In many countries, religion is something that sits on top of the culture. Australia is like that. But in some countries, like India (and I imagine Italy and some other places) religion and the culture are so enmeshed with each other it would be impossible to separate them.
There are temples, or at least small templets (as I call them, but I suppose a shrine is a better word) with a religious deity on literally every street and in many cases traffic diverts around a structure that sits in the middle of the street. Not the middle of the street between oncoming traffic like a divider, it is actually permanently in the middle of one lane of traffic.
but off the tourist trail and absolutely worth a visit.
There are Hindu icons in railway stations, government buildings, farm fields, shops, cars, the middle of nowhere, everywhere. These photos don’t even come close to showing everything we saw.
There were several similarly sized events taking place, but it was a bit bigger than usual because of Holi.
Yes, they are all boats on the right hand side.
In a city with the Taj Mahal, there are so many other hidden gems that tourists don’t visit
The Shri Jagat Shiromani ji Temple, about 500 years old.
It has had buildings added over the years, but this is their original shrine of Shiva.
