Puja!!

(Hooray for finally learning to put photos IN the blog!! More than 4 at a time!!!!)

Yesterday, apparently, was a big holiday here. It was the machine puja (which is sort of like a religious celebration). So the girls told Becky that they couldn't work, because this is the one day a year that the machines get to rest. And we had to have a puja and have a priest come and bless all the sewing machines. So Tuesday we cleaned the whole building (I've never seen the girls scrub so hard!) to be ready. (Mind you, ready is a relative term...) We were told to come at 11 the next day, because that's when the puja would start. (We were also told you have to wear something new to a puja (whichever salwaar suit maker made up that rule is a genius) which resulted in a harrowing trip to New Market to find something to wear..) So Wednesday as we were on the bus coming (in our new outfits), we saw a lot of trucks and cars on the sides of the road being washed... for the puja. And all the buses and most of the cars had garlands of flowers and decorations because they'd been blessed. (You could really spot the Muslim taxi drivers now... not only were they grumpy because they can't eat during Raamadaan, but they were driving the boring cars!)

So we arrived shortly before 11, and all the girls were upstairs cutting fruit and preparing for the puja. And they wouldn't let us help. So we waited around, and chatted, and waited. We met a new volunteer, Kaylie, she is from Canada and had just arrived that morning. So we waited some more, and then finally were told to go upstairs to the room where we were having the puja. Swapna was painting a beautiful flower design on the floor with clay.

She was very precise and painstaking. So we watched her for a while, figuring that we can't rush such artistry, and finally she finished. And then all the girls disappeared. So we waited some more. And finally someone told us that what we were actually waiting for was the priest, who had not arrived yet. He was supposed to be there, but 11 Indian time actually means 1. Which is when the puja started. There was a lot of chanting, and a lot of bell ringing, and a lot of smoke from the incense.

I didn't really understand it all, but it was still pretty cool. So finally after all the chanting was done and he had finished putting all the multitudes of flowers precisely where they were supposed to go, we got to eat! There was lots of fruit and sweets, and aloo daum, and some kidney bean dish that my mother needs to start making, all with lucchi. It was an interesting day- fun to just sit around and talk and relax. And then this morning, I arrived and was beginning my tasks for the day when who should arrive but the priest (on his bicycle!) Apparently one day of puja is not enough- we had to finish today! So we went upstairs again, and there was this neat little wood structure built on top of two bricks covered with sand. It was like a little pyramid thing, sort of like what you would build if you were starting a campfire... but no, we're inside a building. So we lit some more incense and there was more chanting and bell ringing and tossing flowers, even on the little wooden structure. And then, no wait, he's not really going to light it on fire, is he???

Surely not, we're inside! All the smoke... okay, well, it's not smoking too much, maybe he just has to singe the wood- why is he putting flammable powers and liquid on it!! I thought we were going to BLESS the building, not burn it down!!! So we wound up with a little raging fire in front of the idol- big enough to feel some heat from, even. It was kinda crazy. But I guess that's why you need water from the Ganges for every puja- to put out those sacrificial fires!!!

Check out the video!! Almost like going to a puja of your own- only imagine it lasts for an hour instead of 30 seconds!!!

Me and Fatheema sporting our new outfits... which just so happen to coordinate nicely with the sandal-wood paste of our bindis...