India Trip: Brandt In Bollywood

From guest blogger Mark Brandt:

We went to a huge mosque in the middle of Hyderabad. There were lots of women out shopping in their black outfits with only their eyes showing. (How do you recognize your friends and neighbors when you're out and about dressed like that?)
Also, instead of greeting Muslims with allah akbar, I'm changing that slightly to allah snackbar, in view of my theory, adopted from Paul Langrock, that food is a spiritual experience.

Yesterday on the way in from the airport to downtown Hyderabad, I saw a completely naked man walking down a busy street among thousands of pedestrians and vendors. Abhi said that there is a sect in the Jain religion that does eschew clothing. So, you have the extreme of the Muslim women covered from head to toe contrasted with a totally naked guy.


Before coming to Hyderabad, we were in Rajamundry, Abhi's hometown. We visited his mother's residence, which is pretty sparse by western standards, but very nice. We also visited a local farm where one of the workers shinnied up a coconut palm and chopped down several coconuts. The ends were hacked open and we sipped on coconut water. For me, it'd be an acquired taste.

We also got to meet several of Abhi's boyhood chums at a party at the hotel. I compared notes with 2 lawyers, one who was 77 and the other who was 82. They are both still vibrant and working.

We've done some shopping. Most of the women on the trip purchased fabric and are having a tunic, pants, and scarf custom made, all for about $30-50 range. The fabrics are gorgeous and no two of them are alike. Our group is travelling with Maya, the 8 year-old daughter of Alan Onchangco and Lisa Baird. She's the best traveler among all of us. Cheerful, friendly and suffering from terminal cuteness she's been a joy to be around.

Tomorrow, we're going to see a giant monolithic statue of the Buddha, which is on an island in the middle of a lake. Then we're headed to the headquarters of the Brahmo Samaj, the liberal Hindu analogue to UU's. In signing off, I can only say- the traffic is ungodly horrendous.