印度纪录片 大学生出书讲述印度文化之旅

大学生出书讲述印度文化之旅  

Zhou Liqun and Shen Yiming study unusual majors – Sanskrit and Hindi – at Peking University.
This July
27-year-old postgraduate Zhou and 22-year-old undergraduate Shen
both in the department of South Asian Studies
launched the first Indian travel guide written by university students.
It is called Under the Bodhi Tree and Above the Ganges River.
书名叫《菩提树下，恒河水上》。
It all began with their one-year stay in New Delhi for a language course in late 2010.
In response to requests from friends
Zhou and Shen posted their travel notes on a blog from early last year.
They depicted the fun and games of the Holi Festival
when everyone drenches their beloved ones with colored water.
They described Sikhism
a religion that reveres honesty and collaboration
with nuanced writing.
As their travel posts went viral among friends and travel magazines
they were challenged by an editor to write a book.
Their travel routes cover large parts of India.
"Having lived in cosmopolitan Beijing for six years
what I saw in India was like a new wave of delightful visual images
" said Zhou.
Wherever they went
they had the feeling that they were surrounded by old buildings in warm colors and an array of multi-colored saris.
"I fell in love with India when I read a poem in Mahabharata
an Indian epic
about the romance beeen prince Nala and princess Damayanti. It is so well-written
" said Zhou.
Zhou loves Indian literature
while her fellow co-writer Shen majors in Hindi
which contributes to their plementary knowledge of the culture and religion of Indian society.
In the winter of last year
the duo visited the city of the dead
Varanasi. In this religious capital of India
the dead are cremated on the river bank and their ashes thrown in the Ganges.
"Samsara is the core belief of Hinduism. They believe that being scattered in the Ganges will result in a better next life
" said Shen.
Shen and Zhou stood by the river bank
watching dozens of corpses wrapped in cloth
decorated with fresh flowers
gradually devoured by fire.
"The family seemed so posed. Whether there was underneath disquiet on those expressionless faces was hard to tell
but I could feel the tranquilizing power of religion
" said Zhou.
As the pair wandered across India
Zhou got to thinking: as we gallop through our lives shouldn't we stop for a while to think?
"I once spotted a man meditating by a river
" said Zhou. "He looked so ethereal against the orange sunset. It reminded me of what Elizabeth Gilbert described in Eat
Pray
Love
that meditation is about reaching a state where God dwells within you
as you
" said Zhou.
"Our book is just one of the achievements of our Indian culture pilgrimage
" said Shen.
"Maybe we need years of contemplation to realize what we truly acquired from our stay in India."