Time can be cruel companion at times, especially if you are caught in a wrong city like Dhaka which offers little or no social life. Post work I was bored and there was hardly anything to do on a monsoon day. Luckily I was carrying my iPad and had subscribed to the various OTT applications like Netflix and Amazon Prime. I stumbled upon Julia Roberts starrer “Eat Pray Love” - a 2010 American biographical drama film based on Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir which sold over 12 million copies and has been translated in over 30 languages. Julia Robert plays Elizabeth Gilbert as a Woman in search for the unknown , a seeker of inner peace, an explorer willing to take risks, across Italy, India and Indonesia and what proved to be her year of “spiritual, personal exploration and self lotusing" spent traveling abroad and how she meets the famous fortune teller in Bali - Ketut Liyer who ends up fulfilling the seeker with peace and finding calmness to her restless mind.

Ketut Liyer was the traditional Balinese medicine man who made Ubud village in Bali known to the western world and the peace and soft power offered by Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma practices from Asia. Ketut Liyer was known for his psychic healing and palm readings that he would conduct from his home in Ubud predicting his guests' destinies. Am told his home is now a beautiful guesthouse / boutique hotel which is booked well in advance by tourists thanks to the stupendous poplarity through Eat Pray love. Today Ketut Liyer is no more but his legacy stands tall for his hospitable nature, fortune telling and healing touch. The gentle and mild mannered prophecy teller. Ketut engaged me and intrigued me and opened up an all new dimension of how we see Hinduism. By the time I finished watching Eat Pray Love I was more than determined to travel to Bali and experience the wonderland of Hinduism - Bali. 

A few years passed and I managed to save some money and made it a point to travel to Bali and show my Wife and Kid how our ancestors propagated our soft power to an Island Country. Right from the moment we landed in Denpasar airport the time we saw the various temples, the practices, they follow, the magical town of Ubud and the rich cultural heritage they follow will be explored in a series of articles in forthcoming editions of the Verandah Club.

A Grandson, Husband and Father of Two, S Jaganathan - is one of the Director's of The Verandah Club. He is an avid traveller, interested in trendspotting and a firm believer in the philosophy - Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah.