Week Ending February 10

On Saturday night February 3 we had a little farewell party for our friend Vinay Singh who left for America the following week.  We are sad to see him go but wish him the best in his new home.

Pictured above are us, Elders Cheng, Saker, Jue, and Cook,  Stella's neighbor,  Tejpal holding Meghan and Stella Kholi, Tamanna Bhatti holding son Ethan in the back,  Kunal Yadav down in front, Vinay, Sam Massey kneeling, Prince and his mother Nirmla Dass with Elias kneeling in front with the balloons, and then Sunitha and Sharin Massey.  We love these dear people!

Sunday afternoon we flew to Mumbai to attend an International Symposium on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights organized by the South Asia Consortium for Religion and Law Studies and the BYU International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU in collaboration with the Mumbai University Department of Law.  We sat in meetings like this Monday through Thursday where academics and lawyers discussed the concept of human dignity as a basis for human rights.

LDS friends who also attended were Geeta and Arvind Naidu from Hawaii, Firoz King Husein, a philanthropist from Jackson Hole, Shyam Kumar Lohat from Delhi and his friend Clifton from Pebble Beach who is trying to adopt four Indian orphans, and Peter Bushi, FamilySearch manager from Hyderabad.

We took a stroll on the beach on Monday evening just as the sun was setting.  

Tuesday night we flew to Bangalore for another conference, this time presented in partnership with the faculty of Law at Bangalore University.  Wednesday morning we met up the our friends Mike and Terry Martin who are serving as the office couple for the Bangalore Mission and with whom we served in the Guam Micronesia Mission.

Friday morning we flew to Delhi.  It felt surprisingly good to be back to cool weather and our own bed.  I think we are getting attached to this strange and wonderful place!  The photo above was taken on our drive home from the airport.

Twenty-first and twelfth centuries (see the horse) juxtaposed on a Delhi street.  For richness, complexity and history, its hard to beat Delhi.

Saturday afternoon we attended a 700 year old Sufi Basant celebration in Nizamuddin Basti, a neighborhood full of Sufi shires and tombs dating from the 14.c. and centered around the shrine of the Sufi Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auilya (1238-1325).  Tradition has it that the death of his beloved nephew, Taquiddin Nuh, put the saint into a blue funk that was only dispelled when the poet Amir Khusro, seeing a group of Hindu women celebrating Basant Panchami (a festival that marks the end of winter and beginning of spring), dressed up as a woman and brought a smile to the saint's face.  It has been celebrated ever since as a happy blend of Hindu and Muslim traditions in Delhi.

Stepping into the Nizamuddin Basti was like stepping into another world.  Our first stop was the Urs Mahal, a sort of public square or assembly area in the neighborhood.  "Urs" is the death anniversary of a Sufi Saint which is celebrated as his union with God.

Saturday was a perfect day, cool and sunny, and many people were just hanging out here.

Adjacent to the Urs Mahal is the 17.c Chausath Khamba or "65 Pillars."  It was built as an assembly hall by Mirza Aziz Koka then converted into a mausoleum for himself and his family.

From there we made our way to the durgah (mausoleum) of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya through narrow streets behind a procession of  men and boys who stopped to sing and leave yellow mustard flowers (a symbol of spring) at several tombs.  These tombs are scattered throughout the neighborhood, some are in open areas and some are now enclosed by houses. 

We finally descended a flight of narrow steps, removed our shoes, covered our heads and . . . 

entered the courtyard where the dargah stands, adjacent to a mosque.  

The color of the day was yellow, inspired by the mustard in bloom this time of year in north India.

Women are not allowed inside the durgah so they sit in the portico that surrounds the shrine.  

Nizamuddin Auliya was of the Chishti Order of Sunni mystical Sufism which originated in Afghanistan but had come to India before the Mughals.  It embraces love, tolerance and openness.

Hazrat Nisammudin Auliya stressed love as a pathway to God.  For him that love of God implied a love of humanity expressed in charity, religious pluralism and kindness.

To the right of the dargah is the red sandstone Masjid Khilji built between 1315 and 1325.  It is the oldest mosque in Delhi that continues to be used for worship.

We sat and listened to singing and watched men take offerings into the dargah and distribute money and sweets to the crowd.  Here is the text of one of the traditional Urdu songs associated with this celebration:

                                     The fields are lush with yellow mustard blooms,
                                     Mango buds open and the "Flame of the Forest" blooms,
                                     Each branch echoes with the koel's melodies,
                                     As the lovely maidens don their make-up,
                                     The gardener's wife brings bouquets,
                                     Mustard flowers in the entire forest,
                                     Flowers of all kinds and hues are available,
                                     And are brought in bouquets,
                                     To the doorstep of Nazamuddin,
                                     But the love-hued man who promised to come,
                                     Hasn't turned up--it's been so many years,
                                     The yellow mustard is blooming in the entire forest!
         

The peerzadas or custodians of Nizamuddin's dargah are descendants of the saint's family and disciples.  Janab Sufi Ajmal Nizami, pictured here, is also a descendant of Mohammad's family. 

Of the dargha and festival Altamash Nizami,  another peerzada  said, "With so much polarization happening in society, the dargah provides an alternative.  It has always given space to people of all faiths and their different ideas.  Basant Panchami is a Hindu festival celebrated at a Muslim's shrine.  It is part of our Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (culture of the central plains of Northern India, which is regarded as a fusion of Hindu and Muslim elements).  It unites us.  There is a need to spread its message.  This is India's blessing and strength."

After an exceptionally good block of meetings today, we attended the annual lunch for the residents of F-Block (our neighborhood) sponsored by the the Resident Welfare Association.  Our missionaries help maintain three parks in F-Block and their work is much appreciated.  We had delicious south Indian fare and met some of our very gracious neighbors.  The women were dressed in their beautiful saris and woolen shawls.