India - Charminaar bazaar

Our last two days in India were spent buying souvenirs as well as a quick drive-by of the giant Buddha statue  (the world's tallest monolith of Buddha!), a terrifying night-time walk through Charminar Bazaar (built in 1591!), and a luxurious meal of Domino's pizza and mangos.

Until next time India!

India - We get our religion on

Sorry for the delay; my brand spanking new computer crapped out on me for a while.
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On our trip, the family took two opportunities to visit important temples. The first was Grishneshwar, one of the twelve of the most auspicious (of 64) jyotirlings (a devotional object) where Shiva appeared as a pillar of light. Mary and I were not allowed in so we took a nap in the party bus.

The next visit was a little more intensive. T woke us up at 4:30AM so we would be ready to leave at 6AM; he is perhaps not aware that we were raised by a Navy dad and can mobilize in a half and hour or less (or maybe just I can.) We were driving up to Shridi to visit Sai Baba's temple. Sai Baba, a holy man to both Hindus and Muslims, taught the importance of realizing one's self and serving others in the 1800s. He appeared from no where and disappeared without a trace. I did not know this information, however, while pilgrimaging.

The temple visit was pitched to me as just that. We would stand in line for a while to see the icon of Sai Baba and then we would go to a lunch provided by the religious society. M had opted out for womanly reasons but it seemed harmless enough a day to go it alone. I was told to wear socks because we couldn't wear shoes at the site and I also grabbed the floppy khaki hat that immediately identifies me as an American.

We drove to our assigned entrance gate but evidently we couldn't park there so a random guy got on our bus to direct us to a more appropriate spot. Because T's mom and aunt qualify as senior citizens we were allowed to skip the line and go straight into the shrine: a golden altar with a large statue of the saint draped in colorful robes and a wreath of flowers. No pictures were allowed so Google reveals:

We were shunted into corrals that funneled past the statue while keeping us separate from it. Inside the enclosure, attendants accepted offerings, managed traffic, and scooped roses out of the shrine into buckets. Several people were leaning over the railings to (I think) deposit flowers and money and to touch the statue. The woman manning the exit handed me some roses from a bucket and motioned me towards the center of the scrum. I threw my rose over the railing, bowed, and retreated again but the woman motioned me back telling me to pray. This time I inclined my head in a more obvious fashion and for a longer time but evidently this was still not convincing because the attendant then asked G where I was from. The answer that I was from US seemed all the explanation she needed.

Outside was another enclosed area around the neem tree under which Sai Baba preached and a furnace where devotees could get ashes to mark their foreheads. When leaving this area we were each handed red packets which turned out to be tapioca balls. A man also gave D a neem leaf which the family split among themselves to eat. Forestry fun fact: the neem tree (Azadirachta indica), although considered a weed tree in several countries, has a variety of uses -- keeping insects away from clothing and food stores, a natural antibacterial and antifungal, and a source of honey, soap and glue.

As we walked through a courtyard S and T, seemingly spontaneously, decided to donate blood so all of us ladies and children sat waiting for them for what seemed like hours. Evidently the men were told they had to eat before donating blood so they went in search of lunch and were quite delayed in their good deed. Once we were finally all back together, we made stops at three small shrines, the first of which I didn't have to enter because, according to T, "I didn't think you like being hit on the head with things" as each devotee was lightly thwacked with a broom-like object. But the third shrine also involved being whacked and no one objected to me participating.

This is just conjecture but next we went to a bank to make a donation to the group that maintains the complex. Then the clock struck noon -- not a gentle chiming but more like the town's fire alarm being tested -- and a great chanting rang out from one of the buildings. At one point in the chanting and yelling I was legitimately concerned about the potential for hearing loss. We stood there for quite some time watching a line form outside of another shrine before actually joining in. We were shoved past a statue marking where Sai Baba cooked food for his students and the poor and we too were fed a sweet (gross).

Then we made our way back to the party bus, despite none of us really remembering where it was parked. The bus dropped us off at what I thought was our hotel for lunch. Thinking I could escape to my room, leave the family to their lunch, and quietly eat a granola bar in peace I plaintively asked, "Can I skip this part? Can I just go?" in some despair and a few tears. But no. I was marched upstairs to a cafeteria where men in red-checked aprons and caps served us a bland meal of aloo gobi, daal and lentil curry and three types of grain: roti, rice, and papadan. There was also an option to have curd and gulab jamun but since they placed a strict emphasis on clearing your plate, I passed.

And then finally, after five hours of worship, we were done. And miracle of miracles, I was not sunburnt.