The Coconut Sacrifice

On Wednesday Emily, Cecilia, Shera and I set out to find a temple so that Emily could sacrifice a coconut to the healing gods for a friend who had been in an accident. Coconut sacrifices are common for women who are hoping to find a husband or become pregnant, but are also popular for healing requests. We caught a rickshaw from the main gate and headed in the direction of a temple...any temple. To our surprise we ended up at one we had be to for the Banalu Festival. We took our shoes off and walked through the gate. With no idea what to do from here we wandered around a bit until we saw a sign with an arrow buy coconuts here, quite convenient. It brought us to a stand where a man was already holding out two coconuts. I thought to myself Derick has a bad back, the doctors couldn’t do much, let’s see what Lord Krishna has up his sleeve. Emily and I paid for our coconuts and walked into the temple. After more aimless wandering we heard a loud crack. We followed our ears and found the man who breaks the coconuts. He sat next to a shrine. We watched some other women go through the process before trying our hand at it. He waved us in and took the coconut, slamming it onto the stone as we folded our hands in the direction of the shrine and he asked “Where you from? U.S?” As we nodded he put a bindi (red dye) on each of our foreheads and shooed us along to make way for the next group. We then found our way to the wall where all of the coconuts were hanging. Behind the wall there were five different statues of Krishna (I think). After folding our hands and saying a few Hare Krishnas (Hail Krishna) we tied the coconut bags to the wall. If we thought we were done there we were mistaken. In my experience Hindus are very welcoming to foreigners at the temples and as we stick out so much they tend to single you out and want to show you around. Like the last time they brought us to the head of the line for the main shrine of Durga. We were just in time for the ceremony where they light the candle and everyone waves smoke on to themselves. Then they bring around some special water that we had previously been instructed to take in our hand, pretend to drink and then throw on our hair. After this we were free to go. 

Bangalore/Mysore

Here are pictures from this weekends trip to Bangalore and Mysore!

We left Thursday evening. The first leg of our journey was the walk from our dorm to the main gate of campus to catch a rickshaw. It took about 40 minutes!

We took the night bus from Hyderabad to Bangalore. It was a very bumpy 12 hr ride. Luckily there were beds instead of seats!

We spent the first day in Bangalore and then grabbed a bus to Mysore for Saturday. This photo is from a market near our hotel. It's popular to get a strand of jasmine in your hair. It smells amazing.

Some dyes and oils in the market. 

Of course there was a cow enjoying the market too!

We went to a house where the women roll incense that is exported to Europe. They start with slivers of bamboo, roll it in a honey, charcoal, and gunpowder mixture (the black stuff on the right) and then roll it in the powder.

Next we went to a place where they roll beedies.  A beedi is sandlewood slivers and ginger wrapped in a sandlewood leaf. They say they're healthy. 

This was the palace in Mysore. We walked around the whole thing trying to find the entrance. It took us about an hour and by the time we found it we had to head  back to the hotel. Very disappointing.

Our last day in Bangalore. Exhaustion takes over.

Campus

Below are some pictures of the campus! It is very rural and spread out. It is common to pass by cows and water buffalo on the way to class. I have also seen a peacock, wild boar and monkeys! Needless to say, fears are being faced every day.

These are my favorite flowers in California and they're here too! I'm not actually sure what they're called but we in the Study India Program refer to them as Bumblebums.

Sipping some chai at the canteen. The cranky man here charges us double because we're white. It's hard to complain considering we're paying 8 cents instead of 4.

The girls hanging out on the rock in between classes. This is where we eat lunch or drink chai.

Right in front of our dorm. The herd of cows was attracted by a pile of burning trash and the tractor is a product of the construction that's going on down the road. The construction workers and their families live in a slum-like community until their work is done. This means that as we walk to class we will see the women carrying pots on their heads on their way to get water.

The photos below are of children who attend a school supported by the Henry Martyn Institute here in Hyderabad. The focus of this school is to bring together Hindu and Muslim children in an academic setting. Aside from learning basic elementary school subjects they also learn about each other's celebrations and festivals with the goal of promoting peace and understanding between the Hindu and Muslim communities. The school we visited was in Old City, which is the most conservative, and primarily Muslim, area in Hyderabad. Both Hindu and Muslim families lived in the school's neighborhood and most homes waved either a saffron flag (indicating a Hindu family) and a green flag (indicating a Muslim family).

The school makes a point to have a mixed staff and also provides medical care and classes for women where they can learn how to sew and make crafts with women of the other ethnic group.

The idea is that when people's basic needs are met they will be more willing to leave a life of peace and tolerance.