Part 2

After spending an hour or so at the caves we drove to another interesting historic site from early India. Ashoka the Great, one of the most important historical figures in Indian history, was filled with guilt about the loss of life after a particularly gruesome conquering battle in the modern day equivalent of Orissa and converted to Buddhism. For the remainder of Ashoka’s life he promoted peace, built schools and temples, and constructed pillars of rock with his edicts. The site where Ashoka was converted now has Buddhist and Hindu shrines on it and they’re relatively impressive. Since Dr. Krishnayya has some knee pain he opted to stay behind while my friend and I climbed the stairs up the shrine. The Buddhist shrine is more or less a landmark, as there was very little (I actually don’t remember any) worship taking place and no priests. But around the backside are a few very lively HIndu shrines. As my friend and I walked around a Hindu priest who actually spoke English really well came up and introduced himself to us and invited us to perform Puja. Wanting to show our respect we agreed and walked over to the shrine. He started by asking us a place our hands together, which would only be normal for a married couple, and then got right to it. After a minute or so, he asked us directly if we were married. Not wanting to embarrass him or try to explain that we were both married but not to each other (kind of a no no to be out in public like that), I said yes (which required a giggle from my friend). What would be the harm? We would perform a couples puja and be out of there in a jiffy. That’s not exactly what happened. The priest, in semi-broken English, kept saying something about marriage which made me suspicious. What made me even more suspicious was the act of tying string around each others wrists. This wasn’t a normal puja, we were being married! After I made a hefty donation (I was told that no less than 500 rupees would be acceptable. Still cheaper than my first marriage though) we circled the temple with our arms around each other and when we got back the priest explained to us that we were to return in a year with our two children, a boy and a girl.

My Hindu wife and I went to another shrine just across the grounds, performed puja again, and made another hefty donation (they love white people...). It was an awkward walk back to the car.

The next day, there were more morning conference things (although less formal and less demanding), and while Dr. Krishnayya stayed at the conference we went to he local zoo. It was both an eye opening and saddening experience. The Indian zoo operates with the goal of having a first rate conservation breeding program, which is really cool, and because of that we got to see lots of native Indian animals. But, again, there’s absolutely no security in the zoo and people more or less do what they want. The most frustrating moments from least bad to worst. 1. In the reptile section of the zoo the lizards in one of the exhibits were right up against the fencing, and girl in front of us picked up a stick and poked the lizards with it. I almost reached up in front of me, broke her stick, and told her no 2. In the nocturnal animal house there was a man behind us yelling his head off trying to get the animals to react and what not. I almost punched him in his big mouth. 3. There was a leopard pretty close to the front of it’s enclosure and our driver/not-very-helpful-because-he-didn’t-speak-English guide picked up some small pebbles and threw them at the cat. I almost grabbed him to break his wrist. It’s not just the fact that there were signs every 5 feet asking people to not tease the animals that bothered me, it was the blatant disrespect for the animals themselves. If you want to see animals perform go to the circus.

So, seeing the animals was kind of mixed bag. That’s OK, I still had orchids, right? There was supposed to be a glasshouse at the zoo with orchids in it. They were only supposed to be displaying hybrids (of the vanda and dendrobium alliances...not that that means anything to any of you), but I figured that it would sate me regardless. Almost needless to say at this point. It was a total bust. The “Orchidarium” was chain link shed with shade cloth on it, and it was closed and I couldn’t even see anything in bloom. There were horiticultural gardens across the lake, but there didn’t appear to be any way to get across (the tram didn’t appear to be in working condition), and there wasn’t any indication on the map that there was anything to see over there besides maybe some rose gardens and the like. I like gardens, but not when it’s blazing hot and I’ve already been disappointed all day.

Disappointment was thick that day, because the temple we were supposed to go see, and the tribal market that we were supposed to go to got taken off the menu. We non-Hindu students wouldn’t have been able to get inside the temple anyway, but the temple has apparently become quite crowded and unpleasant to visit and Dr. Krishnayya didn’t want to attempt the long trip (another 2 hour drive) just to be let down by the experience. So, my Hindu wife and I slept and read the rest of the day.

Before we left the next day we stopped by an orphanage operated by Dr. Mohanty, the chair of philosophy at the university, saw the facilities and ate lunch. Most of the girls that end up in the orphanage are abandoned at hospitals, train stations, and the like, because like lots of cultures little girls aren’t valuable, and when you’re poor...well, you give up what you think is mostly just dead weight anyway. The emotions that it drags out in you are complicated and dichotomous. On one hand your heart is broken to see so many young and innocent betrayed and hurt by the very people who are supposed to love them the most, and on the other you see strangers, nobly picking up the slack that society let drag out.

Overall, the highlight of the trip: Seeing fireflies for the first time in over a decade.


Justin Tungate