India 360 made us travel to some really remote places. So remote that there were no tar roads, day-long electricity or phone connections. Travelling so remote can often lead to home sickness or apprehension. However, some wonderful-natured locals can go the extra mile, making you feel at home, however remote that place is from your own home. One such example was experienced by us at Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh.
We visited Gumbaz, Tipu Sultan’s final resting place at Srirangapatana, across the Cauvery river from Mysuru in Karnataka. The main chamber of Gumbaz contains the tomb of Tipu Sultan, his father Hyder Ali and mother Fakr-un-Nisa. Around the main chamber are laid various graves of Tipu’s brother, sisters, brothers-in-law, Tipu’s wife, children and sons-in-law. Every member of the Tipu family has at least a headstone inside the lawns of Gumbaz. Srirangapatana is just 16 km from Mysuru. So on a busy day, tourist operators and taxis bring in hundreds of visitors to Gumbaz.
As we were walking towards Gumbaz’s main mausoleum, a father was walking out with his two young boys after having visited the monument complex. The youngest boy, about 5 years old, looked very troubled. A conversation ensued as he hesitatingly asked questions of his father. We reproduce the conversation in its original form in Hindi along with English translations. Continue reading