I did not end up taking off work yesterday for Krishna’s birthday, but a co-worker very kindly brought me to a temple in Vaishali after work to see the festivities. (My taxi driver also kindly drove us the ten minutes extra, which was sporting of him.) Every Hindu temple I saw today was decorated with lights and yellow flowers. On the way, we passed children dressed up as Krishna and Radha (not his wife, his lover.) and going through the streets in a wagon.

We had to take off our shoes before even entering the gate to the temple. Once inside, there were a lot of women (lots with their scarves covering their heads, but I couldn’t tell if that is because we were with the older-conservative-lady late afternoon crowd or if it was a thing to do in the temple) and chanting, then going up in a sort-of line and pulling on a rope, getting a red dot, then walking around in a general clockwise fashion.

The more I learn about Hindu deities, the more I realize how little I know. But for my reference: Krishna is the one who plays the flute in a relaxed position. Often with cows. And sometimes has blue skin for some reason.

My co-worker took me to a street market near Vaishali metro station where she picked out a kurti (a long shirt, essentially) for me. Even though there was no place to try it on, it ended up fitting well! It cost just under $5, which I guess is inexpensive, just not as much so as I would have expected. (I think clothing is one of the things you can get in the U.S. far too cheaply.) And it matches my jeans, double bonus.

She then let me try some special sweets which are only served on Krishna’s birthday called panjiri. She also made dinner, even though she was on her Thursday fast. Many women, and some men, often pick a day of the week (each day has a different meaning) to fast. Fasting in this case can mean not eating or drinking at all or it can mean only having certain things (like fruit) during the day. Maybe something I will try someday as I’ve never done a fast. (It also pays to check on these things before you plan an office pizza party…)

“Panjiri”

India is the land of “special sweets”. Either for certain days or in certain regions, it seems there is a treat to commemorate it.

The pigeons on my balcony are at it again. Thanks to Google, I now know for sure the weird dance / beak-kiss / sitting on top of each other thing was indeed mating. (I mean I was pretty sure, but I never thought about bird sex in a lot of detail before. It’s a lot faster than mammal sex.)

Pigeon Foreplay

And the new guy in charge of maintenance in the housing society is extremely awesome and is helping me replace the a/c pipe (which is apparently causing the leakage and maybe caused the damage) and fixing the wall, even though the former of those does not necessarily fall under the maintenance schedule. While they were checking it out, he recognized Ladakh from one sideways photo of a building on my laptop and I discovered he hails from Jammu & Kashmir. His mother is from Ladakh and his father from Kashmir, he said. Funny coincidence.