A misadventure

During a class assignment involving interviews, Chelsea, Lisa (other students) and I set off together to find people to complete our task. Leaving Chelsea to speak with her informant, and after finding another for Lisa, Lisa and I continued in search for a last informant, with very little success. Through our search I experienced entering a mosque, an awkward conversation with a Sikh man, and finally experienced worship in a Hindu Temple. As Lisa and I were walking passed the temple, we heard chanting, singing and musical instrument playing. Deciding to enter, we met two young girls who spoke perfect English (later to find out that they are the daughters of our Hindi instructor) and asked permission to enter. They assured us we could attend the event, and so we took off our shoes and entered. When we entered we were met by the eyes and singing of thirty to forty women seated on the matted floor. We then decided to try and be as little intrusive as possible, and followed the route the two girls we met were taking. On this route we entered opened rooms with statues of Hindu gods meeting us. We then proceeded to ring a bell, continued on the path to see a lingam, and finally exited the row of rooms to witness a statue I was able to identify as Durga. Deciding we should then leave (in part because we thought it would not be appropriate to accept offerings) we exited with our backs not facing the assembled women and room. We lastly thanked our two youthful guides, and made our way to find our last informant.

I first felt, on our mission to seek an informant, discouraged as finding an appropriate informant proved more difficult than I thought. There was either a language barrier, an issue of lack of interest in talking, or a lack of prior knowledge to actually be able to identify possible informants. It was the latter that led to the awkward conversation with the Sikh man. Before entering the Hindu temple, I was over taken by curiosity. Although we were assured by the two girls that we could enter, Lisa and I still felt apprehensive and were worried that we would somehow offend someone. This is why we decided to follow the movements of the girls. Witnessing the gaze of the first statue I stared at its eyes, my focus slowly moving to its other features. We wanted to participate somehow and decided to ring a bell, only to feel horrible that it rang so loudly. Witnessing the lingam brought a wave of excitement that I was actually able to witness one in person. Similar feelings arose when I identified Durga; I felt a sense of completion that I had the chance to witness that which I’ve studied a country away. We never actually got over our awkward feelings, especially because we did not know proper protocol, which is why we walked out of the temple backwards.
-Handwritten September 12, 2009