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My journey would now take me to the desert state of Rajasthan, but prior to this, I participated in Diwali (the Festival of Light) in Ranchi. I was hosted by the Sinha family, who I know through my work as a United Nations Online Volunteer. Diwali is an incredibly joyous and noisy festival - very loud firecrackers are on sale everywhere, and at night, it sounds like you are living in a war-zone, instead of a peaceful city in India. I took part in the celebrations, lit plenty of fireworks, witnessed the nightly Puga, ate lashings of home cooked Indian food, and was welcomed like a newly found relative. The hospitality of this family was overwhelming, and I was virtually in tears when I left, and if not for my other plans, would have stayed with them for much longer. Diwali was one of my highlights of India, worthy of an e-mail in itself - but the stories from this time can wait until my return to Australia.
Also, whilst in Ranchi, I visited the tiny rural village (about 1200 inhabitants) of Senejutu to witness rural programs implemented to improve their standard of living. The rustic, pastoral life was such a contrast from the rest of my travels so far. However, this visit enabled me to make the traveller's ultimate boast - I was the first foreigner ever to visit their village! As a first foreigner, I was besieged by many stares, and even more questions. Some of the inhabitants had never even heard of Australia - and when one weathered man was asked where he thought I had come from, he looked at me from behind the many deep lines on his wrinkled face and told my interpreter that I was from "far away".
But I have now since answered the whispering call of the desert state of Rajasthan from across the sand dunes. Once I arrived, it became very obvious that I had entered a desert area - for the number of animals on the road outnumber the machined vehicles. Camels, bulls, and even an elephant are used to transport all manner of goods.
However, the main reason for my visit to the northern part of Rajasthan was to visit the famous (or infamous) Karni Mata temple. Karni Mata (an incarnation of the Goddess Durga) asked Yama (the God of Death) to resurrect a storyteller's son. When Yama refused, Karni Mata reincarnated all storytellers as rats - thus depriving Yama of future human souls. So, as you may of guessed, the Karni Mata temple is populated with thousands of sacred kabas - or what we would call rats.
Before arriving there, I was provided some advice on visiting the temple. Firstly, do not step on any rats - for stepping on and killing a rat is not only physically uncomfortable, but financially too, as a killed rat must be replaced by its weight in gold. Secondly, the mornings are the best time to visit, as the rats are most hungry and active at this time. Thirdly, take along some bananas to give to the rats as an offering - as the rats love bananas and will swarm around whoever has them. So armed with bananas, camera equipment and a good deal of courage, I made the pilgrimage to the temple.
The temple itself is not that impressive, a modest white marble structure. Like any Hindi temple, one must remove any shoes - so barefooted, I entered the rats domain. Once inside the black and white tiled outer courtyard surrounding a small inner temple, you begin to notice many scuttling brown creatures running around everywhere. The first thing that struck me about the rats is that they looked more like overgrown mice, instead of those ugly fat sewer rats you see on movies. However, I was fortunate to see the rare white rat, which is considered to be a most lucky sign.
The rats would be everywhere, in alcoves, corners, underneath doorways, and even sitting perched in the railings of guard-rails - which would cause quite a nasty surprise if you did not watch where you were putting your hand! The rats are very friendly, and have little fear of humans - which is partly why trying to avoid stepping on them is quite difficult - especially when going through doorways or down stairs - where a friendly rat would suddenly appear.
Depending on your preference, the moment I brought out the bananas as my offering to feed the rats was one of either abject horror or sheer elation. I sat on the stairs and started to break up the bananas and place them on the ground around me. It took a little while for them to pick up the scent - but once they did - there were dozens of rats surrounding me. A few started getting very close - climbing on my backpack on the ground beside me in order to have a closer look and taste. Finally, one ran across my foot - whose unexpected arrival caused a slight chill up my spine. The longer I sat, the more secure the rats felt around me and soon I had one nibbling at my toe (which I very quickly discouraged) and droves of others crawling across my bare feet (which I was used to by now). One cheeky fellow even climbed up me all the way to my chest! The locals were in awe at this occurrence - as I must be a very special person to be so honoured by so many rats - but I really think it had more to do with the bananas then any enlightened state that I had achieved. A British traveller took my camera and snapped away many photos of me getting close and personal with these holy creatures, so I am sure that they will make interesting viewing.
Eventually, all of the bananas ran out, so most of the rats disappeared, except for one pleasant faced critter actually crawled onto my lap and just sat there cleaning him/herself. A couple of others stayed beside me and rested - quite comfortable by my presence. Whilst relaxing with my newly found furry-faced friends, I witnessed something quite extraordinary. A female pilgrim approached the milk mixture that the rats where eating out of - placed her finger in the liquid -then in her mouth - and blessed herself. Now, having rats crawl over me is one thing, but eating something that has been salivated over by rats is quite another, and this was one ritual that I was not going to partake in.
I left the temple, most enthused by my experiences, and was encouraged to take the one hour journey back to the hotel on the roof of the bus. This was a most exciting and invigorating time - especially as you had to watch carefully for any low hanging branches along the desert road. But any dangers were more than made up for by the reaction of the locals who thought the site of a foreigner travelling on the roof of a bus most unusual - all of who were waving, laughing, and even taking photographs.
Sitting on the roof - with the clean desert wind in my face, passing countless camel carts, and reflecting on my time in the temple - I came to the conclusion that this day epitomised what travelling is all about - going beyond yourself and your personal security boundaries to experience different cultures, people and places - as strange or as peculiar though they may seem.
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Jethudan charan
non-member comment
Karani temple
its nice image. karani mata,s temple is famous not only in india but i n all the world. Jai maa karani