Hindu Gods and Painted Cows

India
Originally uploaded by An Smith.

There is always something happening in India. It is a land of hilarious contrast and contradictions of which you can't even begin to imagine. As I type this there is an ornately decorated cow peering in at me. He has five legs and his owner is trying to convince me to come out and take a picture of them for good luck. Um, yeah been there done that. (Besides, I've previously explained my new fear of cows made stronger last night when a baby cow suddenly ran straight at Martin and head butted him from behind). A lady in a purple sari is screaming at someone at the top of her lungs and some man just walked by and farted, burped and horked all at the same time. Impressive.

Walking down the street is kind of like being in the middle of a circus. You are trying to avoid fresh cow paddies and mysterious wet patches, dodge motorbikes that zoom around the small zig zagged streets at full speed, painfully ignore the children begging for rupees or milk who endlessly yank on your arm all the while trying to not breath when you pass the outdoor urinals (which they encourage the men to use, instead of a wall or the gutter). I'm still to discover where the woman go. The men who stand outside of their shops constantly leer at you and try and convince you that you need to buy something as you wander past. Dogs with three legs run around chasing cows and tourists before curling up in a cozy pothole smack in the middle of the street, despite the zooming rickshaws and motorbikes whirring past. It's a bit exhausting sometimes. Add the intense heat and your day ends with your head spinning as you try and take in everything you saw, the people you met and the new experiences you had that constantly blow your mind. I absolutely love it!.

I am chilling for a few days in a small town called Pushkar in Rajisthan. It's semi desert so it's freaking hot, but dry heat so it's manageable. I have a room with a view (about 200 white temples, a lake and mountains) for the exorbitant price of $9 Canadian dollars and I have a big pool to laze around. I'm planning on doing yoga and swimming and reading for a week. There is no way to ever truly escape India (perhaps a 10 day meditation course in the mountains where I am sure I would officially lose it so I think I will pass). This is my best effort for calm. It's quite hilarious that a country known for yoga and meditation is so mental and full of activity. Actually, it's no wonder because I don't know how they would survive without it.

Pushkar is a strange place full of backpackers and the tackiness they bring with them such as Internet shops, Falafal stalls, kids selling hash and colourful shops filled with baggy clothing and silver jewellery. Mix that with 400 temples, families in colourful saris on holiday to worship at the temples and bathe in the lake to wash away their bad karma and Sadhu's who are making the pilgrimage here to worship Shiva or their god of choice. It certainly makes for interesting.

Pushkar is a sacred holy city for Hindu's. It's one of many pilgrimage spots in India, and the only place in the world that has a Brahma temple. (It's supposed to be the only one because his wife, Saraswati, put a curse on him when she realized that he married another woman; the curse being that he could not be worshipped anywhere else in the world; anyway, we hear a rumour there is also a Brahma temple in Bangkok. I don't think anyone should tell Saraswati and I certainly hope she doesn't read my blog, because I wouldn't want to anger Hindu Gods). To further give you the Coles Notes (or Bill and Ted) version Brahma is the tubular dude who created the universe. There are about 450 million gods who are technically just a representation of him since he is off doing meditation somewhere more peaceful. The most important Gods are Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. There is also a God with an Elephant head, Shiva's son, by the name of Ganesh and he seems high on the cool scale.

If I understand correctly the main principles of Hinduism are Karma, Reincarnation and Moksha. The idea being that you are want to live your life so that you can eventually escape the cycle of rebirth by being borne into higher castes and so on. One huge objection I have is that women can generally not be liberated but only hope that they are reborn as a man and will be liberated in the next life. Being a woman in India is never easy. The caste system basically defines who you can marry and what jobs you can do (is completely illegal but still prevalent) and has India completely backwards and inside out.

Anyway, the pool and a book are calling me so I suppose I should get back to it ;)