Shiva temple experience

This evening, a friend and I decided we should see Bangalore's infamous Hindu Shiva temple. This was a lot of fun and a very unusual experience. 

We arrived via a lengthy winding rickshaw ride to a street corner in the middle of a little monsoon downpour. In an area on the outskirts of Bangalore, we expected a more suburban or rural experience only to discover that the chaos of Bangalore expands for a very, very long time. Once dropped off, we walked down a dirty small pathway to come to a woman seated at a table who charged us to enter.

Once having paid, we entered a strange little dimly lit tunnel that seemed to go on forever. The tunnel was plastered with posters with various religious and inspirational statements on them. One is pictured here:

After wandering through this tunnel, we came to a booth where we were instructed to remove our shoes. We then walked through more tunnels with a tour guide, who taught us about some of the Hindi gods pictured and captured in little shrines. 

We then went outdoors. Still barefoot, this was a little uncomfortable because it had just rained and I'm sure many people had walked the pathways and there were puddles with lots of dirty water. I remember thinking that some people at home would think this was awful and very unsanitary. That thought definitely rushed through my head, but I've discovered that -when in India- one learns to accept the uncomfortable and not think about it. It reminded me of myself in bed at night, feet incredibly itchy from mosquito bites, redirecting my thoughts so that the itch goes away. I'm learning that it takes some mental power to accept many parts if India, so to not ruin the positive.

Once outside, your ticket for the temple acts as a little passport with various activities you need to check off having completed them. This included putting coins in a ton of little brass buckets, chanting Om, tying a string to a pole to release worries, pouring milk over an idol, touching an ice sculpture and sending a candle off in the pond, as well as many other rituals I cannot remember. Unfortunately it was sortof difficult to understand our guide so I don't know the significance of many of these acts, but it was very neat to try them. Some photos of this are here:

A lot of these photos look very touristy but our guide insisted on taking them (likely in hopes of a good tip). I'm glad he did though because I think they are pretty funny.

And alas, we got to see the shiva statue and watch the Indians say their prayers. As you can see from the photos, it really is a bit of a tacky statue. The whole experience itself was a little "Disney", with the various checkpoints but I think it is designed to teach tourists about various rituals, while also serving as a place of worship. The funniest thing that happened on the way out was that an Indian family asked if they could take a photo with us. Apparently this is common in India, and it's likely given that Bangalore is not a major tourist destination, we were the only white people they had ever been so close to. We thought this was so funny so of course obliged, having the two mothers pose with us and then after, their toddler son, while a father snapped away on his smartphone. 

That is all for tonight! I'm very tired from working with kids on their speeches and have a full day of it tomorrow. 

Goodnight!