Paul Ancheta

Mount Brunni (1900 meters) is the sunny side of Engelberg, and it has become a favored resort for families for its safe snowboard and ski runs and easy hiking trails. Its summit offers spectacular views of Engelberg and the mountains surrounding the town.

Glacier caves, snow parks, and steep slopes make Mount Titlis, at 3020 meters, the highest mountain excursion in central Switzerland. The heights offer a stunning panorama of the ice-clad Alpine peaks of the Bernese Highlands.

Thun (French “Thoune”) is the gateway and principal center of the Bernese Highlands, just outside Bern. It is the largest town on Thunersee (Lake Thun), whose backdrop is formed by the 4000-meter, eternally white peaks of Mounts Mönch, Eiger, and Jungfrau, the latter a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

All these years as a member of the Bahá’í Faith, I had seen the Bahá’í House of Worship in India only on paper, particularly during my years handling audio-visual materials at the Bahá’í World Centre in Israel. It is one of eight temples around the world, built as gathering places of prayer and meditation for people of all faiths.

Inspired by the lotus flower, the building has 27 free-standing marble “petals” clustered to form nine sides of a glass-contained prayer hall. At night, these “petals” float in a sea of spectacular lighting effect. This illuminated view of the Lotus Temple, as it has become known around the world, is what flashes in my mind whenever I think of it. It is an extraordinary vision.

On the evening of 19 May 2006, I was not sure how I would handle that lingering view as the car I was riding in drove towards the temple site in New Delhi. It was my first-ever visit, and snaking through dusk-time traffic with the thought of seeing the beloved temple for the very first time left me restless. Suddenly the car broke away from the jam, sped through, turned to a corner, and drove uphill.

And then, just as abruptly, there it was.