Accidental Encounters With Sacred Spaces

Due to the fact that Alisa was suffering from acute bronchitis (as diagnosed by Shakti's doctor), we decided to splurge on our accomodations. Engage in a day of rest and relaxation. This really is our favorite hotel/hostel/guest house that we have stayed in (we are excluding our stays with our mothers and Aunt Judy).

These are the two women who manage Achal Niwas, the guest house.

And the head manager. (Notice the kohl under his eyes, a traditional Indian practice to ward off the evil eye)

Right outside our bedroom, and down the stairs, is the shrine. A small shrine is found inside most every Hindu home and it is called the "puja room." While there are many Gods within Hinduism (Hindus like to throw out numbers like 33 million to give you a sense of how many there are), Hindus can generally be divided into three categories: Shiva worshippers, Vishnu worshippers, and goddess worshippers. This is a shrine to the goddess of power named Durga and the 7 Sisters. Daily worship to these home shrines is standard in most Hindu homes.

We love the street food. This man is making one of our favorite sweets (or a variation of it), jelebi.

This is an obligatory snap of this Jaipur and Lonely Planet institution: the omelette man. He has huge books full of postcards from world travelers thanking him for his delicious streetside omelettes.

View of the Jodhpur fort from the roof of our guesthouse.


Sitting in the Jodhpur fort with "The Blue City" behind us. Blue is a traditional color for Brahmin homes. Brahmin is one of the main Hindu caste groups. Historically, members of this caste are the priests who maintain the religious texts and teachings and care for the temples. (We might post a little India 101 later on) Blue is also supposed to be good for keeping the homes cool and the mosquitoes away.

We can't count the number of times we've been nearly speared by horns like that. Walking the streets is a regular obstacle course.

Indian spices.

The Blue City.

Walking to buy bus tickets, we passed by a door that looked like an entrance to a temple. We decided to wander in and found ourselves in the home of a Brahmin priest. We sat on the floor and spent an hour learning how to improve our karma and become better people. It wasn't where we thought the day would take us but as our priest affirmed, we were exactly where we were supposed to be. Two hours into our visit he busted out all kinds of Indian instruments. His grandchildren sit behind him.

His home is also a Krishna temple. In the evenings they bring out the Krishna images and rock them in these swings. Krishna is an avatar (earthly manifestation) of the god Vishnu. Krishna is known for being a bit of a trouble maker and you often see images of him as a toddler stealing sweets. As a young man he would play his flute and seduce young women who would take off their clothes as they followed him. Today Krishna is one of India's most popular gods.

The Brahmin priest loaded our pockets with blessed sweets and sweet-smelling cotton balls to stick in our ears (apparently just so you always have a sweet smell nearby . . .) and we set off for our next Rajasthan destination!