Say hello to Uncle Ho

Uncle Ho lies cold and embalmed in a freezing dark room in the 'Ho Chi Minh' Mausoleum in Hanoi. Clearly he commands a lot of respect from the proletariat , going by the long line of local Vietnamese and the seriousness with which you are led into the chamber. Leave your cameras,caps and humour behind. You ought to be quiet, in single file,in the right respectful attire and hands out of your pocket.

Ho Chin Minh , Bapu-ji of Vietnam, founder father of Vietnam's Communist movement and friend-father-philosopher during its turbulent years against the French, is greatly revered by his people. He stands even now, as a symbol of the dynamic country and has a city named after him - Ho Chi Minh, the erstwhile Saigon.



You are first led,single file, by stern patrol officers. Any noise is shushed immediately, like dissent quashed by a Communist regime. So you enter the stark monument, like obedient school kids. As you get closer to the 'altar' you shiver (its cold). Inside the dark chamber you shuffle past the glass case in which Uncle Ho lies at rest, oblivious of all the ups and downs his people have seen in recent decades. You might even feel (and some guide books warn you) that Madame Tussaud had a hand in it but I prefer the more romantic version of an embalmed body lying there,like an immortal chunk of history. Every few years his body is taken to Moscow for a tune up.




Giving him company in that cold dark room, are four strapping young guards in uniform , matching Uncle Ho's stillness.Their resume must have read under 'strengths' - ' ability to stand still for hours without blinking'. Dont envy their jobs. But more power to what they do...





In the same compound is Uncle Ho's house where it seems he did all the ideation one does while leading a country against determined colonialists. Peaceful green gardens, a pond and the quintesentially ochre building with green windows - French architecture? A far cry from the mood outside the gates where chaos and energy rules....