The inner sanctum

Today we went to the temple on the hill. I can’t remember what the name of the temple is or who the God is (or be able to spell it), but I do know that Semhatulam (almost invariably an incorrect spelling) is the name of the hill. Because of contacts that Charles Nuckolls has with an Ayer Vedic doctor, who just so happens to be the personal doctor to the Maharaja, who just so happens to be patron of the temple, we got into the inner sanctum. Most Indians just walk by and look into the inner sanctum, so what we experienced was very rare, even for Indians. Apparently, it would cost an Indian 10000 rupees to do that. I wondered to myself as I walked by how they would feel about it. Were the Indians in line wondering why on earth a bunch of white people who were probably Christian got to cut through line and get into the inner sanctum? I don’t know, but I imagine that it’s probably what I would have been thinking.

After the inner sanctum we were tied to a wishing pole that is said to be especially effective for women/couples wishing to conceive. I admit that I made a wish.

At any rate, the temple is beautiful. It’s a little weird though, because Indians don’t seem to have any regard for architecture and they bulldoze and tear down buildings and structures that date back to the 16th century and replace them with kind of crappy concrete structures. It’s like artisans got replaced by day laborers. Luckily, enough of the old stuff is still around to make everything seem very nice.

I got my phone today. The number is 91-7702573486. I don’t think that I pay anything to receive phone calls, but calls to the US are like 14 cents a minute. Skype calls are definitely less expensive.

On a negative note, I found out today that I lost my camera/got it stolen. I left my bag in a car that we rented for a day trip and when I got it back, I didn’t think to check in the bag to make sure that everything was there. Well, it turns out that today I couldn’t find my camera. This being India though, I was lucky to get my bag back at all, let alone with most of the stuff inside. I should have known better...lesson learned. I don’t know what I’m going to do about the camera situation, but I’ll check out what’s available here and hopefully pick something up that’s not too expensive.

I’m tired....


Justin
I didn’t make a wish to conceive, just to be clear. Those were unconnected statements. And while I’m remembering the God is wrapped in sandalwood paste every day of the year except for one when he is unwrapped. It is believed that his glory is so great that he needs to be contained or else the world would explode.

Justin