Bali, the heaven on earth. Review on Bali

Bali was my dreamland. When I was posted in Indonesia as the UNESCO Adviser, it was my cherished desire to visit Bali, and I did so with my family in 1973. Bali is quite different from the rest of Indonesia. The local language is Kawi, but the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, which I read, write and speak, is known to every one in the island. Bali has predominantly Hindu customs, although the Hindu rituals practised in Bali are quite different from those practised in India. So also the religious practices. Bali has more than 90% of Hindu population. Here the Hindus take beef, and boiled egg is used in temples as 'prasad'. In the oldest temple Beysakhi, there are no idols inside the temple. Idols are there outside the temple. The belief is that when God id tired he comes down to take rest in the temple. Bali has beautiful terraced land, against the backdrop of cocoanut trees. The landscape of Bali looks like a picture postcard. Bali is also the land of arts and crafts. Earthquakes are quite common in Bali, and the tall mountains in Bali are worshiped by the people. The women of Bali are very beautiful. Seldom I have seen a woman who is not slim. Most of the women know cycling, and move on cycles with two to three tier loads on their heads. Balinese Dances accompanied by the Gammelon orchestra are really worth seeing. When I visited Bali again in 1995 on another UNDP assignment, the road from Denpasar, the Capital, to the Beysakhi temple had become one continuous stretch of land. There is a Gandhi Ashram in Bali established by Madam Oka, who had won the Jamnalal Bajaj Award for promoting Gandhian values abroad. Even today, Bali is my dreamland.