Doing What I Do Best: Indianizing Another Friend Through Manila's Little India

- June 14, 2014, Saturday.

- My friend Evan and I have been enjoying our extended summer vacation lately, ever since UP moved its opening of classes to August. To add some diversity to his summer-vacation life, and to air my mind from my pre-class-opening tasks and paper works, we decided to meet again. This time, I decided to take my chance to let Evan peek into my little Indian world; it was Evan's first "immersion" in all-things-Indian.

- We met this morning at my house, and off we merrily went to Manila's Little India in UN Avenue. Since we arrived a bit too early for lunch, we walked along Mahatma Gandhi Street to go to Manila's Hindu Temple (mandir.)

- Visiting the temple has always been a good experience for me. Not only do I get to constantly refresh my memory about the stories about gods and goddesses in Hinduism, the temple's history, and the society involved, but there is always something new or different whenever I go there. When we visited today, I was surprised to see that the temple was being repainted and partially renovated to make it look more festive. On top of that, the statues of the gods, as well as the temple's life-size cow statue, Surabhi/Kamadehnu (mother goddess in the form of a cow) were all in nicer costumes today. Apparently, a child was to celebrate his first birthday in the temple; first birthdays require certain special religious rituals.

Evan and Surabhi.

- At the second floor, Evan and I wore kurtas on top of our shirts, just so I could give him an experience of wearing an Indian costume (and another excuse for me to wear my kurta again.) As with all the other people I've brought to the temple, I narrated the stories of all gods and goddesses present in the temple. I also highlighted the significance of the lingam and yoni, since people normally mistake the lingam-yoni to be a tea pot, a genie lamp, or just an "unusual statue;" It is actually a fertility symbol, and a symbol of the cosmic union.

Peacock lamp.

"Is it a lamp??" - After asking Evan to have a wild guess on what the lingam-yoni was.

Yay kurta!!

- After a lengthy narration about everything, we headed to Assad Cafe to have Evan's first full Indian lunch. We had chicken masala, Kashmiri fish curry, and mutton biryani. To beat the hot day, we had mango lassis to drink too.

Happy boy.

- We later picked up half-a-kilo of sweets and some samosas from Assad Minimart, and headed to my house for a Bollywood movie session. Instead of popcorn, we ate the Indian sweets; we had some laddoos, jamons, cream-filled jamuns, jalebis (syrup-y funnel cakes,) rasgulas, and some almond squares.

- "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" ("A Match Made by God") was a movie that I have been recommending to Evan, but he had no chance to watch the film until we decided to watch it at home. The movie had a clear message, had some meaningful songs, had less characters, and had a simple plot. The film's bonus was that it provided colorful shots of Amritsar, where most of the movie was filmed; Amritsar's "Golden Temple," the center of Sikhism, was also shown several times in the movie.

Don't....

Disturb....

Meeeee....

Indian sweets.

We said a brief hello to our friend Merrill.

First taste of Indian sweets.

"Do I like it??"

"Again, don't disturb me, I'm watching."

- Evan had to go somewhere for dinner with his family after the movie, but it was awesome that we had another interesting day around Manila. I was probably keen about today, because I was once again able to let a friend have a look inside the world that I have been involved with for as long as I can remember. (Of course, that meant having the task of showing the awesome sides of India and India cultures.) I was glad that he liked the curry and the movie, but most of all, I was happy to realize that I  had another friend who had an open mind and who was willing to understand other cultures.  

Diwali A Day Early: Naraka Chaturdasi/Pre-Diwali 2013 In Little India

- November 2, 2013, Saturday, All Souls' Day/ Naraka Chaturdasi (2nd of Diwali's 5 days, day before the "Big Diwali" (Bari Diwali) Celebration)

- I am truly blessed with friends who are as adventurous as I am with experiencing different cultures, even if it's just within our small city of Manila. Siblings Melissa and Kimberly asked me to bring them to Little India, and show them around, especially since they knew that I'd be glad to introduce more of India's culture to them. It was also diwali season, the festival of lights, and the one of the most festive pan-Indian festivals.

Some sari demonstration for their elder sister Joanna. It was raining outside too, so we couldn't leave at once anyway.

Three sisters. Haha.

Pretty covered.

- We initially planned to go on the exact diwali date (tomorrow,) but due to schedule conflicts, we decided to go today, the second of five diwali days, called "Naraka Chaturdasi." Diwali is celebrated in five days, with each day having its own significance. The first day is called Dhan Theras, celebrated for the god Dhanwantari's imparting of medicine to all humans. The second, today, Naraka Chaturdasi, celebrated for Krishna's slaying of the demon Naraka. The third, Bari Diwali, the exact day of diwali, is celebrated with the Lakshmi Puja; there are many reasons why this day is celebrated. Aside from being Lakshmi's auspicious day, this day is a remembrance of Rama's successful rescue of Sita, and the people who lit plenty of diyas (lamps) to show Rama and Sita the way back to Ayodhya - and therefore, diwali is celebrated by lighting plenty of diyas!! The fourth day, called Annakoot, or Bali Pratipada, where Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu, succeeded in destroying the demon king Bali. (No I don't think this has something to do with Indonesia's Bali Island.) The fifth and last day is called Bhaidooj, and is celebrated by brothers visiting their sisters, especially after the sister has been married and has moved to her husband's family; the sister, after marrying, has less opportunities to join her own family in many events, as she is considered as part of her husband's family after marriage. Bhaidooj is a good reason/excuse to reunite brothers with their sisters, bringing them gifts, and praying for each other's good life.

- This year, diwali coincided with All Souls' Day, a national and special non-working holiday, which meant that Assad Cafe, the restaurant, was closed; we wanted to eat some Indian food to maximize our "Indian Day." Still, Kimberly and Melissa wanted to make the most out of our Indian Day by trying on saris while going around the Hindu Temple.

Up the stairs.

- Inside the temple, we were able to meet Ashok Maharaj, the high priest of the temple. I am glad he has not forgotten me. We meet almost every year, and usually during diwali, when it has become a routine for me to visit the temple to pay respects to the Hindu gods, despite not being a Hindu myself. Speaking of diwali and routiens, SM Mall of Asia has also been continuing to host the annual diwali celebration, although I wasn't able to attend that event today because I had to attend another personal event.

- Ashok Maharaj talked to us a bit, and another man (no photo,) Mr. Deepak, entertained us. Ashok Maharaj gave us some prasad (food offerings later distributed to everyone in the temple,) and Mr. Deepak gave us some photos of Krishna and Durga Maa. I thought it was nice of them to do those for us.

With Ashok Maharaj, the high priest, and my friend.

- We spent the rest of the afternoon taking some photos inside the temple, and eating. We went to the newly-opened Legend of India grocery, a grocery-branch of the Legend of India restaurant in Jupiter Street, Makati. Their samosas were huge!! (They cost 20php each. Not bad I think.) After that, we went to Assad Minimart and bought some sweets for us to munch on. Since Assad Cafe was closed, we decided to go to Jollibee to have our afternoon meal, including the sweets we just bought. The groceries were indeed busy because many Indians were doing their panic-shopping for diwali. Well, at lest the tradition is still very much alive within the Indian migrant community here.

Did her hair, and Kim's too.

Indianized!!

They wanted to have a photo with Shiva and his family. 

With Ganesh (and Shiva.)

She matches with  this year's blue motif!!

2 prasad on her head.

I did her fishtail braid.

Fixing Melissa's sari.

With the newly-bathed, and not-yet-dressed Surabhi.

The Hindu Temple.

Her last bite of samosa.

My Indian sweets!!

- Melissa and Kimberly went to SM MOA to attend the diwali event, while I had to go home to fix myself for my night's event. Despite this, I was glad that I was able to celebrate diwali, although a day earlier, and even more glad because I had good friends who somehow share my interest for cultures and were willing to open themselves not only to India's colorful cultures, but to other cultures as well.