My 80th post!...and the end of mid-winter break

Entryway to the Temple

So, how did I spend this last-day-before-heading-back-to-work?  Husband had a great idea to take the boys to Flushing to visit a Hindu temple and grab a bite to eat, and a great idea it was!

First of all, the day couldn't have been more beautiful - end of Februrary in New York, sunny and approaching 50 degrees.  It was great to be out and experiencing something a little off the beaten path in our great city.  We got a little lost on the way, and had a rather loud, angry shout fest in the car...was it my fault for emailing and not providing directions, or was it his fault for printing-out shitty directions and being impatient with my phone's GPS?  It's un-germane (is that even a word?) to the point of the trip, and yes, I'm more than a little embarrassed that my kids had to witness that, but I think we'll all live.

We luckily got the directions sorted, and found the temple.  Even luckier, we were able to find on-street parking just around the corner.  The temple is actually under reconstruction, and much of it's facade was scaffolded off, but the website shows the ornately decorated top of the temple.  We strolled through the entryway, admiring the various incarnations of Ganesh, the Hindu god with an Elephant's head and human body (sometimes with multiple arms), before we found our way to the temple's entrance.  We needed to leave our shoes in the basement before entering the main temple.  We wandered the perimeter to check out the jaw-dropping statues of deities, each adorned with garlands of flowers and jewels. 
Fortunately, a ceremony was underway, celebrating the Maha Sivaratri Day (which is coming up this Wednesday), and we were able to respectfully observe.  We saw the food offerings, heard some chanting, and witnessed the adorning of the main statue with flowers.  Unfortunately, we understood very little, but it was fascinating to watch, nonetheless, and we felt quite welcome to peaceably observe.

After a bit, the growl of our tummies and the promise of some delicious curry called us to the Temple's Canteen (too much Star Wars had me accidentally calling it the "Cantina" more than once).  I have no idea what we ate, but it was a weekend-only special for $9, it was spicy, and it was good.  There was a potato curry, a pappadum, something creamy with carrots and okra, and a yummy grain with chopped greenbeans.  There was a sweet dish, and a side of yogurt.  We ordered a supplemental Paneer dosa (very spicy!) and a plain dosa which was delicious when dunked in the sweet dish.  I had an authentic chai (surprisingly quite a bit different from the chai my morning bag of tea claims to be), Husband had a coffee, and a quick stroll through the Temple gift shop ended our trip.  I'm glad we took this little adventure, and look forward to a return trip!

This mid-winter break has been a great time to relax, recharge, and reconnect. Thanks to the time off, I've also been able to make quite a few blog entries, and (happily!) increase the readership. Thank you for stopping by...I can't promise I'll keep up with as much regularity, but I'll give it an honest try, so keep checking back! 



The divine is universal.  "It makes no difference whether you worship God, Jehovah, Allah, Mohammed, Buddah, Christ, or Krishna - it is still and always one and the same God." - Swami Satyananda Saraswati