My Life in India, My Life as a Hindu

Hello, my name is Laurie. I am excited to show you a little journey of my life here in India as a Hindu. I hope my story and religion leaves you well and fills you with great knowledge.

I have been married to my husband for 5 years. I was told by my father, I could not marry the man I loved and had to have an arranged marriage, which is the proper behavior for a women. I am one of the lucky ones, as my husband is faithful; however, in my religion, as a women, our duty is to respect, obey, and worship our husbands even if they are unfaithful or virtueless (139).

We have one daughter named Aabharana, which means Jewel in Hindu. A family without a male child is considered accursed. Male children are preferred for so many different reasons in my religion. As per my husbands request, we will continue to have children until we have a total of 4 male children.

My husband and I both come from a family with a lot of power and money. We are part of the highest ranking of the four classes in Hindu India called Brahmin. The Brahmin caste occupies the central place of power in Hindu Society. My husband spends most of his time studying, teaching, performing sacrafices, and officiating at religious services. I currently am one of the few women to work for Biocon, which is one of India's first biotech companies

In India, henna is used as a temporary form of skin decoration in India. This is one of my favorite things to do! Henna is typically applied during special occasions like weddings and Muslim festivals such as Eid-ulFitr and Eid-ul-Adha as well as in Hindu festivals like Karva Chauth Diwali, Bhaidooj and Teej.

One of my favorite festivals is called Divali or Dipavli. This is celebrated in October or November and lasts four days. This is a New Years festival. This picture was from last year with some of my friends(167).

In India, amongst most Hindus, cows are believed to be extremely sacred. In a lot of our villages, a practice is formed by sprinkling of dried, powdered cow dung in those areas of the house where lower castes have visited or stayed. Cow dung is also used for furl, disinfectant, and medicine(164).

One of the main sacred duties of all Hindu devotess who want to please the deity, accumulate religious merit, and secure bliss in the hereafter, is visiting holy places.

Hindus attempt to make a pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime to the holy city of Varanasi, where we take a holy bath in the waters of Ganges.

My family and I speak Hindi. Many Hindus speak so many different languages such as, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Oriya, Sikkimese. There are also several hundred other tongues spoken in India which basically derive from several major linguistic families.

Hindu scriptures are classified into two categories: shruti and smriti. Shruti means heard or revealed. Smriti means committed to memory.

On some of my free time, I enjoy studing these sacred texts.

Growing up, I have always been into meditating and yoga. Yoga Sutras are texts that I study a lot that represent ascetic techniques and meditational exercises that aim to free one from the continuous change of the material world in order to recapture ones original spiritual purity(142).

This is the temple I attend. Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple comlex in the world. The temple was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.

Another one of my favorite festivals is called Pongal. which means "boiling over." It is a very important Tamilian festival in India. Pongal celebrates the harvest. Indra, the sun god, is given thanks for providing rain and a good crop. May I add it also is a very stuffing festival, I can barely move after I leave.

Each day of Pongal denotes a different type of food. The food for the first day is rice eaten with fried chickpea patties, known as vadai, and sweet pancakes called poli. Meals are eaten with family members on the first day; friends and neighbors are included on the second day. On the second day, the women of the house are responsible for cooking. Venpongal, a salty combination of steamed rice and dal, is eaten along with chakkarainpongol, a sweet dish made from jaggery and ghee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Its-Impossible-to-Learn-the-HinduLanguage&id=3125871

Nigosian, S.A.World Religions : A Historical Approach.Boston, MA : Bedford/ St.Martins. 2008. Print/ Textbook.

As a Hindu, we have different rituals that we have to perform. Ideally, we have to make five offerings daily, to goods, ancestors, seers, animals, and the poor; however, I make my rituals twice a day(165).

You can find anything from handicrafts, books, jewelry, crystals, brass items, incense, to clothes.

The Market place I shop at and is well known is called Colaba Causeway. This market is a shopping experience like no other in Mumbai. Geared especially towards tourists, that infamous Indian saying of "sab kuch milega" (you'll get everything) certainly applies at this market.

In India, we where different types of attire. We are usually covered up and in bright colors.

The picture to the left is my mother, and she is dressed in a sari, which is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine yards in length that is draped over the body in various styles

The picuture on the right is my sister, who is dressed in the salwarkameez. It consists of a tunic (kameez) covering loosely fitting trousers (salwar). Occasionally, a chunni (shawl) is used to cover the head and shoulders.

My husband and I are in our Grihasthya stage. refers to the second phase of an individual's life in the Hindu ashram system. It is often called the householders life.

A person becomes a 'Grihastha' from the age of 25 and this Garhastha phase ends at the age of 49. Once a man becomes a Grihastha, he is expected to settle down, get married & produce children. The phase of "Garhastha" is preceded by the phase of Brahmacharya and followed by the phase of Vanaprastha.

Fafda is one of the famous gujarati foods or indian snacks. Fafda is made by Besan, Baking Soda, Ajwain, Turmeric Powder, oil and salt. Eat fafda with green chilly and tikhi chatni makes it mouthwatering and delicious. Fafda is one of my favorite breakfast snacks that I eat weekly!