Week Twenty Eight: Vrindavan, the Taj Mahal, Christmas

The first part of this week I went to work and also celebrated Christmas! The holiday got its own post and pictures, so here's a recap of the rest of the week. 

I started the week at a national meeting about 377 and the next steps to be taken.  Held at the Indian Habitat Center, it was very fancy and very long, running from 10am to 6pm.  There was some controversy over the venue, which was booked without consulting many of the queer groups, sort of in a rush, and a lot of folks thought it was not only too expensive but also sent a message of elitism. This is an ongoing problem in terms of being able to communicate with and please everyone, but ultimately, a lot of people turned up to the event.  It was a very nice auditorium and we were served a large lunch (and in good Indian fashion, there were two tea breaks).  

In the morning, there was another legal breakdown of the ruling and the next steps.  I arrived after this due to some confusion about whether or not the event was open to the general public, but Jasmine, who works at TARSHI, told me that it was really informative and well done.  The afternoon was spent talking about community efforts and planning.  

People from all over India had come to participate and there were many voices contributing to the idea list, which was great.  This was a lot of preliminary planning, but by the end of the evening, there were a few concrete decisions about next steps, including making the 11th of the next few months a national march day to commemorate the ruling.  The next few months are especially important as the SC reconvenes and considers the review petition, so it's essential to keep attention on the issue.  

In addition to learning a lot and hearing from a number of new voices, I also met several people from Mumbai and other places in the South, and I will hopefully be able to reconnect with them when I head down at the end of January. 

Christmas! 

On Thursday I headed to TARSHI and worked for the day before heading home to pack to take a trip to Vrindavan! 

Vinay, who is an administrator and founder of Harmless Hugs, an lgbt group in India, invited me to come along with Abishek and Chitrang to visit Vrindavan, a city important for its relationship to Krishna. 

Early Friday morning I met Chitrang and together we took an auto to the railway station. At 7am, the train left for Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna.  We arrived at around 9:30 that morning and went to the site where Krishna was born, now a temple but as Vinay told me, at the time of his birth a jail where he was born because a tyrant feared that Krishna would end his life (familiar).   

Cows in Mathura

Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi, the temple and site of his birth

Above the gates of the temple (pictures are not allowed inside, nor are telephones or any electronics, much like at the Swaminarayan Akshardham)

Mathura was the first place where I really saw cows in the street, and they were everywhere.  Mathura and Vrindavan are known for their milk products.  I ate a variety of delicious things thanks to Vinay, Abishek, and Chitrang. 

After Mathura, we took an auto to Vrindavan to find our hotel and rest for a bit. 

Hungry monkey outside the hotel.  

Walking down the street. 

Line of monkeys.  

Much like the cows, the monkeys were mostly new to me.  I had seen a few in Delhi, but only really at the Indian Coffee House in Connaught Place, where the waiters have sticks to scare them off. I was told by many people in Vrindavan to take off my glasses (specs) or the monkeys would steal them. 

After checking into our hotel and resting, we headed to see several temples and attend an aarti at the ISKCON temple.  An aarti is a Hindu religious ceremony.  We walked first to an old ashram that Abishek heard was home to a really cool bird feeding.  It was amazing.  We walked into the ashram to see the ground covered with green parrots and a gray blob of pigeons.  We could not take pictures, but it was beautiful, and we sat and listened and watched until around 5pm.  That is the time, hilariously, when the monkey come and take their turn with the bird feed.  Before that time, the monks have sticks and keep a guard, but after 5pm, the monkeys sneak in, the birds fly off, and it's not nearly as beautiful but it is still fun to watch.  

After the bird ashram, we headed to the Prem Mandir, the temple of love. 

On the way, Ganesh

And hanuman

Prem Mandir, the temple of love 

With Abishek, Vinay, and Chitrang

So sometimes in India, I get asked to take pictures with groups.  It's because I am a foreigner and normally I have to say no or it begins a series of photos that never ends, but the man who took the picture above was a school teacher on a field trip with his students, and they wanted a picture, so I said yes.

This was the group of girls; there was also a group of boys

From the side of the temple

Elephants at the entrance

Before entering a temple, we took off our shoes and washed our hands.  Practicing Hindus also touch the ground at the temple stairs and entrance to apologize for desecrating a holy place with their feet, a practice that I found particularly beautiful.

Inside the temple:

Lights are a big deal at this temple, as you will see below

One of the chandeliers backlit; the lighting changed color

The group of worshippers below waiting on the curtain to lift and Krishna to be revealed; the statue is only available for viewing at certain times of day.  As Chitrang told me, the gods need to sleep.  

The gate at the front of the temple

At night the temple itself is backlit by changing colors:

With Abishek and Chitrang

Krishna once held a mountain over his head for seven days to protect the inhabitants of a city from wrath; this is a model of that scene. 

After Prem Mandir, we walked to the ISKCON temple for the aarti.  The ceremony there is particularly loved because of the dancing.  Chitrang told me that there are two ways to please Krishna: dance or cry.  

The deity 

Inside the temple; all the shots are blurry because everyone was moving in some way

I loved watching and listening.  The music is the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra.

The family below was adorable and invited me to dance with them.  Normally I don't dance at all but when a tiny hand reaches out to ask you to dance, it's essentialy impossible to say no: 

Vinay and Abishek 

With Chitrang and Abishek

A monk from the US named Bhagavad gave me a wreath of flowers, a blessing from the god.  There were monks and devotees all around the temple, many of them from Europe and the US.  ISKCON is very popular outside of India and because Vrindavan is paticularly holy when it comes to the life of Krishna, it has a number of traveling monks and devotees who live in the city for short periods of time or who, like Bhagavad, stay for decades.  

When we left the next day, we took the wreath to hang on a tree 

The next morning we woke up and went to temple to offer prasad.  There are special stalls that sell sweets meant to be offered.  The guys helped me decide what and how much and then we went to the temple.  

I ran into the family from the night before, and it was good to be able to tell them hello again, even though our conversation was a little stunted due to language barriers.  

After going to temple, we ate some more delicious street food, a favorite theme of the weekend, before heading out to find a bus to Agra. 

We hopped on a bus and rode for around two hours before hopping off as close to the Taj as we could.  For the distance between the road and the ticket gate, Vinay decided to find a camel cart.  In good tourist fashion, I rode the camel for a bit.  

Poor camel.  

It was really, really crowded.  Probably because it was a weekend and a weekend over winter break, lots of people picked that Saturday to visit Agra.  We waited for a couple of hours in variuos lines.  Later on in the day we found out that with my foreigner ticket we could have skipped to the front but oh well.  It was good time for talking and it was a beautiful day. 

Filing in

First view.  It really is unbelievable.

Waiting to go inside

After visiting the inside, which was very crowded and very dark, we sat down and relaxed for a bit.  

With Vinay

Selfie with Chitrang

With Abishek before leaving

In the cart on the way to catch a bus back to Delhi. This one was pulled by a horse, not a camel.

Vinay and Abishek

We stopped to buy sweets called pretha, which are famous in Agra, before heading to buy bus tickets and grab some dinner before the bus home.

The bus ride was quite an experience.  The guy selling tickets had clearly overbooked and the windows were broken, so it was really cold as we drove down the highway.  Of course it was fine because I was in good company. We arrived back in Delhi late that night and I headed home to sleep before starting the new week and the new year.

This week I am thankful for:

1. Vinay, Chitrang, and Abishek
2. A chance to see the Taj and to see India generally
3. Everyone who made Christmas what it was
4. Street food