Day 2 of Placement - Part 2
Once our discussions were finished with Augustine, and we had all been for lunch together, we decided to head out again. I wanted to visit some bookshops and to find some more tops as I deliberately hadn't packed enough because I knew I would need to buy Indian-style clothes once I got here. We came up with a plan of walking back to the photo shop as Alex needed to collect some extra copies, then catching a tuk tuk to visit Ulsoor Lake, which is near to where we are living in the city.
The lake was incredibly polluted in the past, with a lot of overgrowth of certain plants like water hyacinth as well. The pollution was apparently so bad in the lakes of Bangalore that sometimes the gases and chemical given off from pollutants and decay were getting trapped in the over layer of vegetation and litter, and sometimes this was causing the lakes to catch fire! While Ulsoor Lake is not terribly clean, it is certainly a lot better than that now.
There wasn't much to do at the lake because the park area on the banks was fenced off and the gates were locked closed, so we couldn't stroll around the lake or anything. After visiting the lake, we went to MG Road to find a bookshop, where I bought some books about the Hindu religion and a little bit of history of India.
From there it was a short walk back to the Commercial Street area - which I have decided I much prefer to MG Road as it is more relaxed and friendly hectic, rather than pushy and hectic hectic, to look for some more tops and of course the accessories to match.
As we were in the area, we of course thought it would be good to see Baba and Mudasir at the shop, we really didn't want to leave Bengaluru without saying goodbye. Alex and Sherrie went ahead to the shop while I went to find my tops - I am terrible at shopping and very indecisive, and my indecisiveness gets worse when there are others with me because I become so self-conscious! So I had asked if they would leave to go alone this time so that I could try to be a bit quicker and not worry about making them fed-up with me. When I got to Baba's shop, we were very lucky that Shakeel was also there, so we were able to have another talk with him and say goodbye to him also.
Baba had Mudasir make us kawah again as a farewell drink, and while this was being prepared another of their friends arrived at the shop. Amaan was wearing Islamic dress including a prayer cap and Islamic style beard, and Baba introduced him as a very spiritual man who was very knowledgeable about Islam. I took this opportunity to ask several questions, to check and enhance my existing understanding of Islam. I asked if Amaan had been to hajj, which he had, and he told us about how there was a lot of preparation to learn the customs of completing the hajj at Mecca. We also talked about the Quran, and how it is comprised of the surahs and hadiths, how it also encompasses stories and prophets from the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah, and how Jesus (Isar) is also a prophet in the Quran. Amaan told us about how important it is to take care of your mother and father, to be a truly good person with good intentions and good actions, and how there should be tolerance between Christians, Muslims and Jews because they all worship the same God. Baba told us that in Islam you should never point a finger at any other true religion, only respect them. Amaan looked very much like the type of person that some western medias portray as dangerous or fanatical clerics who are misogynistic and anti-western, and so in appearance he could have seemed very intimidating to westerners. But talking to him he seemed very gentle, interested in sharing ideas and increasing our understanding of Islam from a perspective of good-heartedness and a desire to share knowledge across cultural divides to discover and appreciate our common humanity.
This was an incredibly unique and uplifting experience, and when the time came to leave we had quite emotional farewells with Baba and Mudasir, who said they wished that, Inshallah, we would be returning to visit them again before we leave India.
The lake was incredibly polluted in the past, with a lot of overgrowth of certain plants like water hyacinth as well. The pollution was apparently so bad in the lakes of Bangalore that sometimes the gases and chemical given off from pollutants and decay were getting trapped in the over layer of vegetation and litter, and sometimes this was causing the lakes to catch fire! While Ulsoor Lake is not terribly clean, it is certainly a lot better than that now.
There wasn't much to do at the lake because the park area on the banks was fenced off and the gates were locked closed, so we couldn't stroll around the lake or anything. After visiting the lake, we went to MG Road to find a bookshop, where I bought some books about the Hindu religion and a little bit of history of India.
From there it was a short walk back to the Commercial Street area - which I have decided I much prefer to MG Road as it is more relaxed and friendly hectic, rather than pushy and hectic hectic, to look for some more tops and of course the accessories to match.
As we were in the area, we of course thought it would be good to see Baba and Mudasir at the shop, we really didn't want to leave Bengaluru without saying goodbye. Alex and Sherrie went ahead to the shop while I went to find my tops - I am terrible at shopping and very indecisive, and my indecisiveness gets worse when there are others with me because I become so self-conscious! So I had asked if they would leave to go alone this time so that I could try to be a bit quicker and not worry about making them fed-up with me. When I got to Baba's shop, we were very lucky that Shakeel was also there, so we were able to have another talk with him and say goodbye to him also.
Baba had Mudasir make us kawah again as a farewell drink, and while this was being prepared another of their friends arrived at the shop. Amaan was wearing Islamic dress including a prayer cap and Islamic style beard, and Baba introduced him as a very spiritual man who was very knowledgeable about Islam. I took this opportunity to ask several questions, to check and enhance my existing understanding of Islam. I asked if Amaan had been to hajj, which he had, and he told us about how there was a lot of preparation to learn the customs of completing the hajj at Mecca. We also talked about the Quran, and how it is comprised of the surahs and hadiths, how it also encompasses stories and prophets from the Christian Bible and Jewish Torah, and how Jesus (Isar) is also a prophet in the Quran. Amaan told us about how important it is to take care of your mother and father, to be a truly good person with good intentions and good actions, and how there should be tolerance between Christians, Muslims and Jews because they all worship the same God. Baba told us that in Islam you should never point a finger at any other true religion, only respect them. Amaan looked very much like the type of person that some western medias portray as dangerous or fanatical clerics who are misogynistic and anti-western, and so in appearance he could have seemed very intimidating to westerners. But talking to him he seemed very gentle, interested in sharing ideas and increasing our understanding of Islam from a perspective of good-heartedness and a desire to share knowledge across cultural divides to discover and appreciate our common humanity.
This was an incredibly unique and uplifting experience, and when the time came to leave we had quite emotional farewells with Baba and Mudasir, who said they wished that, Inshallah, we would be returning to visit them again before we leave India.
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