I'm behind in processing and posting about India because I've just made a major life transition from Preschool Director to Director of Congregational Life, from First United Methodist to First Presbyterian, from working with families to working with the whole of my church family. It's been a deliciously FULL almost month - riddled with grief, excitement, overwhelm, joy and fulfillment. That's the funny thing about call - it's often pretty messy, but the mess eventually gives way to some sort of order as long as you swim in the mess until the waves calm down. Order is beginning to show herself and even though Holy Week in a church is anything but typical, I feel a routine emerging around me. So now I have bandwidth to reflect and process a bit more.
It was January 11, the day Henry turned 18, and I was halfway around the world from the one who made me a mama. It was really hard to not be with him on his birthday, so I journaled quite a lot about him and the gift he is to me. Those are words I've saved just for him and don't feel ready or quite willing to put them out into the world. Nonetheless, I'm so proud to be his mom.
Our journey conitnued on to our next hotel - the Fortune Select Tirupati - we dropped off our luggage before heading to the Tiramala Temple (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (Official Website)). Tiramala claims to be the most visited religious site in the world. Based on the crowd we encountered upon arrival, the claim seemed true! To even get up to the temple, we had to get out of our van, walk through security stations, and leave all of our plastic bottles on the van - they're banned from the mountain. There's about a thirty-minute ride from security, up the mountain overlooking Tirupati, before arriving near the temple grounds. Devout able-bodied pilgrims, however, walk up the mountain to the temple. Some travel from miles away and pre-plan their visits months/years in advance to make offerings to Vishnu. Hostels and rest houses dotted the landscape alongside restaurants and an entire village that supports the bustling activity of countless pilgrims making their way with offerings. The ride up was exciting - every now and then we glimpsed the walking path, adorned with red and deep yellow powder placed there by pilgrims as they journeyed. We saw monkeys! They were just hanging out on the side of the road and one was even eating a banana. We saw signs warning us of the tigers who make the mountain their home and were reminded as we made our way skyward that we were on sacred ground.
The mountaintop was a flurry with people and activity! Our driver dropped us off and we ventured toward the elephant house - truly the house where the temple elephants live. Padmahvati (named for Vishnu's consort/lover) obliged our request for an elephant blessing by willingly taking our 10 rupees with her trunk and then placing her trunk on each of our heads. It was surreal and beautiful to see this majestic beast, wearing Vishnu's symbol on her forehead, offer each of us earthlings a blessing. She obviously lived the high life - sharing shaded space with her roommate, their two caregivers, and ample food. We also saw temple water buffalo and cows up close before venturing further up the mountain en route to lunch.
Atop the mountain our lunch consisted of a traditional talle - an individualized buffet of various Indian curries and such. Once we finished our paratha and papadum (breads), servers gave us generous servings of rice to enjoy with the cacophony of sauces on our plates. Some of the foods made Nashville Hot Chicken look like baby food - so very hot - thankfully yoghurt and raita helped calm the sensation. The flavours were divine and we left well sated, ready to explore the temple grounds.
To physically enter the holy space, you had to have a darshun (think ticket) which granted to access. Those who held darshuns often waited 24-48 hours to get into the temple - it was astonishing, really. We didn't have darshuns, but were free to enjoy the temple grounds. The temple was built as a shrine to Vishnu and pilgrims journey to this place to receive blessings and offer gifts. One of the gifts people give is their hair - in response to asking Vishnu for a special blessing and receiving it. They come to the temple, shave their head, and leave their hair as a thank offering. We saw many bare heads as we walked around. The temple grounds are just massive and are said to host 50-75,000 people daily. That, coupled with the rule of no shoes on temple grounds, made for frighteningly dirty feet. It was extraordinarily crowded and we spent much of our time trying simply to stay together. Children approached us and painted the sign of Vishnu on a couple of our foreheads before we could even refuse - and they followed us the rest of our time on the grounds begging for money. The crowds, the sounds, the smells, the begging all made for a startling, disturbing, awe-inspiring, overwhelming experience.
Along the way toward the smaller shrine to Hanuman, we were stopped multiple times by people who wanted to take our photos. We stuck out pretty dramatically, suffice it to say. It got to the point, honestly, where we had to just keep moving so we didn't feel mobbed. I decided there I wouldn't do well being famous! At Hanuman's shrine, pilgrims paid to purchase little coconuts and went up to the shrine and broke them as offerings to the monkey god. Our out of place-ness led to additional photographs and we just had to stay on the move, lest we attract too much attention. We made our way to the onsite lake, led by our guide via a shortcut that took us past HUGE ghee strorage vats! As we stood at the lake, we saw pilgrims coming to bathe after offering their hair or just to cool off a bit. Despite our being here during India's winter, temperatures were still humid and in the 80s.
Children continued to follow us right up to the minute we crossed out of the gates of the temple grounds. I couldn't help but think about their faces as we traveled down the mountain. On the road down, we drank in majestic views of Tiraputi. We returned to our hotel for dinner and delighted in the comfort of seeing pasta alfredo on the menu. It's amazing what a small tase of home can be.
Sleep came easy and we had the luxury of knowing we had the opportunity to enjoy sleeping in a bit the next morning before continuing our adventures.
