Entry #11
May 12, 2014
I have not been able to journal in more than a day because so much has happened. I will try to start at the beginning.
After taking a nap–well Greg napped; I journaled–after returning to the hotel Saturday morning, we left to go shopping. Our hotel was near Ram Juhla and the best shopping was situated just before Luxmen Juhla. Both are bridges that swing across the Ganges river. The walk to the shops took forty minutes and was about two miles in my best guess. The temperature was unbearably hot. We shopped for hours and bought a decent amount of souvenirs. I still have a lot more shopping to do, though.
We ate in a sketchy Chinese restaurant because we believed it to be the German bakery we were advised to eat at. In our defense, the dumb restaurant SAID German Bakery on it! Freaking restaurant. We walked back after this and during the walk, I became possessed by a demon. Another day in the life of me. I felt so hot and sweaty, my feet were killing because of poor quality shoes, I had to excrete the ten bites of sucky lunch I had very badly, my thighs were chafing and burning and I knew we had at least a two mile walk ahead of us. I spent the walk either complaining when Greg would ask how I was or fixated in a death-glare silence for fear I would drown Greg in the river–merely because he was the only person I was able to take my rage out on.
We finally returned to the hotel and after a quick, cold shower, I apologized profusely to Greg. He comforted me and said there was no need for an apology. We are all human; thus we are all allowed to feel uncomfortable and then complain about feeling uncomfortable. How can we enjoy the better moments if we do not suffer through the truly hellish ones first? We rested until it was time to meet Rajesh at Little Buddha.
This walk was not as painful as the temperature had cooled down a little. Upon entering Little Buddha, both of our eyes bulged. The atmosphere of the restaurant was laidback and down-to-Earth. It was like hippies' galore. There was Indie-like music playing, extremely dim lighting emitted from bulbs sitting in what looked like sun hats. There was even an outdoor balcony area. One side of the restaurant had raised U-shaped platforms with cushions and pillows. The tables were so close to these cushioned platforms that customers who sat there could not put their legs down. The rest of the restaurant had normal tables and chairs. The entire place reminded me of hookah lounges back at home but with a much more positive vibe. Maybe this is because the facility served food, not flavored tobacco. Food is a much more enjoyable product. We had a great time laughing and talking with Rajesh. He left and we shopped a little more before walking home.
The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel. We crossed the Ram Juhla and found an auto to take us to the bus stop. We boarded the bus to Dehra Dun, but unfortunately it was full. One man found a seat up front so I took his empty one. Greg sat on the floor of the bus in the back and was able to stretch his legs out. The ride was about an hour and a half. There was so much traffic and our driver had a condition which forced him to lie on his high-pitched, deafening horn for five seconds at least once a minute. Turns out our auto driver from the bus stop in Dehra Dun presented with the same condition. If you can call being irritable as desiring to rip someone's head off, then Greg and I were a million steps past being irritable. We cheered up once we got to the homestay and showered.
We ate lunch and rested until a cab came to pick us up. Mayank had arranged a nice tour of Dehra Dun for us since Sunday afternoon was our only chance to explore the city. We visited four temples. There was so much to take in that the details are now fuzzy, but I will attempt to recollect everything.
The first temple had a giant golden statue of Buddha about 125 feet high. The base holding the statue was colorfully decorated and very beautiful. Inside the base was a room with completely painted walls and ceiling. Gorgeous chandeliers hung down and the support poles were draped in red fabric. At the back of the room was a shrine with a picture of who I assume was Gandhi. The shrine held many animal figurines, candles, flowers and six dishes of water. There were dishes to collect money also. There were intricately embroidered seats on either side of the shrine reserved for certain Gandhis I think. The seats could not be touched. I noticed in this temple and the second temple, both being Buddha temples, that every item and painting is detailed so precisely. Nothing is simple; everything is ornate and decorated. There are animals found everywhere, most often lion-like dragons, horses, lamb and others. Gold is the primary color although everything is very colorful. The final theme I noticed in the Buddha temples is that bigger is better.
The second (my favorite) temple sat right down the street. We entered the large area and noticed many green fields and a crowd of citizens hanging out and playing on these fields. It was like a park. Next to the entrance was a small, empty, painted blue pool with a statue of a beautiful blonde woman serenading a swan who seems to be entranced and captivated by her musical instrument. The main attraction was a towering building with four total levels. At the top of the tower is a statue of the new Buddha who stands over the previous Buddha, descending a set of stairs. The statues were magnificent and looming.
We entered the tower and were taken aback by the glory of it all. The giant walls were painted green and every inch was painted with a detailed scene and picture. All four walls made up a world of civilians, animals, creatures and imaginary images, none separated from another. I examined the continuous painting closer and saw every facet of the world that one could imagine. There were rooms with a missing wall so that you could look in and see families eating, women giving birth, even couples having sex! There were men hunting animals, dogs chasing men, the oh-so natural demon creature sawing off a man's leg near a fire. There were dragons and people riding clouds. I took the walls to portray all of life and every possible component of it, including what we imagine, fear and hope for. There was a sense of awe and inexplicable understanding when I viewed the walls. The rest of the first floor contained shrines and seats for holy figures. The top of the first floor was surrounded in three layered ledges that were filled by Buddha statues that sat and watched over us. The bottom-most row of statues was different from the other two rows'. All the statues were gold.
The second floor's walls were a continuation of the statues as they covered the entire floor's surroundings. In the center of the second floor was a display case of a decorated room. There were figurines of men riding different animals that surrounded the display. The main display was so cluttered with decorations and figurines that I couldn't possibly decipher it or describe it in any amount of words. It was a beautiful work of art.
The third floor contained a tall display with many surrounding colorfully decorated figurines, similar to those on the second floor. The front side of the display had seven or eight vertically-arranged Buddhas. On either side of these were Buddhas sitting on clouds. They blended in with the green background, but I counted 28 cloud Buddhas in total. The back of this tall work of art was a beautiful depiction of a variety of flowers climbing and weaving their way through a white trellis. It was intricate and magnificent. Stepping out on the third floor's balcony, one was able to look directly up at the new Buddha or stand directly behind the old Buddha descending the stairs. From that angle, it was clear to see the stairs were painted white on the Buddha's left, blue where he was to walk and gold on his right side. Curious.
The entire spectacle was breathtaking and what made the adventure more interesting was that Greg and I seemed to be spectacles ourselves! We were stared at by everyone and heard many families giggling about us as we passed. I was even approached by a man who asked if I would take a picture with his mother. I should have told him I would only take a picture with his mom if he would take one with me. He was hot! For lack of a better word, of course.
The third and fourth temples were a stark contrast to the first two. They were very clearly Hindu. They were much more simple and less extravagant than the Buddhist temples. The Hindu temples were more about being places of prayer and worship than the Buddha temples, which were known for their shrines and sheer opulence. The animals more often found in Hindu temples are elephants, tigers and a few others. The most prominent color is red, not gold. There are bells that people can ring hanging from the ceiling. I would love to uncover the significance of ringing these bells.
The first Hindu temple was partially located in a cave where we were sometimes forced to duck down and hunch over while walking. There was a fire lit and a gathering of people participating in prayer in a back room. In the deepest room of the dim cave, there was a single occupant–a man painting what I assume was one of the numerous shrines in the room.
The fourth temple had many glass display cases, often containing statues or paintings of Durga. One case with a gorgeous gold tapestry of Durga also held a painting of the same woman serenading the swan I saw at the second temple. I wonder who she is and the story between her and the swan. Upstairs was a room with glass walls that contained a large group of people praying on their knees. They were not all in unison as it seemed to be individual prayer. There was a man behind a decorated desk, leading the prayer or something of the sort. It is possible he was a baubau, although I do not think so.
We then went out to dinner to ANOTHER Chinese restaurant. For being part of Asia, India is really bad at imitating Chinese food! I did not like my pineapple chicken meal so I boxed it up and gave it to the cab driver whom had spent five hours of his day with us. Luckily I was able to enjoy a delicious chocolate donut from the display case at the restaurant. There was a band who was pretty good, but they only played three songs within the 45 minutes we were there. We rode home, passing a very small parade on the way. I was so tired that I passed out immediately after returning to the homestay.
