Day 8 (Noor)

Thursday was packed with fun! We learned about Indian architecture from Mrs. Agrawal, marveled at a gorgeous Hindu temple, enjoyed a delicious Indian meal, and watched the final episode of Asian Americans. 

    In the morning Ms. Agrawal gave a short presentation on Indian architecture. She walked us through the beautiful buildings and places of worship that can be found in India. Many of these were Hindu Temples, but as India's official religion is not Hinduism, there were also some Churches, Mosques, and Buddhist Temples that held just as much meaning. 

    After that introduction to traditional Asian architecture, we visited the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple. The first thing everyone noticed was how pretty the exterior of the building was. The Temple was quite large and all white, as it was made from limestone and marble. Our tour guide told us that it took about 3 years for builders to carve everything out (and there were some really intricate carvings engraved into the walls. Along the outside, there are animals carved out and when you walk up the marble steps you start to see the images of Hindu gods. The inside was just as breathtaking. Everything was meticulously hand-carved- even the ceiling! The guide told us about the stories of their gods as we walked around the Temple. One thing that he said that stuck to me was "No religion is wrong, it is just man that is misguided." I thought it was very wise and insightful of him to say. The temple visit was definitely one of my favorite things that we did in this J-Term.
    
    For lunch, we went to an Indian restaurant called Maharajah Bhog. The food there was all vegetarian, so we got to try different types of vegetables that were packed with flavor. There were potatoes and beans, spinach, lentils, okra, and more. We had roti, which is a traditional desi bread and lots of rice. A lot of the food was new to people, but it was definitely something worth trying. Before we came to the restaurant, Ms. Agrawal described this place to be like a buffet that comes to you, which is exactly what it was. The waiters came with big platters and served us spoonfuls of tasty Indian cuisine. I'm sure this is. a restaurant that many of us would want to come to again.

    The last thing we did was watch the final episode of the Asian American documentary. It discussed the struggle that any Asian Americans faced when they first began immigrating to the U.S. They encountered lots of racism and hate, they were attacked and stereotyped just because of how the world perceived them to be. The documentary said that Asian Americans faced discrimination not because of who they were, but because of how people perceived them to be, which I think is something really important to remember.

    We had so much fun today, as we continued to broaden on views and learn more about the Asian American community. 

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