This blog post will also have
three sections. One about religion
in India, one about how to eat in India, and the last will again conclude with
various thoughts.
Our Experience of Religion,
Mainly Hinduism, in India
As many people understand, India is largely a Hindu nation. The second
most common religion to be practiced is the Islamic faith and there’s also a
very small percentage who practice Buddhism, Jainism, and Christianity. One of
the most important things to know about Hinduism is that out of the over
330 million gods (how do they keep track of them all?), there are three main gods named Brahma (the generator), Vishnu (the
operator), and Shiva (the destroyer).
The last place we visited was a city named Pushkar, which is one of the
three holiest cities in India (or so we’re told). Before going, we weren’t
exactly sure why Pushkar was a holy place, but we were still looking forward to
seeing it with the hopes of experiencing some sort of “spiritual feeling” while
there. Later, we discovered that Pushkar is important to Hindus because it is
the only temple in the world that worships Lord Brahma and thus, every Hindu
should make at least one visit to Pushkar in their lifetime.
Unlike the other gods, Brahma only has one temple basically because his
first wife got pissed at him.. As we were told (or my interpretation of it),
Brahma’s wife was at the top of the nearby hill getting ready for some sort of
ceremony that was happening down at the lake for Lord Brahma. She was late to
this event so then Brahma picked up a second wife and began the ceremony. As
you imagine, when Brahma’s first wife showed up, she got pissed. As a
punishment, she then demanded there could only be one temple in his name in the
world and people couldn’t even worship to him in his temple. The only thing
they could do is get flowers in the temple and then bring them down to the
lake. The lake is the only place in the city where people are allowed to
worship and people will also take baths in the lake to receive some sort of
extra blessing; which is why it is considered the Holy Lake.
The only Brahma temple
Stephanie and I are terrible tourists and didn’t want to pay money to
go in to another crowded temple, but we did go down to one of the ghats (stairs
going down to the lake) with our guide. We were then told get a blessing from a
religious man on the stairs and this is where our distaste for Pushkar began.
Like I said before, we were looking forward to being in Pushkar because
we thought it would have a different vibe than the other cities. When the
religious men began speaking to us, it all sounded great because they wanted to
give a blessing for our family and whatnot. They had a plate of flowers, some
powder stuff and a coconut that was all involved in the blessing. But then it
got weird when they kept insisting that we would have to give money to bless
our family. They were even pushing us to pay in US dollars rather than Rupees
which was extra weird. We were also separated between two different religious
guys so it also made the situation more difficult because it was one-on-one. To
top it off, Stephanie even got hit on by her religious man with him saying that
he, as a 60ish year old man, should be her boyfriend.
Soon enough the end of the blessing finally came and they were
pressuring us to give money. They said we should give money according to the
number of people in our immediate family and should give at the very least, 500
Rs per family member which would be almost $40 for my family of four. According
to these men, this money would be given to preserve the city and for food for
the religious people, but it all seemed like a scam. I tried to come up with
every excuse in the book: that I’m a poor graduate, I didn’t budget for this
etc., but he was still pushing for me to give a lot. Then I finally just gave
him 100 Rs and told him that this pushy-ness doesn’t align with my values
because I don’t like to feel pressured to be charitable. He then seemed
disappointed but finally accepted it and I left. He proceeded to say that when
I get a husband and children I need to come back and give $100 USD…fat chance
of that happening.
Needless to say, this left us with a very bad vibe of this holy place.
We didn’t expect the religious men of the highest caste here, named Brahmins,
to be so focused on money. Especially when every other honest person we’ve met
in India says that money is not important, as long as you have a pure heart.
A view of the lake. We couldn't take a picture of the people bathing but it was also an interesting sight.
Even though it was a difficult experience, at least we have this nice picture.
A view of the lake from where we had lunch.
This is unrelated but is a view from our hotel room.
Overall, the influence of Hinduism is obviously huge in India. You
seemingly can’t look one way without seeing some sort of religious symbol; a figure
of one of the gods; and you can’t go one month without having some sort of religious
holiday/festival. It’s also interesting to hear the stories relating to
Hinduism and all of the gods which are of course quite different than the
Christian stories I grew up with. Especially with all of the various wives and
girlfriends of the gods, along with the many reincarnations of the various
gods, I don’t know how people can keep track of it all!
There’s also the obvious influence of Hinduism relating to people’s
diet here because mainly, everyone here is vegetarian. It’s more difficult to
find a non-veg restaurant which is interesting because in the US, you’re lucky
to find four items on a menu that are vegetarian. However, while there are
non-veg places, you will not find beef anywhere on the menu because the cow
here is the holiest creature of them all. With this, cows basically own the
land and can walk anywhere, including the streets, and eat anything, including
the plastic garbage on the road.
Essentially, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand Hinduism and
its many layers as much as would like to.
How To: Eat in India (Without
Making a Mess)
Eating in India has high potential for being a messy situation for
various reasons. Firstly, most dishes are made with a gravy sort of
liquidy-base and secondly, spoons are not common to use. Spoons are only really
used to transfer the food from the dish to your plate, and then you use bread
to eat the food.
There are various types of breads in India and they’re all delicious.
The most common one is a chapatti (also named roti), that is round and looks
like a tortilla. There’s also naan, which is bigger than a chapatti and is
normally a bit thicker. There’s a few others but I don’t know how to describe
them well. Mainly chapattis and naan are your go-to.
Here’s our procedure for eating in India:
1.
Look at the prices on the menu, get annoyed if
any dish costs more than 200 Rs (~$3)
2.
Choose at least one paneer dish between the two
of us (paneer has the same texture as cottage cheese but is in a rectangular
prism form). Palak (Spinach) paneer is a common one for me.
3.
Order usually two chapattis each to go with our
dishes
4.
Order mineral water (bottled water) and be
annoyed if it’s more than 20 Rs
5.
Wait…talk with Steph…I’m wonder if I’ll ever get
tired of talking to her during this trip because we do EVERYTHING together…so
far so good though!
6.
Receive plate, napkin and a spoon
7.
Receive the food
8.
Place two different types of dishes on our
plates
9.
Rip a piece of chapatti about the size of two
square inches (or according to the size of paneer or vegetable you want to eat)
10.
Place your thumb and index finger in the center
of the bread (to avoid them touching the food)
11.
Strategically grab or scoop the paneer, vegetable
and/or sauce that you would like to eat
12.
If a beginner, hold your head over your plate to
avoid the sauce dripping on yourself
13.
Enjoy
14.
Rip bread, repeat
15.
Ask for bill, pay, only leave a tip of about 10%
if a service charge isn’t added
As you may expect there are various strategies involved in this but the
key goal is to not make a mess. I find it easier to eat when we get rice with
our meals too, but I normally don’t like eating rice which makes this
conflicting.
Various Thoughts/Comments
·
Another reason I don’t like Pushkar is because
it’s the place I first got sick during this trip. Something I ate during the
last dinner in Pushkar wasn’t good and caused a very uncomfortable night and
morning. Luckily, I felt less sick during the car ride to Jaipur and a lot
better in the evening after eating some fruit that Chacha got for me.
·
This tour through Rajasthan with a driver has
been nice and a good intro of India, but I’m ready to start traveling on my own
terms. Once we come back to Delhi on Saturday, we’ll stay for two nights and
then leave for Shimla in the north by train which I’m really looking forward
to.
·
We booked a two-week stay in an ashram in
Rishikesh (the “yoga capitol of the world”) from September 17 to October 1.
This costs 800 Rs (~$13.50) per day and includes three meals, two yoga sessions
and a place to stay. We’re looking forward to this because although we expect
it to be a bit challenging, we believe we’ll be able to focus on ourselves and
relax.
Caroline’s Song of the Day
30-Aug Roses by Kanye West
31-Aug Settle Down by Kimbra
1-Sept Ave Maria by Luciano Pavorotti; Kurt
Adler: National Philharmonic Orchestra
No comments:
Post a Comment