Judy and I got back to Bangalore last night, our 11 day taxi trip has finished and we are heading to Delhi today.
During our last chat, Judy, Suresh and I had left Bandipur Park and were heading through Mysore to get to Nagarhole Park. But before we get to today's final destination, we have a couple of stops on the way (of course).
Before we stopped for lunch, Suresh suggested we stop at a temple. Side note: as I mentioned Suresh is a Hindu and there are alot of Hindu temples here so naturally we stop at quite a few, but to Suresh's credit, we have also visited a Muslim Mosque, a Christian church, a couple of Jain temples and probably some stuff I didn't even realize was unique. Plus, a Hindu temple isn't just a Hindu temple, it might be a Shiva temple or a temple to some other Hindu god - which for the life of me, I cannot keep straight. I rememeber Shiva because that is Suresh's guy.
So, when Suresh mentioned stopping at another temple I just assumed it was one of those run of the mill - 500 year old temples with a few folks wandering around with red dye on their heads, men in loin clothes etc. But no - this was a special temple. I don't know why but it was on a river (which makes a temple more special it seems). So before going into the temple (is there any other word for temple?!) we went to the river to wash!! I kid you not!! Ok, mental image here: There is a long (wide) staircase leading down from the bank to the river below. There are hundreds of people in various states of dress at the water's edge, bathing. And I mean bathing. While the women here are very modest - no sleeveless tops here, thank you very much - the older ladies can shuck off their clothes as long as it is in the name of whichever god we are dealing with. So we have topless old ladies, young men in just their wet skivies, young girls in full saris washing their exposed bits - mostly feet and faces, old men in wet loinclothes. And apparently, part of the ritual washing includes laundry. So all of the above were also washing their clothes. And all around the bank and on every fence, surface, edge, wet clothes were hanging to dry. The river itself was disgusting with a mass of mush floating out in the center, just away from reaching arms. Under the water, there was clothes, swaying in the current, bright clothes under the murky water - it was crazy eerie. I had vision of dead people rising (ala Lord of the Rings) up from the water to snatch us under. I'm sure the pictures will not do the underwater world justice.
The 'camp' on the way to the river's edge
Everyone getting ready for a dip.
Look close, all of those shapes in the water are lost clothes. That's what I am telling myself anyway...
Yup. Naked old ladies.
Laundry.
So Suresh heads down to the water to do a wash, thankfully just his hands and a splash on the face and hair - he may have drank some too. By now, we were being watched by all of those not enraptured so I gave it a go. I went to the edge, dipped my hands in and put some water in my hair (this is an acceptable substitute for drinking it). Judy did the same. Then we scrubbed ourselves with baby wipes from fingers to shoulders.
Going in
This is actually happening!! It was even grosser and yet cooler close up.
And a hasty retreat. I like the way I hold up my skirt with my disgusting hands, I guess to protect it from the dirt on the ground.
One would think that this was sufficient to prove that we could take whatever India could throw at us but one would be wrong, we still had the actual temple to visit! Across the road (which in itself is always a life threatening event) to the temple. Wait, I have a name for those of you who google. The river is Kapila river, the temple is Nanjundeswar and the town in which these are situated is Nanjanaguda. Yeah, No, I did not remember those - Suresh wrote them down for me. We get to the temple and there is a line so long, I have no concept of how long it is. We couldn't even see the beginning or the end. Thousands of people trying to get in to worship Shiva and his minions (other incarnations? - I am a terrible anthropologist). So Suresh leads us to the 'skip the queue' queue. This cost us 200 rupees. In we go. Here I am at a loss for words. Remember back when I described the glass house in the garden in Bangalore and I said there were soooo many people. That was NOTHING compared to this place. People were shoving and mashing. There was a women behind me who I swear I could tell you her cup size and how many children she has had (C and three), she was pressed up against me flat on. And she wasn't happy that I wasn't equally pressed up against the person in front of me. (side note - an extra special thanks to Tanya for the small backpack lock which gave me a bit of security here).
I think I have alluded to the fact that people cannot wear shoes into temples (or take cameras so not pictures unfortunately). As most of you know, I have crap feet and this just about kills me. In this case, no shoes, lots of other feet and god knows what on the floor. Judy kept saying, 'don't look down'. Like I could anyway, there was no space between me and the guy in front. We finally made it through the various narrow passages and gates which lessened the crush somewhat. But now we are in a cave. I think the temple was actually cut out of rock, or maybe it was just so dark and dank, it seemed that way. Temples consist of lots of little rooms (or enclaves in smaller ones) dedicated to various gods. This one was an ant hill reproduction. Each little room had it's own crowd trying to get to the front to dip into the holy water/oil (?) and to get a bit of bindi - the red (or white or yellow) powder for the forehead dot. Suresh was right in there. I hit one so that I was sufficiently dotted and then stuck to the edges as much as I could. also at random places (sometimes right in the stream of traffic) people have lit little fires. This adds a new sense of fun - try to not catch fire!! And the smoke!! did I mention we were in a cave - sure, but did I also mention caves don't have proper ventilation. I started coughing about half way through. Good hacking coughs. Awesome. But wait there's more. At one point, for reasons unknown (joke, blessing, playful boyishness), Suresh splashed us with a bit of holy water. It landed right in my eye. So now, my feet are crawling with things I don't want to think about, my stomach has likely ingested something from the river (nail biters should not come to India), my lungs are completed blocked and now my eyes have been contaminated!
We made it out alive of course, and for all of my whinging, no the worse for wear - and with an excellent story to boot. I must say, having Suresh at the helm has taken us places that most tourists just would not normally see.
Outside the temple. A Shiva (I think) statue under construction.
One of the dangers of public laundry day.
Butter candles outside the temple entrance.
One last bit, Suresh is picking us up in 10 minutes to go to the airport. While we were passing through Mysore, Judy had Suresh stop at FabIndia. This is a clothing etc store that my Women in India book had mentioned.
FabIndia!!!!!!!
A mosque in Mysore.
A typical shopping street.
While I was waiting for Suresh and Judy to pick up the blouse, I watched this family shop for hand made metal pots. It was a big decision and, of course, attracted a crowd of onlookers.
The final decision on the pots. I loved the look of these hand crafted metal crafts, but, alas, no room to bring home a huge pot.
I just signed back on. it is now three days later and see that the internet went down before I could finish. suffice it to say that FabIndia's name is APT! Is is Fab!! I bought two new Indian outfits and a tablecloth and a nice shirt which may or may not end up as a gift.
Lunch in Mysore. The very best dish I had in India. A cauliflower nut spicy concoction!! I never would have guessed.
Sorry for the delayed post. there will be two more today so you're welcome for the bonanza of blog!.
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