Hindu Temple

Last week I attended a Hindu temple service. It was like nothing else I've seen before. The temple itself is beautiful and has two stairways - one for men and one for women. I went up the ladies staircase and walked across a crowded room of people sitting on a red carpet. I snook over to the women's side of the temple and took a seat. The first two things that struck me were the music and the colors. Everyone was singing a song while the man in the front played bongo drums and the sari clad women were clapping tambourines and the lack of physical movement in the room did not match the sound of it whatsoever. The colors of the temple, the colors of the scarves and flowers draped on the statues of the gods (which I found interesting that they were made of porcelain and had white white skin), and the colors draped in what I would normally call Christmas lights all over the room, but I guess they would be Hindu lights? Either way it was certainly festive and to be honest, it was a lot of stimuli to take in for a girl like me. I sat down and took everything in for about five minutes. I'm sure my face was like a lighthouse in a watchtower scanning the room back and forth trying to get used to the sounds and the sights, then trying to relax and enjoy.

The songs and tambourines and drums continued and I tried my hand at meditating to it all. It was a very different experience; invigorating. I was taken over by the language and the songs and the smells. It was fantastic. I was passed a tambourine and rocked out for a bit. Then the cutest little children sat next to me and wanted so so badly my tambourine. I could see it in their big brown eyes and their little grippy pudgy hands. I handed it over and let them go wild. They certainly went wild. The children have free reign to run around, which only adds to the commotion.

At the end of the service, you choose one of the 7 gods or so to pray to and you go and stand in front of that statue. I am not familiar with the gods or what they represent, so I chose the one with the most beautiful outfit (bright pink). I stood in front of her and stared her down thinking about the possible prayers that have been prayed by others who have looked in her eyes. At the end of the service as we walked out of the temple we were handed a carton of milk and an orange. Not sure why, but it was nice. Then downstairs there was a full Indian dinner buffet which was delicious. I haven't had Indian food in a long time, and 'comfy' is the only way I can describe it. Hooray for new cultural experiences. I plan on going back.