Echoes of India in faraway Greece

Academically, I am from a science background. Dates, years and odd names of emperors were never my cup of tea.

- SUSHMA SAKSENA

Still, some interesting stories stayed etched in my memory, one of which was of King Porus, telling the victorious Emperor Alexander, that he (Alexander), should treat him (Porus), as one king treats another. Therefore, when the opportunity to visit Greece presented itself, along with the blue domes of Santorini, I wanted to see the ancient land, and traces of its great civilisation, from which Alexander came to our country. I also found that Greece was the cradle of Western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles and the Olympic games, which further strengthened my resolve to visit Greece.

Since most of the time we were on a cruise ship, which touched a number of Greek islands, I had the opportunity to see different parts of Alexander’s kingdom (Greece has 3,500 islands — many of them uninhabited). Luckily, contrary to my fears, I never experienced seasickness or claustrophobia. Our room was very near the deck, so most of the time I was on the deck, seeing the ship cruising on the waves and some really beautiful sunrises, sunsets, moonrises and moonsets ~ all different from one another. The sea was everchanging ~ placid at one moment, furious at the next, sometimes ink blue, at other times turquoise and sometimes emerald green.