January 13, 2008 - page 2

Following Vrindavan, we spent a few days in Jaipur touring its palaces and ancient forts.  We all experienced the excitement (and stink) of an elephant ride and tested our haggling skills at a bazaar.  After seeing many Hindu temples, I especially enjoyed visiting a Sikh gurudwara.  Sikhs are perhaps the most visible devotees in India because they do not cut their hair and the men wrap it up in a turban.  Inside the gurudwara, men were reading from the holy book, and there was fabulous music involving drums and some sort of droning accordion.  One man brought around a bowl and put a piping hot handful of brown goo into each of our palms.  I was a bit scared but knew the only choice was to eat it and was incredibly surprised at how sweet it turned out to be.  Dr. Gupta later explained that we had sampled the Sikh holy food, which was made out of farina (cream of wheat) and butter and sugar.

On our final morning in Jaipur, we were invited to the Gupta’s family home.  Papa Gupta, who was raised in Jaipur and returns each year, took us on a tour of the house and talked candidly with us on the roof terrace about arranged marriage and immigrating to America.  

His mother made us delicious Indian snacks, and then they gave us a red dot on the forehead to wish us a safe and auspicious journey as we traveled south.

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