Temple Day

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So it turns out the flood was a complete non-event, at least for us. A few houses in the village were flooded, as were a few roads, and school was closed. However, the water didn't come anywhere near our part of the village, so there really wasn't anything to worry about. In the last few days we've been having movie night every evening, and I've found some really good movies that I think even Dad will like. Also, this morning I went with Sumitra (who works in the office) and Danyia (who teaches dance) to the temple, and had the full morning prayers experience (well, maybe not the full experience since as a non-Hindu I wasn't allowed all the way into the inner sanctum). However, I have be blessed many times over, and had three different bindis on this morning (most of the have rubbed off by now). I had one that I think was ash, one of sandalwood, and one of tumeric. It was a really cool experience. The temple is set up with a wall around the outside and a building inside which houses the inner sanctum. For morning prayers, one walks around this building, stopping at three small shrines along the way to give a rupee or two and recieve holy water and a banana leaf with sandal paste and flowers on it. You put the sandal paste in a stripe on your forehead, and if you have more hair than I do, you put the flowers in your hair. I really enjoyed it and got to see one of the daily rituals for millions of Indians. I've decided to go visit Amma tomorrow at her ashram. Amma is supposed to be the incarnationof all the Hindu goddesses, and the way she gives darshan (I guess darshan can be loosely translated as the way she shows her divinity) is by hugging all of her devotees. Her birthplace and her biggest ashram is about an hour away, and she is there right now, so I may actally get a hug from her. Other than that, not much going on, except that I finally got my sari blouses back from the tailor, and Danyia and Sumitra have taught me how to properly tie a sari. For the first few times that I wore one, as soon as they saw me they'd pull me into an unoccupied room and proceed to adjust the sari for a good fifteen minutes before announcing that I was now properly dressed to be out in public. I'll be leaving in a few days, and I'm kind of sad about that. I only have one day of classes left. Then I begin the long journey home. My flight leaves at 3:45 Wednesday morning (yuck!) which is 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday for those of you in Houston or Austin. I finally arrive home at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night. Hopefully I won't spend this flight throwing up, like I did on my way over here. I'll let you know how Amma's was when I get back on Sunday.

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Comments

[Abby]

oh my god, i have been obsessively checking your blog to make sure you didn't get swept away in a flood or something. i'm glad you're okay and that you're having a great time! i can't wait to see you and hear all about it. :) p.s. i finally read all of culture shock india, and was amazed to find out how different all the parts of india are. we must go back together and explore more of the country! i'll ask where the train station is, and you can say everything else. ;)