India is really different. A country that befuddles the senses with all the beauty of the bright colors. Every day these colors are mixed to new images, new impressions. A vivid expressionistic picture. Something so not beautiful gets a fascinating aesthetic. India, a bright hope for the future? A firecracker full of smells and noise. And it is actually not possible for me to explain what fascinated us so much about this country and these people, so here are a few facts for you and I will explain what the mouse is all about.
The Mouse
It’s crazy, but our house mouse in Europe is an export from India. I’m not talking about the computer mouse here, of course. I want to talk here about the mice that I found on various drawings on Hindu temples. Small and inconspicuous it was and yet so big.
Religion
80% of Indians are Hindus. In Hinduism there are more than 3 million gods. One then chooses one. Important rules are: Do not drink alcohol, do not lie, do not kill anyone, do not eat meat, as well as do not break marriage.
The main gods found at most temples are:
Brahma, the creator.
Vishnu, the preserver.
Shiva, the destroyer.
And then there is Ganesha, represented by an elephant’s head, he is also known as the God of Fortune. For many Hindus, the Elephant Man is the favorite among the Indian gods. Ganesha is the lord of good spirits, he conveys hope and removes obstacles. He is also said to stand for truth and wisdom.
“Hope” – there it is again. A word which I don’t like at all. We hope that someone else will clear the problems out of the way for us. In most cases this will not happen. But that is another topic.
Visiting many temple during our stay in India I noticed that in many pictures a small mouse appears. In Hinduism, the mouse is considered the vehicle of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of wisdom and knowledge. The mouse is often depicted as a small, timid creature and is said to symbolize Ganesha’s ability to overcome obstacles and limitations. The mouse is also considered a symbol of humility and is meant to remind us that even the smallest and most unlikely creature can play a crucial role in the world.
Well, I think that’s pretty good.
The mouse can navigate through small spaces and hidden paths, guiding us through life’s challenges. So in that sense, the mouse doesn’t necessarily imply that you have to hide to gain understanding and wisdom, but rather that wisdom and knowledge can help us overcome any obstacles we might encounter.
I like the mouse.
A few more facts about India
Vegetarian Friendly
At just under 40 percent, India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the population worldwide. Israel (13 percent) and Taiwan (12 percent) follow at a considerable distance. In Germany, about nine percent of the population eats a vegetarian diet. It was incredibly easy for us to eat vegetarian food and our hosts were often very happy that we ate vegetarian food, because they did it themselves. Being vegetarian is deeply rooted in the culture of many Indians.
Head massage
In India, heads were massaged with natural oils and herbs from early times. The word used for this was “Champo”. Then, in England, the idea arose to bottle the fragrant oils and sell them as shampoo. By the way, there are more words that have found their way from India to Germany such as jungle, veranda or pajama.
Population
The total population of India has continued to grow strongly in 2022 and is estimated to be around 1.417 billion inhabitants:in. The average age is less than 30 years.
Mumbai has 19 million people and a small city like Bangalore has 9 million.
Sacred cows
Cows are considered sacred in India. Therefore, they are given some freedoms. They can be seen walking through the streets of the cities. They are not chased away, but reverently touched by many devout Hindus and given water and bread.
Language
179 languages with 544 dialects are spoken in India and it is not uncommon for Indians not to understand each other. Many people learn English as a second language. However, they are still often difficult to understand, because this Indian form of the English language is mainly for the possibility of communication among themselves and thus the stresses, the rhythm is another. They have assimilated the English language to their own language.
Not infrequently we experienced that we understood zero point zero although our opposite spoke English. So it happened that someone helped to translate the Indian English into an understandable English for us.
Food
It is common In India to eat with the fingers. I could not really get used to to this. Indians always wash their hands before eating. Then they eat with their right hand. For example, you mix the rice with the sauces. You mud around a little bit and then you put it in your mouth. Everyone does it that way and often there is no cutlery. We didn’t ask for it either, but sometimes they found one somewhere, completely dusty and forgotten. I guess we looked pretty awkward, especially in the beginning.
Color frenzy
The color- Festival. It celebrates the victory of good over evil and the beginning of spring. For this purpose, people not only celebrate boisterously, but also throw colored powder at each other.
I fell in love with the daily rush of color on and around the streets. In the colorful clothes of the women and the colorful house fronts. Colors are infinitely important to me. They do something with us and therefore it is important to know about their effect. Of course, the effect is not the same everywhere in the world, but here in India, the color of a house, for example, shows very clearly how the owner is disposed towards strangers.
Pink, the color of being welcome.
Purple, the color of Hinduism – a sign of enlightenment. Purple is a constant companion of the hard everyday life, hard to imagine without and impossible to ignore. A mixture of screaming red and deep blue.
Red, this color in India stands for love and beauty, but also for fear and fire.
Blue, it is the color of the sky and infinity, also stands for domestic peace.
And finally Orange. This color in India stands for courage and sacrifice. If I were to assign a color to traffic in India, this would be the color.
A blurred polaroid of cows, people, trucks, cars and mopeds and the same crowd coming towards you on your lane. Traffic rules are a matter of interpretation in India. This is the traffic in India. If you internalize that, you can immerse yourself in this color and just go with the flow. We actually enjoyed it.
