Hello Everyone!
I am currently in a town called Tiruvannamalai--which is one of the holiest cities in Tamil Nadu (as stated in a previous blog). It has one of the largest temples called Arunachala Temple--which is dedicated to Siva--God of Fire (there are soooo many God's that people worship here...it's mind blowing). Last night I visited the temple and was even given a tour by one of the women in the program that I'm volunteering at. The women's name is Sumahti--and she is the sweetest, warmest and kind person!!! She was so happy to take me into all the shrines and have me be blesses by various priests who smeared ash across my forehead and smudged bindi's between my eye's. After an hour into the tour, my feet were all itchy from bites (no shoes allowed), my bladder was about to burst (yet another challenge in india--staying hydrated while trying to minimize the number of times to use the toilet) and a growling stomach (I barely ate lunch...meals can be a bit tricky for me).
But she was just beemimg with joy so my tour continued from shrine to shrine. Finally, 2 hrs later I treated her to dinner at one of the best restaraunts in town ($25 for 4 people), and we all laughed and enjoyed the food. She managed to tell me in her broken english "sister, you please promise me to come and see me every year".
The other main attraction to this town is a famous ashram called Sri Ramana Maharishi. It attracts a ton of westerners seeking the path to enlightment and spirituality...I suposse. I am very fascinated to see sooooo many westerner's that look like they all live in Venice beach or Woodstock all swarming in this little area--so bizarre!! The Indian woman traveling with us remarked that she feels like she is in a western country...that's how many westerners there are!! I heard someone today refer to it as spiritual Disneyland.
In any case, we were invited to have dinner tonight at the ashram which was an experience in itself!! The meal is free, but you must be invited. Again, no shoes allowed anywhwere. People line up in single file to enter a huge room that has rows and rows of bannana leaves on the ground with a glass and you just go in order and sit on the ground. Then men walk down the aisles with large vessels of food and plop rice, dal, chutney and a veg curry onto the leaf.
Now I am thinking...uh, oh!! I have serious food issues and I am not very good at eating with my hands....this could be interesting!! Well, I did the best I could---but was probably the only person who left food on their leaf.
Ugh...a mouse just ran in front of me..so i need to rap this up (ugh, I am even now in the $25 dollar hotel, as opposed to the $6 a night hotel I was at the other night)!!!
I am including a pic of me eating lunch at the volunteer program from the other day.
Until tomorrow.....
Namaste,
Dayna
