Last weekend, my friend Cathy and I made good on a long-standing promise to visit our friend Natasha in the Princeton/Trenton vicinity of New Jersey. Natasha (despite her Russian sounding name bestowed upon her by her Dad) is Indian American, and knows all the good Indian places to eat, shop, and gawk at in wonder at in the region. She acted as our tour guide.
First up, the utterly amazing temple of Sri Swaminarayan Mandir (Hindu temple) in Robbinsville, NJ. Layer upon layer of intricately carved Italian marble both inside and out; the sheer artistry and man hours involved in its creation is mind boggling. It was kind of exhausting, in fact, trying to take it all in. And, of course, also hunger producing, so we adjourned to eat delicious and enormous dosas, South Indian thin chick pea flour pancakes stuffed with a spicy potato mixture and served with a various chutneys and sambar.
The next day, we started out with a visit to an ashram that was celebrating its 18th year. The leader of this ashram is originally from California, he renounced his former life in Silicon Valley to study in India. (He is a very good teacher and storyteller… I may never again look at cow dung, which featured prominently in his teaching that day, in exactly the same way again.) We were welcomed into the service and invited to a delicious vegetarian lunch to celebrate the anniversary.
Next – the Main Event, a trip to the Indian American shopping district of Edison, NJ, a more or less solid four block square of dress and jewelry shops, cafes featuring everything from street food style snacks to full course sit down pan-Indian meals, and grocery stores. We ducked into many of these, marveling at the intricate embroidery and silks of the saris and other outfits, buying snacks eaten immediately or brought back for later, and enjoying the milieu thoroughly.
Having been to India recently, and (despite one assessment of this New Jersey substitute as “The Disneyland Version of India,” due perhaps to its relative cleanliness and lack of huge crowds, insane traffic, and goods sold on the street versus in actual shops with doors, and higher prices) this visit felt like a mini shopping trip back to the subcontinent. Pictures being, of course, worth a thousand words, I will stop writing and offer up this gallery for your viewing pleasure.
