It's Kartik or Karthika masa (month) at the moment, theholiest month for Hindus and devotees worship Lord Shiva to the utmost. During Karthika masa, women wake up early and have a ceremonial or spiritual bath and perform "Lord Shiva Puja". Every day, women decorate their house entrances with lighted diyas, devotees believe that performing or observing fast and pujas during the month can bring them salvation after death. I hear several of my neighbours praying and singing very early in the morning and the smell of incense wafts in through the windows. My mission over the next few days is to go to the Jagannath Temple here in Koraput to observe the worship and festivities there. I would love to take some photos as the women are dressed in their best, most beautiful and colourful saris as it is such an auspicious month but will feel a bit conspicuous going there with my camera to stare and 'capture the moment'. I will need to find a local person happy and willing to escort me there to explain a bit about the rituals.
SPREAD bought 2 new motorbikes recently, needed for one of the projects currently in progress. There is a Hindu custom to perform a puja on new motor vehicles to bring them luck and make them safe from accidents. This seems to involve cleaning them then decorating them with flowers and symbols using turmeric and other brightly coloured dyes, performing arati (showing a flame) using burning incense sticks while offering prayers. (Apologies to any readers who understand more about the details and spot my mistakes, I'm still trying to understand the culture and faith).
A priest from a nearby temple performed the puja on the bikes then came into the office to offer prayers in there as well, scattering turmeric-stained rice over anyone or anything that he found on the way. This is me, post puja with auspicious rice grains sprinkled on my head. I was a little worried when I found out about the puja as I had already had a couple of pillion rides on one of the bikes the day before the puja. Fortunately I lived to tell the tale.
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Don't know if you have read Aravinda Adiga's White Tiger but it has a great scene where the narrator describes getting whisky from a place just like this called the Jackpot English Liquor Shop - First Class Whisky, second calss whisky, third class whisky, first class vodka, second class vodka etc etc
ReplyDelete"It was a small store, and at least fifty men were crammed into the ten feet of space in front
of the counter, each yelling at the top of his voice, while waving rupee notes of the higher
denominations:
"Kingfisher Strong one litre!"
"Old Monk half bottle!"
"Thunderbolt! Thunderbolt!"
They were not going to be drinking this liquor; I could tell from their torn and dirty shirts
that they were only servants, like Ram Persad and me, come to buy English liquor for their
masters. If we came after eight o'clock on a weekend night to Jackpot, it was like a civil
war in front of the counter; I had to keep the men at bay, while Ram Persad shoved his way
to the counter and yelled:
"Black Dog! Full bottle!""
Thankfully your's doesn't look so crowded and rowdy!
actually there are very less people who drink(liquor). And if they drink, its occasionally ....And the country people usually take liquor made by them ..
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