Vajpayee’s childhood dream comes true at Indonesian island

Vajpayee’s childhood dream comes true at Indonesian island
SONIA TRIKHA

BALI, JAN 14: By coming to Bali, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee finally fulfiled what he described as his desire from childhood. At Governor Dewa Made Bartha’s banquet on Friday he told the head of Bali that he has realised his childhood wish by coming to the island that Tagore made his own in 1927 and Nehru called the ‘morning of the world’.

Vajpayee has been in Bali for a day but the memory of his visit will live with the Balinese for many years. They are virtually treating his coming as a blessing of God: all because he has brought them the water from the Holy Ganga, which he presented to the Governor and also poured into the Indian Ocean. In the island of Bali the water of the holy river, in the month of Mahakumbh, is the ultimate blessing and Vajpayee has brought more than a symbolic urn for the Governor here.

Later in the day, the Prime Minister went to the 16th century Tanah Lot temple of Shiva. Here he said, ‘‘I’ve come here and it shows there is no distance between nations. The world is becoming a family.’’

Tanah Lot is famous sunset spot in Bali but Vajpayee missed seeing one due to rain. The Prime Minister had a word for that as well: ‘‘I wanted to see the sunset but the clouds have hidden the sun, now only a Krishna can rescue the sun.’’ These rather holy sentiments on Bali were enthusiastically reciprocated by the Governor of Bali by wishing to come to India next month to bathe in the Holy Ganga and bring 15 high priests with him.

While the Prime Minister conversed with the Governor, during his stay in Bali, his voice has been Somvir, a 30-year-old Sanskrit scholar who has lived in Indonesia for nearly six years.

Somvir did his PhD thesis from Delhi University on ‘‘Sanskrit Sources of the Story of Ramayana’’. Now the 30-year-old from Rewari, Haryana, is a visiting professor appointed by ICCR at Udayana University in Bali. Somvir is closely involved with Indian religious activities on the island. He uses Tagore to describe his version of what has come to be known as a favourite tourist destination: ‘‘I have heard of God but I have seen him only in Bali.’’

Somvir loves the land of his adoption because here he ‘‘can work for his country by increasing the links between the two countries’’. But currently, he is taken up by his job as translator and conveying Vajpayee’s words has been a special pleasure. ‘‘While I was translating he (Vajpayee) asked me if I could translate in Hindi instead of English, you know most people from India leave Hindi behind when they travel, but the PM is a poet and brings honour to the national language by speaking it abroad,’’ says an impressed Somvir.

Somvir wants to make the Vedas available in Bhasha Indonesia, and after having spoken in the PM’s voice, he hopes to translate his books of poems also.