Mandsaur and Shiva!

Mandsaur is known as the opium and garlic district of India. It's 1987. Pat Cash has just won Wimbledon against all odds. We are at my paternal grandfather's ashram in this district, Mandsaur. Mandsaur is in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. It has a temple called Pashupathinath that's exactly the replica of the same name temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Nice, isn't it. It's even beside a river called Shivana. I sat one evening, two days after Cash won Wimbledon, on the steps of the same temple. In the night. On the banks of that river. Watching the moon in full bloom. As a villager who had accompanied us regaled us with warrior triumphs of the Malwa people in wars against various Kings and principalities. Against Ghauri, against Sawai Man Singh and others that I could barely register. Evidently, they were very proud people. Till the Scindias of Gwalior handed them to the British in some truce that took place. The British were smart guys. They promoted the opium cultivation there. We all know for what. But the villages in the district became immensely wealthy over time. Add garlic to that and by the 80s, they had lots of money to spread around. One such village wanted to build it's own temple and ashram. It's a kind of a symbol of a village having arrived on the big stage. My grandfather Mahananda Majumdar, who was travelling his way through the entire North India after having given up on the family life and responsibilities, somehow landed up there. Actually, a village head who had been visiting Mathura had chanced on him and convinced him to come there. And he did so. They showed him the village, it's surrounding areas and quietly asked him with folded hands if he could set up a temple and an ashram there with a presiding diety. By the time we landed in 87, the temple was being thronged by hundreds if devotees from the surrounding areas and bhajans would be sung through out evening everyday by young men in filmy tunes. Of course, my grandfather would happily issue all instructions in his only known language - Bangla, the entire lot of villagers used to understand what they wanted to. No stress. We were put up in the ashram. Ma had to remain in another part of the ashram as it was all male otherwise. Father had a grand time discussing economy, politics and history with all the village elders who came by. The brother and I wandered all over the place. We even went to the Mandsaur town at the back of a tractor to have a breakfast as the ashram had no breakfast. Just two frugal meals two times a day. Cooked in mud pots. As directed by my grandfather! He was the temple priest too and so he was extremely busy. Woke up at 4 am to attend to temple duties. Back to the moonlit night beside the river. That night, somehow, and don't ask me how, I realized my Hindi was good. I could speak in Hindi with the local raconteurs impeccably. It just came out. Of course, I couldn't rattle off at speed but what was being said was correct and there was no inflection and influence of English. At all. That night, while discussing the Hindu way of life, not religion if you notice, I also learnt about the importance of Shiva in our lives. The importance of timely destruction so that new creations can take place. Again. Last year in an agitation in Mandsaur, five farmers were killed by police. They were agitating for better prices for their produce. Vegetables and pulses. The government announced some money for the killed citizens. It's not yet been given fully. Various leaders trooped there and made some placatory noises. You know what they are, just noises. Farmers, those very affluent farmers there in Mandsaur were agitating. So you begin to wonder what's happening? A year has passed by. It's even more dire. Hope they don't have to go back to Opium totally. And here we are, still worrying about some orange haired guy in some nation or some crying Cricketer. Opium for the masses? I just hope that through these destructions, there is another set of creations round the corner. Trying to be optimistic. The importance of Shiva, you see.