A Hindu Temple, field plowing, and sugar cane
The description of today will encompass two emails because it's impossible for me to limit the pictures from today to less than 11.
This morning we finally got to see up close a fabulous Hindu temple and learned something about local job protection. We visited the Keshava temple outside of Mysore. It was built in 1268 so is fairly old. You enter through a wonderful "gate" although calling it that does some a bit of an understatement.
Once you're inside, there is a great courtyard with the actual temple at the far end.
The temple has the most amazing carved figures -- almost innumerable and many of them are "signed" by whatever 13th century craftsman (most certainly) did them.
Before leaving for the temple, we picked up a Bangalore state guide because our guide told us that it is illegal for him to be a guide all by himself in Bangalore state. Gee, the next thing the states in India will do is require lawyers to be lawyers in the state if they want to practice law there. What a backwards policy.
After spending far too short a time with the temple (which may turn out to be our only Hindu temple on the tour) we headed back into Mysore proper. On the way we passed some rice paddies where two farmers were plowing them with a team of oxen (cattle?) in a manner that looked like it must have looked for centuries.
The heavy use of non-mechanical labor is typical throughout much of India. There are many people (second largest population in the world) and many without jobs. So you don't want to buy an expensive machine to replace one or more people. It doesn't make either economic or human sense ... or maybe it does. I don't claim to be an economist or a philosopher (although I have been known to play at both). However whether labor this basic is appropriate for the developing economy of one of the BRIC counties (Google it if you don't know the term) I don't know. It does make a wonderful picture, though. The white birds are attracted by the rice seeds. And how much would it take to get you willing to do this work?
(When I get all the photos editing and posted, there will be a video that I took of this farmer at work.)
A little further down the road we came to a sugar cane "processing plant." The canes are thrashed into a liquid form and then boiled down until it is in thick syrup form.
Then the syrup is poured into molds where it makes what I'm told is delicious (and overly sweet) chucks of pure cane sugar (unlike C&H ever saw).
OK -- the USDA wouldn't pass this plant.
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