Hangin out in Pali

After a better night's sleep, I woke up, then there was a knock on the door. I was going to the temple at 8, but Pintu is here so we'll go a bit earlier.

We go to the various shrines,  gonging a bit, chanting,  moving the incense dish in clockwise circles. When you go around a shrine 3 times, do it clock wise, as per the Sikhs. He did explain why, along with 68 million other things, and I have zero memory of the reason. 

For the basic chant "Ohm rim err-a-hum namaha" you count clockwise on the left hand a 9 x 12 on the right = 108. This is done magic in tune number. 

For the 9, use 3 fingers, go up 3 on the index, across 3, down 3 the ring, left 1, up 1. You end on the middle phalanx of the middle (rude) finger  ie in the centre. Like your soul, or centre of the universe or something. 

For the 12 on the right, go up 3 on the pinky, made a backward S on the middle 2, then up 3 phalanx on your index finger.

The Ohm chant will take 2 minutes. Hopefully you're staring into the morning glow of statue of an immortal no-longer-to-be-reborn soul, like this one:

We went to breakfast at the temple canteen. Pintu did not eat, in his special clothes. These do not have stitches. It's two wraps,  one top, one for the bottom. Looks like a toga.

He changed,  showed me his house. It is 3 levels plus a rooftop. Down the centre there are iron grills at each level in the floor to allow light and air flow. On each level, at the back is a room, about 4x4m, and one at the front. Seems like an ancient design, well adapted to the heat of the area. Winter is about 20 and summer gets to 55 apparently, also in Jodhpur. 

We travelled to the Bagri, a temple on the top of a hill  with views over town and the reservoir. 

I went to the Bangar Museum

बांगड़ संग्रहालय

It has 

-old coins

-paintings of the Maharajas

-a traditional village scene 

-marble busts from temples, about a thousand years old 

Went to dinner with the family. His advocate brother, brothers wife and nephew were also there. 

Then we went to see a gazillion temples. They're all very old, beautiful,  blah blah. The saints do heroic stuff like accepting death etc while chanting ohm. One guy offered his own flesh to prevent a god from eating a pigeon. There's a painting of him cutting off his leg and smiling away.

At another temple we meet 2 women he knows. One lives in a Haveli with 23 rooms. She lives there with 2 other people. They never use the top floor except to clean it. 

The lake is impossible to see. We rode slowly past a series of people living in tents, not sure why. They have a sad situation. 

To top it off, he tells me to go see one more temple. I've really seen enough, find it, can't see what the difference is with this one. 

I finally walk home with his brother, and get to sleep early, which is a relief.