There are times when your feet touch a place and then they don't stop moving till you reach someplace ahead of you. And then there are times when they touch a place and steadfastly refuse to move. I experienced both today; in nearly the same place. Fate took me to Sanchi today. A 6 am car ride to Jabalpur for work seemed pretty bleary. An hour into the drive, the driver says "Arre madamji, Sanchi ke stupa ka naam suna hai? Yeh raha. Jao dekh ke aao." I assumed that we would be back in half an hour. That was at 7:15. As of this moment that I type this, it's 9:30 and I still haven't moved from here.
I'm not giving history lessons. There's google and libraries for that. Historical and religious and archeological significance aside, for me the place felt like I'd taken a warm bath after an excruciatingly tired day. Something about the place washed over me, healing. I spent a few days in Bhopal before I got here, so this calm wasn't new to me, but it was. It wasn't just the lack of noise, but there is an actual energy of peace. The campus around the stupas is vast, and rocky. There are steps to climb, rocks to sit on, inscriptions to marvel and, and I could keep going. All you can see and smell and breathe and taste and feel is green-ness. That isn't a word, but I really couldn't care less.
Somehow, I've managed to drag myself to the car. The wind is still hitting my face, but I think I left my sighs of contentment back at Sanchi. Madhya Pradesh, it's not only your tourism ads that are brilliant. You've won my soul.