City as Text

Yesterday we got out and explored different parts of Delhi in small groups as an orientation assignment called City as Text (an idea they apparently stole from some urban geographer). We were in groups of 2-3, each led by a university student here who had either grown up in Delhi or had spent the past several years here. They gave us assignment sheets with questions/directions, but we mostly just did our own thing at the places they had picked out for us.

I was with another girl from my group, Theresa, and a Bengali girl named Sriparna, who is working on her masters in English Literature at Delhi University. The first place we went to was the Baha'i House of Worship, more commonly known as the Lotus Temple, since the design was inspired by the lotus flower. It was absolutely gorgeous. It's set on 26.6 acres of land, and they have a beautiful information center that tells the story of the Baha'i faith with lots of pictures and information about contemporary Baha'i movements and humanitarian initiatives around the world. Here's a picture of the temple itself: 

There are 27 petals made of concrete and white marble, and there are nine giant pools surrounding the base of it. Inside is all one floor, so there's an enormously high ceiling, and it's so quiet you can hear people walking around in their bare feet. Very cool. I can't imagine what the space looks like when all of the flowers are in bloom as the rainy season is ending.

Next we went across the street to a tiny market and small temple to a local goddess (Kalka Devi). There were lots of small children working at the stalls, and they drive a hard bargain - they didn't want to lower prices at all. We talked to an 18-year-old boy (with the help of Sriparna's translation skills) at a jewelry stall since one of our "assignments" was to interview at least one person. He was operating an extension of a jewelry shop his father owned inside the market closer to the temple. Lots of beggar women were following us around the market place (hooray for sticking out like a sore thumb), and Sriparna told us later that they were cursing us in Hindi because we didn't give them anything.  On our way out we got a snack called chikki, which is shaped like a rice cake but made out of peanuts and jaggery (unrefined sugar cane). It's really sweet and tastes kind of like Crackerjax.

While we were standing in line waiting to get into the little temple, there were some kids walking towards us, having just come out of the temple. Theresa and I kind of smiled at them, and I waved, and they were all giggly and waved as they walked by. Barely five seconds later, they turned around and came running back towards us again, smiling and posing and laughing and jumping - they had seen Theresa's and my cameras, which we each had in our hands. I got a fantastic picture of them when they weren't squirming:

They came over, I showed them the picture, they waved and ran away. It was pretty adorable.

Our next destination was the ISKCON temple, which is fairly close by (ISKCON = International Society for Krishna Consciousness). They patted us down, made us go through metal detectors, and took my gum at the entrance. (Not sure why the gum was a problem, other than perhaps they didn't want me chewing it and then spitting it on the ground.) The security was a bit more intense than I had been expecting, and tighter than any other place we'd been so far. Sriparna informed us that they were overly cautious. 

(Side note: The whole notion of metal detectors or metal detecting wands here is an enigma. When they beep, you keep walking, and when they don't beep, you keep walking. I don't really understand the point of it all. Many, many places have guards either watching you walk through metal detectors or wanding your bags, but I've never seen them stop anyone, regardless of the noise [or lack thereof] of their little devices. Native Delhiites don't seem to be able to explain it, either.)

We sat in during the prayer/chanting session (which was interesting...very enthusiastic people, very lively, instrumental accompaniment for the chanting, and only a little cult-like). Then we went to the "Vedic Expo" part of ISKCON, which is where things got weird. We went to a sound and light show of the Bhavagad Gita, which was terrifying at first. You start in a small, pitch-black room, and then the guy presses a button and a narrator with a voice like Mufasa starts talking and they do all kinds of crazy things with lights over a life-size diorama depicting a scene from the Gita. You move through a series of rooms, each with a different diorama, and some of them are downright trippy and/or frightening. Although, to be fair, one of the last ones was all beautiful and glittery and colorful and calm. But these rooms were designed by people who make roller coasters and amusement parks, and one room had a fog machine, most of the floors were wavy and curvy, one room was all mirrors, and so on and so forth. Really weird, but also fun (I think).

After a relatively late lunch, we took a cycle rickshaw(!) to a market called Greater Kailash I. It was a mixture of Western stores and Indian stores, roadside vendors and traditional stores in real buildings. They have both really cheap and really expensive items there; scarves for approximately 2 USD and ridiculously ornate and absolutely exquisite diamond jewelry that would put just about all American jewelers to shame. That was great fun.

Today we just met at the Center, and each group gave a "report" - ie. a slideshow of all the pictures they took the day before, explaining where they went and the crazy things they did. Some of the IES teachers were there, as well as all of the peer guides (the Delhi University students). We had some of this afternoon and evening free, so most of us decided to go on an adventure since we had been cooped up inside on a beautiful day. So we decided to go to Dilli Haat, a market that has craftsmen from all over India coming and selling everything from pashminas to furniture to ceramics to food to jewelry. All kinds of lovely things I wanted to buy but had to resist (mostly). I did buy myself a tea cup since I get really frustrated with the miniature ones they have here in the residence hall. For a country so serious about tea, the tea cups we have are kind of a joke. So I bought a normal-sized, hand-painted one for Rs. 40...I'll let you figure out how much that is in USD. :-D

So we went to this market, haggling with the auto-rickshaw drivers who took us there and cramming five people into an auto (which is quite cozy). We survived the crazy traffic and found our way to the proper place and home without adult supervision, and everyone came away with pretty souvenirs.

I think I've covered everything from the past few days, perhaps in greater detail than anyone actually cares to read, but at any rate, it is time for bed, methinks.

Namaste.