February 23, 2013 - Lotus Temple

My excursion today was to Lotus Temple (a Baha’i temple in south Delhi.) I did something with autorickshaws today that I’ve never done before: I just hopped in after confirming my destination then paid at the end what I thought was fair/generous. (Chris suggested this, actually.) I did it twice today. Neither time did I hear any complaints… this will save time if it continues to work. Either that or it is a sign I’m paying too much.

Can’t Possibly Miss That… Right?

You can see Lotus Temple from the metro. It is a unique and large structure, hard to miss. For an interesting cultural experience, I recommend going the wrong way after exiting the station. Kalkaji Mandir (the closest metro station to Lotus, according to the internet) only has one exit and only three directions you can go from the exit. But it has no signs to point you the way and you cannot actually see Lotus from the exit. One path that encouragingly reads “Pedestrian Entrance” leads to a nondescript Hindu temple (more accurately, the place you take off your shoes); another involves going through a back gate that says “Pass Entry Only” but isn’t and dumps you on a street which leads to a road to two other small Hindu temples. (We are clearly in a very spiritual neighborhood.) These temples, though, appear to be only used by locals; they are not large nor impressive nor anything you’d find on the tourist circuit. Which is probably why 1: I was not hassled by a single tout, beggar, or auto driver, and 2: there were not any other tourists there. I felt very out of place, but people did not seem to care that I was there; they were busy doing their own religious thing. Very interestingly, I did see three transient people who all looked in really bad shape as I walked. And I saw all three of them being given food from people around them, whether some kind of dough ball or little white seeds. None of the transients were aggressive (though one took up half the stairs) and none asked me for anything.

Traffic Near Kalkaji Metro Station
(Found this cool street-crossing overlook between temples while wandering around lost)

I finally turned back to the station and just asked someone in uniform. They politely pointed me back out the exit, but then up the street in the opposite direction. Sure enough, it was obvious after I crossed the parking lot and started walking up the bus-lined street. Once I could see the temple, the trick was finding the entrance. I walked along the sidewalk next to the temple grounds, a wall and waist-high barbed wire (maybe meant to keep out dogs?) on my left and soon, hordes of school children streaming the opposite direction on my right. They were pretty cute and overcame my grumpy mood. I tried to keep from running into them while also avoiding the barbed wire as well as the people selling stuff on the sidewalk. Many of the kids said, “hello” or “hi” or “goodbye”. I greeted them in return, though did not shake hands with the proffered hands, partially because they were walking too fast, but partially because I’m an OCD germophobe. All were in a school uniform; some were barefoot, but that might have just been because they were doing a temple trip. One teacher (I think) stopped in front of me suddenly and took her photo with me. At first, I backed off, thinking she was trying to take a photo of something else, but then I realized that she wanted a photo with the foreigner. Seemed pretty harmless, so I smiled and waved.

I finally reached the entrance. Right next to it was the “HoHo” bus, the tourist bus of Delhi where you can “Hop on Hop off”. I was mostly thinking, “You guys missed all the culture,” though I had earlier considered taking the bus and may have if it had not been going to places I’d seen already. The entrance had another metal detector that I’m pretty sure doesn’t do anything. And the contents of my purse were looked at. Then I was allowed onto the grounds; no entrance fee. Later, there was the Shoe Place. You put your shoes in a bag then give your bag to one of the men in a room under the bridge (very blended into the landscape, the shoe dudes were) and get a little wooden chip with a number, then off you go to explore Lotus.

Lotus Temple
(The Baha’i go barefoot as well here)

I want to state categorically that I hate taking off my shoes. There is no logical reason I hate it so much, it is just pure OCD fastidiousness. I like to have clean feet that never touch anything at all. If I’m not in shoes, I’m always in socks or slippers. But, for these places, I prefer to take off my socks. I figure if I get my socks dirty, they will make my shoes dirty which will then make all future pairs of socks dirty. And I can always bite the bullet and just wash my feet later. See the troubles I face? However, it was not too bad at Lotus because the barefoot vs. shod places were separated and the barefoot places appeared to be clean (though I know other people’s feet are not as clean as mine…)

The grounds were lovely, but I finally got in line with everyone else to go inside the temple. Indian lines are much closer and tighter than anything back home. People are pretty much touching. The personal space sphere is much smaller out here. If I stand my normal comfortable distance away, then people cut in front of me half the time. They’re not doing this to be rude because I’m sure if I saw someone that, from my version of personal space, was standing too far back, I might cut in front of them, too. The woman behind me was particularly pushy; she kept bumping against me. (A woman had her shopping cart right up against my back the other day at the supermarket.) Interestingly, it is the women who I notice being invasive of my American-style personal space more than guys.

Side By Side
Lotus Temple and Sydney Opera House

Inside the temple was the antithesis of outside. Quiet (no mobile phone usage, photo taking, nor talking was allowed) and space. There was a lot of seating and they only let in a few at a time, so I could have almost a whole row to myself if I wanted. And they let you have as much time as you wanted inside to just sit or meditate. I had very nice quiet time, decompressing from pushy woman. Though, like at the Akshardam (another free and beautiful temple), I got the vague feeling I was being sold this religion, even though Baha’i is sort of an inclusive-of-all style thing that might be something I’m interested in. But I didn’t pick up the pamphlets nor listen to the schpiels outside, though noticed that the people giving the schpiels were not Indian.

So I exited the Lotus complex, intending to check out a nearby temple I read about on the internet called ISKCON, a Hare Krishna temple, and, knowing how lost I got trying to find the entrance of Lotus, I decided to take an autorickshaw driver up on his offer. He said, “60” and I’m like, “look, I can see the temple right there, it’s not far,” so he said, “50” ($1) and I’m like, “40” and he said “okay, 40.” I should have known something was off right there. When I got into the auto, he started saying something that I didn’t quite grasp until I heard the words “tourist shop.” Um. No. My purpose in taking the autorickshaw is to save time and hassle. Bringing me to a tourist shop defeats both those purposes. (At least he had the courtesy to tell me before he took off.) I stepped out immediately, muttering, “never mind, I’ll find it myself.” And I did, despite the calls of “madam, wait” and “what happened?”. It wasn’t too hard to find after all; there was only one other entrance through the wall. (Incidentally, on my way back up the sidewalk, someone tried to interest me in that SAME book about the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur Golden Triangle.)

On Hare Krishna Hill
(The sign on the top makes it look like it is the corporate headquarters)

Turns out that, although the building complex was open, the interior of the ISKCON temple itself with its very cool architecture, was closed. I really wish the shoe guy had told me that, because this was like my shoe nightmare. Shod and unshod places mixed together, the ground was all dusty and dirty… and occasionally wet. And the shoe guy didn’t give me a number or anything. I guess he had my shoes memorized? Not confidence inspiring. But I got them back later no big deal. But a waste of dirty feet!

I wandered down a pleasant park with people enjoying their Saturday and found my way back to the Nehru Place business area vaguely looking for lunch. All I saw were American-style fast food places and just-above-street-food joints. I wanted something in between I guess. I walked into an interesting crowded market that I knew must be upscale because it was tiled and spacious in the center, though in other respects did not look very upscale at all, with the tight store quarters and simple signboards. A man behind me said, “madam, laptop repair, madam, laptop repair.” I said, “I don’t have a laptop, do I,” finding his words odd… until I realized that the great majority of shops in this market said Laptop Repair. I guess this is where you go to fix your laptop. Honestly, if my laptop did break… I don’t know if I’d bring it here. I wouldn’t know where to choose for starters.

I took the metro back up to the center of town (mostly using the ladies car and enjoying the less-crowded aspect… and seeing more foreigners in this area of Delhi than in other areas; I think this section of town – more specifically Kailash – is popular with expats) and wandered around, eventually eating at a place called YWCA Global Cuisine. It was fine. Nothing special, except that it met my standards and appeared just when I was getting really hungry. Though expensive. Over $10. I am beginning to think that not much is actually cheap in India if you are comparing apples to apples. Sure you can GET food cheaper, but you have to risk your health to do so. You want a restaurant that appears clean and has a menu and attentive waiters, you are paying the big bucks.

I intended on checking out the Qutab Minar, but with my slow start this morning, the long distance to Lotus that included two subway line transfers, and all my extraneous wandering, it was already 5:30pm, almost sunset, and the site was at least half an hour away. Next time. In any case, when it is daylight, you get a nice view from the metro (once it gets out of the underground central part). At one point, I was looking over a sea of dusty pastel-colored 3-5 story buildings with cell phone towers sticking up at intervals going back to the horizon.

Warnings and Ads on the Delhi Metro

Getting an auto back from Vaishali station is starting to become my least favorite part of weekend excursions to Delhi. To make it creepier? The second I walked out of Vaishali today, drivers started saying “Cabana, Cabana,” instead of “auto, auto” so I guess I must be the only foreigner in this part of town if they all know where I live. Not that it does them a lot of good, but it’s definitely not making me feel more comfortable. I said “I’m not having very good luck with auto drivers here” and kept walking. I actually intended to find a bicycle rickshaw (just because I haven’t tried one yet, and a person pedaling has got to be too busy for any funny stuff) but I settled for the dude that looked over 30 and got my attention seconds before the bicycle rickshaw driver did (and didn’t even know what Cabana was). And, indeed, this ride was the least weird. I’m going to start saying “Aditya” (the nearby shopping center) I think as a destination and stay with that over-30 rule perhaps. Or just make a point of not taking any of the aggressive drivers who meet me outside the station.

Number of chocolates given away: 4. (I would have given 5 had I realized that the little boy (or girl?) whom I’d just given one was saying they wanted one for their sibling. I just heard something like merebaika, merebaika, over and over which was just gibberish to me until I recalled from Pimsleur that mere means “my” so he/she was probably saying “for my brother” or “for my sister”. Didn’t realize that until I’d already escaped to the metro, though. I actually did give money for the first time today – just a few rupees – to an elderly lady sitting by the gate near a different metro. She did not pester me nor were there any other beggars around. A nearby well-off couple had just given the lady some of their food. She looked legit and I did not get suddenly swamped with people which, besides encouraging beggar gangs, is another main drawback to giving money.

On an unrelated note: I now have a working phone! Hopefully, this means no more waiting outside for my evening taxi. I also now have clean feet again.