An Odyessy of the Intricacies of Indian Culture
“Amma! Look who’s here, it’s Chikki!” screamed an ebullient kid, Sandipta Shankar, who was adrenalized at the arrival of her aunt; Lakshmi Patel, a south Indian who had flown from the USA to Bangalore to visit her sister or her Akka. She was welcomed by her sister; Parvati; and Sandipta, who called Chikki the short form of “Chikkamma,” which means mother’s younger sister in Kannada.
Lakshmi comes on the day of the festival of Sankranti, which is celebrated to worship the sun god for solar energy that is essential for food and life on earth. She had taken a five-week long vacation from her job to visit her country and experience her culture, from which she was isolated in the USA.
Parvati hugged her and said, “Welcome home! Go and take a bath, get dressed, and come; we need to do pooja before we can have lunch together.” Lakshmi was taken to her niece’s room, which would be Lakshmi’s during the duration of her stay. The room was as clean as the river Ganga, a sacred Hindu river. Lakshmi took a bath and draped a saree, a traditional attire in India.
Lakshmi looked as elegant as the Hindu goddess Laksmi. She entered the living room, where Parvati’s family was worshipping the sun god, Surya. She helped her sister do pooja and greeted her nephew, Shiva; her Bhava, or her brother-in-law, Shankar; and the in-laws of Parvati. The whole family then ate Ellu-Bella; which is a mixture of sesame seeds, groundnuts, sugar crystals, jaggery, and coconut. Following that, they had a traditional South Indian meal for lunch.
They ate on a banana leaf and were sitting on the ground. The cuisine included payasam, rice, sambar, rasam, puliyogare, kosambari, and obattu. On eating the luscious festive food, Parvati said, “Akka, it’s been so long since I have had such delectable food that I would only find fragments of in curries in the restaurants of the USA.” Her Bhava then said, “I agree with you; no food matches the authenticity of our homemade food; namma mane oota.” Everyone finished their meal, which was served by Parvati, who ate after everyone finished.
Following this, Parvati and Lakshmi began cleaning the floor. While cleaning, Lakshmi asked Parvati, “Akka, why did you give me Sandipta’s room to stay in? I would’ve been happy sleeping on the couch. I feel abominable since Sandipta has to do that now.” Parvati replied, “Laksmi, don’t you remember when we were younger, Amma and Appa would always make us sleep on the floor and leave our room for guests when they would stay at our place? They did this to teach us ‘Athithi devo bhava,’ which propels us to treat our guests equally to God.”
Lakshmi was impressed by her sister’s strong values, and the women continued talking about their families. However, the conversation soon switched to their careers. Lakshmi had just finished her bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering last year and had taken up a job. Parvati was also a computer science graduate and was a working woman until she entered motherhood. Lakshmi asked her sister, “Akka, will you ever go back to work?” Parvathy replied, “You know I can never do that unless my in-laws and husband permit it.
They are extremely conservative. As a wife, I can’t go against my family. It has been nearly 8 years since I left. My heart desires to go back, but I am bound by the duty of being a devout wife. My whole life has just become serving others and not myself.” Lakshmi had advice to give her sister and was speechless. She understood the intricacies of Parvathy’s situation and felt deep sorrow for her sister, who was 10 years older than her.
After the women finished cleaning, Lakshmi went up to Sandipta. These two had a lot in common: both of them were trained in Bharatanatyam an Indian classical dance form; and Carnatic music, an Indian classical music form. Lakshmi asked Sandipta, “Sandu, are you still learning Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music?” Sandipta replied, “Yes, Chikki, I am. I am also looking forward to our visit to the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur next month since I am going to be performing ‘Natesha Kauthuvam,’ which is danced to in praise of Lord Shiva.
We are going during the festival of Shivaratri, which is something I fervently await every year. This year it has become a thousand times more special to me because of two reasons: your arrival and our visit to this magnificent temple.” To this, Lakshmi responded, “You truly are an embodiment of your name, which means ‘worshipper of Shiva.’ I suggested this name to your mother. I somehow always knew that you would become a Shiva-bhakta.” The two then began practicing Bharatanatyam and spent the whole day immersing themselves in it.
The next month flew by at the speed of light. Before the family knew it, they were on the train to Thanjavur, which is in the state of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the state of Karnataka, where Bangalore was located. An hour into the journey, they crossed the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border and saw the station signs change from Kannada to Tamil. At 10 am, two hours into the 10-hour journey, Lakshmi got up from her seat to go to the restroom.
On her way, she heard the scream of a man. She ran to the compartment where the man was seated. A handful of other passengers also surrounded the compartment. She learned that the old man had screamed because he was horrified upon learning that his seat was right next to the seat of his neighbor; a middle-aged man from the low caste, the Dalits, also known as untouchables because the touch of people from this caste was considered impure. The ticket collector arrived and tried to resolve the issue by asking other passengers if they wanted to switch seats. However, not a single soul offered or agreed to switch.
Lakshmi wanted to switch but was petrified at the thought of Paravaty’s in-laws judging her and as a result, prohibiting her from visiting her sister. She was also debating whether to convince the old man that the caste system was no longer in practice and that the touch of Dalits was not impure. This is what her heart told her to do. However, her mind told her to stay quiet and away from the shame of disrespecting elders. Hence, she stood still as a statue to see what would happen. The bus conductor asked numerous passengers, but no one agreed to change. He had no other option but to order the Dalit man to leave the train at the next stop.
The helpless man had to do so because he had no other option. A cloud of guilt hovered over Lakshmi’s head as she proceeded to the toilet and back to her seat. She felt immense sorrow for the Dalit man, who was now out of the train. Her mind won against her heart, and injustice won against justice. Lakshmi came back to her seat and remained as quiet as a mouse. A mouse that was afraid of the cats of the higher castes.
A few hours later, at 6 pm, they reached Thanjavur train station. They were greeted by a taxi driver, who had been pre-booked. He greeted them by saying “Vannakam” and helped them store their luggage in the car, following which they made their way to Sangam Hotel. One room was for Shankar, Shiva, Sandipta, and Parvati; another was for Lakshmi; and the last was for Parvati’s in-laws: Shivkumar and Sailaja. They stayed in the Hotel for the first day and relaxed in the evening.
The next day was the day before the festival of Shivaratri, and the family woke up at 6 am, took a bath, and then had dosas; which are rice pancakes, for breakfast. Then they walked to the Brihadeeshwara temple which was surrounded by devotees; it was like bees buzzing around a beehive. As they made their way through the gates and bees, they entered the garbhagriha of the temple; the sanctum where the idol is placed, and prayed to the Hindu lord Shiva. The priest chanted: “Om Namah Shivayah” which meant “I bow down to Shiva” as he gave the devotees theerta or holy water. The family then engrossed themselves in praying to god, lighting incentives, chanting shlokas (devotional songs), and exploring the temple.
At noon, Sandipta noticed that the shadow of the vimana, which is a pyramidal tower built over the shrine of the temple, wasn’t falling on the ground. She questioned her family about this. Her mother replied, “Sandu, the reason why you can’t see the shadow is because of the architecture. The temple is 217 ft in height and the vimana is built in a cascading style; which creates an illusion that the shadow doesn’t touch the ground because it falls on the temple. This temple was built almost 1000 years ago by a Chola King, Rajaraja Chola, and is a UNESCO world heritage site,” Upon hearing this, Parvati replied, “Akka, this temple is truly a living example of the excellence of Indian architecture and engineering.” Everyone nodded and agreed.
In the evening, it was time for the Bharatanatyam performance of Sandipta. The rest of the family stayed back at the temple whilst Sandipta and her aunt went back to the hotel room to dress up Sandipta in her costume. Sandipta wore traditional Bharatanatyam attire and jewelry that made her look like a goddess. The two then made their way back to the temple. Soon, the Thanjavur Dance Festival began, and Sandipta’s performance came up. The audience was mesmerized by her performance of “Natesha Kauthuvam.” Her aunt felt a deep sense of pride and saw a younger version of herself in Sandipta, an ardent Shiva devotee.
The next day, the family engrossed themselves in the festivities of Shivratr by chanting shlokas and fasting. They stayed awake throughout the night and broke their fast once the festival ended the following morning. The next day the family caught up on sleep and food. They then began to pack their bags to return home. However, Lakshmi had to pack for her return to the USA. She would be going to the Tirichee Airport from here, and then take a flight to the USA. She had a pile of clothes, a million invaluable memories, boundless feelings of exuberance coupled with a little bit of despair to pack into bags. She had witnessed the beauty and injustices that existed in society in her bittersweet odyssey of the intricacies of Indian.
By: Anagha Krishna Prasad
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