India Day 10

Before we left the hotel in Gwalior, we had a tour of the chef's garden at the hotel.  His name was Rakesh and he showed us his herb garden and various trees such as the Rock tree and the Curry tree.  After breakfast, we took the coach down to the train station.  That was a wild and crazy spot.  Tons of people, beggars, 5 year olds busking, and many many people crossing the busy rail tracks trying to jump onto a moving train.  One woman dressed in a colourful sari almost fell under the train.  I video taped her.  Anyway, we boarded the train and set out for our new destination of Bhopal.  Bhopal is a city surrounded by lakes and is famous for the largest Muslim mosque in the Middle East.  As our group toured the mosque, many Muslim men and boys stared at us.  Our strange clothing, white skin, and overweight bodies amused them very much.  We also stopped at a Hindu temple and checked out the "gods" (there are thousands of Hindu gods).  Every Hindu seems to have their own i.e. Vishnu is the supreme god and perserver of the universe.  We made one last stop at the Veethi Sankul museum to learn about ancient Indian groups.  One interesting old tradition was when all the towns people met in the town square once a month for 5 eligible bachelors to chose their new brides.  A 20 foot high pole was situated in the centre of the town square with 5 coconuts at the top.  The 5 men would try to climb the pole all at the same time and reach the coconuts.  The order in which they retrieved the coconuts was the order they got to selected one of the 5 fair maidens.  Of course the 5 ladies would wack the 5 men with sticks as they climbed the poles hoping that their favourite guy would get to the top first.
Our favourite photo of the day was this scary man was watching us at the train station and the biggest  Mosque in the Middle East would have 10,000 men all praying at the same time.  The Muslim women never came to the mosque.  They prayed at home.