organized religion. Standing inside a bewildering maze of pillars and obelisks , I realized that this vast temple complex was as important as the pyramids or the Valley of Kings in historical and archaeological terms. In fact, if you go to Egypt, the three places I would advise you not to miss are the Great Pyramid, The Valley of Kings and the Karnak Temple Complex of Luxor.

Karnak was known as Ipet-isut (most select of places) by the ancient Egyptians. It is a city of temples built over 2000 years and dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun (Sun God), Mut (Mother Goddess) and Khonsu (Moon God). Standing there , I wondered whether it is a matter of coincidence that the largest Sun Temple in India is named “Konark” and that in Egypt is called “Karnak” ? Did the Kalinga kings borrow this name from their African Counterpart? After all , the scene of a Giraffe being gifted to the king is depicted in the stone relief of Konark Temple and India had no giraffes when Konark was being built . The derelict place, much like Borobuddur or Angkor Vat, is still capable of overshadowing many of the wonders of the modern world and in its day must have been an awe inspiring sight. For the ancient Egyptian population this could only have been the “place of the gods”. It was the mother of all religious buildings, the largest ever made and a place of pilgrimage for nearly 4000 years. It covers almost 200 acres .The area of the sacred enclosure of Amon alone is 61 acres and can hold ten average European cathedrals. The great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big; St.Piter’s, Milan and North Dame Cathedrals could be lost within its wall. There are columns which are nearly 15 mtrs in diameter and would take 10 adults with their outstretched arms joined together to cover a single pillar’s circumference. ( Remember how tourists try to embrace the Iron Pillar in Delhi with their outstretched hands. Here , you have to line up 15 of them to encircle one pillar ! )Each pillar, each wall of this temple is like personalized dairies of the pharaohs who ruled Egypt thousands of years ago- all written in hieroglyphic language and still well preserved. These writings, correlated with papyrus accounts of ancient times , give a remarkable clarity and authenticity to Egypt’s past. In fact, in Egypt’s history not only the year but even the date of ascension of some kings can be fixed easily though the event happened some three to four thousand years ago. Unlike the ancient Indians, the ancient Egyptians believed that the written word has magical powers. So they wrote wherever they could – on the walls and obelisks of Karnak, inside the tombs of the Valley of Kings and even on articles kept for a king’s use in afterlife.

Compare it to ancient history of India where even some of the major happenings are mired in controversy and lack authenticity because of what Historians call the “lack of genuine source material”. Even , Ashoka ( 273 BC-232BC?) the greatest of ancient Indian King, was unknown to all subsequent kings- the Guptas, Hrashvardhan, Moguls and so on- till a British official of Calcutta , Joseph Princep, deciphered the Brahmi script and interpreted the inscription on the stone edicts of Ashoka. Even then, in none of the rock edicts the name “Asoka” was mentioned which led to an unprecedented historical manhunt by the British historians till finally one such edict was discovered , clearly bearing the name of Ashoka, in Karnataka in 1915! How Princep put the various pieces of this historical jigsaw resulting in discovery of Ashoka is nothing short of modern crime thriller . Isn't it astonishing that the Great Ashoka was introduced to our history books only 100 years ago! When I pass by the Princep Ghat back home in Calcutta, I feel a sense of gratitude to this great man, Joseph Princep, for giving us , Indians, our greatest ever king. But even now, nothing definite is known about Ashoka’s ancestors or whether he had 99 brothers (whom he is alleged to have killed to ascend the Mauryan throne!).

Though we may be proud of the antiquity of Indian civilization, think of it –our earliest surviving ancient monuments belong to post Buddhist era (3rd century BC onwards). The lion capitol of Ashoka at Saranath, which is our national emblem, is dated 250 BC. The only historical relics surviving out of our Indus Valley (contemporaneous to Old Kingdom of Egypt) are few single storied houses and drainage! Our oldest written documents with unambiguous historicity (Kautilya’s Artha Shastra ) belong the early Mauryan period only, hardly 3rd century BC. In the Vedic period, no durable writing medium was known to Indians and the sages passed down the sacred texts to their disciple through continuous verbal repetition ( shruti ). Hence , none of these exist in written form today. Compared to us, the ancient Egyptians had mastered the ultra durable Papyrus as a writing medium and were busy penning their history right from the period of Egypt's 1st Dynasty (4,000 BC) upto upto 11th century AD. Truly, their antiquity- unambiguous , well preserved and documented, dwarfs many of contemporary civilizations!

In the evening we went to buy some souvenirs and Egyptian curios. The hot favourite – Papyrus paintings , mummy masks and Egyptian cotton shirts . Our guide had informed us that it is comparatively cheaper in Luxor town. As I was going through the crowded bazaar, a shopkeeper called out “India? I nodded. He shot back “ Amitabh Bachhan! Come to my shop please. Really good stuff here for you”. Everywhere in Egypt I went, I heard the name of Amitabh Bachhan next to the word “Indian”. For all practical purposes, Amitabh, is a synonym for India as far as Egypt is concerned . Everyone from little children to bearded shopkeepers knows about him. I was told that Hindi films especially that of Amitbh are extremely popular in Egypt. That must be so, because we had noticed that one cable channel in our hotel room beamed Hindi movies continuously. When I asked a boy at a shop about Hindi movies he told me that he had recently seen Shakti movie. “What acting man, this Amitabh of yours! This guy is really great” he gushed. Everywhere, we went, we found the Egyptians extremely fond of Indian Tourists and when a shopkeeper even offered his mobile phone to me as a loving gift from Egypt,I was truly overwhelmed. Never, in any foreign land, have I seen so much fondness for India ! Bosses in the ministry of tourism and producers of Bollywood potboilers, please take notice - here is an untapped market for you with unlimited goodwill!

In Luxor market, I was puzzled to see some shops marked as “hassle free”. I asked the guide what it means and he told me that in those shops, tourists are not pestered to buy something at any cost. I asked the price of a papyrus painting, the shopkeepers answered 100 pounds. I turned away and immediately the shopkeepers became very apologetic, “do not be angry, my friend. You tell your price. Does not matter whether you buy or not. Let us do business”. Tourism is taken seriously in Egypt. No wonder ten million of them from all around the globe flock here every year. The guide came running from another end and immediately enquired whether the shopkeeper was trying to hassle us. They probably do not know what hassle means in a typical Indian bazaar.

The tour finally came to an end as we headed to Luxor station for a train to Cairo. A porter called out “India! Amitabh !” and came running towards us . When the train arrived , it was a sheer coincidence to find the same ticket collector on our coach. He immediately recognized us and greeted us with “Hello India, back from the trip? How is Amitabh Bachhan back home?”

Alps Tours, Calcutta had fulfilled all its promises. We had heard many horror stories from people about travel agencies promising a heaven to tourist and leaving in the lurch in strange foreign lands ( after, of course the payment is made!). But not so with Alps Tours, whose owners Abhijit Dhar personally accompanied the group and took care throughout the trip. He had promised us a pyramid for breakfast, a Karnak for lunch and a belly dancer for dinner- all served with slices of History! He truly kept his words. What more can you expect for a sum of a little above $1000?

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