Posts Tagged ‘temple’

Pachydermaphoria, Part 2

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We love the temple elephants. This is the very same elephant Pam wrote about us chasing back to the Hampi temple in the moonlight.

Hanuman The Monkey God

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After a long Sunday afternoon ride through the countryside on the Enfield, we found ourselves at one of the most beautiful temples we have yet seen. The Trimurti Temple on the southernmost outskirts of Bangalore, past all kinds of farmland and winding roads, has three large sections: one each for Ganesh, Hanuman, and Shiva. Here we have Hanuman, the Monkey God, against a lovely cloudy sky. More pix soon of this fantastic location :)

Monkey man say: Talk to the hand.

Enfield Puja Mojo

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Before we started riding the Enfield for real, we took some local advice and brought it around to the nearest Hindu temple for a puja. This is very common here; people bring bicycles and motorcycles to the temple all the time for a ritual blessing. Given the traffic and driving conditions here, we’ll take any advantage we can get.

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The temple holy man had us park the machine in the proper spot, and purchase some flowers, floral garlands, coconuts and limes from a nearby vendor. He lit a spoonful of something on fire and wafted the smoke about the bike; we warmed our hands over the flame and then placed our hands over our hearts. Then, chanting all the while, he strung the garlands onto the front of the bike, and made various marks on the bike’s frame with kumkum. He placed the limes underneath the front wheel and instructed me to run them over, while he continued chanting.

Finally, he blessed us, placed a lotus blossom over the speedometer, and sent us on our way, with his business card and a request that we e-mail him the photos we had been taking throughout.

True: On the way home, we ran out of gas…

Pachydermaphoria

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Now Is The Time When We Dance

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Indians love to dance; especially, it seems, the boys and men. Today at the City Center Market here in Bangalore marks the second time I’ve been pulled into a crowd of ecstatic temple revelers and coaxed into dancing. The spectacle of Cara and I, and even Phil, dancing with these young men, and a tranny in an orange saree, drew quite a smiling crowd.

Don’t look at this photo for too long, or that guy will yank you in as well…

Holy Guys Not So Holy

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After a crazy trip through the market we went to what we thought was a safer bet: a nearby Hindu temple. One by one, we paid our respects to a large number of the vast array of Hindu gods, and made a small to less-than-small “donation” at each station. The picture above shows one of the holy men at a station belonging to the god in the background. On our way out of the temple, we were approached by a pair of women, who had been making their own worship rituals here, and wanted to speak with us in private. They told us, in very hushed tones: “If you want to give money, please do; there is a box outside the temple for that. But you should not give money to the men in the temple, they just steal from you.” I guess religion is the same all over :)