The resplendent Samode Palace near Jaipur
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Lessons from the Temples<\/h4>\n

Religion plays a major role in Indian culture: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Judaism. The diverse religions and ethnic groups have a long history\u2014of conflicts and tolerance, as would be expected.<\/p>\n

The communal meal at the Sikh langar in Delhi. Everyone is welcome.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The Sikh places of worship (gurdwaras<\/em>) are havens that welcome\u00a0all faiths. Each temple has a langar,<\/em> or free food kitchen, which serves a simple meal\u00a0to anyone who wants or needs nourishment. People of all backgrounds and faiths, men and women, sit together in the communal hall.<\/p>\n

Helpers donate their time to prepare the meals, and visitors offer\u00a0a contribution if possible to ensure the continuation of this service.<\/p>\n

There is no shortage of donation money at the Sikh Temple in Delhi.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Encounters with\u00a0Markets and Masters<\/h4>\n

The markets and bazaars are bustling and bursting\u2014from the block-printed textiles to bundles of bangles, from silks to pashmina, from handmade paper to handcut gems, from miniature paintings to delicate\u00a0embroidery. The artisans and craftspeople of India are alive and well.<\/p>\n

A master of textile block printing in Jaipur
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

It is said in India that the skill of the hand is a sacred gift, and so the masters continue their hand work as long as their eyes and limbs are able. They then pass the trade to the next generation. A tradition that, hopefully, will continue for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

The art of chikan embroidery . . . and self-reliance
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Cooperatives are also vibrant, such as SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association), with goals to encourage self-reliance through work opportunities and to provide protection for workers, including work security, food security, and social security.<\/p>\n

The SEWA women’s cooperative in Lucknow
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

A Multitude of\u00a0Rides<\/h4>\n

As in any populous Asian country, the number of transportation modes is mind-boggling. The streets are teeming, and the art of wending and weaving is critical to surviving.<\/p>\n

The streets of Old Delhi
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Cycle and auto rickshaws, open-air taxis, camels, elephants, meandering cows, bicycles, motorbikes, horses, wagons, cars, minivans, buses, street dogs, and purposeful people vie for road space.<\/p>\n

It is a culture of beeping horns (to keep everyone aware of each other’s presence), but, interestingly, little road rage.<\/p>\n

Making way for the elephant
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

I am still in awe of the muscled cycle rickshaw drivers who pedaled us uphill for several kilometers in the heat of the day for only 50 rupees (80 cents).<\/p>\n

A Photographer’s Paradise<\/h4>\n

As someone who has photographed in many countries and received a variety of responses (including polite and not-so-polite rejections), I anticipated the usual challenges of photographing the people in this colorful country.<\/p>\n

An alley in Old Delhi
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The biggest surprise and, for me, the most rewarding “Oh, I see”\u00a0Moment<\/strong> was the generosity of everyone\u00a0in allowing themselves to be photographed.<\/p>\n

For the Indian people, photography wasn’t at all a stealing of souls, but a sharing of souls. I was greeted only by smiles. And never, not even once, did someone refuse to be photographed.<\/p>\n

Sweeper at the Amber Fort in Jaipur.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Oh, I See Many More Cultural Encounters To Come<\/h4>\n

A few weeks in India is perfect as an introduction. It becomes quickly obvious that there is much more to this complex country.<\/p>\n

My first impressions may or may not hold true once I go deeper into the culture.<\/p>\n

What is true is that this journey provided travel inspiration of the best kind and extended an open invitation for more cultural encounters\u00a0in this diverse, proud, bustling, and colorful country.<\/p>\n

Namaste.<\/em><\/p>\n

The next generation of India
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

To get your Northern India\/Rajasthan bearings, take a look at this map.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you to\u00a0Delicious Connections<\/a> and Kipling India Travel<\/a> for the organization of our visit. And special thanks to my fellow travelers for making the journey so memorable.<\/em><\/p>\n

Comment<\/a>\u00a0on this post, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162,214,171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encounters-culture","category-india-mappoints","category-photography-creative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40742,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21727\/revisions\/40742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}