I finally made it into Jama Masjid today. When we tried to enter as a family a few weeks back we were turned away due to the third prayer of the day going on inside. Today I timed it. They publish the calls to prayer in the newspapers, so I went between call number two and call number three. There are five calls daily.
FYI - the papers also publish astrological events of the day, like what planet is aligned with what star - for the Hindus.
Jama Masjid is the largest mosque in India. The second largest is in Hyderabad, Mecca Masjid. Been in there, too.
Both Hindus and Muslims make you take your shoes off before entering their places of worship. For Jama Masjid one would hope, in vain, that the shoe prohibition would spawn a corresponding attention to cleaning pigeon scat within this open-air mosque. No such luck. Slogged through it, I did.
For your edification, masjid is the Indian word for mosque. It is pronounced like "mosh-eed". It is said quickly, like it is one syllable.
Very neat experience walking up the minaret and getting a good view of the Delhi's Old City.
On the minaret I met a young wanderer from London named Garrick. He was off to the Pushkar festival in Rajasthan next. This is where you get the best deals on camels and livestock. Tourists have nice high-end tents set up for them and stay in the midst of this camel swap. My friend Bryan is going, as well. Virtually all of the tourists in India are European and Australians. It's rare to see Americans.
I saw the American Embassy in Delhi. It gave me a stirring feeling. I loved seeing our eagle symbol. The place was far more fortified than the other embassies.
We are next to the Myanmar embassy. I hope we yell ugly things over the wall at them. That country is run by a brutal junta that recently beat the tar out of Buddhist monks marching for more freedom. Part of me hopes someone on our embassy staff throws banana peels over the wall from time to time. I would. I suppose that explains, in part, why I would not make a good embassy staff member.
I intentionally typed "more freedom" instead of "more freedoms". Freedom doesn't come in small dispensations. It is a full edifice that you experience or you don't, it's not something you receive one brick at a time. That's the way I look at it....
One of my friends was commenting in an e.mail on how boring America is and how "awesome" India is. That is a sentiment that can only be construed from within America. As Tara said, "He needs awesome lessons.".
If you're in America today, push all the stuff out of your mind about what you think/know is wrong with America and focus only on the positives. It is truly an exceptional place.
India will always be my personal second home here on earth, but I consider myself to have won life's lottery by being born an American, to borrow and alter a phrase from Cecil Rhodes. I think everyone else in the family feels the same way about being American. I know my love Tara does.
Just another great day in Bharat! Jai Hind!
