Bhagwat Days 2 and 3

No, that’s not the cremains of the deceased for whom this big shindig is happening. It’s a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, or Song of God, a small, but very important part of Hindu scripture. This should have been posted on Day 1!

Having gone to bed and slept through very strange dreams, I get up and turn on the water heater before the alarm reminds me. Are the dreams a result of having earlier drunk the holy cow urine? Who knows. After discovering that I need a tool that I don’t have  to open my fancy organic laundry soap, I take my very nice shower, get dressed and climb the 30 degree, plus or minus 20 degree, hill to  the tent, arriving 15 minutes after the end of the announced 8:00-8:30 window, to find nobody there but the sound technician. Although on day 3, I arrived at 9, and the puja was in full swing. I was belatedly offered one small drop of the blessed holy liquid, and then we walked around the dais several times for blessings. At 9:15, they took a tea break. I’m not having tea. I will plan to stick to water today.

Anyway, back to Day 2, fifteen minutes after my late arrival, the priests started filing in. Maximum attendees was probably 12. So much for 40 every day. The puja started at 9:20. All was going ok until the rain started. The hired crew was set to the pick-axes and hoes, to create a moat and berm, presumably to keep the carpets dry. That wasn’t going to help the roof leaks that I saw on the way out. All told, this morning’s ceremony lasted a mere two hours. Dharmendra’s brother gave me a few mandarin orange segments, and I braved the rain to walk the 50 meters to the house. No, I didn’t run in my flip flops on the wet, intermittently muddy, rough street.

Dharmendra asked if I wanted food. Definitely not a severe fast. So here I am in the kids’ bedroom, staying dry, waiting to go back downstairs to see what they are eating. 

It was aloo pakora (potato fritters), fancy spiced couscous with ghee, coconut chutney, yogurt. Served on big plates. Fairly big portions. Day 3, I will go to my room during lunch. Part of the point of coming was to remind myself that many people go hungry every day, not by choice.

The number of attendees increased for the 3-6:30 pm recitation of the Gita. My swami friend who did the blessing ceremony for my mother when she was in the hospital dying attended. He had to be reminded of who I was. Funny, we spent 3 days together and my appearance is usually memorable to people. Well, it was two years ago. He’s 72. He probably has more important things to concern himself with.