On the second last weekend, from 23^th to 24^th October, some volunteers and I spent a couple of days in Mysore to see the celebration of the Hindu Dasara Festival, which takes place every year in September or October. According to a Hindu legend, on this day truth triumphed over evil, personified by the Hindu Goddess Chamundeshwari who killed the demon Mahishasura. On Friday, it was the Vijayadashami holiday. We went into the city because of the Dasara procession, this being the highlight of the 10-day festival. So we got to a stand near Mysore Palace to see all the decorated floats, dancers, music groups and animals like horses and elephants.

The music groups with drummers and the dancers created a cheerful mood. It was colourful, loud, hot and crowded, just as you probably imagine India feels or looks like. It was awesome to feel the lively atmosphere, while we were standing among the masses of Indians celebrating this day. The decorated floats were very interesting. One float showed the waste management system of Mysore (which obviously works well compared to some other Indian cities), another represented the Police and therefore the security system and on top of a third float were idols of local politicians.

India with its colonial background must be very proud to have been independent now for more than 68 years and all of its achievements that have been accomplished so far went through my mind at that moment. This vast country or, rather, sub-continent, with almost 1.3 billion inhabitants is governed by a democratic system. Isn’t it impressive? But I also thought about issues this developing country has to deal with. Besides waste there are a lot of other environmental problems, and based on my project I’d like to emphasise the upcoming water scarcity because of mistreatment in the last decades. Moreover, corruption, imbalance of the gender-roles, discrimination against particular society groups (previous caste system) or an underdeveloped infrastructure in many places are challenging tasks for India. But in contrast to these fields in which Germany is today more developed than India, Indians score definitely better in their surplus of joie de vivre and diversity in many fields.

Now, let’s go back to the Dasara festival. It became more crowded near the palace, so we decided to move to another place. A couple of minutes later, we found ourselves on the rooftop of a city hotel near Devaraja with a perfect view of the still ongoing procession. Reaching this peaceful place, we took some deep breaths. The procession ended with the idol of Chamundeshwari, carried on a heavy golden saddle construction on top of a colourful decorated, huge elephant. The festival continued and the Hindus celebrated this renaissance of truth brought by the Goddess respectfully worshipped by the royal couple of Mysore until night-time of this day. 

It is not only since Vijayadashami day that Indian culture with its religious background has fascinated me. Also, Hinduism is only one facet of India’s rich past. The country has been home to a variety of religions for thousands of years. To see Indian Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and other religious groups with such different ways of life, living together in a close way, impresses me a lot. For sure, there have been conflicts in India due to opposing opinions between the religions, but with my own eyes I have seen interreligious friendship and friendliness right now. It is only possible when people respect each other regardless of their differences in thinking and / or the behaviour of others and therefore focus on similarities and not on disparities. This is a universally valid truth, you can transfer it to many situations in your life. Being in touch with the multireligious culture for three months so far, this point has come to my mind more frequently than ever before.

The next day, Saturday, Linda, Miriam, Max and I made a bicycle tour to the surroundings of Mysore. We hired some perfect Mountain bikes from Cyclopedia-Team in Gokulam district, from where we set out to cycle in a northerly direction. I can recommend this area due to its calm environment and its beautiful landscape with paddy fields and palm plantations. Two hours later, we reached the lovely little town Srirangapatna, totally enclosed by the river Kaveri. Entering the city from the west, we saw the Hindu temple Sri  Ranganathaswamy and decided to visit it. Afterwards, we cycled through the city, had a delicious Indian meal and finally got back to Mysore in the early evening.

Altogether, it was a culturally rich Mysore visit, which has shown us the traditional face of India as well as letting me think about India these days. I like the Indian confidence, full of hope that all issues will be resolved someday and proud of its diversity, especially with regard to religions. Always you are likely to get the Indian answer: “no problem!” said with a smile on one’s face, regardless of the circumstances.

By Elios Sprung