My weekends have been fun – I went to Amritsar the first weekend and my mom and sister visited me the next weekend. There’s a big group of UT students in the advanced group and some of us took a trip to Vrindavan over the long weekend. In celebration of July 4th we lit fireworks on Thursday night on Jolie/Donovan/Andrew/Alex’s terrace. I love the ease with which one can purchase and light fireworks in India – Alex pulled out his harmonium and we sang the Star Spangled Banner. It was the most patriotic July 4th I had celebrated in the past couple years because I’m usually out of the country in the summer and not with other Americans.
On the way to Vrindavan, we stopped to check out the Bharatpur royalty’s summer palace in Deeg. Here I started to notice a trend in the status of historical monuments in India…the garden was more well maintained and preserved than the structure itself. The palace was beautiful but unfortunately falling apart as was the awesome palace/fort we saw in Bharatpur on our way back from Vrindavan. The princely collection of the Bharatpur royalty was extremely impressive and included sculptures from as far back as the 1st century. Walking around the museum/palace with Cristin and Jacqueline and seeing the laxity with which all of these artifacts were being “preserved” was a mix of appalling/humbling in a sense that I am not sure I can articulate. I recall checking out an exhibit on Chola bronzes at the Dallas Museum of Art and it being suffocating in comparison – everything was climate controlled, guards everywhere,art intellectuals making poignant comments… In a weird way, seeing all of these “ancient” artifacts so in the open and un-obsessed after was more liberating than saddening.
So the temple at Krishna’s janm bhoomi really does share a wall with a mosque. I saw it. I had all these romantic notions that the shared wall was a symbol of Hindu and Muslim unity…until I found out that Aurangzeb built the mosque to block the road to Gokul…I guess I’ll continue to appreciate the fact that both places of worship are still standing. And the lassis are as delicious as people say they are. My favorite part was listening to this elderly Krishna bhakt who had situated himself on an obscure ledge in one of the gullies and was playing a simple string instrument made out of a gourd and singing a Krishna bhajan. Attached to one of his feet was a string of bells with which he kept the rhythm. The music came together quite splendidly. It was just beautiful.
