I just visited Lumbini and  enjoyed it much.I feel like sharing what I feel and write something atleast of the trip.I apologise for its being long and raw.Thanks everyone who reads it.

 

At first,to be frank, I was agog by the very impulse that foster in my mind to visit Lumbini-the birth place of Gautam Buddha.Though,upon contemplation,I had found some rumors of Buddhism on my acts on various occasions in the history of my existence.The intense longing to visit my Holy compatriot and probe the birth-place prompt me to pack my back-packs with my keepsakes and trinkets.

The platonic journey begins in a battered bus,as we descend from the valley;I was in a sense,relieved to be liberated from the city's dynamics--its relationship and rants,its crowd and commerce,its unpleasant noise and stale.The alienating lifestyle and status of the people--so very near from the Capital!--surprised me as I scanned the places from the open window.The bus traverse in its own pace,heedfully,on the serpentine slope of the hills along the wholesomely muddy river "Trishuli";thanks to the monsoon and its effects.At one point,I saw a glimmering speck from the tin-roof of a house,on the top of the hill--solo--standing there whose purpose,way to get there and its occupants were unfounded.

The very first impression on landing at Lumbini, this time of the season,is its heat.The baked clime and heated rays from the bright sun can be readily felt and one can found himself/herself sweating instantly and profusely.Without delay,I was searching for the shade.As I sat under the swinging ceiling-fan,relieved,quasi dehydrated(from sweating),I discover an ambiance with good vibes which tickles my senses.The area which surrounds the birth-place,I found, is blessed with bounteous nature which cater the place with abundant flora and fauna.Being a wet-land and a conservation area,many a fowls,esp. crane and other animals share the place safely while gangs of water-buffaloes can be found swimming leisurely in dirty ravines and creek ,soothing themselves from the luminous sun.The air was brimmed with mango scent and redolences of miscellaneous flowers and lots of insects as well.Busy bees,it seems,were enjoying their flight in harnessing the poetic brew from multitude of blooming flowers which has helped the surroundings to be as colorful as rainbow as I eagerly stride to visit the holy place.

Then, I was there in exact location of his birth-place which the authorities has pin-pointed with a markers stone from where a beacokning godly soul was reincarnated to help humans by propounding the knowledge of cyclic existence and cessation of such mechanism .Emperor Asoka remorsing his sanguinary deed,visited this place and erected a sturdy tower,near the birth-place to purge himself from the "karmic" infliction.The whole place is surrounded annularly by water,onto which ,floating lotus grow perennially,which in itself is a symbol of enlightenment.The peripheral areas,I reckon,is of massive global interest which according to UNESCO's world heritage site,"can be use for the greater benefit of human beings,"which cannot be argued.The landscape is equipped with many monasteries--built and endorsed by different countries from all around this planet--accordingly with their own aesthetic taste and idiosyncratic understanding of the doctrine.One can find huge gold-coloured Buddha statues inside most of the monasteries,sitting in lotus posture meditating calm and quietly without any effects surpassing the Universal consciousness.The frequent dome shaped "stupas" and its apex gave a hint of a connection center of human mind to the Universe.Throng of monks ,clads in robes,layman and other personalities can be found conglomerating in such monastery or good"energy-centers",praying hymns rhythmically ,symbiotically with clangor of bells and other instruments,reverencing and praising the religious icon and His pronunciations. Others,who are deeply interested in such tenets,practices and performs many mystic and esoteric rituals inside their convent for the attainment of blissful knowledge.Keen eyes can discover many secretive symbols,paintings and designs on various places. I was, indeed,intrigued upon discovering Chinese "Dhritrarastra",inside Chinese monastery,who looks much younger and polished than explained by the sacred Hindu texts.The museum provides visitors with the history of  the Prophet, ancient paintings,murals,sculptors , relics and His life.Lumbini research institute exist on the edge of the place,adorn with rare books which is used as supplements and references for researching scholars. The design of the integrated "Masterplan" of Lumbini in itself bears synonymous characteristic with other special places in the world,viz.:Vatican in Rome,Washington monument et cetera,which can be very intresting for the aspirant architectures.

A prince by birth,Siddhartha Gautam's palace lies approx. 26 km west of Lumbini in a place called "Tilaurakot".I stepped up in another bus to visit his palace.The bus,then ,moved in a speed that defies motion.Constant screeching of brakes can be heard to save unruly goats,kids and other cattles playing frolickingly on the middle of the road which provide me ample enough time to check the new people and places."Bhojpuri",a dilect is the first choice of the natives in discourse;most of the people were dark-skinned with amiable temperamence.Most of the houses were built by mud clinging with twings and twines.The roof thatched of hay is  butressed by couple of resolute branches,which seems quite simple and unrealistic for a sophisticated mind.The remnants and area of the palace was no bigger than the birth-place.The usher of the place takes me to the Buddha's living room and also into his kitchen supplied with a well !!

Perambulating in an idyllic evening at Lumbini,listening sonorous warblings of teeming birds creates an atmosphere which cultivate a sound of harmonious existence.At night,lightning bugs carrying their lanterns prowl among trees while foxes howls actively in the dark, marauding in the tall grass springing salubriously from the wet-land of Lumbini and I for one was delighted by then Lord's creation of such spirits including myself in this known reality of time and space.Nevertheless,the holy place offers a clear perception and better understanding of what is and lack thereof.