In the land of sacred cows – part I

Early in the morning my friend and I arrived in Delhi. The city was still sleeping when we drove to the center and silently watched thousands of people sleeping on the sidewalks near the road. It is difficult to prepare on the cultural shock, which is in India certainly experienced by any Westerner. Extreme poverty and people, who actually carry all they have with them, hit yet so numb capitalist mind. Delhi is the inhospitable place, where you are constantly accompanied by the feeling that every passerby, but no matter how friendly, would like to empty your pockets with excessive prices for services. The capital of India did not impress us, so after a quick sightseeing we ran to the land of Maharajas, Rajasthan. This federal state has 56 million inhabitants; it is crowded anywhere and anytime. Streets are full of colorfully dressed people, among whom the cows roam and engines and rickshaws are raging. All this is a part of everyday life, which is always accompanied by unbearable smells, garbage and noise. In some places the Indians still do not have regulated sewerage; that is why feces runs in creeks between roads and houses. Even the garbage service is nowhere to be found. A man is usually surrounded by dirt and over time you almost do not notice it any more, unless you step into one of cow shit that are permanent inventory of the street.

 

From chaotic Delhi we went to Bikaner (city in Rajasthan) by train. Beyond the horizon the first rays of sunshine started to show when we curiously observed the suburb of the capital through dirty windows of slowly moving train. "Look at them, they are ... poohing," exclaimed the astonished friend. With open mouth we looked at the crowd of men who were performing their morning needs only few steps away from the tracks. We stopped in Bikaner only to see one temple that is a few kilometers away from the town. This temple is one of the most challenging for the Westerners and raises disgust, but it is too hard to resist. You simply have to see it. This is the Karni Mata temple or temple of rats. When you walk between hundreds of rats, this certainly moves the borders of your courage. These holy animals are believed to be the descendants of Karni Mata, an Indian, who lived in the 16th century and did miracles. Here and there appear some dead rat, whose death is soon due to obesity than lack of food as gifts in the form of all possible goodies lie all around the floor. Now and then you can hear a scream when the rat jumps over bare female leg; or a shout of excitement when someone sees a white rat. Indians believe it brings good luck. Over time, as we were accustomed to passing animals, we rested our feet on the stairs inside the temple and watched the sacrifices and prayers of Indians, and the horrified faces of the few tourists.

 

It would be misleading to think that all the rats have resorted to the temple. On the next night train we had a special guest in the wagon – a rat. However, this is not a surprise as there are numerous rats on train station and lucky ones find shelter in cool wagons. We spent the night with thoughts of uninvited guest, and woke up in the golden city, Jaisalmer. In the middle of the desert magic sand fortress stands on the hill and covered with golden sun rays reflects beautiful yellow color. This small town is generally visited by tourists because of the safari, where you ride a camel in the mostly rocky desert. However, Jaisalmer offers much more - elaborate houses, beautiful temples, magnificent palace and splendid gateways all carved out from the same yellow sandstone. Romantic souls come into their account at sunset when the sun is drowning in desert soils in the gold-red tones. When we admired the beautiful scene, we meet a nice Indian, who owns a small store that sells and manufactures custom made jewelry. Well into the night, we chatted at a cup tea, and because we were still under the influence of the sacred cows, he told us about the incident, which occurred last year in the city. Most Indians (80 percent) are Hindus and that is also in Rajasthan. Hindus see the cow as their second mother that is why they are worshiped. However, in this territory there are Muslims also, for them the cows are anything but sacred animals. If a cow grazes in their field and destroys their crops, there is a problem. That is exactly what happened in Jaisalmer and a Muslim ran over a cow with a tractor. Hindus were angry, because the authorities did not even punish him. So they have closed all their shops and restaurants, and paralyze the city. In the end they compromise and settle for the imprisonment of a cow killer.

 

More about India in next issue of Globetrotter.