Bollywood- India’s torchbearer

As many of my readers know, currently I am in South Africa, where my daughter works and stays.

Yesterday she took us to Bela Bela warm water baths, some 200 odd kilometres from Johannesburg. The water there, coming from underground springs, is naturally warm, in fact hot. This is not unique as there are several sites in the world, including those in India, where natural springs ooze hot water. Several such sites are also rumoured to be having therapeutic value as well.

However, what makes Bela Bela unique is channelisation of natural water into pools, thereby converting it into an exciting water park, with rides and wave pools. In the current environment of bitter cold as is normally the case here in winters, splashing in warm waters is a really pleasant and rejuvenating experience.

But this is not a travelogue about my current visit to South Africa as looking to the experience that I am having of the places such as Kruger and Sabby hills apart from Bela Bela, merits a separate exclusive blog. This blog is to share the joy of experiencing Indianness in the hinterland of this remote country. During the course of splashing in one of the pools, the audio system there at started playing popular Bollywood number “ Desi girl” from hit movie Dostana. Seeing the locals as well tourists shaking legs to this number, I couldn’t help but join the chorus too in spite of having two left feet in the matter of dancing. More importantly, it was that feeling of pride in the swelled heart for India being everywhere and Bollywood being it’s one of the important torch bearers.