South Africa in May

Wow, there is so much to write. Yes, I haven't been very good with writing my blogs and journals. But let me start with this week.
I was EXTREMELY sick since April 27th to May 2nd. I am still trying to catch up on all the sleep I lost during my days of illness. I had a fever and body ache. I was about to faint, and had to get to Entabeni Hospital (which is quite expensive, 650 rand to see a doctor, that's like almost $100). I even missed my submission of a paper, and a FAMILY LAW TEST. CAN U BELIEVE IT? Now, I am having a tough time getting all the medical certificates to prove that I was sick. Hope fully, it all works
At least, I got sick during LOOONG weekend.. Friday was Freedom day, like independence day, but from the apartheid regime. Then, Tuesday was of course International Labor Day. Most people took Monday off as well.. So, I pretty much was in bed recovering from my illness during this long weekend, except on Tuesday, I went to the Hare Krishna Temple in Chatsworth (former Indian township). There was a celebration of one of Krishna's avatars Narsimhadev (or Narsingha dev): half man/half lion, who killed Hiranyakashyapu (a bad non-believing king, who tried to kill his young son, Prahlad, who was an avid devotee of Lord Krishna). The sanyaasis (priests) first did an "abhishekham": bathing the shaligram stone from Govardhan with milk, and all these other liquids (not sure what). They kept chanting "Hare Krishna" Mahamantra, and then washed the stone. The main sanyaasi, (who is white), told us some parts of the Hiranyakshyapu/Prahlad story. Then there was a mini skit by young children on this topic. After that, there was free food, but we had to stand in line forever. It was really chaotic, and people were cutting the queue. This is so typical of Indians at temples. Even in Fremont, they display similar behavior.
The temple itself is so BEAUTIFUL. I had been there with my friend, Aki, two weeks ago. We took the kumbi (mini taxi) from our college to Town. Then, we took another kumbi from town to Chatsworth. That Kumbi gave us a tour of the entire northern side of Durban. It took us an hour to get there. We saw the aarti, and took blessings. There is a vegetarian restaurant downstairs, and we shared a wonderful thali meal as well. The food is just toooo GOOD. The thali consisted of three different types of veggies, roti, and flavored rice. YUMMY!! The temple is very peaceful. It has an artificial lake surrounding it, and has the most serene atmosphere. Pictures of Lord Krishna line the walls of the temple. They portray stories of different phases of Krishna's life. I love pictures of Baby Krishna. They were so cute.
Today, May 3rd, I have been told that I need a doctor’s certificate that I was sick on the day of my Family Law Test, but I went to the doctor before that. So, I am wondering how I will prove that I was sick before, thus I could not study for the test. I would have failed miserably if I took the test.
Now, I am being heavily introduced to this Hare Krishna ISKCON spiritual/ religious movement. As the lady I serve food for, is part of Hare Krishna, she takes me to all these events all the time. During the first part of spring break, I went to a Rath Yatra, spanning over a period of four days. This is held in Durban every year. It is called the Festival of Chariots, and consists of three chariots with three deities, Balram, Subhadra and Jaggannath. These are three Hindu deities. Now Hare Krishna, according to Yasmin, is not part of Hinduism. It is Vaishanivism, and the devotees follow the Vedic scriptures. They believe that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all other Hindu deities are avatars (diff. forms) of Krishna. They have four regulated principles:-no illicit sex,-no gambling,-no meat eating (fish, eggs, etc) aka vegetarianism, -no caffeine (not enough caffeinated tea/coffee). Yasmin doesn’t even eat garlic/onions. Devotees chant Hare Krishna Mantra every day, and are expected to do 16 rounds i.e. say it 108 times on chanting beads or japa beads.
More info on this website: http://www.krishna.com/
The food I serve on campus is actually called “prasadam.” i.e. food offered to God, before being consumed by us. Supposedly has a purifying effect on us. I think the food is absolutely tasty, and I am sure many people on campus would agree, as it gets sold-out on a daily basis.
The menu changes on a daily basis. Every day there is vegetable biryani(like flavored rice with veggies, yellowish in color, this is more like a pulao not traditional biryani) Biryani is very popular in South Africa, even non-Indian, non-Muslims, make, cook, and relish biryani. It’s actually quite popular amongst the African folks here. So, we serve biryani with dal (sauce made of lentil and herbs). Then, we serve rotis with either one or both of vegetable fillings. These fillings change every day. Today, we had soya chunks and potatoes. We have butternut, broccoli/cauliflower in yogurt sauce, beans, mixed veggies, eggplant and potatoes, lentils, feta cheese (paneer) in tomato sauce, soya mince, etc. Then, we have kachorie pie (like samosa with feta cheese, peas, carrot filling, SOO TASTY), burfi (sweet made of milk, called milk fudge, FATTENING) and sooji pudding (sweet made of semolina with butter, sugar syrup, VERY FATTENING). Also, rice/dal w/ the veggies.. ALL THIS IS VERY BERY TASTY…
So, now that you know what I eat on a regular basis.. hehe.. and what I serve….
I have to write about my spring break also.. the rath yatra in more detail and Cape Town….Next Time… Right now I need to get this test thing sorted out.. Bye