Our first point of call was to a large temple. After being clad in terrible over-robes we hobbled into the courtyard over scalding hot paving stones - no shoes allowed.
Followed by a walk in the midday sun to a temple in New Delhi. Very pretty, the central prayer room is open to all & underneath runs the largest volunteer meal service I've ever laid eyes on. There must have been thousands sitting down to eat; rows upon rows of bright colours crammed together on the marble floor, each with a silver tray. The trays were replenished by volunteers with tin buckets & ladles, themselves topped up by enormously large vats in the kitchen.
Alongside these vats are the chapati basins. Dozens of ladies (including myself) will sit around these white marble slabs & roll out the chapati dough flat to be cooked by the men who work at the oven. Dozens more sat peeling & chopping veg for the meal outside. The scale of the undertaking is enormous and truly inspiring in that the whole system is funded as run by volunteers.
I didn't happen across the washing up, but fear I wouldn't have been able to handle the sheer volume of dirty dishes.
Before leaving we visited the holy pool. Filled with fish, women & children washing their feet & men naked skinny dipping. Ceremonial, of course.
Another long walk found us in costa (ok so it isn't Indian, but it was 1.30pm & costa has air conditioning)!
A trip to the Lotus temple after lunch topped off a nice day of sightseeing, home before the rains came!
Now it's midnight and we've just set off on an overnight train to bikaner :)
Oh my goodness, don't know if I'd fancy that. Pics look great x
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