# How according to the author of Running Water, did the television serial Ramayana affect life?
OR: Discuss after Rohinton Mistry, the overwhelming impact of the
television serial Ramayana on the psyche of the contemporary Indian people.
Answer: During the stay in hotel Bhagsu, the author, Rohinton Mistry went to a restaurant. He ordered tea and the waiter took his order cheerfully then left. Thirty minutes later, he was still waiting and found that the door marked as ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’. He enquired the night watchman about the matter and his order. The night watchman informed him that the day was Sunday so everyone of the restaurant was watching Ramayan and they would come back after finished the Ramayan Serial or five minutes left.
The author Ruhinton Misty mentioned that the television serial Ramayana mostly affected the life of the people of Dharmsala. There were sixty million homes began tuning in every Sunday morning and those who did not own TVs went to friends who did. In the countryside, entire villages gathered around the community set. Before the programme started or stared, people would garland the TV with fresh flowers and bum incense beside it. Classified ads in newspapers would read: ‘Car For Sale’- But there was ‘Call after Ramayan’. Interstate buses would make unscheduled stops when the auspicious time neared and woe betide the bus driver who refused. Ministerial swearing in- ceremonies were also known to be postponed.
When, the Ramayana was ended in Seventy-eight episodes without completed then the street sweepers went on strike. So, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting then sanctioned other twenty-six episodes for proper conclusions.
People also began mobbing the actor who played the role of Rama, genu Tecting wherever he appeared in public, touching his feet, asking for his blessing. Besides, Rajib Gandhi’s Congress Party enlisted/used the actor god to compaign for their candidate in the upcoming election. The actor-God went around telling that Ram would give them blessings if they voted for the Congress Party and how it was the one sure way to usher in the golden age of Rama’s mythical kingdom of Ayodhya.
# What are the problems that the author faced after he reached Dharmsala?
Answer: After the author, Rohinton Mistry reached Dharmsala, the desk clerk informed that electricity workers were on strike so there was no electricity anywhere neither in Upper Dharmsala nor in Lower Dharmsala and in Kangra district.
Secondly, the author was informed that there was one more problem that there was no water. Because of having rains, rocks fell from the mountains and broke all of the water pipes. The management told him that he would be supplied two buckets of water a day.
The houseboy or the waiter staggered in with two streaming plastic buckets, one red and the other blue. The author wondered briefly where the water in the buckets came from if the pipes were broken. He guess was a well. In the bathroom, he splashed the hot water over him with a mug as he was totally wet and cold.
The author had no other choice than the ‘Hotel Bhagsu’. Its brass tag had “Hotel Bhagsu” engraved on one side. Ironically, “Hotel Bhagsu”, the name did not match with the situation because ‘Bhagsu’ meant ‘Running Water’ in local language, but there were several problems for water and actually there was no running water in the hotel.
# Give a brief account of Rohinton Mistry’s journey from Bombay to Hotel
Bhagshu.
Answer: According to Rohinton Mistry’s, there was thousand miles between Bombay and Dharmsala . At first, twenty-eight hours by train first class brought him to Chakki Bank, in Punjab. It was pouring/raining relentlessly as he reached there. There could be a big demand for transportation in the weather.
Then the author took a pitiful cycle rikshaw which was open sides and old gunny sacks tied to the top of the frame formed a feeble canopy. The auto rickshaws taunted him with their waterproof interiors. Their owners were watching amused certain he would cave in. The gunny sacks were as effective as broken sieve in keeping out the rain and despite his raincoat he was soon drenched. The downpour saturated his bag and its contents. After some time, he reached in Pathankot.
In Pathankot, the rikshawala convinced him a taxi was better than a bus in the weather. Afterwards, the author was glad that he took his advice on the mountains; buses had pulled over because the avalanches, the pipe-breaking avalanches, had made the roads far too narrow. Meanwhile, he waited as the rickshawalla and the taxi driver haggled over the former’s commission.
And four hours later, he reached the ‘Hotel Bhagsu’. He had already glimpsed the handiwork of the pipe-breaking avalanches during his four-hour taxi ride. The car had labored hard to reach MCLeod Gunj up the winding, rock strewn mountain roads, grinding gears fully, screeching and wheezing, negotiating segments that had become all but impassable.
# Narrate the experiences of Rohinton Mistry in Hotel Bhagsu.
Answer: After the author, Rohinton Mistry reached Dharmsala, the desk clerk informed that electricity workers were on strike so there was no electricity anywhere neither in Upper Dharmsala nor in Lower Dharmsala and in Kangra district.
Secondly, the author was informed that there was one more problem that there was no water. Because of having rains, rocks fell from the mountains and broke all of the water pipes. The management told him that he would be supplied two buckets of water a day.
The houseboy or the waiter staggered in with two streaming plastic buckets, one red and the other blue. The author wondered briefly where the water in the buckets came from if the pipes were broken. He guess was a well. In the bathroom, he splashed the hot water over him with a mug as he was wet and cold.
The room had an enormous picture window. The curtains when thrown open, revealed a spectacular view of Kangra valley. But, he could not linger over it, urent matters were at hand. He unzipped the bag and wrung out his clothes, spreading them everywhere: over the bed, the chair, the desk and doorknob. Wet and wretched, he set shivering on the edge of the bed, waiting for the hot water and remembering the warnings to stay away from Dharmsala while it was in the clutches od the dreaded monsoon.
The author had no other choice than the ‘Hotel Bhagsu’. Its brass tag had “Hotel Bhagsu” engraved on one side. Ironically, “Hotel Bhagsu”, the name did not match with the situation because ‘Bhagsu’ meant ‘Running Water’ in local language, but there were several problems for water and actually there was no running water in the hotel.
# Discuss how the author presents a vivid picture of life and situation
in Dharamsala.
Answer: Dharamsala is a collection of settlements perched across the lower ridges of the Dhauladur range. The Dhauladur range itself is a southern spur of the Himalayas and surrounds the Kangra Valley like a snow-capped fence. McLeod Gunj, at seven thousand feet is one of the highest settlements. Lower Dharmsala and Kotwali Bazaar are the main commercial centres crowded with hotels, shops and restaurants. Nowrojee store is also significant for supplies food, clothes and some other things in Dharamsala. Forsyth Gunj is a one street village and of course the huge military cantonment which was the beginning of everything back in the British days.
In the Nowrojee store, the author had met the local people who were inquiring if the newspaper delivery was expected to get through to Dharmsala. Foreign tourists in designer raincoats were weekinng out the turdy black umbrella which locally was the staple defense against the rains. The tourists were also laying in a stock of Bisleri mineral water. Dharmsala was also significant the Tibetan monks and Tibetan people who came to Dharmsala in 1959 with Dalai Lama.
# Describe the author’s experiences at Dharamsala.
Answer: In Dharamsala, the author first badly experienced the evil moments of ‘Hotel Bhagsu’. There he had to stay without proper water and lack of electricity. Also, the rain had been disturbing him broadly.
Though the time was bad but his enjoyment moment became arising. He had seen the enormous picture window from the ‘Hotel Bhagsu’. When he thrown the curtain then he confronted/saw a spectacular view of Kangra valley.
Along with his uncle, he around the whole Dharmsala. He met the Tibetan monks, who in their crimson robes, always smiling joyfully and exchanging namaskaars with everyone. Then, they went at a tall gold crowned structure at the centre of a group of buildings. It was a chorten, a religious monument, dedicated to the memory of all those sufferings under Chinese occupation in Tibet.
They left the little square and the buildings which housed Tibetan handicraft shops, restaurants and hotels. Farther down were the Tibetan homes, shacks and shanties of tin and stone, every window was adorned with flowers in rusty tin canes. Faded prayer flags fluttered in the trees overhead.
After that, they went to a beautiful park at the centre of McLeod Gunj. They continued to climb and the mountain spur that dominates the valley rose the golden pinnacles of Thekchen Choeling, the Island of Mahayana Teaching, the complex which was the new residence of the Dalai Lama. There they experienced Dalai Lama’s cottage (a green corrugated roof), the temple (a three-story lemon yellow hall topped by gol spires), Dalai Lama’s throne (where Dalai Lama sat, gave audiences and preached), the life statue of the Buddha(in the lotus position, locked in a huge glass case) etc. They also saw the gashed and scarred hill, the Lingkhor, the Holy walk circumscribing the Potala, the Dalai Laama’s palace, and some other natural scenery as well as old monuments.
Thus, the author, Rohinton Mistry experienced his childhood dreaming place with remote mountain hamlet, beautiful mountains, three-foot-deep snow drifts, the snow on the roof like thick icing on a cake, Dalai Lama’s place and the Tibetans and other else.
# Give a brief description of the Tibetans in Dharamsala.
Answer: When Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959, just hours before the Chinese conducted a murderous raid o his palace in Lhasa and occupied the country. Then, he found refuge in India. For months afterwards, other Tobetans followed him, anxious to be with their beloved spiritual leader. The pathetic bands of refugees arrived, starving and frostbitten-the ones lucky enough to survive the gauntlet of treacherous mountain passes, the killing cold , of course, Chou En-Lai’s soldiers. Dalai Lama spent his first months of exile in anguish and uncertainty. After that, he decided that Dharmsala was where he would establish a government in exile.
Perhaps this quiet mountain hamlet in the Himalayas reminded him of his own land of ice and snow. Soon, a Tibetan colony evolved in Dharmsala, a virtual country-within a country. Visitors began arriving from all over the world to see Namghyal, Monastery, Tibetan Children’s village, the Dalai Lama’s new temple or to study at the Library of Tibetan works and Archives. There are also the Tibetan temples and the monks who in their crimson robes, always smiling joyfully and exchanging namaskaars with everyone.