Sunday, October 18, 2009

Beavis & Butthead Do India

Today is another moon day so the shala is closed.  I use to dislike our moon days and thought they were a waste and there was no reason for us not to practice.  These days, I actually look forward to Saturdays and moon days when we have days off.  Practicing 6 days a week has taken a toll on my body.  I can see improvements in my daily practice, but there are days where I want to stay in bed and sleep all day.  India being the lively country that it is, there is no way I would be able to do that.

For our day off yesterday, Jonah, Tim, Mitch and I rented a car and went to the Hassan District.  The Hassan District was once ruled by the Hoysala Empire and was also part of the Mayuran empire.  I don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject, but the significance of the town today, is it's architecture.  We arrived at the capital city of Belur and the city was absolute chaos.  I'm not sure if it was due to the Diwali celebration or if the city is normally in that state.  Belur is a city that I would not be comfortable driving on the scooter.  On two separate occasions, our driver almost hit a car and a guy on a motorcycle.  The main attraction of the city is the Chennakeshava Temple.  I must say that this was one of the nicest temples I've been in and we got there early enough to witness the puja.  The architecture and detail of the temple was amazing.  Inside the temple was a statue of one of the gods.  I would be a bit more descriptive, but I had no idea who it was or the religion that was practiced there.  The statue was over 10 feet tall and during the puja, a priest was standing on a scaffold pouring milk, curd, tumeric and water as part of the ceremony.  I've never witnessed anything like that before and seeing the people have so much adoration for this god was a great experience.  During the puja though, I couldn't help but think how sticky the floors were near the statue. 

After Belur, we had lunch at one of the hotels in the city and decided it was best to skip our second destination.  It was too hot and everyone was tired from the long car ride.  We instead went to Sravanabelagola, which was the town I visited on my birthday.  Walking up the 650 steps to the temple wasn't has hard as I remembered.  Maybe I was just feeling old and crusty on my birthday and any physical activity was going to be trying.  The naked statue wasn't as impressive as the first time, but I was glad that I was in good company and the boys enjoyed the temple.  By the time we made it back down to the car, the sun was beginning to set and we headed home.  In the car, the 3 boys were in the back and I was sitting in the front.  These 3 boys are the chattiest men I have ever been with, which was great for me.  Sometimes, I prefer not to talk and didn't feel any pressure to engage in the conversation.  I slept for the majority of the car ride to Hassan and was drifting in and out of sleep and they would still be talking.  Our ride back, I couldn't sleep and they talked the whole 3 hours back home.  It's funny to think that there is this stereotype of women being more chatty than men, but in this situation, it was the exact opposite.    

When we finally made it back to Mysore, the city sounded like it was being bombed.  The Indians take a lot of pride celebrating their holidays and every other household in Gokulam was experimenting with fireworks.  As a kid the sound of fireworks use to scare me and even as an adult, I prefer to not hear them.  I enjoy the visual aspect, but can do without the sound.  I also had a bad experience playing with fireworks that has not left me.  When I was in middle school, my dad and the step monster moved us to Palmdale.  Palmdale is nothing, but tumbleweeds and crackheads and a place that one could easily find trouble.  Our neighbors at the time were from Mexico and had smuggled fireworks across the border.  They were getting ready to test one of the rocket launchers they had bought and asked if I wanted to help.  We couldn't find anything stable to put the rocket in so we set the rocket in a bottle.  One of the sisters lit the rocket and as she lit the rocket, the bottle fell over.  The rocket was pointing in the direction of a car up the street.  I saw the rocket go off and I was so afraid that it was going to damage the neighbors car, I turned around to run home and ran into their basketball pole.  Needless to say, I didn't get very far and had to stay to deal with the consequences.  So when we got home last night and Jonah wanted to walk around the block, I was a bit hesitant.  We walked past the school and noticed that people were walking in and out of the school yard with bags in their hands.  The local elementary school was selling fireworks in the auditorium.  We saw this and ran home to get some money.  The auditorium was every pyromaniacs dream.  Everything from sparklers to your professional grade was being sold.  We were so excited and bought a few boxes that we deemed were "safe" for us to play with.  I think I've found the solution to the days that I'm feeling blue.  Jonah and I had the best time lighting stuff on fire and it was the best Rs 400 we've spent to date.  This was our way of participating with the culture.  Happy Diwali!!

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