The phone in our apartment rang later than usual last night. The caller did not introduce herself, but I recognized the voice as that of Sandita, a neighbor whose daughters attend Violet's school.
"Hello, Nick, tomorrow is an auspicious day. We are having a puja to honor the goddess by giving gifts and sweets to small girls. Can you bring Violet at 10am?"
How can you say no to that?
So I dragged a terrified Violet ("They're going to make me pray to their God!") to the puja this morning. Sandita and her daughter greeted us at the door and led us immediately into her bedroom to see the "temple." This is small shrine dedicated to several gods, most notably Durga (she rides a lion) and Lakshmi (she rides an owl). You can't see the individual gods in the photo below, but you can see the jasmine garlands and incense.
Sandita gave each girl a dot of vermilion on her forehead (a bindi) and a red string bracelet around her wrist. For months Violet has been curious about these "God strings," because they are the only form of jewelry kids are allowed to wear at school.
Over the next half-hour, the doorbell rang many times and the living room filled with girls of various ages, wearing a variety of traditional costumes. Sandita set them up with plates of puri (a sort of fried airpuff), sauteed black chickpeas, and semolina halwa (sweet grits). Each girl also received a small gift, for example a pack of markers, and a ten-rupee note.
Sandita explained that young girls are believed to be the purest incarnation of the goddess Durga, and therefore it brings blessings upon your house to gather as many girls as you can and pack them full of sweets. I'm paraphrasing horribly, but that's basically the idea.
After the puja, while the girls played in the next room, our host tried to teach me some Hindi phonics. If you ever want to feel tone-deaf, try learning an Indian language. One of the tricks I learned is to hold your palm in front of your mouth when you say, for instance, chhota ("little boy"). If you are pushing air, you have it. I am going to keep trying.
