Janmashtami stories

 It was Janmashtami. I was preparing the bhog for our little Lord when my little one decided to stand and observe.


After a while, she exclaimed. 'What are you doing Ma? You are tasting the food. And you should be fasting.'

It was time to turn off the gas and give her some lessons.

'Gopal, the Lord is baby nono, right? He is the little baby of our family.'

The daughter nodded her head in agreement.

'You and dadabhai (brother) are also my babies.'

She nodded her little head once again.

'Everyday when I cook for you, I check the salt, sugar and the taste. So that you like and enjoy it. Right?'

'Yes ma.' Came her reply.

'So. I do..'

'You do the same.' She interrupted me. 'You taste the food to see everything is right and baby nono loves his food.'

Right right. This time I had to agree with her.

'I am sure baby nonk will love the food, Ma.' She assures me.

'And now about fasting. Have I ever told you to fast during a pujo or before a pujo?'


'No.'


'You see I don't like the idea that you both are not eating. It causes distress to you and to me as well. How can I be happy when my kids are suffering? Similarly, our Gods and Goddesses are our Guru. We are their children. They won't be happy if we starve ourselves. Our discomfort would make them unhappy. And if we starve how will we do puja sincerely? So the logoc is why fast and cause pain to your body?'

The girl seemed satisfied with my logic. Off she went to inform her dadabhai about the gyan she had acquired.

In the picture is my Radha-Krishna. My husband was posted in Rourkela and would tour extensively. On one such tour, he was passing a village where he found  a man carving out such figures. The man's father was a national awardee but lack of recognition and penury had reduced them to nothing. The husband brought this home.

My little Gopal came to me when I had just delivered my boy. My neighbour gifted him to me.

On the occasion of Janmashtami I made taaler bora (dumplings made.from. The extract of tne palmyra fruit), taaler kheer, shyama chaaler (barnyard millet) payesh,luchi and cholar dal.

Taal or palmyra is Gopal's favorite. Janmashtami is incomplete without offering it to the little one on his birthday.

Every year, we make it a point  to offer it to him before satisfying ourselves.
This year, was no exception. 

My mother says, 'thakurer ja iccha uni thik bebosotha korey den.'
(What ever the Lord wishes, he will arrange it.)

I did not plan anything in advance.  Such elaborate rituals are hard to plan. But who am I to decide if the Lord has his own plans?

#ShubhoJanmashtami

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am going to let him shine!

Image
 It was the year 2002. My paternal grandmother had succumbed to cancer after a twenty-day-long fight. Baba appeared strong but we knew how much he missed her. Well, my grandmother had never preferred him. It was always her firstborn that she doted upon. My father, her younger son, was left to fend for himself. During her last days, my grandmother was ill-treated by the very son she had always favoured. Circumstances forced her to leave the house where she lived. My father, the usually quiet man, revealed his proper side when he took up cudgels to fight for his mother's rights. Grandmother spent the last three years of her life with my father in peace and comfort. That was the only solace for my father. But most evenings, after her death, we would observe him climbing up to the terrace and sitting quietly. He would probably think of his childhood, his parents and maybe, the agony thrust upon him. During those pensive moments, Ma would tell us to stay away and give him privacy. Lo
Read more

Saheb Kuthi - Canning House (The Zamindar Bari series -1)

Image
Every morning at 6 am, Basanti gets down from the local train at Baghajatin railway station, Kolkata and walks to her destination. She is a house-help and the train line from Canning has been a boon to her.  Whenever our paths cross, I ask her, “Which train did you take today?” Pat comes her reply, “Didi, the 4.30 am Canning local.”  The word Canning intrigued me till I sat her down one day and asked her in details. “An old town, Didi. On the banks of Matla Nodi (river). I hail from there. You can visit the city and see the Saheb Kuthi.”  That was enough to incite the wanderlust in me. I kept looking for a window to visit Canning till one Sunday morning, the constant yearning for something old and historic took us past Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal to the oft-heard city called Canning. It is the headquarters of the Canning subdivision.  THE RUINS Cruising through the narrow roads of South 24 Parganas, we came across the relics of two massive pillars. From afar, the rema
Read more