TRAVEL
their Facebook profiles. Now with the education of walking India and to some extent my earlier village experiences in Fiji, I have formulated a clear vision. Since returning from India I have championed this vision and called it The Village. The really good news is that the idea
has begun to expand. The idea is based on a simple theory of connection, of shared respect not needing to be earned or proven, but present simply because another person is present. There is an assumption that every person brings a unique offering and is encouraged and welcomed to offer it. Now, organically and with no effort
The strength, power, and genuine beauty of the India I saw emanated from the villages and their people.
more people, then even more people; never-ending noise; snow-capped mountains towering in the distance from a highland city whose houses are every colour and awe-inspiring patterns of a kaleidoscope. And villages. It was the villages that I experienced
in rural central India near Kashi, and just north of the yoga tourism mecca of Rishikesh, that inspired me most. They were populated by anything from fifty to several hundred people living and sharing everything together. It was in these villages that my
genuine love and regard for the Indian people lodged gently in my heart. In village after village I was welcomed and cared for as though I was a visiting king. I was introduced to brothers, sisters, mothers, children, grandparents, great-grandparents, close friends, teachers, merchants, potters, weavers, musicians, and holy men and was instantly called friend, yogi, Baba, holy man. In some places most of the people spoke almost no English, except for the children and young people, who understood enough to translate my sign declaring that I walked their country, their region, their village – for balance, peace, and freedom.
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That alone gained me respect. That alone made me Baba. That made me a sadhu (a holy man) and that meant that these generous, friendly people took me into their homes, fed me, housed me, shared what they had with me and asked nothing in return. They wished me well as I walked away to my next experience, to the next village, to another day of walking across a land where walking priests and holy men are part of a long tradition. It became clear to me that the teeming
cities, the churning industry, the endless honking traffic, and the rush to embrace Western ways are not the strength and beauty of India. The strength, power, and genuine beauty of the India I saw emanated from the villages and their people. The gentle attributes of these villagers that truly inspired me were their simplicity, their generosity, their respect, and their good humour with each other and with me. Since returning from India I have
dedicated myself to recreating some of that village experience here in Australia. When I started walking over four years ago, part of my intention was to form and inspire ‘community’; people connected with one another by more than their mobile phones and
at all from me, the idea has expanded so that before I fly to Europe to walk Britain, mainland Europe, and the Middle East, there will be two more incarnations of The Village, further testing my theory that people are essentially good all over the world. The experience of The Village is
entirely opposite to the loneliness of city living, of not even knowing your next- door neighbour. In this strange world of distractions, smart phones and screens, crushing mortgages, stranger danger, fear of terrorists, and separation there is a rapidly burgeoning call for genuine, human, face-to-face acceptance and connection. By the time I left India, I did learn a
little more of the Hindi language. I learned what these Indian villagers
were saying to me when they said Namaste Baba, Attiti deva Bhava. Their first heartfelt greeting to a
walking stranger from another land roughly translates as The divine in me bows to the divine in you, respected sir; you are my guest and guest is God. n
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www.livingnow.com.au
Peter Walker left his partner, family, career and friends, sold or gave away all his possessions and began a personal pilgrimage. Peter is
a writer, orator, teacher and student of the possibilities and opportunities of life.
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