September 21, 1960
Dear Diary,
So..... I am visiting Asia for my Study Abroad. I was in China for five days and didn't get much sleep. Late on the fifth day, I got on a train to Nepal. It is a 2 hour drive from Bejing, China to Kathmandu, Nepal. It was late at night so I decided to sleep for the two hour drive. I was so exhausted from the little sleep I had gotten the past few days, the time difference, and the pain medication that I take for my headaches, that I ended up not only missing the stop in Kathmandu, but I slept for 10 hours until the stop in New Delhi, India! I am currently in New Delhi and it's pretty cool here so I guess.... I will just stay... yeah that's what I'm going to do. I guess it was fate that I fell asleep on the train.
September 22, 1960
Dear Diary,
It's my first full day in India. I am staying in New Delhi. It is the capitol of India and it's very nice here. I visited the Lotus Temple today. People kept talking about something called Indoism. My guess is that it is a political party that most people associate themselves with in this part of India because I think, if I heard correct, someone say that they are Induo. So I'm guessing it's like if someone said I am republican. I am planning on researching it later today. Now, I need to get something to eat.... How about McDonalds? Idk.. I kinda feel like a burger, but here even McDonalds doesn't have beef! Ugh! I don't understand why they can't just sell beef, if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it! Jeez!
September 23, 1960
Dear Diary,
I just woke up. Today I will be doing some research on the Indoism thing that I kept hearing about yesterday and then I will go to the Ganges River! I hear it's kind of gross and I shouldn't get into it... but I wonder... why do most people who visit it get into it if it has all kinds of sewage and ashes in it? Doesn't seem smart to me. I think it might have something to do with Indoism though... I'll keep you posted. I will have to take another train to go to the Ganges river.... wish me better luck on this one!
(Still) September 23, 1960
Dear Diary,
So I researched Indoism... turns out it doesn't exist. The word I kept hearing was Hinduism or Hindu. It is not a political party and it does not just affect this part of India. Infact, many people all over the world have heard of it... who knew? Hinduism is a religion. Which means that apparently instead of being like republicans, they're like Christians, only it's a whole different religion entirely. I guess I will start explaining what I learned by talking about my trip to the Ganges River. First off... yes... I did get on and off the train at the right spots! Woohoo! Acomplishment! Anyway... when I got to the Ganges, I saw what you would expect... that was a lot of people completely bathing themselves in the filthy water. Disguisted at first, I turned to go sit somewhere else. I sat on the steps by a rather old man. He quickly picked up on the fact that I had no clue what was going on. You know... the typical tourist. Here's how our conversation went:
Old guy: Hey son. What's wrong?
Me: How can all these people put themselves and their children into this filth bath.
Old guy: You ever heard of Hinduism?
Me: Funny you should ask... I heard the word yesterday and I looked it up today so... I guess you could say I'm a little naive.
Old guy: Well, to these people, this isn't a 'filth bath'. This is a sacred place.
Me: How is a sewage dump a sacred place?
Old guy: To us, it is not a sewage dump. It is the home to the Hindu goddess Ganga.
Me: So just because one of the goddesses lived here means you have to bathe yourself in it?
Old guy: No, no, no! And to be clear, it's not something we as Hindus are required to do, it's something we want to do.
Me: But why do you want to?
Old guy: We believe that bathing in it purifies us by washing away our sins. It gives us better karma to spread our ashes in here after our death.
Me: Doesn't it seem odd that by bathing in filthy water, you are cleansed?
Old guy: (pondered it a minute then began to laugh) I do see your point. For us, it is more of a mental thing. We are not actually physically being cleansed. We are probably physically getting more dirty like you said, and we know that, but our hearts and our minds are what are being cleansed.
Me: Ok, I can see where you are coming from... so it's sort of like Baptism in the Christian religion.
Old guy: Yes, kind of. The full meaning is different, but in both you are doing it for internal cleansing, not external.
Me: Hmmm... I understand. So earlier you said something about karma... what is that?
Old guy: Karma is most easily thought of as... what goes around comes around. If I am fair to you, then sometime in this life or my next I will be rewarded for it. If I cheat you, then I will surely pay the consequences.
Me: This life or the next? So you believe in Heaven?
Old guy: No, actually, we don't believe in Heaven. We believe in reincarnation.
Me: What?
Old guy: The belief that you live, die, and come back to life as someone or something else based on the deeds you did in your past life.
Me: Got it! I better go so I don't get home too late, but thanks for filling me in on your religion!
Old guy: Anytime!
So, that was my day in a nutshell. I learned a lot about the Ganges, but I forgot to ask him my most important question of all..... why doesn't McDonalds (or any other place for that matter) sell beef??? Where's the beef?!?!?! Oh well... I wonder who I will meet tomorrow!
September 24, 1960
Dear Diary,
I woke up today and was craving (again!) a beef sausage buscuit like the ones I used to eat back home, so I went to what I thought was a McDonald's, but the sign looked different. It didnt have an "M", it had a wierd heart with out the tip, but it had the same colors, so I walked in and told the cashier that I was a tourist and was wondering if this was a McDonalds. She said yes and that the sign was written in sanskrit which is the historical Indo-Aryan language and is a part of Hinduism. Upon hearing the word "Hinduism" I realized there was alot more I still have to learn, but I decided I would research that when I got back to the hotel while eating my sausage biscuit. When I ordered my sausage biscuit and made sure that I said beef, the cashier said that they didn't serve any cow products. What happened next may have been a little uncalled for. I was so mad that nobody serves beef that I began to throw a bit of a hissy fit... "What do you mean you don't sell cow products?!?! I just want a beef sasusage biscuit! Is that too much to ask? You do realize the chicken isn't the only edible meat on the planet don't you??" After a few seconds, the cashier began telling me that the cow is very sacred in hinduism. The cow's four legs correspond to the four pillars of dharma. To which I responded(now more calmly), "What is dharma?" The cashier said dharma is the divine path that humans are called to follow; in other words the universal balance of life. Realizing I was holding up the line and had caused a pretty big scene, I thanked her for enlightening me and ordered a chicken biscuit and left so I could go research more on hinduism.
May 12, 2008
Dear Diary,
It's been a while! I was digging through some old boxes, throwing stuff out, putting stuff in boxes to give to my grandchildren, rearranging some shelves, ect. when I saw this. I read the previous five entries and couldn't help but laugh. That was an experience! I was so young and naive. I can't belive I didn't offend all of the people I met there. I said in the first enrty, "I guess it was fate that I fell asleep on the train." That may have been the one intelligent thing I said back then! I'm much older now. I not only have kids, but I have grandkids. after my study abroad I came back to America and I researched Hinduism more. The religion absolutely fascinated me. Now, I am not Hindu, but their ideas like Karma and reincarnation are really interesting to me. For years after my visit to India, I read books on Hinduism, talked to people who were Hindu, and I even went to their temples a few times. When I was 61 I went back to New Delhi. I revisited all of the places I had visited when I was 21, but I had a much bigger appreciation of everything. I went and sat on the steps where I had met that man so many years ago. He was so patient with me. My words could have really offended him, but he didn't get offended at all! As I was sitting there, a young girl came up to me and sat down looking kind of disguisted. Our conversation went like this:
Me: Hey, what's wrong?
Girl: How can all of these people put themselves and their children into such gross water?
Me: Have you ever heard of Hinduism?
.......
I think you know how it went from there... I've learned a lot about Hinduism over the past few years. Now I'm passing you off to my granddaughter. She is 9 and she's learning about India in her class. Maybe she can share some of my adventures from this. Who knows, maybe she will go to India one day. Hopefully she will know more about Hinduism than I did!
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