Neasden: Divine surburbia

London is full of clashing architecture – it’s practically defined by it – yet the sight of a classical Hindu Temple looming over a surburban semi still makes me double take when I visit Neasden.
Photo: Temple in the suburbs, Chris White.

You can’t really believe it’s there at first, a lotus flower blooming above wheelie bins and box hedges.  But there it is, the largest functioning Hindu temple outside of India, in the middle of Brent.

Photo: 206 bus, The Outer Limits.

Once inside I swap the buses and the roar of the nearby North Circular for incense infused calm. The focus of the building and place of worship is the mandir, a room topped with a white marble dome supported by pillars carved with Hindu deities. The brilliant white of the marble is broken by the brightness of orange flower garlands, golden goddesses and the embroidered red robes that clothe gods. Worshipers circumambulate the mandir and lie prostate on the floor. Inside here is the timeless divine, while outside is the North Circular – and it’s this contrast that makes it so truly awesome.

Photo: Kingthorpe Terrace, The Outer Limits.

And the fact that it was BUILT BY VOLUNTEERS. 26,300 pieces of Italian and Indian marble, having been carved by master craftsman in Rajasthan, were transported to North London and pieced together by local volunteers. Wowsers. AND there’s a pretty good exhibition about how India pretty much invented EVERYTHING, from writing to numbers.

Photo: Jo Sau

AND, if like me, you like an international supermarket, then you’ll LOVE the Indian one opposite , stocked full of asafaoetida, tamarind, fenugreek and all the other spices I can never find in costcutter.

How to get there: Neasden on the jubilee line is about a ten minute walk. More travel information.