On our way back down from the Delwara Temples in Mount Abu (10,000 years old, took 2500 people 15 years to build them) we decided to pop into the Universal Peace Hall to cool down and check it out. Little did we know, but believe me we were going to find out in great detail, that we are living in an age of struggle and basically hell where we've lost of idea of spiritualism and all we've got to look forward to is a nuclear war, third world war and civil war in India (I thought the first one would cancel out the other two, but hey ho, what do I know). But guess what, there is a way out and it's called Rajyoga meditation pioneered by a saviour called Brahmin Kumari. If you meditate you create a channel to god and basically this will transform you to the sixth element (I thought that was a bad film). So there you have it. After our 30 minutes of enlightenment I got to thinking, is that why not much value is placed upon the poverty, environment, sanitation or general wellbeing of humans (some of them yes) and animals here - who cares, meditate and you're at one with god, so why bother with this planet. I know that is simplistic but remember I haven't worked for 3 months and I'm still reading the same book I went out here with.
In other news...
We went to an incredible Mewar festival - Spring festival which was a kaliaedoscope (I know it's spelt wrong) of colour and blessings of puppetts and the smell of roses (blessed relief to the nasal passages). But even better than the festival was the crazy fair set up beside it. Will send pic of the most dangerous ferris wheel you've ever encountered. We saw it being drilled in the road in preparation and held up with bamboo. Then this arcane piece of ironware transports 7 children in each open (no safety bar) 'chair' high up as in a wheel, not by an engine but by 2 extremely strong men who just pull down the chairs to get it going. And it works, and they love it! The fair is a myriad of stall sellers from local indian dishes to primary school made swords, catapults, bows and arrows for the kids. For those who don't do Facebook, I was also captured by the magic of the fair and saw a man on the ground selling a plastic ball that lit up when you swung it round. 'I want one of those,' or ten as I thought this would be fun for the kids in Nepal. Well I thought they'd be about 10 rupees each (12p) and I as I tried to ascertain the price a huddle of interested boys gathered round. It was night, it was packed, I didn't speak Hindi and he didn't speak English so I ended up after a pathetic attempt at haggling spending a quid on each one (which is fine, but you wouldn't even spend that on them in the UK) much to the delight and slight disbelief of the boys next to me - gave them a laugh anyway and I got my flashing balls and the bloke cleaned up, so everyone had a fun day at the fair.
By the way, thanks to Fran, Noelle and Marina for your comments - love getting them and hearing about your own experiences of this place. Photos to follow. Fidelma xx
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