Dinner at the temple

 [Inside the temple gates]

After we finished walking around the monuments in the Hauz Khas area, our guide led us to the Jagannath Temple close to my house. I had often passed this temple but never had the courage to go in because I've heard that foreigners are prohibited from certain temples, women are prohibited from entering certain mosques, and basically I'm just scared that I'm going to try to enter some religious building and someone is going to start yelling at me. (As it turned out, this temple was a replica of a famous temple in Orissa which foreigners are not allowed to enter, but fortunately the Delhi branch is somewhat more inclusive. And, wtf Indian temples who don't let foreigners in! How do you know that I'm not Hindu? I mean, I could be! And why would you let in an Indian who isn't Hindu? Really, I find this No Foreigners Allowed policy pretty objectionable). 

Anyway, I had to take off my shoes at the entrance of the temple, but the floors were made of clean, cool white marble so it was a pretty nice experience. The majority of the temple complex is outside, with smaller shrines shielding the individual deities. In case anyone was wondering, this is what the main three deities look like. 

And this is what they look like when they get taken on parade (which, apparently, was what was happening a few weeks ago when I stumbled into that big celebration outside the temple. You remember, the one where all of the crazypeople were getting tattoos done by the side of the road?)

We arrived just in time to witness the opening of the deities' shrine, which basically felt similar to when Jews open the Holy Ark in the synagogue, except there was lots of loud drumming and people stamping their feet and throwing their hands up in the air. I couldn't see very well, but it also looked like the monks were doing some ritual with incense or a candle or something).

I was just getting into the foot-stomping business when my guide motioned for us to go, and then lead us down to the lower level of the temple where we were going to eat dinner. And what a dinner it was! Easily once of the top five meals in India, not just for the super interesting ambiance--I've never eaten in a temple before--but also because the food was AMAZING!

Here's how it works. The monks lay out long strips of carpets which everyone sits on cross-legged. You also get a disposal plate and a metal water glass, but no utensils because everyone eats with their hands. The monks then come around with buckets of food and water (literally, they serve from large buckets), and slop some rice, dal, and three other vegetable based dishes onto your place. Then you shovel food as fast as you can into your mouth, hoping to clear your plate before the monks come back with round 2 or 3. Yep, it's an all you can eat deal, folks. 

[Bucket o' deliciousness]

And the food is So Good. My favorite dishes were this sweet pickled mango thing, which I must have had like 4 servings of, and the rice pudding dessert which tasted just like dulce de leche. Oh god, I'm drooling just thinking about it.  

[That unassuming brown stuff on the right hand side of the plate blew my mind!]

Also, guess how much it costs? No, go on guess! If you guessed more than $1, you'd be wrong!

The only downside to the temple dining experience is that, after having eaten yourself silly all you want to do is lie down on that delightful white marble and sleep. But the monks will have none of it. Damn, those dudes function like a well-oiled machine! Once the eating from the first group dies down (about 20 min?) they spill all of the undrunk water from the water cups onto the floor and use it to mop down the area before inviting the next round of diners in. Seriously, even your average midtown NYC deli-worker, whom I believe to be the paragon of efficiency in this unkempt world, would be impressed by these guys.

I'll be back.