The truest belief

by Nadine Abdelgawad (Egypt)

Making a local connection India

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Every time I dozed off I was woken up by the sound of a group of friends talking in God knows which language when you’re going from Gujarat to Rajashtan. What I got from being awake all the way is to watch the road because more to it being the beauty of nature, one realization hit me, Indians build temples anywhere. There was a temple on the road, another one on top of a mountain, one in the middle of a village and in every corner in India there was a temple, but that’s why I came here right? That’s the reason I took a flight all the way from Egypt, to explore the Diversity of India, then why haven’t I found the feeling of deep understanding and faith I thought I’d find here, even with a temple in every corner. Starting our journey in Udaipur, my companions said there was a suggested temple on our list that’s close by. So here we are, heading to yet another temple, it was beautiful, but so was every temple in this country. The voices drove me in, do I take off my shoes like I do in my own mosque? Do I cover my hair? Do I light a candle somewhere? All the surrounding vibes said there was a prayer going on inside, but I’ve never walked on people praying in any religion, let alone a Jagdish temple. I stood right there in a corner watching as they prepared to pray and sat in a circle, but what they had in their hands was musical instruments, and so they sat there singing, I don’t understand Hindu but the rhythm was beautiful and as they kept singing I just stood there in my corner feeling something I don’t quite understand, till one of them smiled at me and gestured for me to come closer, watch more closely and so I did. The woman singing was wearing blue and I’ll never forget how she had her eyes closed all the song, the people sitting around her were either playing music or making similar voices like a chorus.The song was light and harsh and strange and every other feeling that I couldn’t define, until something hit me in their singing, These people believed. That’s the only word I could find to define this, it felt like belief, like the truest form of belief and I kept asking myself, do we all feel this kind of lightness towards our religion? Because I’m a big believer in my own religion, but whatever I witnessed in this temple, I didn’t have it yet. They sang so faithfully with all their hearts, I didn't know about their religion but what I knew for sure is it’s the truest thing in the world for them, it’s all they have. And in this country, there was over a thousand religions, how did this group of people manage to be so devoted to the level that it touched my own soul, when all around them there’s all these religions. I didn’t find an answer to my question then as someone called my name because they wanted to just take pictures in front of the temple and go on with the day, and so I left, but I heard them singing all day..upon getting back to the hostel I was sitting in the terrace, the air was cold, there was a lake as a view, behind it the other part of the city and a mountain, on top of this mountain was a different temple and the lights were on , it was past midnight and someone up there was so devoted to their god that they prayed to midnight, how was that different from the people of a different faith still singing in the temple next to us. When people believed so faithfully how can someone come along and tell them it’s not true? It was then that I realized that the truest belief, is the one you believe in, and that’s that. And there I sat for the most of the night in the terrace listening to their prayers, talking with my companions about our own religion…and life was good.