Release a book on their travels over the last thirty years, as avid photographers and curiosity seekers.
Echoes of Faith, a unique book authored by Novel Lavasa and Ashok Lavasa was released formally on 27 July at the India International Centre Multipurpose Hall packed with an appreciative audience that also enjoyed a presentation on some of the enchanting stories contained in the book. As the title suggests, the book has many tales of Explorations, Nature and Divinity associated with about seventy places in and outside India that the adventurous couple has visited in the last thirty years. It represents ‘spots of time’ that reflect moments gone by, captured, and that can be relived. It brings to the fore some surprising (and other well-known) figures and places, each carrying its own beliefs and narratives that have gone on to become an integral part of their local, or our cumulative, culture.
Ambassador Shyam Saran, President IIC and himself an avid trekker released the book along with Saurabh Dwivedi, Founding Editor, The Lallantop, Shovana Narayan, Kathak Dancer & Author, Ajeet Bajaj, Adventurer and Managing Director, Snow Leopard Adventures Pvt. Ltd. And Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) & Trustee, IIC.
The narrative in the stories is woven around faith that has “cradled civilizations and has carried the burden of humanity” as the blurb suggests. The book has some interesting photographs of famous places like Amarnath, Gaumukh, Bodh Gaya and the monasteries of Ladakh and the fascinating stories around these places as also many lesser-known but powerful and remote places in different parts of the country and a few in other countries like Malaysia, Japan and China. These places that bring people together and help them survive could be found amid rugged mountains of Ladakh or by tiny streams in the Deccan, in deep forests of Madhya Pradesh or by a roadside in Rajasthan. Quoting Gustave Flaubert, the French novelist, the book states that ‘Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.’
“Echoes of Faith weaves a nature–faith–culture story of human bonds and bondage. It has photographs of places that unite, all the while preserving identities. Beneath and beyond the symbols runs a thread of love, dhaga prem ka, as Rahim called it. If it is intact, we are one; if not, we get tied into knots that society can do without” writes Ashok Lavasa in the Preface of the book. Deeply philosophical in its orientation while narrating the stories that are part of the oral tradition of storytelling in India, the book quotes from The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘Life does not consist entirely of what we see and hear and feel, the visible world which is undergoing change in time and space; it is continually touching an invisible world of other; and possibly more stable or equally changeable elements, and no thinking person can ignore this invisible world.’
Some people believe in the Supreme Being from whom everything emanates. We can see temples dedicated to Ganga at Chandrashila beyond Tungnath in Uttarakhand, and a temple of Ganga at Diu on the shores of the Arabian Sea, which have no overt link with the river Ganga that we know today. The five lings worshipped in Diu represent the same object of faith that the lings under a tree in the remote village of Baidyanathpur in West Bengal represent. We can’t help but feel that we are part of a common heritage, having heard the same story through generations, albeit in different languages and with differing nuances. Take the story associated with Parvati and the peeths (sacred places) where different parts of her body fell, or the story of creation associated with Amarnath. These are tales about basic beliefs and emotions of human beings associated with characters that are beyond human form. There is a divinity associated with them, one that can also be ascribed to the physical elements of superhuman might, such as seas, mountains, trees or rivers.
The stories are strung together in four parts. The first part of the book, ‘History: Past and Future’, narrates stories of real people who, through their perseverance, patience and pain, attained the privilege of being ‘larger than life’. They may be in different states, like Golu Devta in Himachal Pradesh or Ramdevra in Rajasthan, and may not have any overt connection with each other but are linked by a thread of common belief and emotion.
The deep devotion witnessed in the places covered in the second section, ‘Spiritual Masters’, is not only found in places associated with any specific religion; almost all of them relate to historical persons, many of them known for being spiritual masters in their own right. Faith is also the foundation of the stories and places associated with Buddhism and Jainism. This section also brings together tales about places associated with gurus like Kabir or Guru Nanak, and brings out the lessons from their lives as they challenged prevailing social norms and societal expectations.
The third section, ‘Mythology’, covers places that have fascinating apocryphal stories associated with them. These places are located in different parts of the country and tied together by religious threads that weave a common cultural fabric, cutting across political boundaries and barriers of languages. Most of them are linked to the stories from the Ramayana or Mahabharata, or the Holy Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, and Hindu goddesses. This part of the book brings to the fore temples and sites that readers may or may not have heard of.
The final section, ‘Nature’ takes us to the abodes of gods who present themselves in the form of rivers or mountains. The waters of these rivers are the source of life and reverence for billions. In order to reach the source of these rivers, one has to undertake tough journeys in mountainous terrains and cross difficult passes. These passes are the links between two valleys—the valleys of knowledge and faith. The stories are connected with each other, like different threads weaving a common pattern.
The book does not follow any chronology or geography. It follows the thread that led the authors to discover our collective heritage, all the while crisscrossing from one place to another. Each story is connected with another but in ways beyond our comprehension. Like faith, the book does not seek a rational form.
This book is a testimony to the adventures, travels of Novel and Ashok, two sensitive souls out to assimilate life, by a passionate lifestyle that reflects in their work, social interactions and incessant travels. The camera is part of their life support system and their keen interest in life around them seldom allows their eyes to rest.
The launch event also had a mini exhibition of some of the photos used in the book. They have held several exhibitions of their photographs in cities across India. They love music, river rafting, trekking, racquet games, reading. Novel has written occasional pieces on their travels and Ashok has published two books, An Ordinary Life: Portrait of an Indian Generation and An Uncivil Servant, besides contributing essays to books on climate change, public policy, and democratic institutions, and articles for newspapers.
