Saturday, January 13, 2007

About Devotion and Posteriors

First of all let me wish all my Hindu readers best wishes for Makar Sankranti. To all my Maharashtrian readers "Til gul ghya goda bolaa."

This day is supposed to be an auspicious days for Hindus and is celebrated with fervour. It marks the six month period of the sun's travel to the north called "Uttarayana." It has different names in different parts of the Indian subcontinent and each region has their own typical festivities associated with it. If you are interested you can read here.

In my state (Maharashtra) women make round balls of sesame and molasses called til gul. These are exchanged as token of goodwill. It is cold during this time and sesame seeds are supposed to provide warmth to endure the season. For a period of three weeks since Makar Sankranti Maharashtrian women have get togethers called "haldi-kumkum" in their homes. Other married ladies are invited and the hostess buys gifts for all her guests. My mother would host that in our home when we were children. It was a fun occassion to wear her sarees and traditional jewelry. When we grew up, we were so busy with our college and exams that my mother stopped hosting them. She and my mother-in-law had seperately hosted one for me ten years ago, when I was a newly-wed.

This evening I went to the temple. I went around the time for the evening prayers. Whenever K is with me, he rushes me and doesn't let me attend the evening prayer because it absolutely bores him! Since I was by myself I waited to attend it. The priest sounded the conch shell for the evening arati. I absolutely love the sound of conch shell and bells.

There were around 20 to 25 people gathered there. They passed around the prayer books and people were reciting from that. It was a very beautiful evening. While singing praises to Goddess Durga, I noticed the guy in front of me oblivious to the surroundings and the prayer, caressing the posterior of his significant other. Then there was one section of the prayers where one claps their hands and sings along with the priest. The entire time this man was rythmically patting his significant other's derriere. It doesn't seem funny now but at that time it seemed really funny. I kept a straight face the entire time but there was a woman standing next to me who actually giggled rather loudly! I am assuming that she might have seen what I saw. The priest stopped the service and implored in Hindi, "Shanti ka daan deejiye," which literally translates as please donate some peace and quiet. I had never heard that expression before and thought that it was even funnier. I was ready to explode. I cannot believe that I kept a straight face the entire time. The time till the conclusion of service and my rushing to the car to laugh seemed like an eternity!

17 comments:

FH said...

Thank the LORD or Durga it's not your posterior he was aiming Sai!!:D:D

Lotus Reads said...

A Happy Sankranti to you, too, Sai! I remember til gul so well, I definitely must make a batch for my kids today and we will all troop off to the temple as well, though I doubt we will see anything even remotely as entertaining as what you saw at last evening's darshan! :)))

I miss all the kite flying in BOmbay at this time. You know, since coming to Canada, I can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of times I have seen people fly a kite. Wonder why it's not so popular here - summer time is perfect for this lovely sport.

Thank you for another lovely post.

Lotus Reads said...

LOL @ Asha's comment!!!

Sai said...

@Asha:
LOL to your comment.

In fact I thank the Lord for the guy's good fortune that it wasn't my posterior because I would have transformed into "Kali"....probably a "Posterior-asura Mardini" Avatar of Kali......LOL

Sai said...

@ Lotus:
Thanks!

I miss kite flying too. Of course I cannot fly kites but love to watch. It is such a pretty sight.

To quote K, "temples are a boring affair" but it was rather funny last evening.

karmic said...

lol@Asha's comments. Happy Sankranti to you. I had no clue that its what it was, till we called our families on Sunday and folks wished us.
Sucks eh?
Buw we are ok with it since we just have our hands full otherwise. And esp with me I am very strange in not being as much in touch with my roots.
Funny episode at the temple. Maybe it was all absent minded on his part or maybe he was tapping the behind in rythm to the ceremonies?

Sai said...

Hey Sanjay:
I have "Kalanirnay" so I get all the dates.

About you not being in touch with your roots etc...well K is the same way. Most things happen at our home because of my enthusiasm. Of course I didn't have time to make "til gul" but had such a strong craving for "gul poli."

I am sure the guy at the temple was being absent minded but is seemed very funny given the solemn occassion.

karmic said...

We have Kalnirnay too, but it doesn't matter. :-/

Sai said...

Hey Sanjay:
Do you remember the jingle for "Kalnirnay"?

My sis mails me a new one every year and everytime I hang it in its usual place I sing the jingle. Of course was doing it totally unawaringly till K pointed it out to me.

karmic said...

I think I remember the jingle. I have recalled it at times which looking for something on the calendar.

Sugarlips said...

Happy Sankranti to you :)

LOL @ Asha :)

God bless you.

Stay Beautiful...!!

Dan said...

The entire time this man was rythmically patting his significant other's derriere.

I thought I was supposed to be doing this, as part of the service! I promise not to do it next time! ;)

Lotus Reads said...

Sai,

I got interested in kites because my cousins would fly them. At first all they would let me do is hold the wooden contraption ( I forget what it's called now) with the manja wound on it but later they taught me the basics of kite flying. This summer, I really want to be able to teach my kids, so when I say "go fly a kite", it'll be more than idiomatic! ;)

Sai said...

@ Sugarlips: Thanks! you are the sweetest!

@Dan:
Hey Dan you can do whatever you want to do. I promise that I won't notice the next time.

Sai said...

Hey Lotus:
My mom was expert in flying kites but my sisters and I didn't care about it at all.

My cousins used to fly kites and once one of my cousins asked me to hold the wooden contraption, which is incidentally called "phirkee." My cuz had an annoying habit of screaming "dheel sod....dheel sod" in marathi which means let the manja loose. I did the exact opposite because I couldn't understand what he meant! He called me stupid and in revenge I threw the "phirkee" at him....which caused his kite to get cut mid-air....Sweet sweet revenge!!!!!

Unknown said...

dear sai it is must very hillarious sight at the temple gosh i can imagine how difficult it is for u to control urself. nice reading it. Vishakha

Sai said...

All I can say is that thank God you, your hubby and K weren't there with me.....I would have died laughing!!!!