09.13.07 Ganpati Hunting

So if you didn’t get the picture in the last post, or if you’re just tuning in, the celebration for Ganesh’s birthday in Mumbai is enormous! It’s kind of like Christmas and the Fourth of July with Flag Day parades and the blessing of the fleet all at once.

There are these temporary temples set up all over town around idols of the elephant headed god that are going to be thrown into the sea. It all sounds very Dada – art made under the philosophy that ephemerality adds beauty, poignancy and freedom. So when they drove me past one the biggest installations I thought it was wonderfully serendipitous that it was in the neighborhood called Dadir. Remember these people learned to speak English from the Brits, so they don’t say their ending r’s.

There were a couple of temples set up in Dadir. And such crowds! The line stretched for blocks. The crowd at one was so thick that I didn’t bother to get out of the car. I wouldn’t have got through the gate!

At the other I had to get out and take some shots of the gate. It was so unbelievable to me that they would build these things temporarily. It had towers and onion domes and peacocks, and what all. The line of people were standing to one side behind a rope, so I ventured down the allee to see what the temple itself looked like. I wasn’t going to stand in line to see the idol.

I was not disappointed. There were bridges and lawns and lawn ornaments!

I walked toward the back of the set up where I could get close enough to take pictures of the bas relief of elephants. There were some police officers sitting through the long morning, and a family resting on a low wall dressed for the event in beautiful clothes. I asked if I could take their picture, but they said no. I turned to go when the father called out to me. I thought he might have changed his mind when I saw he was pointing toward the guards. The guards were gesturing inviting me to go in the back way! I was learning about the privilege of being a tourist!

This idol was advertised as being the biggest in Mumbai. And it was certainly impressive. I didn’t try to get up close to it, but just appreciated and snapped a picture for you.

My driver and the woman at the hotel who had booked the car for me both told me that I needed to go to Shree SiddhiVinayak Temple. This is the permanent big Ganesh temple in Mumbai. I was a little uncertain about going during this festival with the crowds and what not, but the driver took me as close as he could (about a block away) and it looked like a pretty easy to walk, not too many crowds. The street was lined with flower stalls, great golden curtains of blossoms waiting to be taken in and blessed. I was not quite ready for all the hucksters.

I was first approached by a monk in robes with lines painted on his face who grabbed my hand and started wrapping a red string around it, saying ‘From my god to your god’ and then did a little prayer. I thanked him when he was done and he rubbed two fingers together asking for a donation. I chuckled and gave him r50 and he disappeared.

A little further on was a guy with a card table covered with baskets of flowers who approached me and asked me where I was from, and did I want to go in, and that he had a ticket to get me in, and I thought why not. So I left my sandals at his table (no shoes in temple) and took the flowers and we walked on. Some little kid came along and threw some red carnations on a string on top of my box of flowers and I said no, but he shook his head and said I should keep them.

My guide did a nice job of keeping the other hucksters away. Though he waved at a few of the loiterers and I thought I saw a twinge of envy in their eye as they smiled and waved back at us. He had caught a live one.

They’ve built a big wall around the temple, installed security cameras and built a new temple over the old one to protect against car bombs and terrorists. There’s apparently always a crowd at this place. There were certainly a lot of people there, and from the cattle runs there was room for a lot more.
He took me through the metal detector at the security check point after first telling me to give my new camera to the nice policeman. No cameras allowed inside.

We walked to the far side of the temple trailing our little friend of the red carnation, and getting more smiles from the folks hanging around. I wonder if I had a goofy smile on, or did I look completely bewildered? My guide talked to a guard at the gate and disappeared inside for a bit, then came back out and told me to hang on. He disappeared again and came back and said it would be just a minute. He had given one of the guards r500 to get in. I suppose I should have balked, but it’s only $10.

The gate swung open and we went in. Our little friend was told to wait outside.

The inside of the temple soared up 50’. There was a central atrium with balconies running around it, and in the center were two smaller temples. The one in the center was a hexagon and had 3 sets of double doors on one half leading into it. The crowd was pushing in and out and I discovered that there were steps leading down as I tripped through the crowd.

Three young priests, stripped to the waist in white lungi (skirts) were taking the fruit and flowers offered and passing them by the idol and incanting the prayers and handing them back to the worshippers. I was waiting for an opening in the flow of people in order to join them when I felt a firm hand in my back pushing me in. I was surprised when the crowd actually gave way and I moved to the front. The priest smiled at me and did his thing, handed me back my offering and threw a half a small coconut on top and was on to the next.

We made our way back out of the temple, picked up my camera from a different policeman and got back to the table where the haggling began. He started at r6000 and I countered with 2. He said he had to pay the guard 1000, and I said I thought it was r500. He said there were two guards, and I shook my head. He mentioned that there was the cop who held my camera, and I said, pulling out my wallet, that I in America we don’t pay an official extra for doing his job and handed him 3 r1000 notes.
He started telling me that he just paid for his brother’s very expensive operation, and I really wanted to laugh. I put on my sandals, thanked him with my prayer hands to my lips and then gave him another r500. $75 for a private vip tour of a major tourist attraction at the height of the season seemed reasonable. After all, the line was longer than going to the Empire State Building. Even so, I still felt that I’d been hustled a little.

I suddenly remembered my little friend with the carnations I didn’t want. He suddenly reappeared and dogged me for a bit. He had his hand out and I gave him a surprised look. I then dug some coins out of my pocket and handed them to him. He gave them back and demanded r100. I laughed and put the coins back in my pocket, pointed at my guide and told him to go ask the guy I had just given money to. He started to protest and I gave him a firm No, and he disappeared.

I found my driver across the street. As I approached the car, the cop who had taken my camera walked up to me. He asked if I had gotten it back. I said that I had and thanked him, heartily noting how kind people were in India. He asked me where I was from and I said New York. He commented that it was a very rich city and I countered that it was a very expensive city.
Then I got an idea.
I asked him if he knew my guide, and he said he did. I gave the cop a big smile, patted his shoulder and told him that I left something with his friend for him. I got into the car and scolded by my driver for not leaving the camera in the car.

I chuckled all the way to the next stop.

Everybody hustles a little in India.

09.16.07 - Ganesh Chaturthi

This was a really auspicious time for me to arrive. Ganesh, the elephant headed god, is the first god to whom the Hindi pray, always. Vishnu so decreed. He is the remover of obstacles and the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. He is invoked at the beginning of things, and to have his birthday come along as I’m starting my adventure in India is very auspicious.

We had a puja, or prayer ceremony to Ganesh, at the jobsite as we moved in. A new beginning. Incense and offerings of fruit, and such. The company also outfitted some new space in Mumbai, and we just had a puja there as well. No giant idols, but sweets and cakes. There was just a little image of Ganesh, but an elaborate door hanging made from FLOWERS.

So this is the once a year that Ganesh comes to celebrate his birthday. They do it in a big way in Mumbai. 15 days. There are ganapati put up all over the place. These are basically temporary temples. Some are made of tarps and sticks, some have elaborate entries and bridges and facades, almost all have an arch on the street announcing the presence of the gunpati.
In each are a couple of Ganesh idols. Usually one of them is HUGE! Something like 8’. There’s a smaller one nearer to the worshippers where you can leave offerings. He apparently likes coconuts and bananas. Loads of flowers and a money box for donations. The paper reported a ‘miracle’ when a couple of youths tried to break into the donation box, but Ganesh kept them from succeeding.

After you say your prayer the person tending the shrine will give you something sweet. A piece of fruit or some sugar candy, or maybe something with honey and gee or curd (yogurt).

At the end of 5, or 9, or 15 days, they take the idols, submerge them in water and let them disintegrate. I went to Chowpatti Beach on the Arabian Sea last week, and they were already setting up for this. People have been bringing their idols from home all week. The papers say that something like 1300 of them have already been submerged.

They also put them in Powaii Lake which is very close to the office. So on the trip back to the hotel in the evening we will here drums and music and come upon a dozen people dancing in the street as they take the idol toward the lake. A couple of times they’ve been covered in dye or paint, once red, once blue, as if the whole procession walked through a sprinkler at the Sherwin-Williams factory.

They string lights around the lean-tos. Some of them are elaborate displays with programmed patterns, some are simple, usually there’s an allee of lights to lead you from the arch to the lean-to. The arches on the street are made of bamboo lashed together and then covered with ink-jet printed vinyl. Usually the vinyl has some politician’s faces on them, Mrs. Ghandi is usually included. The ones on main streets may be sponsored by a local company or even a large corporation, which comes up with little graphics for the event.

The politicians and the corporations obviously donate money for the idol and the paraphernalia. Most of the rest of it comes from the neighbors and the members of the pandals, little group formed for pulling off the event. This means that the really fancy ones are in the classier parts of the city.

But it doesn’t mean that there aren’t incredible little treasures tucked away in little corners.

I found a fantastic plaster arch along one of the roads inside the bandra (the road that separates Mumbai from the suburbs).

I walked through the arch and found myself in a normal little slum. Two storey attached buildings. The height of the two storeys is probably not 20’. No sidewalk, dirt road, goats, dogs, etc. The arches of lights ran quite a way toward the temple. There were a few off shoot alleys. The temple was quite large and contained not only a Ganesh, but a Krishna head, Krishna’s parents, and a Vishnu.

The temple folk seem honored if I take a picture of their idol, I make sure to show them the picture on the back of my camera (I’m REALLY glad it has a big screen) and the weave their head in pleasure.

I was quite confused how such a seemingly poor community could afford such a flashy set up. On my way out I saw the large sign showing the three sleek glass towers that the developer wants to put up on the site, and it all became clear to me. It was after I left that I saw the developer’s name on the arch! Duh.

I was escorted out by a pack of children. The children get really excited about picture taking. They love to have their photos taken and will pose and pose and scream and laugh. It draws huge crowds of them.

At night from my hotel I can see some of the lights and hear the music and fireworks from the celebration. I keep meaning to stay out after dark and see some of them in the night, but exhaustion catches up.

Mukesh at the office belongs to a local volunteer group who helps with the crowd control at the Chowpatti. He has invited me to join him. Now this will be participant observation!

10.02.07 - Temple Hopping

It's Ghandi's birthday, and a national holiday. No work! I love India!

Kausik, who works with me at Turner, got me up at the unearthly hour of 7:30 to go temple hopping. He's a Brahmin, so he was going for serious piety with his family. I was going to gawk at the temples. He hired a small SUV with a big driver, who would lecture him later about stupid Americans who leave 30lak of valuables lying around in the car as they go off touring.

There are 108 special Vishnu-cult temples with some connection between them. ( more information on this in future posts) 106 are in India, the other two are where the gods reside. If you get to all of them here, you get to get off the dharma wheel and see the other two! Today we saw 3.

While I was there I did not do anything for American Tourism:
I am such a sucker.
At the first temple we go to, an ‘official’ guide said that a non-Hindi like me couldn’t go inside. But he was happy to show me around the temple grounds. We got to the back of the grounds, away from prying eyes and he shook me down (politely) for a contribution to the Temple. I gave him r200 ($5), and he said "It is so little".

I was a little put off at his begging or haggling at a temple, though I don't think he sees it that way. There were plenty of real beggars around.

So I pulled out r1000($25) note and gave it to him. $30 for a private tour of a historical shrine didn't seem too much. He asked me not to tell ‘my friend’ how much I had given him.

Originally I thought him sneaky and wanting to keep me in his confidence. I didn’t trust that they wouldn’t have let me in, and he just said that to get a lift off me. In retrospect I don’t think he expected me to just hand him r1000 and was a little embarrassed ans taken aback.

And afraid that Kausik would demand he give it back.

He offered to take us to see the other temples, and then of course to his friend’s weaving shop. I was ready to leave him behind, but Kausik invited him along to tour.

He took a few snaps of me, and all in all I think I judged him way too harshly. He was just scraping a few bills off a tourist in return for telling me about the temple. Though I’m sure I'll get more info from Kausik. We have an hour's commute together each way everyday.

The first of the other temples had these great wooden floats that are used in parades. All sorts of incarnations of Vishnu (I think) and wonderfully done, though not all my pictures came out. I guess I may have to go back and do this one again.

The last temple had these great mustacheod angels guarding the courners. I think they’re terrific and I want one for my bookshelf to scare the hell out of any evil spirits creeping around.

At the weaving shop,

on a second floor above some others, where he said there was no cost, just a demonstration (yeah, right), there was a semi-autiomatic hand loom in the front and loads of cloth.

The stuff is supposedly all hand-loomed, but I sort of doubt it. There weren’t that many looms, the prices were not that high, and the real hand done stuff is probably in the back for the real folk. (Am I getting cynical, or what) Having Kausik with me undoubtaedly helped he price lots, and I'm sure our guide got some of the transaction.

Kausik’s kids Vishnu and Garuda (yes trivia fans) are great if loud and antsy. All in all they are well behaved. Especially when their father puts on his demon face. We laughed and played and I threw them in the air. They cuddled up on me and took naps as we drove. They refer to me as Uncle, which is a somewhat respectful term for an older gentleman not related to you. Though we use it disparagingly about the boss. A boy in one of the temples saw Vishnu’s yo-yo and asked me; “Excuse me Uncle, where did that come from?”

We stopped at a large roadside for breakfast on the way there. We had this great south Indian coffee that is thick and foamy. It’s served hot and overflowing in a small silver cup which is larger than a demi-tasse, but smaller than a regular coffee cup. This silver cup is in a small silver bowl that holds the overflow. You’re suppose to slosh it from one into the other, but the whole thing is too hot for me to handle, and the sloshing destroys the froth.

We stopped back at the same place for lunch and sat in the A/C section. There was a folded banana leaf at each place, like a place mat. You unfolded it and sloshed some water on it, and then no one bothered with plates. The waiter came along with the stuff in stainless buckets and ladeled it out onto your banana leaf. There was a reddish powder that you sprinkled liberally onto the rice and then mixed it in with your hands. It was terrific. (Very pleasant was Kausik’s phrase) All he could tell me was that it was made from a mixture of grains.

Another little shop and where we had some beetle leaves wrapped around nut and spice. Good for digestion, and I think a little narcotic. We all napped after, (except the driver) either from food or leaf or both.

Not bad for a Tuesday!