I woke up at 5:30 am today and headed out with Christy B, Maria and Mani-ji to the Surya temple. We went by rickshaw, which was quite an interesting experience. Upon our arrival, we headed up the hills along a narrow path shared by cows, monkeys, goats, squirrels, and Hindus. I had brought along a trail mix I didn't particularly enjoy, so we started feeding the hundreds of monkeys that surrounded us. On the way back down, we handfed the cows. The people in the temple let us take pictures of the shrine, gave us flowers and a talik, and even took pictures with us. From this height, you could see all of Jaipur laid out between the hills, and it was impressively expansive.
We headed back to the hotel for a quick bite to eat, then headed off to the Lakshmi Narayan Birla temple, built in only 1985. The Birlas are a rich Indian family who supports universal tolerance. Side note, Gandhi was shot at the Birla house, and that home is now home to the Gandhi museum. The Beatles are said to have visited the Birla temple we went to. Made of white marble, the perimenter of this temple was etched with depictions of Guru Nanak, Saraswati, Mother India, Umar Devi, Vishnu, Gatri Devi, Savatri, Indra, Yaruda, Socrates, Moses with the ten commandments, Zarathustra, St. Peter, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Madonna with Christ, Mahavir, and Surya, among others. The inside was very austere. It had stained glass and thin marble on the walls. After making an offering and circumambulating the deity, I was given some Prasad, which this time was in the shape of small sugar lumps. An Indian family approached me to chat, then asked me to take a picture with them. Donna ended up joining in on the fun. Woo hoo!
From here, we headed out to the Charles Koriya Cultural Center. Koriya, a University of Michigan grad, is one of the world's best architects. The center was designed to be modern, yet still embrace the past. It succeeded on both counts. We didn't have much time to explore, though...=(
From there we headed to the Sangi Mandir Jain temple in Sangener. This temple was very intricately carved, but I've been told it pales in comparison to the ones down South. There is so much to say about the Jain faith...It started as an offbreak of the Hindu church, with a push for total ahimsa (non-violence). My brother's friend Rishi would probably really like the temple more, as he is Jain. Jainism is a very radical and impressive lifestyle that I know I could never keep up with.
From here, we headed to Salim's paper shop. Salim is a business mogul in Jaipur, having traveled to China and other such places to learn from them. When he returned to set up a shop, his ideas about organization and compartmentalization allowed him to set up such a factory. We ended up spending quite a bit of time and money in the gift shop, which was chock-full of great, hand-made, cheap stationary.
When we got back to the hotel,we had a small break before we headed back out shopping with a Lucknow student. She took us to the better stores and did the negotiating, so I got Kortas, a silver ring, and a silver necklace for CHEAP. I think others fared equally well. When we made it back to the bus (late), I found that Lee had negotiated a two-sided drum for me for only Rs 500. DEAL! Mane-ji informed me that this type of drum is known in south India as a mrithangam. I hit it all the way home.
That night, I ate with Tony, Lee, Megan and Donna, met a new friend named Myanmar, and goofed around and relaxed for the first time in a while. It was great!
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