How time flies ! The "Dasah" or the 10th day, the longest day of rituals arrived in blink of an eye. We have this Odia proverb - "DAIBA DAUDI, MANISHA GAI, JENIKI TANAI SENIKI JAI" - "God is rope and man the cow. It goes the way it is pulled". It simply means, man proposes, God disposes. Life for me these days seems to be on auto pilot, cruising its way without me in control. Since I got the news of my mother's demise in the wee hours of May 2, I am reminded of Kishore Kumar's song - "YEH KYA HUA, KAISE HUA, KYOON HUA...YEH CHHODO YE NA SOCHO" - "O What happened, how it happened, why it happened...leave it at that, don't think much about it." Yet I am in conflict with myself, like another Kishore Kumar song - "LEHRON KI TARAH YAADEIN. DIL SE TAKRAARI HAI, TOOFAN UTHATI HAI" - "Waves of Memories like waves, collides with the heart, raising a storm". Time will fly, days become week becomes month, months become year, but memories will last forever.
When I took a shower this afternoon after a session of "Kriya Karma" (rituals), I found the water soothingly lukewarm, heated by solar energy. We don't have any solar panels or anything fancy like that. The overhead tank water was warmed by pure and natural sunlight. Felt so cool to take bath in this environmentaly friendly environment. No electricity or natural gas was needed to bring water to a lukewarm temperature. No boiler or geyser was operated, water only warmed by pure, unadulterated sunlight. But mention of this earth friendly incidentafter taking shower in lukewarm water only elicited lukewarm response from most.
Ever since I arrived the weather has suddenly turned salubrious by local with intermittent showers. Felt like Bhubaneswa of yesteryear from my childhood days. It seems for my mother's good Karma even the weather has decided to cooperate since I have started doing her "Kriya" (rituals). All went on smoothly without any hassle. Today we had "Dasah", the 10th Day of Shraddha, the longest of the various rituals done every day in open space in 100 degree heat and humidity. All is well that ends well. The unseasonal rains kept confined to the night without impacting the day time rituals hel in the open. Late into the night the storm started to roll in with thunder sounding like music to my ears as the harbinger of some cooler weather, however temporary it might be. Suddenly the whizzing wind started picking up speed similar to roaring engine of a car on highway when you press the gas (accelerator) pedal.
Most love sunshine, but I love rain - watching it coming down the sky and feeling the freshness it brings, the pristine flavor of it. The soul searching music of plattering raindrops is panacea to a longing heart, relief to an an aching heart. I stepped into our balcony. The streetlights were still on as the power hadn't gone yet (it's normal in most parts of India to have a power outage during inclement weather). The sky looked dark and heavy, loaded with emotion to the brink, ready to burst anytime. Huge and thick droplets of water started plattering the parapet. The raising wind made its leaves of our Jackfruit tree whisper like women gossiping about some secret while the Jackfruits hanging like the protruding tummies of a Sumo Wrestler looking on and enjoying every bit of it. The strangs of green mangoes on the nearby tree swung like pendulum, headbutting each other like rams in fight, some of them thumping the ground.
The slicing rays of rain falling through the streetlight looked like rays of fireworks emitting from sparkler on a Diwali night. It continued to rain crazily for couple of hours, accompanied by natural fireworks of thunder and lightening symbolizing some marriage ceremony taking place in heaven. I found my match in an old Bull in our locality - for he puts his bullshit on our street, I load my share of the bullshit on Facebook. The poor old Bovine shared his space with couple of pariah dogs taking shelter under the mango tree protruding out above the wall near our gate. The animals shared the natural canopy, respecting each other's space with mutual trust and respect, occasionally shrugging off the excess water from their bodies and changing positions looking for drier spot. No wonder Crisis, calamities and casualties are the world's greatest levellers. A long 11th Day Ritual or "Ekadasah Shraddha" awaits me tomorrow.
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