Saturday July 20
It must be Saturday.....in Hyderabad, Andra Presh State......walking barefoot in heavy moist pigeon pooh through the Mecca Masjid near Charminar! Whaaaaat!
Why? Mecca Masjid, 1617 is one of the oldest mosques in the city and is the biggest. It accommodates thousands of worshippers at a time, that would be men. We women had to enjoy from outside looking in. Our guides and group lamented the fact that these sacred and historic places aren't being kept up. That's the sacrifice when there are so many hungry people and so many people to educate. That's for sure.
Across from the mosque is Charminar, built in 1591. It is a major city landmark associated with the name Hyderabad. The life of the city gravitates around this point. That was clear as we were early and watching as the markets of the Laad Bazaar opened its bangle, pearl and sari shops around us.
We also visited the Salar Jung Museum, a collection assembled by a single man and the most prominent museum in Hyderabad. What did I like there? If you know me, you know I am crazy about miniature art and dolls and toys. There were great Moghul miniatures and toys depicting figures from Hyderabad village life. I did whip through the sword room and saw daggers belonging to Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, hopefully just ceremonial daggers. I also saw some of their clothing! Fantastic. I liked the collection of canes, many of ivory sadly. The heads of the canes were elaborate, a bulldog that must have been in honor of Winston Churchill, monkeys, dogs. My favorite was a heron type bird with a glass green eye. www.aptourism.in
Next we went to Hindu Temple. What a trip! We lucked out as it was the last prayer time of the day until late afternoon. Many people were coming. Sandalwood was burning, the colors were bright. People touch the step as they enter and leave the temple. Inside the temple they find a shrine to their favorite deity or channel to god. They recite a prayer in Sanskrit to that god and then they add their personal prayers for their lives or the lives of loved ones. Maybe they were leaving offerings. Every once in a while someone rings a brass bell that hangs somewhere in the temple. When they leave the temple they clang a brass bell at the exit. I thought it was so amazing that I went back in a second time. Suddenly the brass bells began to ring and then clang and then a din that nearly made your head split. Everyone formed a tight group and began singing a prayer to Lakshmi, goddess of wealth. Then more din of the bells and clapping and a communal prayer to Haunuman ( same as Monkey King of the Chinese - maybe not as mischeivous) god of power and strength. Then it was over. Wow!
Today was just a dirty day; dirty air, dirty streets, dirty monuments, dirty bird and chicken cages. It was a heavy hand and foot sanitizer day. Then on the other hand it was a day of amazement which made our barefoot tour of India seem like the normal way to see a city. We really were most everywhere barefoot: streets, alleys, bazaars, temples, mosques and gurdwaras.
After our first barefoot excursion we returned to our hotel for a southern Indian style Thali. I like these meals served on banana leaves and in tins on tin plates. A little bit of this and that. I think I mentioned previously that I love the sprouted lentil and legume salads. I think the hotels are good about their food prep so I've risked those. I would love to eat all of the vegetables but they sound very dicey during the monsoon season. A local told me they get infected, I am no scientist so I don't know if it is mold, bacteria etc. I just stick with the cooked vegetable dishes and they are very good. I think my Indian signature dish is going to become cauliflower korma though. I would be fine eating a serving dish of this each day. We've only had it a few times. The desserts are a European Indian mix and were enjoying them. Most days I don't eat dinner because the lunch particularly is a large meal. I haven't needed my Sprite dinner this week with the cooler weather, barely broke a sweat. I heard though that in Delhi it has been unbearably hot.
After lunch we headed out to a mosque and then a gurdwara...yes, barefoot to both. (Sikh places of worship). Our guide, Mr. Gurit Singh, Acting Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate, Hyderabad. He is the same man I shared the Iftar meal with at the Madrassa. He's an American from Kansas. He's part of a Sikh community there when he isn't serving abroad. He organized our afternoon on his day off. This is not a part of his job, it is something he wanted to do for us. Clearly sharing this faith is his calling. He brought a retiring poetry professor who is also a Sufi mystic, poet and openly gay man with him to share his own Mosque which was for very poor followers. Gurdwaras are small versions of the Golden Temple; places to worship as a community, places that feed people and provide other services to meet the needs of people in the community. Really good places anywhere, and serving incredible needs in India.
This mosque had a private bazaar for followers which included a Hindu shrine. This shrine was only for women to pray in and I don't know who the female god of the shrine was or perhaps she was a saint, but apparently she would answer prayers lickety-split. It was just a little tiny room with a grave I think, decorated with bright shrine colors, a candle and burning sandalwood.
There were some children begging and the Sufi told them to go and wait patiently in the room to be fed. The men were not at the mosque due to fasting and Ramadan so the women were there praying. Otherwise, according to the Sufi, they could not be there except for on Thursdays. He said they were poor women living strict Muslim lives which meant a four walled room for most of their existence. He said his own mother had lived that way, only going out in a burqa on Thursday to sit at the mosque near other women to talk and pray quietly. He said for the poor women this is still basically the life. Mother men and boys do the family shopping. He said the poor men could sleep in the mosque at night, but not the women. He basically implied their problems did not exist in the scheme of the mosque life.
After the mosque, we visited a Gurdwara. These are small versions of the Golden Temple; places to worship as a community, places that feed people and provide other services to meet the needs of people in the community. The mosques, synagogues, temples and gurdwaras are serving incredible needs in India. We met the Granthi, leader and an educated woman from the Gurdwara community. We went into the worship area and looked at their holy book. We had heard prayers sung from this at the Golden Temple. Mr. Singh said they are always sung in raga style which makes it easy for people to sing along and follow. He must know as the Sufi told me that Mr. Singh's wife's parents were famous Indian musicians and frequently met Ravi Shankar in India.
I know why faith is important in my own life. In India, the sounds of the prayers, the smell of jasmine and burning sandalwood, the ringing of bells, chants, prayers sung in English, Hebrew, Sanskrit and to raga tunes literally envelop you and transport you away from dirt, poverty, stench, noise, and the bodies you are constantly touching to a momentary place of relief and calm that is totally unexpected in such a "crazy place". I can see why faith practices can be found in schools, churches, synagogues, temples....you get the picture. I can see why people seek out places of worship weekly, daily, even multiple times in a day. The expression "blessed relief" has a new meaning to me.
We learned a lot and still don't know a lot. We did get some background on the political problems related to the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the destruction of The Golden Temple. For those of you who study religions or politics, ask me for a copy of the great bibliography Mr. Singh provided. Here are a few of the websites he provided and some information on films and documentaries:
www.sikhs.org; www.sikhnet.com; www.allaboutsikhs.com; Sikhs - a film produced by the BBC. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zx5i0kKVja8; One Common Ground- Sikh American Cultural Awareness Training for Law Enforcement (I guess this is great) http://www.justice.gov/crs/video/ocg-video.htm; Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath http://www.dwf-film.com/; Wisconsin Gurdwara Shooting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT3. IpS6tFK
P.S. I just took a hot soapy shower. Many people get water here two hours a day. Slum people get a mat and wash themselves from a bowl each day. People are pretty clean. A hot shower feels good and is a luxury that only about ten percent of the people here enjoy.
Tomorrows a free day. We are having a dosa cooking lesson from our hotel chef and many of us are going to a famous fort in the afternoon.
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