Ganesha Festival Part II

As mentioned earlier, Ganesha is a pretty significant deity here. The festival lasts about 15 days and besides the Puja celebrations attended earlier, the Ganesha statues for this festival have more in store for them besides being draped in flowers and inundated with incense:

On the 3rd day (the number 3 is an auspicious number, as are 5 and 9), and as the sun set, we conducted a Puja (prayer) for the two Ganeshas. Then the painted clay Ganesha that had mysteriously arrived in our house was given a front row seat in the car with his mother, Parvati.

We drove to the nearby lake and conducted the 2nd Puja on the shore. Caden was worried about crocodiles, but fortunately we didn't see any.

Once the Puja was done, Parvati and Ganesha were dunked in the water, never to be seen again.

On our return trip we ran across a bunch of young men getting ready to do a similar ritual with their Ganeshas.

Before driving to the lake with our green Ganesha, I had made a call to a friend of mine here to express my concern over this ritual. Hundreds of these Ganeshas, some of which are quite large, are sunk in the lake every year. They are made of clay and then painted; and the paints typically contain environmentally harmful metals and chemicals. I had asked if there is anything that can be done such that we didn't have to put the Ganesha in the lake. Unfortunately, there isn't: it has to be either a lake or a well.

There has been some push to "green" this tradition - such as going with unpainted statues - but I was told by our driver that when he looked, there were no unpainted statues to be found. The colors are apparently much more in demand and then as our driver said, "the lake is already dead, what difference does it make." True, the lake does receive thousands and thousands of gallons of untreated waste water and sewage, but I still couldn't help but feel a little remorse about the green and gold painted statue that we had put in the lake.

I love the weekends

This seems obvious, and Wade did a nice job summarizing the lane party today...but I just thought I'd reiterate how much weekends here rock and this experience is... quite an experience. Friday morning brought all sorts of text messages that the parking lot at work flooded again with the monsoon rains. Did I ask for that I wonder - I did think before going to bed that if it continued raining I could sleep in instead of running...? But even with no parking, the team all made it in via carpool, auto rickshaw, and such. I took pictures of the collapsed 25-foot retaining wall like a silly tourist (you'd think I never saw a monsoon before! but the novelty was somehow better than the 3-ft snow storm we see in MN every couple years). Then settled into work where there was no a/c for the first three hours. But, they brought us ice cream and we made the best of it.And it provided good reason to leave work early as the rains again started to fall (5:30pm early that is, perspective changed). It was good food and good friends from work at a Happy Hour at 100ft restaurant. First Michele and I made a brief stop for jewelry shopping (love that girl), then met up with Jessica and Radha for some good appetizers and chili vodkas (ok, the bill suggests chili vodkas and a couple apps). Super fun time with good girlfriends.
Wade got the lane party covered today, and is busy preparing for the poker party tonight. He seems on a mission to convert poker players here in the neighborhood. No complaints from my end as long as Ms. Pinto makes her famous samosas and I get some before the boys devour them.
And tomorrow brings that best of all day... no driver, no maid (we have a guy maid now - is it still a maid?), no cook and nothing to do but relax. Chill out by the pool, go to the gym, take a nap maybe... eat cereal for lunch and tacos for dinner and not a care in the world.
Oh, and it's a short six days until Mom, Dad, and Katie arrive in India... CAN NOT WAIT!!!! Love you guys tons and see you soon. Safe travels!

Ganesha Festival

On September 15th we celebrated the Ganesha Festival. Ganesha — the elephant-deity riding a mouse — is the most common Hindu deity we see here. Ganesha is the son of the god Shiva and Parvati, and has an elephantine head with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth.
We started mid-day at a lane party which included the blessings for the idol and having children sing. Even Caden sang a little tune when we were all asked to pass the microphone to introduce ourselves. It was well-attended and a lot of fun, with great food pot luck style (including some traditional foods for the festival which Caden of course refused to eat). Interestingly, we were asked to bring the juice... hmmm. And Angela tells me its impossible not to feel under-dressed with all the women and their elaborate saris and jewelry. Still, everyone was very hospitable and explained the process and offering, and it was great to be included. Another reminder of the great neighborhood and the wonder of living here in India.

During our attendance at this, our driver, Lokesh had gone to our house with a friend and set up a “shrine” inside our house. We again went through the blessing and applied new bindis (the red spot on the forehead).

The story of Ganesha’s elephant head is: Once goddess Parvati, while bathing, created a boy out of the dirt of her body and assigned him the task of guarding the entrance to her bathroom. When Shiva, Parvati’s husband returned, he was surprised to find a stranger denying him access, and struck off the boy's head in rage. Parvati broke down in utter grief and to soothe her, Shiva sent out his squad (gana) to fetch the head of any sleeping being who was facing the north. The company found a sleeping elephant and brought back its severed head, which was then attached to the body of the boy. Shiva restored its life and made him the leader (pati) of his troops. Hence his name 'Ganapati'. Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture.

Ganesha's head symbolizes the Atman or the soul, which is the ultimate supreme reality of human existence, and his human body signifies Maya or the earthly existence of human beings. The elephant head denotes wisdom and its trunk represents Om, the sound symbol of cosmic reality. In his upper right hand Ganesha holds a goad, which helps him propel mankind forward on the eternal path and remove obstacles from the way. The noose in Ganesha's left hand is a gentle implement to capture all difficulties.

Party on a Stick

Early last week, Tracy and I were in the midst of a "self-improvement" yoga session at 6:30...and she said: "there's lots of new people here, we should have a party." While aiming for self-actualization and calm, I was really more half-asleep and half-dreaming of food. So the response "let's have a party on a stick and pretend it's the State Fair." And so the plot was launched...and the party planner was called later that day. All the fellow Minnesotans or those with loose connection were invited (it is the GREAT MN get together after all).
For background, I LOVE the State Fair, and the tradition of wandering through, eating and eating and eating...and people watching. Dad, Caden and I have gone the last four years (including 8 months prego) and it's been quite a fond ritual.
No reason to let the lack of wide open space or State Fair like food to stop us from trying here. Wade and Ms. Pinto secured a corn-dog batter recipe from Tom (grinding up all the stale taco shell stock in BLR as a substitute for corn meal) and did some testing on Friday. There was some discussion about mutton dogs, but in the end, safety-first and we settled on the pre-cooked canned kind. Chop sticks served as the sticks. Child testing was successful and we were ready to go!
On the day, there were replica MN flags hung, a tent brought in, a cotton candy machine (seriously!), a face painter (of course!), a beer garden (duh!), a dairy bar (not really, but a sign for one), and lots of good friends. We ended up passing on the Midway, but it was there in spirit. The corn dogs were a huge hit, as was corn on the cob (Lokesh and I looked all over to find 16 ears - once I was able to explain what corn was, and that it's different than ice (the other item on our shopping list)). Seriously, it was tons of fun and if not exactly the same, had the spirit of the Fair to be sure. Even on the walk over, I saw a neighbor out in the lawn wearing a Concordia t-shirt. They're from Germany, but.. small, small world. And so the invite list expanded. There were Minnesotans from Target, Best Buy, Accenture, ADC, and others, Carlson alums, new arrivals and Bangalore veterans...and good friends.
The evening concluded with the "core" team up on the deck, a hookah pipe going and "one last drink." A spectacle and a fond, full feeling befitting the Fair to be sure!
Pictures to follow...

My awesome husband

Ok, if the overdose of kid stories didn't get you to remove the blog from "favorites" - here we go. Just wanted to post up a comment on how great my husband is (yes, I realize I'm biased or at least numb after 11 years). While I've been "demonstrating flexibility" doing largely the same job at the same company with a same routine, he's been transitioned to an incredibly new job for horrible pay (ok no pay) with an uncooperative and unappreciative team (the 3-year old isn't always an angel, despite the suggestive blogs and our latest maid quit last week), and a list of expectations that seems both sort of reasonable (could you pick up milk today?) and impossible (and find some deodorant too?). So what prompts me to write this?

• He did it (moved here, quit his job, and such)
• He mostly still smiles at me and still claims to love me
• He's an awesome dad
• He usually has a drink poured when I stroll in at 9 or so...including one for me!
• He did find me deodorant
• He made corn dogs for the party on a stick (more to come on this)
• He joined the Overseas Womens Club... AND signed up to be the male members' liason with gusto and a laugh. I'm saving the newsletter article for the scrapbook for sure - now that deserves an award for flexibility!!
• He stays involved in what he loves - reaching out to the CHMM and other environmental organizations here in Bangalore and making tons of new contacts at the Universities and other organizations
• He's been awesome at taking on a range of new challenges and "assignments" with a largely positive attitude and flexibility in a way that I could only aspire to model
• Just cuz.

Anyhow, I think it's pretty cool, and I feel lucky to have my job and even luckier to have my husband that makes it possible... and fun.

Lakshmi Puja

Friday the 24th of August 2007 was an auspicious day for women as Varamahalakshmi puja was celebrated with pomp and gaiety. Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity, wealth, purity, generosity, and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. On the full moon night following Dusshera or Durga Puja, Hindus worship Lakshmi ceremonially at home, pray for her blessings, and invite neighbors to attend the puja. It is believed that on this full moon night the goddess herself visits the homes and replenishes the inhabitants with wealth.
Hindu or not, this seemed like a good holiday to respect!!
We had plans Friday evening to entertain a couple visitors from Target, but got invited to a puja at our neighbors the Revannasiddaiah's also...and were told to bring friends. Luckily Kim and Debbie were up for adventure and we arrived at puja politely late by 10 minutes (and were the first ones there by 45 minutes - you'd think I was new here!). In addition to having an incredibly beautiful statue of the deity, they had a full spread of dinner and a zest to make sure you didn't leave hungry! We made our offering of some sweets, flowers and incense (having been duly advised by our cook to bring something) and proceeded to have a meal that would put Thanksgiving to shame - course after course of really delicious food (a little spicy). More neighbors started to arrive and we ended up staying until Caden was half-asleep and on the edge of not being suited for puja (assuming it's the same threshold as how long you would keep a 3-year-old at church). We left with gift baskets complete with coconuts, blouse material, cosmetics, bangles, tumeric and more. Caden also got a coconut, which he named Max (no joke).
It's great to be included in these festivals, and these neighbors are a model of graciousness and hospitality that really make us feel welcome and lucky to be here. We got a return invite for the Ganesha festival later this month and I'm already looking forward to it. The symbolism and story behind Ganesh is very cool - look forward to an informative posting!
Oh, and we arrived back at our place with a FULL meal in the fridge (our cook tends to overshoot a bit, ok a lot, on news of guests) and full bellies. So we settled for drinks and good conversation about how fun life can be when you are a bit flexible and outside your comfort zone. It's quite an experience! Oh, and I'm also grateful that Kim and Debbie left a veritable smorgasboard of consumables, toiletries and medication when they departed...seems that puja for prosperity paid off in fruit snacks and tylenol PM!!!