Krishna Temple at Spanish Fork, Utah
My neighbor, a Brazilian family, invited my family to attend a Brazilian festival at Utah Valley State College. They have this festival every year with half a day of music, stalls and food. I could not disrespect my neighbor’s invitation – a family man with great two kids, so I went to the festival with my family. The festival takes place at a stadium. There may be some 10,000 people in the stadium. Young and old, most of them wearing yellow jersey reminded me of their football team – one of my favorite soccer team too. What would you look for at a carnival when you are hungry – I went around the stalls to find the best place for some good food. I had been to Brazilian restaurents before, but some of the authentic foods I saw in the stalls attracted me. Out of all, who can resist the freshly barbequed kabab, I made my choice to a stick of kabab.
After the lunch, I sat down with my neighbor, and I asked him few cultural questions. To my questions, he told me you can find Japanese, Germans, Chinese, Indians, Africans and such a variety of people from different countries in Brazil. The inter-racial marriage is common in Brazil, not like the United States where African Americans rarely choose to marry a White American. The reason, a large percentage of Brazilians come to Utah is because they’ve accepted the Mormon faith – there were a very few who were not Mormons I could meet there. There was music, cultural exchanges – some kind of carnival atmosphere in that stadium.
The time is 5:00 PM. Each and every American who knew about India, and I had come to contact with as a friend, had always the very first question to me “Have you been to the Spanish fork India Fest?” Some have asked me have I ever been to the Spanish Fork temple. I can’t blame my friends – they might have thought I’m a Hindu because I’m an Indian.
“India Fest” at a place where there are hardly any Indian Americans – this has surprised me in the past. The city I live in, don’t have enough Indians to celebrate an India Fest. I decided to go to the fest, and see what happens there. I drove few miles, and finally reached this suburb – a good American asked us to follow her car that lead to the place. The scene there is an Indian structure, hard to identify that as a temple – may be because of my lack of understanding of Hindu temples you can see in various parts of India. I parked my car, went inside of the compound. There is a gentleman at the gate collecting $3 per person to see the temple – I had to give only $2 at the Brazilian Fest to enter the stadium, and participate in the “Brazilian Fest”. There is a huge crowd to watch the shows on the stage at a far place. There is a huge crowd at the Tattoo stall also – Americans are flocking to get their body tattooed with Indian tattoos, called Mahendi.
I could not find much Indian stalls there, but I saw hundreds of people flocking to the second floor to see the temple. I did not go inside the temple, but I noticed the temple is neatly kept, you can see the Hindu idols inside the temple, and the bhajans going on inside the temple with devotees sitting and listening. I found more Americans than Indians inside that temple. Turning towards right, I saw an office for a radio station in that place, and a ranch for lamas, cows and few birds.
I went close to the stage to see what is happening there. There you’ll see a dance troop from Bangalore, India presenting the story of Krishna, the Hindu God. I had hard time recollecting the stories of Hinduism that I read in my childhood; however some of these shows reminded me of Ramayana. The last show was burning the effigy of Ravana. The Americans who accepted Hinduism were also part of the drama. It was cold on that day, so I could not stay back until the effigy was burnt. I left that place with some mixed thoughts.
My visit to the “India Fest” gave me some insight about what is going on – at least to tell my American Friends what you can expect when you go there. “India Fest” is not a festival of all religions or culture you can see in India, but a festival Hindus believe in. The majority in India is Hindus, but there are many minority religions in India like Christians, Muslims, Jains, Jews. Is it ignorance or authority of Hinduism prompted the organizers to name such a gathering as an “India Fest”?
Wouldn’t it be nice to name this festival as “Krisha Festival” or “Ramayan Festival”?