So, we Hindus have this whole belief that a puja (ritual) can cleanse us and wipe our sins away. Yep… even better than Harpic. So, dad had this big puja a few days back. It was interesting to see how it all turned out. This puja was done in a small town called Narasaraopet in Andhra Pradesh. Here it goes (in no particular order):
1. All the muslim guests stayed away.
2. I don’t think any guests of any other religion were invited (!).
3. All the old ladies spent their time gossiping about last night’s soap/kitchen politics.
4. The men discussed politics (the regular ones) and business (recession na… hot topic now)…. and of course, sports.
5. The pujari (priest/facilitator/middle man/soporific) was in his own world… chanting some mumbo-jumbo. God only knows if the stuff he was muttering even made any sense.
6. I was hardly around… the bloody pujari kept asking for things that he thought ought to be there. I was the ferryman extraordinaire (and an unwitting moron too)!
7. My sis, who actually bought the house, was sitting pretty in the US while I did the slogging. Yeah… shes' smart, I‘m not. Big deal… old story… move on!
8. The R.O.M. (rest of the mohalla)… turned up for the free (and tasteless) sit-down lunch. They didn’t care if they knew us… they wanted food. It was like Somalia. It was embarassing for me to ask who they were (Hey! I'm not from there). Shouldn’t they introduce themselves?
I said it was interesting to see how people reacted. It was more like I had no other choice. Bleh… gotta love these rituals right?
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