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The Chinese government may not have made whopping concessions to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee but it has bowed to the persuasion of a sadhu.
Swami Chidanand Saraswati (51), head of Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, has succeeded in building a rest house on the banks of Mansarovar in Tibet. Funded by India Heritage Research Foundation (IHRF), a Rishikesh-based organisation, the rest house near Mt Kailash has a medical clinic. Initially, the Chinese government will send doctors to the clinic and the medicines and equipment will be provided by India.
The swami pulled off a virtual coup in December 2000 when, after wooing the Chinese and Tibetan authorities for nearly three years, he managed to have top officials fly to Kathmandu to sign an agreement. According to the agreement, for "all future projects in the region, including schools, hospitals, rest houses, sanitation programmes, the government of Tibet/China will give first priority to IHRF". It's a case of faith moving not just mountains but one of the most sensitive governments in the world.
The swami will inaugurate the rest house and the clinic next week. Accompanied by over 200 pilgrims from 13 countries such as Canada, Fiji, Hong Kong, Portugal Belgium and India, he will leave Kathmandu for Lhasa on Saturday. Scheduled to leave Kathmandu on 4 June, the group was delayed by the outbreak of SARS. China closed its border with Nepal and China Air suspended its Nepal-Tibet flights. The pilgrims did not lose hope. When the SARS scare receded, the group decided to press ahead.
Swami Chidanand had visited Mt Kailash in 1998 and was moved by the plight of the people living there. "There was no medical facility for hundreds of kilometres and people died of treatable ailments. There was no running water and no place for tourists and pilgrims to stay. I vowed I would do something..." He set up a one-man bureau in Kathmandu, which spent two years negotiating with Beijing to get permission for the project. Now, the swami plans to start schools and vocational training programmes.
Swami Chidanand is an environmentalist as well. He and his group plan to collect empty bottles and other rubbish left behind by tourists, take it back to Rishikesh and utilise it to generate bio-gas. The swami has met glacial experts in Delhi and discussed with them what kind of plants can be grown near Mansarovar.
The swami is a diplomat too. "The
project will cement the bond of friendship between India, Nepal and China."
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