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Countries I visited were "Vietnam", "Burma", and "India".
Especially I have strong impression and earnestness on India.
"Vietnam" and "Burma" were somewhat familiar and could feel these countries to be close to my own original culture.
But India was different.
It was different in many ways from any other country I visited including advanced countries and developing countries.
All of my memories are nice and fresh thanks to the hospitality of my Indian friends.
The purpose of my trip to India was to form a Joint Venture between my then employer and Indian company, I visited Mumbai 6 times in 1996 and had lots of business and fun activities with my Indian friends.
One day after our business meeting was over early, around 4:00 pm, my Indian friends took me to my hotel, and they gave me Indian traditional clothes, asked me to put them on, and took them to "Shiva" temple.
"Shiva" is the highest ranked god among hundreds of gods in Indian religion, "Hindu".
Wearing Indian traditional clothes, we walked into the temple.
I thought I knew how to walk into a temple.
There are some procedures I should take.
I need to wash my hands and mouth with the water, walk into the main area from the gate, etc...
I was born and raised in Buddhism country, Japan.
But I found some unfamiliar building in front of the main building of the temple.
Since there was long line of people going through the tower, I tried to pass the tower and walk directly to the temple main building.
My Indian friends stopped me before temple people approaching to stop me, and re-directed me to the end of long line of people.
I frowned and asked why.
The tower was Shiva's transportation aid, Cow's God tower and the Cow himself is God.
You might have come across some Indian pictures where this holy cow is portrayed carrying "Shiva on his back.
This god's name is "Nandi".
"Nandi" is not just Shiva's transportation aid, he is a protection guard and entertainer for Shiva.
He is the one who meet people before they meet Shiva, and select who can walk into "Shiva" main temple to see Shiva.
Nandi plays musical instrument when Shiva dances.
After the temple, my friend took me to a souvenir shop where I found a statue of God with an elephant face.
When I asked the name of the "Elephant God", the staff of the shop and my Indian friend corrected me that he is not Elephant God, but God with Elephant Head.
They taught me that he name is Ganesha.
It was nice experience and impressive experience.
The English "Holly Cow" might have come from Nandi.
All the cultures have different customs and interpretation of life.
That makes visit so interesting!
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