2014 Prime Minister

A visit to Rome & Vatican

A visit to Rome & Vatican

By

R. Bhakther Solomon

Wednesday, the 18^th July 2012, started the day from Hotel President (Western) at 9 a.m. to explore the city of Rome. The first stop was the Colosseum. After two hours of exploration of the place, became tired, so headed to Centre part of the city, near the main city station to have lunch. Then headed to Piazza Navona. It was built in 1^st century on the site of the stadium of Domitian, the Piazza follows the open space of the stadium. In the centre of the Piazza lies the  famous Fontana Quattro Fiumi. (Foundation of the Four Rivers).

Then went sight seeing by bus and enjoyed the one hour crossing all the important landmark sites / buildings of the city. Then at about 4 pm reached Saint Peters Square.  Before we went inside Saint Peter’s Cathedral, we headed up to the Dome. We had read this was a very difficult catastrophic climb – 356 (or 340)  steps up a very narrow and curved stairwell. The view from the top of the Dome was amazing.

Saint Peter’s Cathedral is the largest Catholic Church in the world. Well over one hundred years of design and details went into the structure along with thousands of works of arts. It is almost disturbingly opulent with gilded moulding and ceilings with mural.

The next day, the first stop was Castle of Saint Angelo. It had been a fortress and was used to hide Pope during war time. After this we went shopping. After a tea break, we went to see the Ferrari Showroom as my son was very particular to visit the showroom. Earlier in Paris, we had been to Mercedez Benz showroom. While  abroad, we never fail to take food from Mc Donald. We saw the biggest M-Store in Rome. More than 100 people were lined up at 7.30 p.m. to have the last meal of the day.

At the hotel, we were advised to avoid carrying anything in our pockets! Yes,  during our last visit in 2008 my wife’s handbag was snatched by a person  and he soon disappeared from the scene. Luckily this time, nothing happened in Rome.r

Do we wait for ages to make our hold places to be holier?

Do we wait for ages to make our holy places to be holier?

By

R. Bhakther Solomon

 

Shirdi,  the famous religious place in India:  On 5^th July 2012, until I landed in Pune airport, I had no idea where I would be accommodated for attending an International meet on Cooperatives. As per the UN, 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives. Along with other  delegates  from 15 countries. I took part in an International Co-operative meet at Shirdi. The meet was even briefly attended by Maharashtra CM Mr.Prithiviraj Chavan and by  five of his cabinet colleagues including the Minister for Co-operatives. On arrival at PUNE we  were taken to Shirdi, a town, 225 KM away from Pune. It was unfortunate that I had not previously known much about this place. It was a big town, where Late Sai Baba came in at an young age and lived till his end. He seems to have brought peace, prosperity and had reportedly  lot of miracles to his believers.  It is now a famous religious site in North India, like the Tripathi temple in Andhra Pradesh

 

Ban on Liquor: A large number of people from different parts of the country daily visit this place. There is a big temple where the Sai Baba prayed. Devotees believe that darshan in the temple, where Late Sai Baba spent his prayerful years, would bring peace and prosperity to them. It may be true also, otherwise people may not visit in large numbers. In the major areas of the town, fortunately there is a ban in selling liquor! A good practice which other religious centres should follow.

  

Chaotic town planning:  Unfortunately, the town is not kept clean. There is heavy traffic in the main road leading to the town. There are a large number of hotels of all star categories and restaurants of different kinds. Big commercial buildings are constructed without proper long term Town planning. There is no coping mechanism to see that the visitors get good feelings about the surrounding places of the holy temple. Roads are in bad shape. People move in a disorderly way all over the town looking for accommodation from cheap rentals to star accommodation  and food. In every small eatery, one  could see large crowds. Vehicles are parked all round the town in a is a disorderly way.

Vatican, in Rome:  I was fortunate exactly a month ago, I was  in another world famous religious place called the Vatican in the city of Rome along with my wife and son. This was my third visit and the second one for my wife and the first one for my son. My son was very particular to visit the place as he always fascinated by the Roman History / Empire. During the visit, it was for the first time I heard from my son about the cruelty that played out inside the Colosseum Stadium like complex during the early  Roman period. Ancient Rome’s ampi-theater, holder up to 55000 peoples was built by emperor Vespasian in AD 80 and was the scene of many deadly gladiatorial and wild animal fights. Here also, there are thousands of visitors to see the Vatican Basilica every day. A large number of people/ families visit from different parts of the world. Incidentally, Italy was also famous for myopia & drugs in the last century.  Rome/Vatican is Malia right in Italy, though the holy abode of Pope is separately administered. Interestingly, being a tourist haven at all times of the year, even now, all visitors to Italy / Rome are cautioned about pick pocketing!

 

Tranquillity maintained:  To our pleasant surprise, all human movements comes to halt after 7 pm around the Basilica in Rome. A Day long sightseeing buses stop their operation by 7 pm and there after no one could visit the church. Even the late visitors to the nearby Basilica have to depend upon the taxi. During the day time visitors are not only allowed to go inside the Basilica but also even allowed to go up to the top of the shrine, about 356 steps. One may have to climb step by step through a narrow spiral kind of passage where only one person at a time can step in/up. Up keep of the surrounding areas by the Church/civic authorities is something others need to emulate.

Velankanni, another famous place in Tamil Nadu: I am also a frequent official visitor to Nagapattinam. Nearby there is another famous church for Roman Catholics in India. A Large number of people every day visit this place also. It was a place where the maximum number of people died during the 2004 Tsunami. During the onslaught of Tsunami, many shops in and around the church were completely destroyed but the Church was not affected.  Though the church compound area is kept clean, the up keep of the main road leading to the church is a story of Shirdi replayed here. The main road leading to the church is full of shops selling all kinds of eatables, resulting in people littering the places with all kind of dirt. The nearby public / private bus stand is another public nuisence, not convenience. Many of the shops are owned by the church as well as by the civic authorities & they collect exorbitant rent. Still the area is not kept clean.

Religious Places:  When it comes to religious places and their maintenance, we, the Indians seem to be less bothered about the sanitation of the whole place. We just enter the temple/ church and say our prayers and make a small offerings and exit from the place with good feeling. It is good to record here that not only civic authorities makes lot of money by way  of different taxes from the people but also Temples and the Churches collects millions of money every year by way of offering from the public. 

Work for the good upkeep: It is high time in India that  authorities  - both  the Government and Temples/ Churches take note of the deterioting conditions in and around religious places in India  take efforts to preserve the outside environemnt as they would the sanctum sanctorum inside these temples and churches It will be of some interest to record here that in few town/cities in many countries even the civic authorises use vehicles fitted with water tanks  to clean the streets. Why should we lack on this? Should India, hoping to be one of the super powers,  fall behind in keeping our religious places as holy places? Let the Tourism & Cultural Ministries take special efforts on maintenance of these places to  attract more devotees to these places.

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