Religious Confusion and Cross-Cultural Enjoyment

Religion...wow. This past weekend I visited a Christian school/chapel, a Jain temple, two commemorative Gurdwaras, a Mosque and Shrine to a Sufi saint, and a Hindu temple. People are not clearly Sikh or Muslim or Hindu here. There's this concept of popular religion which encourages people to sort of, as Mann says, 'hedge their bets.' So you can find Sikhs teaching at the Christian school, worshipping at the Jain temple and paying their respects to the Sufi saint. Talk about confusing.

From what I can understand, the issues when it comes to community violence (although I just picked up a book on the subject which may or may not support my hypothesis) are not religious (although they often take on a religious character) but are socio-economic. It has more to do with long held notions of caste, and all the power and wealth (or lack thereof) wrapped up in these. Likewise religious minorities or ethnic minorities become associated with certain levels of prosperity or castes and are therefore received accordingly(such as the Christian woman I mentioned before). Jains are often associated with trading and tend to be considered wealthy. Sikhs are generally considered wealthy, tall, and light-skinned (Punjab being a majority Sikh state and by far the wealthiest state in India). Christians are considered lower caste, as are Muslims in many areas. Hindus you get all sorts... I've also noticed some of this just in the marriage classifieds of the Chandigarh Tribune. Of course, these are stereotypes. Stereotypes have some grounding in reality, and as students of the social sciences, we can both see their usefulness (if indeed there is any) and their highly problematic nature.

Beyond that, as a spiritual person, as a religious person, I expected to feel something when I was in these houses of worship. Often I just felt awkward. Sometimes I just felt like an outsider. Part of it is certainly my tradition, being raised Baptist...it certainly has an effect. At the same time I was surprised. I've always felt a shiver when I hear the Muslim call to prayer, but in these temples I felt strange. I did appreciate the beauty of the gurdwaras and the Sufi shrine, but I did not feel reverence. This clued me in on the fact that I'm probably in the right religion (if I did have any doubts).

In other news we have been learning Bangra - traditional Punjabi dancing. This is awesome! For those of you who know how much I love to dance, you should also know I have a decent ability dancing freeform, but someone telling me how to move requires a great deal more concentration. HOWEVER, I have found myself comfortably successful and am enjoying it a great deal.

I've had enough email and computer for today, so here's Alexis from the same grubby cyber cafe in Sector 17, Chandigarh signing off, saying Salam, Shalom, Shanti, An, and Peace.